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Artificial Intelligence

Official text

2 statements

Heather McPherson

NDP

Linked statement

“AI data centres hurt the environment, our communities, and our power grid. American tech companies are coming here for cheap power, water, and public money. I want the Prime Minister to promise that Canadian families will not pay higher power bills to help big tech.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is pushing a massive expansion of AI, but data centres powering it come at a cost to our environment, our communities and our electrical grid. Americans overwhelmingly voted to put a pause on these projects, demanding protections for their communities. American tech giants are coming to Canada. They are looking for cheap water, power and public subsidies. Will the Prime Minister guarantee that Canadian families will not see their electricity bills increase to subsidize big tech?

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Evan Solomon

Liberal
“Provinces approve permits for data centres, not the federal government. But we have guidelines to make sure they are built responsibly. They must not raise costs for power users, must use water and energy carefully, must invest in local communities, and must be open about what they do.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague knows, permitting for data centres is the purview of the provinces. However, the federal government has come forward with key principles of responsible data centre construction, which include making sure ratepayers never get impacted from a data centre, the responsible use of water and energy, investment in local communities, and transparent ways to monitor these things. We are going to build the economy of the future the right way: responsibly and with communities involved.

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