‘Call them out’: AI data centres becoming an Ontario municipal election issue

AI data centres have become an issue in Ontario’s municipal elections, with grassroots groups pressing candidates to support stricter regulations.

Several Greater Toronto Area mayoral and city council candidates have signed a pledge promising to oppose building any data centres that fail to adhere to strict oversight and regulations.

Early signatories include incumbent Mississauga mayoral candidate Carolyn Parrish and incumbent Hamilton council candidates Cameron Kroetsch and Nrinder Nann.

Stop the Datacentre, a grassroots advocacy group, is looking for more signatories before municipal elections are held later this month.

The pledge asks candidates to sign on if they agree with the following conditions:

• I will oppose any recommendation to build AI data centres which does not include stringent regulations.
• Data centres must not compete with households and businesses for electricity and water.
• Residents can’t be asked to accept round-the-clock noise pollution or air pollution.
• Data centres must not be eligible for tax relief or economic development incentives.
• Community benefits that come with data centres must be binding.
• Data centres should not be allowed to operate if their massive computational power is trained to act against the public good.

So far, the pledge has gone out to candidates in Hamilton and Mississauga, two cities that have had heated debates over data centres already.

In September, Mississauga city council approved a one-year moratorium on new data centre approvals after residents raised concerns about a data centre project proposed in northwest Mississauga, outlining fears around energy consumption, strain on the water supply and possible noise pollution.

Hamilton residents similarly pushed back against data centres in their city. But in July, city council voted down a moratorium on construction. Mayor Andrea Horwath and some councillors cited concerns around scaring away tech companies from investing in the city.

Martin Reid, who is running for re-election as Mississauga Ward 9 councillor, has signed the pledge. He was one of the councillors who set in motion the city’s moratorium.

“It was important [to sign the pledge] because it mirrors the motion I brought to council,” Reid said. “Residents were concerned that the proposal was putting development before planning.”

Nick Tsergas, a Hamilton resident, created the pledge. He said he was motivated to hold politicians accountable after seeing the data centre issue take hold across the country.

Tsergas said the pledge is intended to hold signatories accountable to their commitments. If anyone ends up reneging on it, “we can call them out,” he added.

Tsergas was also motivated to start his record-keeping effort because of a lack of clarity from the province about whether data centres will be subject to specific regulatory standards. No legislation on the issue has been passed.

The Ford government released its AI data centre playbook in August, which includes proposed policies on how to govern data centres. But it is an evaluation tool, not binding legislation.

“We don’t know what those rules will look like, or when they arrive,” Tsergas said. “Will they be geared to protecting communities and addressing concerns, or will they be geared towards attracting data centre investment from large U.S. tech companies?”

The government’s playbook proposes prioritizing Canadian companies, community benefits and self-sustaining power systems.

However, Reid argues the proposed data centre that prompted his push for a moratorium does not satisfy several priorities outlined in the province’s playbook.

The project is proposed for a plot of land in the Tenth Line and Argentia Road area. The property was formerly farmland and was acquired by U.S.-based logistics company Prologis for the proposed development.

When the Prologis plans came across his desk, Reid did some digging and realized there was no land use designation for a data centre.

“It’s a warehouse, but it has 14 generators,” he said, alluding to the grey area that data centres fall into.

Tsergas also raised concern with classification, especially for data centres that propose to generate their own power.

“Is it a power plant or a data centre? What’s the noise going to be like? What’s the pollution going to be like?” he asked.

Reid identified safety concerns beyond environmental issues.

“Fire did not have a fire study for a data centre,” Reid said. “We have a building with lithium-ion batteries in it. It could be a ticking time bomb.”

Reid also said that Prologis did not plan on offering any community benefits.

“I went to them at one point and asked them to consider that, but they don’t have to do that from a development perspective. It’s not legislated, and they didn’t offer.”

Global News reached out to Prologis, which said it remains committed to the project at Tenth Line and Argentia, even with the city’s moratorium in place.

Prologis said construction would support 1,600 jobs. Once operational, the company estimates the project would sustain 63 direct, indirect and induced full-time-equivalent jobs.

Prologis also said that it is working with the provincial government to develop the data centre playbook, and that the Mississauga site will generate $1.6 million in annual property tax revenue for the city and region.

Tsergas stressed the purpose of his pledge is to seek clarity on how prospective candidates view the issue.

“We’re not asking people if they like or don’t like AI. We are just asking people if they think rules should exist before a major development goes in, and what at minimum those rules should be.”