The City of Mississauga has unanimously voted to approve a one-year moratorium on the development of digital infrastructure projects, including AI data centres.
Councillors convened on Wednesday to vote on the matter and are now “undertaking a comprehensive review” of the potential impacts of these facilities on local economy, infrastructure, environment and more. While this vote includes a one-year pause on AI data centres, the city says staff could vote to extend the pause for an additional year if they deem that more time is needed. Throughout this whole process, the city also promised that there will be opportunities for the public to provide input.
Notably, this makes Mississauga the first major Canadian city to enact a moratorium on data centres. In Hamilton, a similar motion was ultimately vetoed last month. Otherwise, we’ve seen various small Canadian municipalities, including some in Alberta, that have voted to delay data centres.
Mississauga’s data centre pause follows a proposal from Prologis to construct a 220,000 sq. ft. new data facility in Meadowvale beside Lisgar Go Station, which soon led to public protests. In general, there has been large outcry against data centres around the world due to their significant and wide-ranging environmental impacts, from heavy water consumption to major carbon emissions.
Image credit: City of Mississauga
Source: City of Mississauga
