The federal government is “not responsible” for power regulation and cannot regulate power usage by AI data centres, Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon told a Senate committee on Thursday.
Solomon spoke to the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology on Thursday, where he was asked about power usage by data centres in Canada.
“The federal government is not responsible for power. That is the purvey of provincial regulators. So, we can’t put federal obligations on the power regulation,” he said, adding that provinces like Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia are in the process of creating their own data centre laws.
At the same time, however, both information technology and electricity grids are considered critical infrastructure by the federal government, giving Public Safety Canada the ability to “manage risks and reduce vulnerabilities,” according to the National Strategy for Critical Infrastructure.
Doubling the capacity of Canada’s energy grid was “absolutely critical” to rolling out Canada’s AI strategy, Solomon said.
“We work very closely with best practices around the world to develop very high standards on water use, energy use, investment in the community, strategic importance, consultation, and most importantly, transparency on the promises so you can actually hold them to account,” he said.
The federal government’s recently released ‘Responsible Data Centre Development Principles’ require that companies building new data centre projects “do not shift electricity costs onto Canadians” and “minimize water use and environmental impacts.”
160 data centre proposals
Solomon was also asked how many data centres Canada was looking to build.
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“We received proposals for… over 160,” he said.
While large data centre projects will require around 100 megawatts of power per building, there “may be some smaller ones” as well, he added.
“We have MOUs with about four (data center companies) so far,” he said.
Ottawa is “supporting the building of Canadian data that are Canadian-owned,” Solomon said, however, some major projects in Canada are being helmed by U.S. tech giants.
A company pursuing a wind and hydrogen development in Nova Scotia says it has plans for a $10-billion AI data centre in Cape Breton that it describes as the largest private investment in provincial history.
EverWind Fuels announced last week that U.S. AI company Anthropic has signed a 20-year lease for a 18,600-square metre data centre in Point Tupper, N.S., that would draw 95 megawatts of electricity during its first phase.
The data centre is scheduled to come online late next year. A 325-megawatt expansion is expected in mid-2028, which would bring the development’s total energy demand to 420 megawatts, the company said.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said the data centre project was a major vote of confidence in the rural area about 200 kilometres east of Halifax. He said Canada does not have enough secure data infrastructure to meet the requirements of its businesses, governments and health-care institutions.
Data centres are typically massive operations that require immense amounts of electricity to run and cool off computer servers.
Water from nearby Landrie Lake will be used to cool the Point Tupper data centre’s servers, and the company stressed it will safeguard the water supply.
EverWind said the cooling system will be closed-loop, similar to a car’s radiator, with cooling fluid recycled or disposed of off site, not in local waterways. The system will use an average of 100,000 litres of water per day in the first phase, which EverWind said is about the same as a large shopping mall.
That will expand to an average draw of 500,000 litre per day when the expansion is complete, about one per cent of the lake’s safe daily yield of 34 million litres.
–with files from Canadian Press
Provincial governments have primary jurisdiction over water. There are exceptions like inland fisheries. To repeat what I said below, they also have primary jurisdiction over electricity. So one should turn to their Provincial government about the building of data centres. Also a closed loop system makes the water discussion moot.
Our AI minister , Carney and the federal government actively promotes and invests in data centers in Canada,
particularly for artificial intelligence
(AI) and digital sovereignty
But if your electric bill goes up and there are issues with the water consumption …. That is your responsibility
The LPC government in Canada didn’t have any responsibility since 2015
Why did you vote LPC after the decade of darkness ? Self inflicted , you guys in the East
Enjoy being duped. Again
Under section 92A of the constitution act Provinces are responsible for electricity jurisdiction within their borders. Only when electricity crosses a Provincial border the Federal government has a say. The conservatives can blame Carney all they want but the Federal government is powerless to regulate here.
Yes, you most certainly are responsible!
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@Jardon. With respect, I wasn’t aware where you live was experiencing blackouts and brownouts. This isn’t in the story. I do read a lot about storms affecting power down east but nothing about the reliability of the grid. That must be tough-where I live power is very reliable. To clarify what I said, I think any AI company, wherever it’s going to build, should be forced to ensure it provides it’s own power. If the power grid is already struggling, this is a huge problem. The Province shouldn’t proceed until the power issue is worked out. I’d expect the government to protect the people there@
“The energy issue could be solved by the company building the centre subsidizing heat pumps, paying for energy retrofits and doing other things to offset energy use”
Ben, did you miss the part about actually generating the power for the data centre? This is the ongoing issue, because utilities were experiencing blackouts and brownouts this past winter. We received notices several times to reduce our energy consumption after installing our first heat pump, yet our temp was set to 20C. With people converting from wood/oil/natural gas to heat pumps, the demand is outstripping the supply.
I come from the political left but wish people would not just say no reflexively. There is something called closed loop cooling which can be used in lieu of using water continuously. That leaves the energy issue and noise. The energy issue could be solved by the company building the centre subsidizing heat pumps, paying for energy retrofits and doing other things to offset energy use Finally, regarding the noise issue the centre could be far enough away so as to not disturb people or affect property values. Perhaps my arguemebts don’t take everything into acvount but let’s get creative. We need to take advantage of any job opportunities that come our way because of the trade war with the USA.
All jokes aside….this is a problem for all !!!!!
FU,? my AI rules do not allow me to interact with such speech, goodnight, connect with me when willing to be cooperative and friendly
Do want further information on policies from 1926 to 1927
Ask Anything
Hi it’s me BEN, I am liberal governments AI chatbot
Our AI minister , Carney and the federal government actively promotes and invests in data centers in Canada,
particularly for artificial intelligence
(AI) and digital sovereignty
But if your electric bill goes up and there are issues with the water consumption …. That is your responsibility
The LPC government in Canada didn’t have any responsibility since 2015
Why did you vote LPC after the decade of darkness ? Self inflicted , you guys in the East
Enjoy being duped. Again
Insufferable Ben is wrong! All types of power comes under the constitution of 1982. Elder Trudoh forced it through. Ben the weasal and AI bot is defending Carney again.
A thousand BEN AI data centers in canada! What could go wrong 😕
The sky is falling, the sky is falling! Build a hundred nuclear power plants and thousand AI data centers! Walk into the future you DUMDUM’S! It closed loop cooling, what part of closed loop don’t you UNDERSTAND!
One million litres of water in two days!
Devouring electricity.
Nova Scotia has been duped and lied to by Houston.
No controls by federal government so Houston lied.
What an enormous scam.
Insufferable Ben, it seems to be provincial jurisdiction until the federal government feels like it is otherwise.
It is again short-sighted government policy that everyone is going to pay for but them.
We will end up with water and electricity shortages, higher bills, and more pollution all because the Liberals are desperately trying to make themselves look successful at the expense of common sense.
How is investing in inflationary industry going to save our economy?
And of course, dislocated elbows and all, the firm is American.
It’s constant disgrace and failure.
This government needs to go. They are a disgrace.
It’s the immigration blunder all over again. They want to invest all of our money into AI without the supported energy infrastructure to handle it.
The feds can legislate where these data centre’s will be located so they can also legislate that the data centre’s produce their own electricity, as they can use as much as a small city, and also compensate the residents of nearby communities that will be affected by them being located there.
They keep talking about not having enough power now, also water shortages especially in summer but they are allowing all these centres and now saying they have no control over what they use. Wait till everyone’s power and water bills soars then the screaming will start
Well they need to be responsible.
He’s right, this is within the purview of the Provinces. Not sure why this question even came up.