Residents seek moratorium on Toronto data centres, as Mississauga approves pause

Like many Canadian cities, Saskatoon is considering whether large AI data centres have a place. Saskatoon city councillor Scott Ford wants administration to do the legwork. TORONTO - Some Toronto residents are demanding a one-year moratorium on two proposed data centre projects, as a neighbouring city has voted to block any such new developments for a year.

Councillors in Mississauga, Ont., voted Wednesday in favour of a data centre moratorium while the city studies their impact and how they would be regulated. The city will also consult residents, Indigenous Peoples and the industry. On the same day, protesters gathered outside Toronto City Hall ahead of a multi-day council meeting that’s expected to weigh motions seeking a closer look at the impacts of two data centre projects in the city’s Etobicoke and Scarborough areas.

Chanting and holding up signs, demonstrators emphasized the climate implications of the proposed data centre projects, especially as Toronto has been enduring climate change-driven heat waves and heavy smoke from wildfires in recent weeks. Lubaba Gemma said temperatures were scorching the day she attended a community meeting for the east Toronto project, and the company didn’t show up to answer residents’ questions. “We don’t have any clarity on whether there are any economic benefits,” Gemma said.

“Rather, we’ve seen a private developer can come in and make a private contract with the city without consultation from the community.” Another protester, Diane Holmlund, said she wasn’t familiar with how data centres operate until development began in her Scarborough neighbourhood. Now, Holmlund said she has grown increasingly concerned about the energy implications of a data centre expansion. “It’s inexcusable with no consultation from the community,” said Holmlund, a retired therapist.

“Nobody knows anything about how they will impact people.” Related: Mississauga councillor wants pause on AI data centres as Toronto councillors grapple with proposed facilities Coun. Parthi Kandavel, who represents Scarborough Southwest, is asking the city to consider the possible environmental and noise impacts of the proposed STACK Infrastructure data centre expansion on Danforth Avenue. More than 100 residents turned up to a community meeting about the expansion, Kandavel said in his submission to city council, adding he wants clarity about the local jobs and tax benefits expected to come with the project.

Kandavel is also asking the city who would own the computing equipment, where data systems would be located and whether…