Taleeb Noormohamed, Parliamentary Secretary for AI: Real Talk on Canada's AI Future

Taleeb Noormohamed, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Granville and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, joined Vancouver AI Meetup #32 on August 26, 2026. He opened at 01:10 with "I have no slides. I have no notes," set aside the government talking points, and spent more than an hour in open conversation with host Kris Krüg and the room at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre.

He starts with his path from tech founder to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics to Parliament, and at 05:45 makes the case for a Canadian approach to AI, somewhere between the American, Chinese and European models. At 08:58 he shares what a 17-year-old staying at his home told him that day: that most people his age hate AI, and why that has to shape the policy. At 11:40 he sums up what thousands of public submissions asked for: "Let's build big things, but let's not lose sight of the fact that this is actually supposed to serve people and not vice versa."

Kris asks him about data centres and social licence at 16:30, compensation for creators whose work trains AI at 19:25, and the case for a West Coast AI institute in BC at 23:58. From 26:42 the room takes over, with questions on health data and sovereignty, AI upskilling, online safety, AI literacy for kids and teachers, jobs and the trades, Canadian chips, the middle powers, and getting Canadian capital behind Canadian companies.

See the Meetup #32 archive for Michelle Diamond's photographs, the clips, and the full night, read Kris Krüg's recap of the evening, or find the next Vancouver AI gathering.