The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that if you spend any time listening to Canadian political and business leaders talk about artificial intelligence and cloud computing, and you will hear the word "sovereign" so often that it practically loses any meaning. The Globe's Joe Castaldo and Pippa Norman write that the All In conference in Montreal in September, a large AI event, had nary a speech, panel or conversation that did not include the word. AI Minister Evan Solomon expounded on the need for Canada to build a sovereign digital economy that is "free from coercion" and that someone "can't decide to turn off." Bell Canada and Telus were all-in, too, touting their "sovereign" data centres. The topic is hot because of the fraught relationship with the United States under President Donald Trump, and Canada's reliance on American tech companies for crucial digital services. Brent Arnold, founder of Capstan Legal in Toronto, said, "What we care about is whether or not we have to hand over Canadians' data." Google Canada has outlined how customers can set boundaries to ensure data stays in the country and how "sovereign encryption keys" given to customers can prevent unauthorized access, even by Google.