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Ottawa Discloses $1.3B Reliance on U.S. Clouds, Including Mission‑Critical Defence Systems

New filings in Parliament have sharpened pressure for a Canadian sovereign cloud over exposure to the U.S. Cloud Act.

Overview

  • Government responses to Conservative MP Todd Doherty, tabled in the House of Commons this week, put total federal cloud spending since 2021 near $1.3 billion.
  • More than $1 billion went to Microsoft, $247.4 million to Amazon (mostly AWS), and about $22 million to Google across departments.
  • The Department of National Defence confirms AWS runs several mission-critical systems supporting operational readiness, including RCAF aircraft coordination and Canadian Army situational-awareness tools.
  • Microsoft Azure underpins the military pay platform and hosts Army operational-planning tools, while Google Cloud supplies AI services such as real-time language processing.
  • Prime Minister Mark Carney has renewed interest in a Canadian sovereign cloud, and legal experts caution that U.S. vendors remain subject to the Cloud Act even for data stored in Canada.