Canada issues five voluntary data centre rules; AI giants sign

AI Minister Evan Solomon unveiled Canada's Responsible Data Centre Development Principles in Markham, Ont. on September 3, a five-point 'national framework' the federal government is asking data centre builders to follow voluntarily, CBC News reported. Amazon Web Services, Anthropic, Google, Bell, Cohere, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and Telus signed on. Rogers, among the major Canadian carriers, did not.

The framework asks projects to create lasting local benefits, not shift electricity costs to Canadians, minimize water use and environmental impacts, be transparent about local impacts, and bring strategic value to Canada. Growth 'cannot come at the expense of host communities, whether through higher electricity bills, pressure on local water supplies or limited local benefits,' the government statement notes. 'If you build in Canada, you must build responsibly and transparently and you must build for Canadians,' Solomon said.

The principles are 'entirely voluntary' and 'not binding in any way'. Solomon acknowledged Ottawa doesn't have 'the jurisdiction' to enforce them, and said monitoring falls to municipalities and provinces. The pledge lands on a wary public: Angus Reid polling cited in the coverage puts roughly two-thirds of Canadians against data centres near their homes, and 67% told pollsters they are nervous about AI, 17 points above the international average. Canada currently has four active AI-specific data centres, with 49 more announced or under construction. Two AI experts in our Who's Who directory shared the CBC piece.