Episode
The resistance to AI data centres in Canada
- Podcast
- The Decibel
- Published
- Jul 20, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1529
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://www.theglobeandmail.com/podcasts/the-decibel/
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-decibel-3326560/episodes/the-resistance-to-ai-data-centres-in-canada/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-decibel-3326560/the-resistance-to-ai-data-centres-in-canada.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
There are several development projects underway for AI data centres in Canada, with plans for many, many more. The Canadian government is behind these projects as it tries to encourage Canadians to adopt the technology and increase Canada’s digital sovereignty by housing data within our borders. But there is a lot of opposition to these data centres from the communities where they’d be built, including in Hamilton, and Île-des-Chênes, Man. Residents worry about the facilities’ water use, power use and environmental impacts. Today, The Globe’s national reporter Joe Friesen tells us about the projects slated for development in Canada, why so many have faced public backlash, and the balance the government has to strike in deciding how and whether to build these centres in Canada.