The divorce process is highly complex, emotional and time-consuming, as it involves separating assets that once seemed inseparable. The signs leading up to a divorce involve a myriad of issues no longer acceptable to the parties.
Canada is in the process of re-evaluating some of the intolerable issues in its interconnected relationship with the U.S., specifically those in Canada’s relationships with American cloud service providers.
Ottawa can no longer tolerate the persistent issues that threaten its digital sovereignty.
The federal government defines digital sovereignty as the ability to exercise autonomy over its digital infrastructure, data and intellectual property, the capacity to operate effectively and make independent decisions about digital assets, regardless of where technologies are developed, hosted or supported.
One persistent issue is this: in a public cloud environment, even data residing in Canada may be subject to foreign laws if held by a foreign-owned provider.
Foreign agencies can compel cloud service providers to turn over government data. The risk, according to the government, is twofold: damage to the state and loss of public trust.
The government's use of U.S. cloud services is like being in a marriage with eyes wide shut.
Specifically, the U.S. Cloud Act allows American authorities to compel companies headquartered in the United States to produce data under their control, even if that data is stored abroad.
Canada’s digital infrastructure, from enterprise systems to AI development, is deeply integrated with American hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and Google. These firms do not merely provide optional tools. They are foundational architecture. Replacing them would require not just policy adjustment but industrial transformation.
Leaving these hyperscalers can come with additional burdens, such as exit fees, or the federal or provincial governments may be compelled to maintain relationships due to signed multi-decade contracts.
Oftentimes, in a real divorce, complete radio silence from the other partner is impossible, especially when there are kids involved. There will always be an original mom and an original dad, and in the not-so-distant future, maybe two new moms.
Metaphorically, the kids are the cloud service providers who still need structure, rules and stated expectations. One parent shouldn’t use the kids to spy on the other parent and inflict harm that undermines the other parent's ability to parent effectively.
There are other fish in our own seas. Companies like ThinkOn and Micrologic are Canadian cloud platforms selected by the government and the banking industry to supply cloud services. These platforms offer true digital sovereignty in that they have no affiliations with other countries.
Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged the geopolitical stakes at the World Economic Forum in Davos. On artificial intelligence, he warned against a future in which countries are “forced to choose between hegemons and hyperscalers.”
He urged democracies to focus on reality. The so-called rules-based international order is increasingly defined by power rivalry, where economic integration itself can become a tool of coercion.
Digital dependence is a geopolitical vulnerability. When critical infrastructure is operated by firms subject to foreign legal regimes, sovereignty becomes conditional.
This is the tension at the heart of Canada’s digital sovereignty issue. We desire to be autonomous while structurally embedded in another country’s digital network.
Complete digital autonomy, Ottawa admits, is impossible in an interconnected world.
In other words, we will always have an ex-partner, and we may still have to deal with them, at least for now.
In this decoupling phase, the Canadian government should, and must, operate without fear that another state can quietly access, disrupt or manipulate its digital infrastructure.
It must ensure public institutions are not structurally vulnerable to foreign legal obligations. The public’s data must not be used as collateral in global power clashes, just as children’s mental, physical and spiritual health must not be used as collateral in a divorce.
The answer in Canada’s case may be a digital interdependence.
This would involve diversifying cloud providers, investing in domestic capacity and strengthening legal protections around public sector data.
Like relishing freedom after a failed marriage, the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon, has been broadening trade alliances with global partners such as Saudi Arabia, India, and Australia and obtaining investment in Canadian infrastructure and technology.
The world goes on, maybe there is a chance at reconciliation, but in the meantime, we swipe right and new connections are made, this time with eyes wide open.
