Big tech targets Prairies for AI data centres

Artificial Intelligence data centres are popping up across Canada but the need for larger facilities spanning thousands of hectares has made the Canadian Prairies a target for these high-density computing centres.

Cool temperatures eight months of the year and plenty of underground water to tap into make Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta ideal to house massive processing systems, which need constant cooling to operate.

But companies pitching these data centres have sometimes been met with an icy reception.

“These centres use an enormous amount of power … and there’s a number of other issues with AI data centres I think people will be well aware of — whether it’s to do with water consumption or local impacts such as noise and air pollution,” says James Wilt of Climate Action Team Manitoba.

The results of a Probe Research poll released earlier this year found that half of Manitobans oppose data centres in the province.

Last year, Premier Wab Kinew said being a data centre hub could be an economic boom but with public opinion changing, Kinew is now less enthusiastic.

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“They’re using hundreds of megawatts or gigawatts of power and we need to have a serious conversation in this province about the future of our economy, and I would much rather have technology serve the people of Manitoba than have the people of Manitoba serve technology,” Kinew said during question period on May 13.

A petition opposing proposed data centre near Île des Chênes, Man., has 13,000 signatures.

Consensus Core Technologies CEO Wayne Lloyd says the centre would be a “generational investment in Manitoba,” creating 500 jobs while boosting Canada’s data sovereignty instead of relying on foreign networks.

“The data facilities will run on a modern, closed-loop cooling system that does not rely on fresh water for refilling,” Lloyd tells Global News. “The campus contains an agricultural-scale greenhouse that will reuse captured heat and carbon dioxide to grow food locally year-round.”

A former pea-processing plant on the outskirts of Winnipeg is being retrofitted to house a small Bell Canada data centre.

High school student Leona Gollub started a petition against it.

“I’ve heard AI compared to the Industrial Revolution before and I think that’s really interesting because people say that in a positive way when … what I see is a great disregard for the environment and for people,” Gollub said.

Bell Canada has proposed another data centre just outside of Regina that’s also getting pushback.

But none of what’s proposed in Manitoba or Saskatchewan compares to the $70-billion AI park billed as ‘Wonder Valley’ backed by celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary. It’s only a concept, but the Alberta government has already waved an environmental impact assessment for the project.

Wilt says conversations about using AI should also include the need for data centres.

“There should be a bit of a pause until we’ve actually had a concerted analysis and sort of society-wide discussion of whether this is something that we want to be pouring our collective resources and banking our energy future on,” he said.