Premier pulls plug on proposed AI data centre

Premier Wab Kinew says a massive artificial intelligence data centre southeast of Winnipeg will not go ahead.

“The very limited economic benefits for this project do not outweigh the serious environmental concerns and the unique rural way of life that people in the region enjoy,” Kinew told reporters at the Manitoba legislature on Thursday.

The public should be skeptical about “hyperscale” data centres that are being proposed in many jurisdictions, he added.

“It’s very clear AI is transforming our economy and our society,” Kinew said. “But I think Manitobans want that to happen in a way where AI serves us and we’re not servants of AI.”

Las Vegas-based Jet.AI Inc. and Consensus Core Technologies Inc., a British Columbia firm, are hoping to build a data centre on a 350-acre tract of farmland north of Île-des-Chênes, in the Rural Municipality of Ritchot.

The companies say the project would be powered by natural gas turbines and scale up into the hundreds of megawatts.

Jet.AI did not respond to an interview request.

Consensus CEO Wayne Lloyd provided a statement, saying the company was reviewing the premier’s comments and looks forward to “a robust engagement process” with the Manitoba government.

He said the project doesn’t need power from the provincial grid and would provide benefits to the economy.

“It creates a significant amount of well-paying union jobs, both during and after construction,” Lloyd said. “It will also provide millions of dollars in annual local tax revenue that would directly fund major community benefits.”

Manitoba already has 10 data centres (nine in Winnipeg and one in Winkler), but none as large as the proposed Île-des-Chênes project. The hyperscale operations are a far different order of magnitude, according to Kinew.

The Manitoba government stores a lot of data — such as individual health information — in these centres, and will need to build more to increase the province’s compute (computational power) and ensure data sovereignty.

Kinew said the provincial government’s needs amount to one to 1.5 MW of computational power annually.

“Sovereign compute, independence and freedom from big American tech companies when it comes to your private information? Yes,” Kinew said. “But what that will look like is at a much different scale than this project that was proposed in Île-des-Chênes.”

Kinew said he’s heard both enthusiasm and apprehension when speaking about large-scale data centres with members of the province’s business community. “There’s a lot of excitement for what the potential economic benefits (are), but there’s also a lot of concern about tying up our available power in something that may not benefit the broader economy.”

Loren Remillard, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, noted Kinew made his announcement about the Île-des-Chênes data centre on the same day the federal government released its new national AI strategy.

“We, as a province, need to make sure that as we move forward, we’re doing so as part of a much more thoughtful strategy as to how we can support AI adoption and to what extent data centres will play into that locally,” Remillard said.

“That strategy also has to consider the hard, cold reality that data centres do require significant energy … This is not a reason not to do them. (It’s a factor) that needs to be considered thoughtfully.”

The head of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce agreed, adding Manitobans need to be educated on what’s involved in a data centre project so they can make decisions in the best interests of everyone in the province.

“The hope is that it’s not going to be a divisive issue and we’re going to see more projects going forward,” said Chuck Davidson, president and CEO.

The proposed data centre north of Île-des-Chênes drew concerns from residents, including Christie Little. She started a Change.org petition to stop the development that garnered more than 13,500 signatures.

“I’m shocked that our province … would even consider a project like this,” Little told the Free Press in March, a few weeks after creating the petition. “I get that (AI is) happening … At the same time, there’s zero reason why these AI data centres need to be popping up in and near towns and residences.”

— with files from Scott Billeck and The Canadian Press

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca