The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Ottawa plans to invest billions to build data centres for artificial intelligence by attracting Canadian pension funds and revamping research-and-development tax credits to compete for capital and jobs amid U.S. protectionism. The Globe's James Bradshaw and Sean Silcoff write that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the goal of generating up to $45-billion for AI data centre development, backed by $15-billion in federal loans and equity investments. Canadian pension funds must invest $2 of their own capital for every federal dollar to access government funding and become significant shareholders in the projects. The government's $15-billion investment could attract another $30-billion from pension funds. To make it easier for pension funds to own controlling interests in Canadian companies, the feds are proposing to remove a rule that limits the voting shares a fund can control to 30 per cent -- although Canada's largest funds had already developed structures to work around the cap. The new measures to encourage pension funds to invest more in Canada result from a consultation process led by former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz initiated in April.