Canada’s data centre boom, and backlash

As part of the federal government’s AI strategy, hyperscale data centres are being built across the country with many more projects being proposed. But, communities are pushing back, and it’s capturing the attention of local governments.

Projects in Ontario, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan have been the subject of protests and petitions for moratoriums. A recent Angus Reid poll reported that 68 per cent of Canadians object to a data centre being built near them.

As Prime Minister Mark Carney pushes an agenda of digital sovereignty and AI expansion, we look at how Canadians are responding to the rapid construction of data centres, and the risks AI poses to the environment and local communities.

Paris Marx joins us. He is a tech journalist and the host of the podcast, Tech Won’t Save Us. He’s got a book coming out this October called 'Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech's Data Empires.'

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