Alberta NDP gather feedback on AI data centres from central Albertans during town hall

Nenshi said he and Ip came to listen to Albertans’ concerns and said the number of people in attendance not only in Red Deer but in their previous town halls, is evident of how much the topic means to the people of this province.

“We are here very genuinely because we want to hear what people are thinking about this issue because all of this has been thrown upon us without any public consultation,” Nenshi said, adding that he was thrown off by Premier Danielle Smith announcing the Meta data centre in Sturgeon County during the Calgary Stampede.

“That announcement did not have the impact the UCP thought it would have. Suddenly, they got more opposition than they got kudos. People had very legitimate questions, questions, by the way, that Albertans have been asking for nearly three years. What’s the process? What are the regulations? How does this entire thing work?”

Ip provided those in attendance with a brief rundown of how we got to this point with data centres.

In 2024, he said the provincial government announced their data centre strategy without doing any public consultation.

This led to the government announcing significant data centre projects such as the Synapse project in Olds and the Meta data centre in Sturgeon County.

“Frankly, there is, in my opinion, a lack of good process and regulation here. That’s very very clear,” Ip said. “Speaking to colleagues from Olds and from other places across this province, the government isn’t actually working in partnership with municipalities.”

Ip reported that, in 2026, the proposed amount of data centre capacity exceeds the capacity of Alberta’s entire grid. More specifically, there are currently 20 gigawatts of data centre projects proposed in Alberta; however, not all of them will be approved for construction. To put it in context, Alberta averaged 10.3 gigawatts of electricity.

He added that over 90 per cent of data centre capacity in the entire country is currently proposed in Alberta.

One citizen said his main concern was the emissions. He said it seems that many data centres have proposed to produce their own energy by burning fossil gas. He suggested that it would be a crime against the climate if they chose to do that.

Another attendee explained that it’s interesting that the province wants to pass these centres but won’t commit to clean energy like solar panels or windmills.

Janet expressed fears that one day the AI facilities that are being built could become obsolete. She asked who will pay to remove these facilities when they’re no longer needed? She hopes it doesn’t fall on the shoulders of Albertans.

Bev Toews, NDP candidate for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills said when the data centre was proposed in their community, many questions arose around the environmental, social, economic, and cultural impacts.

“People need explanations, and the government rolled out with no public consultation, resulting in confusion and left municipalities to research and evaluate the benefits all on our own,” Toews said.

“It has been an emotionally exhausting, stressful, and divisive process that’s now in its seventh month.”

One resident asked why these projects aren’t required to conduct environmental impact assessments before getting the green light. Ip said this is the case because the facilities aren’t considered new technology, so as a result, they aren’t required to do so.

Nenshi added that he believes a mistake the province makes in economic development is assuming farm land is expendable.

“There are eight billion mouths to feed in this world, and we sit on some of the best topsoil in the world,” he said.

An attendee brought up a concern that hadn’t previously been mentioned, which was potential health issues.

“The sound of low frequency is a lot of vibration… It will definitely affect the development of children,” she added.

Alberta resident named Caroline expressed doubts about a lack of regulation. She said she can’t put her support behind something that has little to no rules.

Brendan, who lives on his family farm near Bashaw, said he’s in the process of trying to prevent a data centre from going up near the community. Although it’s smaller in comparison to the one proposed in Olds, he said it’s been a frustrating process.

“Can’t say I’d be more pleased for a quarter section of solar panels or a quarter section of wind turbines. It’s all the further industrialization of the countryside that I’m just not in favour of,” he said. “The AI question seems pretty simple: just don’t use it. The number of people I talk to who are against data centres and then are using ChatGPT just casually is kind of mind-blowing to me… There’s a point where we have to say enough is enough.”

Josh from Red Deer expressed that he’s worried about what the government is doing to protect our data that’s being collected by the centres. He said they’re not doing anything to maintain these systems.

However, not everyone in attendance was against data centres. Ron expressed he’s in favour of data centres although he’s also in favour of public consultation and acknowledged the environmental concerns.

“I am a bit concerned that there seems to be an inherent belief that AI is absolutely terrible and I am a little concerned that some people get a lot of their information from venues like YouTube,” he said, arguing that YouTube videos aren’t reviewed for truth and accuracy.

He said the improvement made with AI has been phenomenal and recommended the public get their information from ChatGPT because it’s better than relying on YouTube.

Olds city councillor Chad Taylor was also in attendance and said a lot of concerns he’s heard from citizens include proximity to residents. He said a lot of residents question whether it’s safe to have a facility that generates so much power so close to residents. He said the utilities commission is currently looking into this.

He added that in addition to noise, concerns about emissions and pollution have also come up.

“Fear will grow where there’s no light shone on these issues,” he said.

(Image Credit: rdnewsNOW/Ian Gustafson)

AI Centres near Red Deer

There is currently an artificial intelligence data centre being built in Red Deer County that was designed as a waterless facility on a 120-acre site with its own heat and power plant.

According to the provincial government, the centre was approved by Red Deer County to be constructed in the 120-acre site at Blindman Industrial Park, north of Red Deer.

With its own heat and power plant, the site will include a nearly 10,800-square-foot modular data centre and a 5,000-square-foot administration building. Construction is expected to be completed in 2026.

Meanwhile, in 2025, artificial intelligence data centre developer Crusoe entered into a multi-year framework agreement with Kalina Distributed Power (KDP) to develop multiple AI data centres powered by natural gas power plants in Alberta.

This includes the Myers Energy Park, proposed along Northland Drive in north Red Deer.

rdnewsNOW reached out to Crusoe and the province but did not receive a reply before publishing.

We also reached out to the City of Red Deer and Red Deer County.

The city said they are aware of the project, which appears on the Alberta Major Projects website.

As a result, the city and county have contacted the province to clarify the information currently appearing on the website.

The city and the county have both indicated they have not received a development permit application for a data centre related to this project. The city also said they haven’t received a planning bylaw amendment application.

“Like many municipalities, the city periodically receives general investment inquiries through organizations such as Invest Alberta about potential development opportunities. These inquiries are exploratory and do not represent an approval, development application or confirmation that a project will proceed,” they wrote on their website. “Red Deer city council has not taken a position on data centres.”

Provincial data centre town halls

The Government of Alberta is set to host a town hall in Ponoka next week to provide information on AI data centre development throughout the province.

The event in Ponoka is set for Wednesday, Aug. 19 at the Ponoka Town Hall from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Those in attendance will have an opportunity to provide input and are asked to register for the town hall ahead of time. Those interested can do so at Alberta.ca.

The province also announced a new online information hub, which explains what data centres are, why they are being built here, the opportunities they create, how Alberta’s approach differs from other jurisdictions and the safeguards that protect Alberta’s electricity system, water resources, communities, and taxpayers.

The new online hub can be found by clicking here.

There will also be a virtual town hall with Premier Danielle Smith and Minister Nate Glubish on Aug. 27 from 6 – 7 p.m. You can register for it using the online hub.

Nenshi remarks

Nenshi met with local media before Wednesday’s event and said the United Conservative Party’s strategy on data centres was bizarre.

“They spent three years talking about the benefits of data centres; in fact, it’s their only economic development strategy outside of pipelines,” he said. “They didn’t spend any time actually setting up any regulations or rules. Danielle Smith now claims that the data centre outside of Olds, she didn’t know a thing about it, and it didn’t follow any of the processes. She’s the one who announced it.”

He accused the province of backtracking previous comments as opposition to the project has grown.

He added that even though the province has launched their own town halls, he doesn’t believe they’re interested in actually listening to Albertans.

“There’s no rules and no regulations. These giant projects that will use as much water as the city of Edmonton and as much electricity as the City of Calgary don’t have to go through an environmental assessment,” he said.

“I believe in cutting red tape, but that is way too much. Given that there are no rules in place, is the government planning on putting in rules after the horses left the barn?”

by Ian Gustafson

Alberta NDP gather feedback on AI data centres from central Albertans during town hall

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