Saskatchewan is introducing new requirements for data centres, with the province announcing that future facilities must be Canadian-owned and capable of supplying their own electricity.
The new framework is intended to protect Canadian data while ensuring that the growing demand from artificial intelligence and data infrastructure does not undermine the reliability of the province’s utility services.
Jeremy Harrison, Saskatchewan’s minister responsible for the Crown Investments Corporation, said the government has wanted Canadian companies to take the lead on data and AI infrastructure from the outset.
“We felt from the very, very beginning that it was important for Canadian companies to be the proponent companies for data and AI infrastructure,” Harrison told reporters.
He said the importance of data and AI security has become increasingly clear in recent weeks, arguing that it could eventually become as strategically significant to countries as energy security.
Under the new requirements, companies seeking approval to develop data centres in Saskatchewan will have to demonstrate relevant experience and show that their projects can generate significant employment. The province will also establish a centralized intake system through which proposed projects will be assessed for approval.
Harrison made the announcement at the construction site of Bell Canada’s $1.7-billion AI data centre outside Regina.
The project is currently under construction. Equipment was recently being moved around the site, while crews were also working on the framing of two of the facility’s four buildings.
Once completed, Bell’s facility is expected to become the largest Canadian-owned data centre in the country, with a power capacity of 300 megawatts.
The project has faced opposition from some nearby residents, who have expressed concerns about potential noise, water consumption and the amount of electricity required by the facility.
Bell’s data centre is not covered by the province’s newly announced framework because it will receive its electricity from Saskatchewan’s existing grid, operated by Crown utility SaskPower.
Asked why the government had not publicly introduced the framework before Bell’s project began construction, Harrison said the province had already been applying the principles behind the new requirements.
“Bell really was our partner right from the very beginning and we felt it was important to move quickly on this project,” Harrison said. “We had the ability to do it because power was available to allocate.”
He also said public feedback had played a role in shaping the framework and maintained that the province’s approach has broad support.
“I think there’s broad support for the direction we’re moving in,” Harrison said.
While acknowledging that Canadians have differing opinions about artificial intelligence, he argued that its continued growth is inevitable.
“People have different views on AI and that is legitimate. I think the reality, though, is AI is here to stay, AI is an important part of our lives today and it’s going to become increasingly more important.”
Bell addresses water concerns
John Watson, Bell’s group president, said during the announcement that the Regina-area data centre will not use groundwater.
Speaking to reporters later, Watson explained that the facility is expected to rely on a closed-loop cooling system, in which a fluid continuously circulates through the data centre to remove heat.
Watson said Bell is particularly concerned about what he described as misinformation surrounding the project’s water requirements.
“I think the big concern, and you could help me with this, is manage the misinformation. Every time I get in a cab here, everyone thinks that we’re going to use millions of litres of water,” Watson said.
Bell has brought additional personnel on board full time to communicate with the public, Watson said, adding that the company intends to use every opportunity available to explain how the facility will operate.
The project could also provide a potential source of excess heat for nearby communities and institutions.
Watson said Bell is planning a system that could allow the University of Regina and George Gordon First Nation to make use of excess heat generated by the facility’s processors.
Questions remain over project approval
The speed with which Bell’s data centre received approval has also generated concerns.
The facility is being developed in the Rural Municipality of Sherwood. A rezoning application was presented to the municipality’s council in February. The following month, the province and Bell jointly announced the data centre project.
Several days after that announcement, a majority of the municipality’s council members resigned for unspecified reasons.
The province subsequently appointed four members to the council in order to restore quorum. In April, the council approved the data centre.
Brittney Senger, the Opposition NDP’s critic for AI, said the Saskatchewan Party government is still failing to restore public trust over the project.
“Harrison claims that the Sask. Party has already been operating under these guidelines for months. If this were actually true, where was the transparency and accountability during the development of the Bell AI data centre project?” Senger said in a statement.
Data centres face opposition elsewhere in Canada
Saskatchewan is not the only province dealing with growing scrutiny over the development of large-scale data centres.
In Manitoba, Premier Wab Kinew announced in June that a major data centre proposed southeast of Winnipeg would not proceed because of its scale and the amount of energy it would require.
Alberta has also seen strong opposition, with residents attending town hall meetings in large numbers to voice concerns about proposed data centre developments.
Last month, technology company Meta announced plans for a $13-billion AI data centre north of Edmonton. The project is expected to be supplied by a $4.6-billion natural gas-fired power plant.
Harrison declined to comment on decisions made by other provinces.
Instead, he framed Saskatchewan’s approach as part of a broader national choice over where Canada’s future AI infrastructure will be developed.
“(AI infrastructure) can be here in Canada or it can be elsewhere. That is the question that we have in front of us and elsewhere would likely mean in the United States,” Harrison said.
“We choose Canada.”
