Ontario is opening the door for more AI data centres in the province.
Premier Doug Ford has unveiled a data centre playbook that will determine how centres are approved.
Ford feels Ontario needs to embrace the digital infrastructure expansion.
“We have two choices. We either do our own data centres and keep our own data sovereignty, or we let President Trump run us over as he has in other areas,” says Ford.
“I choose that we have data sovereignty. We protect Canada. We protect Ontario from the bully down south.”
Ford says they will do so without financial incentives to companies wanting to set up in Ontario.
He says there will also be measures that protect residents from rising hydro rates, caused by the high energy-consuming centres.
“Our framework will ensure data centers cover the full cost of their electricity usage, encouraging projects to build their own power generation, and establishing a separate rate class for large new data centers that is higher than the existing industrial rate programs for major electricity users,” says Ford
“So no costs are passed on to the hard-working Ontario families.”
Ford says only projects that bring real benefits and significant investment to the host communities will be considered.
He adds they must also meet Ontario’s environmental standards around water consumption and noise, with priority on those that are constructed with closed-loop systems that limit the amount of water used.
Most of the centres are located in southern Ontario, but some northwestern Ontario communities have also been eyed as possible locations for facilities in the future.
