What is your position on data centres in New Tecumseth ?

Data centers are becoming an area of contention for many communities. We have a number of issues to consider. We also have to differentiate between "large A.I. computational data centers and stand alone data centers used to amalgamate information. Each will use large volumes of electricity, but they use water differently. Here is a good link: https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/data-centers-and-water-consumption

Many jurisdictions, rightly or wrongly, consider the creation of Data centers as "near existential importance", citing that loosing ground to China, which is quickly building out their data center infrastructure, may weaken the ability to counteract A.I. supported interests (industry, technology, military). This is more of an American-centric idea as it seems to be difficult to find information which is Canadian-centric. Unfortunately, the bandwagon will fill up quickly if other jurisdictions adapt such concerns. There is still much opacity regarding how A.I works.

In the Ohio model, municipal laws were essentially rewritten to favor data center construction. In the Ohio model, laws were written to encourage "public-private" partnerships, essentially allowing Data Centre corporations (the owners) to use public pension dollars to fund construction. The question: "If the data center looses money, will those public funds be returned to the pension fund?" has not been answered. I am not suggesting that a Canadian center would try to use similar financing models as American centers, but the move towards using public fund as "an investment pool" in data centers which will be controlled by a handful of corporations is concerning.

This is an excerpt "Public concern spiked globally and locally following statements from financial executives (including BlackRock's CEO) indicating that ordinary citizens' long-term retirement accounts and public pensions would serve as the foundational capital to build out the massive power infrastructure required for AI data centers. [1] (Citation-Yahoo finance)

The centers also use a considerable amount of water, raising concerns about rising water supply costs for the public, available, pollution. However, most systems are closed-loop so the concern over water usage is still questionable. Over the last decade (or more), there have been increasing concerns over the privatization of water supplies, with interested parties citing the "need to protect and conserve water supplies". The concern is that once water supplies are privatized and managed, public rights to water will deteriorate, as a corporation lawful obligation is to the shareholder. THIS IS AN OPINION, but you can research "Ohio data centers", "privatization of water supplies".

If the water usage is a critical issue, to mitigate water needs, it would be economical for data center interests to consider building water desalinization plants on each of the coasts (U.S. in this example). Much of the Middle east draws its water from desalinization plants. This is unlikely as corporate interests will always feed off of the closest and easiest to reach food source.

In short, no. I would consider a data center mostly beneficial due to the employment it will bring, but if we are already struggling with infrastructure costs and water supply, how would it even be possible?

I agree — we don't have the water or electrical grid resources to support data centres in New Tecumseth.

I am cautious about data centres as I do not fully understand the impact they can have on a community. I would need to see the details of any proposal before supporting one in New Tecumseth.

We need to attract new investment and diversify our employment base, and data centres could potentially be part of that. But I don't believe we should give up valuable employment lands or water capacity simply because a development represents a large investment.

I would want to understand how many permanent local jobs would actually be created, what the economic benefit to New Tecumseth would be, and what demands the facility would place on electricity, water and wastewater infrastructure. Noise, heat, environmental impacts, location and compatibility with surrounding properties would also need to be considered.

If a data centre brings meaningful investment, jobs and assessment growth without placing an unreasonable burden on our infrastructure, environment or residents, then I would consider it. If the costs and impacts outweigh the local benefits, I would not support it.

They are a bad idea as they use lots of water (which we don't have) and give very little back to the community.

I really don't think this is a possibility here due to our water situation. If the water situation was solved then we would also need to create an energy source here for them rather than pull off the grid. Solar farms (do we have the space?), wind mills (do we have the space?).

I do love progress, but value the environment more. Until the environmental challenges related to water use and other effects, It is difficult to support the idea at the moment.

The supply restrictions of the necessary hardware make it very unlikely that we need to worry about one anytime soon. However that presents us with an opportunity to pivot into a growth industry. Can we find talent to go high tech?