Canadians don’t often agree about a lot of things, but they seem to when it comes to data centres , with a majority opposing large buildouts just as construction begins across the country, according to a new poll by the Angus Reid Institute.

The poll, conducted Sept. 8 to 16 among about 4,400 adults, said 64 per cent think their provincial governments should limit large data centre proliferation, while 18 per cent said governments should encourage it.

Opposition to data centres in Alberta and Saskatchewan , where projects are underway or proposed, stands at 64 per cent and 70 per cent, respectively, but the greatest level of opposition was 72 per cent in Manitoba and the Atlantic region.

Opposition in Quebec was the lowest at 50 per cent, which Angus Reid attributed to the province’s established artificial intelligence research and technology sectors.

About half of those opposed cited water usage as their prime concern, followed by electricity consumption and the fear that higher costs for power will fall onto households and businesses. They also believe data centres will mostly benefit the companies that own them, not the local communities.

Those who support data centres cite the expected economic benefits, including jobs, and increased Canadian competitiveness in AI.

Elsewhere, 70 per cent of Americans oppose the construction of a data centre in their local community, citing water usage and electricity costs, the environment and the effects of the centre on the local quality of life, according to a Gallup Inc. poll earlier this year.

“Overcoming this opposition stands as a major hurdle in the expansion of AI computing,” Gallup said.

Another hurdle in Canada is that some municipal governments are voting on moratoriums for data centre construction.

But Prime Minister Mark Carne y has pledged to make Canada a global player in AI.

The federal government in June released its national AI strategy , called AI for All, which forecasts global data centre electricity demand to more than double by 2030.

It said Canada is a natural to serve that demand given a “clean, predictable electricity grid” and “a northern climate that reduces the cost and energy intensity of cooling data centres.” The government has also pledged $2 billion in investments for Canadian AI compute capacity.

But the data centre buildout is just ramping up in Canada.

Meta Platforms Inc. has started constructing a $13-billion data centre just north of Edmonton that also includes its own natural-gas power plant, while BCE Inc. is seeking to expand its Saskatchewan artificial intelligence data centre campus, an investment reportedly worth $52.5 billion.

A series of large data-centre proposals, however, were highlighted at the Canada Investment Summit last month, including a potential $14.5-billion campus in Alberta by Norway-headquartered BW Velora.

Ottawa last month released its responsible data centre principles , which say new data centres must include “lasting benefit” for local communities, must not offload electricity costs onto Canadians and must minimize water use and environmental impacts.

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Today’s Posthaste was written by Gigi Suhanic with additional reporting from Financial Post staff and Bloomberg.

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