The federal government has announced a new framework outlining key expectations for responsible data centre development, as politicians and companies grapple with public pushback to the infrastructure underpinning AI technology.

“Canada needs to expand its domestic capacity to strengthen its digital sovereignty and to give Canadian researchers, innovators and businesses the ability to build, deploy and scale here at home,” the federal government said in a news release issued Thursday morning.

However, “that growth cannot come at the expense of host communities, whether through higher electricity bills, pressure on local water supplies or limited local benefits,” the statement notes.

The framework sets out five expectations for data centre projects, saying they must:

• Create lasting local benefits.
• Not shift electricity costs to Canadians.
• Minimize water use and environmental impacts.
• Be transparent about local impacts.
• Bring strategic value to Canada.

According to the federal government, the principles are supported by a “broad cross-section of Canada’s data centre, cloud, artificial intelligence and technology sectors.”

Several top companies are listed as signatories to the framework, including Amazon Web Services, Anthropic, Bell Canada, Cohere, eStruxture, Hypertec, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and Telus.

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Data centre pushback across Canada

The principles are being released at a time when politicians at all levels of government are facing public pushback about data centres over concerns about noise, costs and environmental impacts.

According to a poll from Leger, which surveyed 1,505 Canadians in July, 46 per cent of respondents viewed data centre development as positive, compared to 37 per cent who viewed it as negative.

But the poll also found Canadians are more divided on AI data centre development in their own province; 44 per cent of respondents supported the idea, while 42 per cent opposed it.

The Alberta government has been running town halls across the province on this issue, following an announcement from tech giant Meta that it plans to build a $13-billion AI data centre project northeast of Edmonton. It is to be fed by a $4.6-billion natural gas-fired power plant. 

At the town halls held so far, Alberta officials have faced fury from rural residents about prospective data centre projects, but the officials argue they bring economic benefits and will be constructed responsibly.

A similar outcry occurred in Vancouver earlier this summer, when hundreds of demonstrators marched to oppose the construction of two new AI data centres in the city. They called for the projects — a partnership between Telus and the federal government — to be halted.

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As the federal government’s newly announced AI strategy champions more giant data centres, a growing number of Canadians want nothing to do with them, including Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew who just killed a plan to build one near Winnipeg. Backlash is also growing across the U.S.

Some politicians have responded to concerns by outright denying certain projects, as Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew did earlier in June when he announced a large AI data centre pitched for a 141-hectare tract of farmland south of Winnipeg will not go ahead.

Others are keen to attract more development, but have laid down their own core expectations, like Ontario Premier Doug Ford, when he announced his province’s Data Centre Playbook last month.

According to the document, data centres in Ontario must invest “substantially” in the province and local communities, and must pay the full cost of electricity. Plus, Ontario will only offer “non-financial support to attract data centre investments.”