Given the broad opposition to AI data centres Alberta’s governing United Conservatives are committed to ramming through rural areas, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Premier Danielle Smith avoided the in-person town halls held in Lacombe and Redwater earlier this month.
Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish was dispatched to face the angry crowds of a demographic that is otherwise overwhelmingly supportive of the UCP.
Glubish was remarkably glib in response to questions from concerned citizens at the Aug. 20 town hall in Redwater — located in Sturgeon County, where Meta is already building a one gigawatt data centre with the government’s blessing — which I covered for Canada’s National Observer.
Some highlights:
“If we have a choice between 300 jobs and zero jobs, I'm taking 300 jobs all day long.”
“I’m sorry to hear that you have such a jaded view of the government.”
“’If you believe that there is a risk due to AI companies being overinflated in values, you are free to choose not to invest in them.”
The premier would never.
Indeed, there was none of Glubish’s condescension at Thursday’s audio-only virtual town hall on AI data centres.
The format, with moderator Justin Wright — one of the province’s several health ministers — able to filter questions submitted online and over the phone, was familiar territory for the current host of Your Province, Your Premier and former host of the Danielle Smith Show.
From her opening remarks, the premier displayed the empathetic facade at which she is so adept, using it to sell a prepackaged policy agenda on data centres and more.
“I understand why you have some concerns. These are very, very big projects, and I think that you want to know what impact they will have,” said Smith.
“I’m really hopeful that you will share with us anything that you think we're missing as we look to ensure that we have a regulatory environment that covers all of your concerns.”
An early question was whether hiring for data centres will put “Albertans first.”
“I'm with you,” responded Smith. “It's part of the reason why we have some referendum questions on Oct. 19 asking Albertans if they agree that we should take control over our immigration policy so that we can do exactly as you ask.”
Glubish and Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams, who were also in attendance, hewed closely to their talking points when Wright called on them to answer questions.
“The key thing is this Meta project is a good example of what a responsible project looks like,” Glubish said in response to a question about who will pay the cost of the pipelines that will deliver gas to the data centre, which the minister emphasized would be funded by Meta.
“The fact is, these companies don't need a subsidy, whether it be from the government or whether it be indirectly through Alberta citizens.”
A man named Terry asked what plans are in place for the data centres once they reach the end of their lives, likening them to the 77,869 inactive oil and gas wells strewn across land in rural Alberta.
“I just don't want to see orphaned industrial sites all through Alberta,” he added.
Smith acknowledged that data centres are expected to become obsolete every few years, “because of the powerful chips and computers that they have keep on changing.”
“You're going to see a constant renewal of what is in those warehouses,” she said. “But warehouses can be used for anything.”
Smith used the opportunity to hawk her government’s stringent reclamation requirements for renewable energy projects, comparing warehouses favourably to a “wind turbine out in a farmer's field [that] has a lot of cement at the base of it[,] a lot of steel [and] fibreglass blades that have to be removed.”
All those materials, of course, exist on a much larger scale in a warehouse.
Bridget Lemieux inquired about an analysis the Pembina Institute released on Wednesday estimating that the Meta data centre could increase Albertans’ power bills upwards of $460 a year between 2027 and 2031 as it draws on electricity from the grid.
Smith said that the potential impact on electricity demand is the reason AI companies are being required to build their own power plants for the data centres.
For the Meta project, the $4.6-billion Greenlight Electricity Centre isn’t expected to be operational until 2031.
As Rory White reported for Canada’s National Observer last month, executives at private utility companies TransAlta and Capital Power are boasting that they expect electricity prices to triple in the next couple years
Electricity consumers in Alberta are able to choose to sign up for a market-based or fixed rate. Smith recommended the latter “if you want some certainty in your power bills.” Otherwise, you’re on your own.
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When a caller named Kathy inquired about the risk to pensioners whose funds are invested in AI speculation, Smith urged her to look on the bright side.
Ignoring the substance of Kathy’s question, Smith cited money that Meta has poured into Richland Parish, Louisiana, after building the Hyperion AI data centre, including a $50,000 bonus for some teachers.
Conveniently ignored by the premier was $10 billion in tax breaks the state provided the tech giant in order to get the private data centre built on public land, which as Glubish emphasized in seemingly every answer he gave, Alberta’s government isn’t doing.
“I know that there are always examples out there of how projects have caused some harm,” said Smith.
“But I would encourage you to look at what Meta has learned and how they're speaking with us about the kind of benefits that they want to bring to Sturgeon County.”
With Thursday’s stage-managed production, Smith provided a masterclass in spin. The unanswered question is whether that will be sufficient to quell the burgeoning data centre backlash.
On the same day of the virtual government town hall, the province’s Official Opposition finally unveiled its focus-group tested position on data centres.
It turns out it was the position data centre critics have been requesting all along — an immediate pause on data centre approvals until the appropriate regulatory framework can be established.
"Instead of consulting Albertans and carefully evaluating the impacts of AI data centres, it is rushing ahead with a plan that could leave Albertans paying the costs while foreign corporations benefit,” Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi said in an Aug. 26 statement.
Nenshi, naturally, couldn’t help but note his accomplishment as Calgary mayor in having “attracted billions of dollars of investment and thousands of good jobs” to the city.
“What the UCP is doing is not good for economic development; it actually puts jobs at risk," he added without elaboration.
The party is touting its AI Data Centre Blueprint, which outlines seven conditions under which data centres ought to be approved:
Must have community benefit, including permanent jobs for Albertans
Must be on the right land zoned for proper use with setbacks from homes
Must minimize the use of fresh water
Must not increase utility prices and must mitigate emissions
Must have full lifecycle plans including end-of-life reclamation
Must respect people’s privacy and contribute to Canada’s data sovereignty
Must include meaningful consultation with nearby residences and businesses
All these are fair enough, I suppose. They would at least serve to slow down AI’s penetration of every aspect of our lives without our consent and reduce its environmental and financial toll.
But the question in my mind is what took the Alberta NDP so long?
The Official Opposition grumbles that its August series of AI data centre town halls was announced before the government put theirs together at the last minute, accusing the UCP of being copycats.
But in the grand scheme of things, the NDP’s town halls weren’t announced much sooner than the government’s.
The key distinction isn’t timing, it’s that the government is using a performative listening tour to forge a consensus in support of its predetermined agenda, whereas the opposition went on a listening tour to justify taking the most obvious, safest position imaginable.
It’s no secret that widespread skepticism of data centres stems largely from the cavalier fashion in which the provincial government is approving these projects with no safeguards, making Alberta home to 90% of proposed data centre capacity in Canada.
Where was the Alberta NDP when the data centre backlash, with its cross-partisan appeal, was brewing months ago?
While Nenshi complains that the government “isn’t doing its job” on data centres, his own approach to this file suggests they aren’t the only ones.
One last thing …
My new book, Dark Phoenix: The Rise, Fall, and Re-emergence of Danielle Smith comes out Oct. 13.
If you like my commentary on Alberta politics, I want to encourage you to preorder the book. Preorders are immensely valuable in helping a book’s first week sales, signalling its prominence to booksellers and media and helping it reach more readers.
You can preorder Dark Phoenix to your local independent bookstore on Dundurn Press’s website. You can also preorder it from Amazon or Indigo, which both have it on sale, if that’s your thing.
If you live in Edmonton, I’ll be celebrating the book’s release at the Aviary on Oct. 13, where I’ll be speaking to independent journalist and MacEwan University professor Danielle Paradis on stage.
Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door, and include a copy of the book. You can buy them here.