Oakville has put a one-year hold on new data centres, making it the first municipality in Ontario to take such action as local officials address concerns related to the rise of facilities supporting artificial intelligence.
Councillors also instructed staff to examine whether the town’s regulations need updating to tackle possible noise, vibration, and emissions issues from data centres, along with wider land-use considerations.
“We’re operating here not out of fear, and not in reaction to any one application,” said Mayor Rob Burton before the unanimous vote favoring the moratorium at a special town council meeting on Tuesday.
“That’s our job: to be alert, and to take the measures necessary.”
Oakville’s moratorium comes as nearby Mississauga prepares for a vote next month on its own pause while other municipalities across Ontario explore ways to regulate these new developments.
Although Oakville officials state that there are no formal applications for data centres, developer Hive Digital Technologies announced plans in May for a 320-megawatt AI facility in the Greater Toronto Area expected in late 2027.
Land records show that a Hive subsidiary bought property in Oakville just days before making that announcement.
The councillor representing the area where that property is situated supported Oakville’s moratorium plan. Coun. Tom Adams described the study of data centres as “not only appropriate but responsible.”
“Oakville deserves a clear, evidence-based understanding of how data centres interact with our electricity, our water, our wastewater and our telecommunications infrastructure.. and, most importantly, the health of our residents,” Adams told a council meeting this week.
In a statement, a Hive spokesperson didn’t specifically address the moratorium but acknowledged Oakville’s “right to develop a planning framework for data centre development.”
“We remain committed to Oakville and to earning the community’s trust through openness and transparency,” spokesperson Nathan Fast said in an email.
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The AI data centre boom is coming to Canada and cooling the technology will require massive amounts of clean water. For The National, CBC’s Jonathan Montpetit dives into the consumption and uncovers a murky business with little oversight.
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The AI data centre boom is coming to Canada – and it’s thirsty
The AI data centre boom is coming to Canada and cooling the technology will require massive amounts of clean water. For The National, CBC’s Jonathan Montpetit dives into the consumption and uncovers a murky business with little oversight.
Other municipalities looking into moratoriums
Competition among big tech companies like Open AI, Anthropic, Microsoft and Google has created a surge in demand for energy-hungry data centres filled with powerful computer chips used for training and running increasingly complex AI models. Canada currently has only a few large hyperscale data centres but many more are planned. In July, Meta revealed plans for a one-gigawatt data centre in Alberta that will be powered by a new gas plant. Hamilton was the first municipality in Ontario to vote on a proposed data centre moratorium; however it did not pass. Mississauga will consider its proposed pause next month. Meanwhile, Waterloo Region voted Tuesday directing staff to investigate potential impacts from data centres while advocating for provincial guidelines on assessing and managing proposed developments. Toronto city council passed similar motions last month.Source link
