A majority of Canadians favour limiting the development of large data centres in their provinces, citing water consumption, electricity costs, and the benefits flowing to large tech firms as top concerns, according to a recent Angus Reid poll.
The survey, released Oct. 7, indicated that 64 percent of Canadians want their provincial governments to limit large data centre development, compared to 18 percent who say their governments should encourage building more such infrastructure. Meanwhile, the remaining 18 percent said they are unsure or “can’t say” on the issue.
Among the provinces, Manitoba and the Atlantic Canada provinces responded with the strongest opposition (both jurisdictions at 72 percent), with residents saying their governments should limit building or proposing more data centres to support artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and other digital services….