Hamilton city council rejects temporary pause on A.I. data centres
Hamilton City Council rejected a proposed one-year moratorium on new AI data centers, despite concerns over water and power usage. Protesters were present, and similar debates are occurring globally, including in US cities and New York State, which recently enacted a statewide moratorium.
Hamilton City Council rejected a one-year interim control bylaw that would have frozen new AI data center construction and major expansions in industrial zones. This decision came after councilors voted 10 to 6 against the proposed moratorium during a Wednesday afternoon meeting. Had it passed, Hamilton would have been the first Canadian city to enact such a specific pause to study land use and community impact.
A group of protesters opposed to AI data centers attended the meeting. Councilors in favor of the moratorium cited concerns over water and power usage, as well as potential pollution and vibrations. Conversely, those opposed expressed doubts about the moratorium's legal enforceability and worried about deterring billions in potential investment.
The debate highlights growing skepticism against AI data centers, not just in Canada but across North America and globally. Viet Vu, manager of economic research at DS, a public policy think tank at TMU, noted that the Hamilton case was unusual as the proposed supercomputer was for climate research by a university, not a hyperscaler like Meta, Amazon, or Google. Despite this, public opposition to AI data centers was significant enough for the city to consider the proposal seriously. New York State recently enacted the first state-wide moratorium on data centers in the US.