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By Maureen McCall
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North American trade and infrastructure challenges in the new age of AI
The dramatic rise of AI is reshaping energy systems, infrastructure planning and ultimately economies in North America and around the world.
The importance of North American trade and its significant impact on the global economy is undeniable, with a reported 2025 GDP value of up to $35.28 trillion, according to statisticstimes.com, which also reports that North America is the 3rd largest continental economy after Asia and Europe, accounting for almost 18.58% of global wealth. However, in 2026, the need to navigate geopolitical uncertainties and evolving trade policies has become critical for all regions as they adjust to the fallout from war and energy chokepoints influencing economic growth, inflation, financials markets and supply chains. North America is operating in a very different trade environment than it was just a few years ago.
In Canada, individual provinces are grappling with infrastructure and government permitting challenges while simultaneously competing with the U.S. and each other to attract major data centre projects to their region. The size of the prize to win the data centre race is immense as AI technologies reshape entire industries and the economies that depend on them, and provinces face off to be not only national leaders but also regional and even world leaders in AI & Tech. Alberta is keenly focused on this race.
At the recent Pacific North West Economic Region (PNWER) 2026 summit in Edmonton, Alberta, Adam Legge, President of the Business Council of Alberta, characterized this moment as a wake-up call.
“The global order that we have really come to rely upon has shifted,” Legge said. “NATO, G7, all of those institutions are meeting, but they’re not as successful. When governments and nations can’t figure things out, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it is that business and economic developers can figure it out. I sat on the World Chamber Federation, and we had tables where we had Iran and Israel sitting side by side from a business standpoint.”
Speaking in a panel discussion on Trade in North America and Beyond at PNWER 2026, Legge said he thinks artificial intelligence is a critical piece to economic success but says Canada hasn’t really leaned into it as much as it could. He also said that the U.S. President has sent Canada the biggest wake-up call Canada could have as a nation to address our complacency from an investment and economic development standpoint and advised, “Let’s not miss that moment and go back to sleep”.
Another panel member in the discussion was Victor Thomas, President and CEO Canada-India Business Council who agreed that geopolitical uncertainties now lead the economics of a project as panelist Dan Ujczo Associate General Counsel Cenovus Energy, Canada’s second largest producer of oil in Canada agreed that geopolitical risk is now listed as the number one risk in a recent business round table survey of CEOs when previously it ranked as number five or six.
“We are in the most transformative time in our economy in any of our lifetimes,” Ujczo said. “This will make what happened after the fall of the Berlin Wall look minor in comparison, both in global supply chains, with AI, with data centers, and with a new security framework that we have. And we better get with it. We better figure out how to work together to make this happen.The one thing that we do stress to our C-suite, and I’m certainly they’re on board with, is ‘it’s not going back’.”
Thrown into the mix of this new economy is the reality that 74% of employers, on a global basis today, say they cannot find the skills that they need for the new economy, according to panelist Stephen Cryne, President & CEO, Canadian Employee Relocation Council. Cryne said we can’t train people fast enough for the skills that are required in the new economy. He said employers are requiring more open movement of their talent. They need seamless processes for employee movement between countries to work on a project in one country and then work with people in another country to complete that project. The challenge is that mobility models for immigration are not fit for purpose to support this new reality. Cryne also said that business has to work to change the public narrative that says foreigners come into a country and drive down wages while they take domestic jobs. The solution seems to be to fix the talent pipeline in Canada from a domestic standpoint and at the same time change the immigration scoring system.
So, will this new economy enable or weaken Alberta’s chances to become the compute capital of Canada? Certainly, the projects and government initiatives announced by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith last week are moving projects and collaborations forward profoundly. (as covered in my previous article “Digital barrels – Harnessing a voracious demand for energy and creating wealth for Alberta.”) But as we adapt to this changing economic landscape, and address the challenges, we can’t underestimate the strong competition from our neighbours to the south.
As Cenovus’s Dan Ujczo pointed out…
“I think the idea that the U.S.is just domesticizing its economy, and just moving supply chains, is missing the other half of the story. Let’s not forget the myth of the Trump administration. The myth is that they’re disorganized. They are very organized, and they are making changes. The Federal Register notice comes out five times a day, and the level of regulations that they’re changing is reducing permitting, making things more competitive…It’s actually well-orchestrated. When you actually look at the policies, it actually starts to make a little bit of sense. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m just saying if you know what they’re doing, that creates the business opportunities.”
Maureen McCall is an energy professional who writes on issues affecting the energy industry.
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COMMENTARY: Can Alberta Become the Compute Capital of Canada? – Maureen McCall