Manitoba Rejects Large-Scale AI Data Centre Near Winnipeg for Environmental Reasons

The construction of an artificial intelligence data centre on a 141-hectare tract of farmland southeast of Winnipeg will not proceed, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says.

The immense scale of the project, the energy it will require, and its effects on the community of Île-des-Chênes outweigh the benefits, Kinew told reporters at the Manitoba legislature.

“There’s a big threat to the environment and not much benefit to the economy,” Kinew said at a June 4 press conference.

He said he has reservations about future demand for such large-scale centres, considering the advancements in computing.

“I reject the idea that we have to be slaves to surveillance capitalism in order to participate in the modern economy, and so the message to any company out there should be, if you want to have a thoughtful, human-centred approach to technology, come to Manitoba, because that’s what we’re interested in,” Kinew said. “We’re not going to move ahead.”

U.S.-based Jet.AI and British Columbia-based Consensus Core Technologies were planning to build a “350-acre contiguous campus” primarily fuelled by natural gas turbines near Île-des-Chênes.

Kinew said the amount of natural gas required to operate the facility was “part of the analysis” that led the government to reject it.

Purchase agreements for 142 hectares of land have been secured in Île-des-Chênes for the project, the firms have said, but provincial approval is necessary for the project to move ahead. Île-des-Chênes is a predominantly French-speaking bedroom community in the rural municipality of Ritchot, 15 minutes south of Winnipeg along Highway 59.

Wayne Lloyd, CEO of Vancouver-based Consensus Core Technologies, said in a media statement that the tech and infrastructure firm is reviewing the premier’s remarks and anticipates a “robust engagement process” with the Manitoba government.

Consensus specializes in high-performance GPU cloud services and the development of hyperscale data centres for artificial intelligence. The company provides physical and digital infrastructure for training and deploying advanced AI models.

The company’s website says its Manitoba project was “selected for near-term power access,” on a site adjacent to major electrical and regional utility infrastructure to offer a “rapid path to capital-efficient deployment.”

The project would not rely on the provincial power grid, however, because it would “independently generate and store its own energy,” Lloyd said, adding that it would bring jobs and economic benefits to the area.

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

Jet.AI was unavailable for comment before publication, but both companies have said the Manitoba project has the potential to expand into the hundreds of megawatts.

Kinew, however, expressed skepticism regarding the advantages. He said that, once the construction phase of the project concludes, he does not foresee much benefit to the economy.

“In fact, most of the economic benefit probably leaves the province,” he said.

Meanwhile, the federal government’s artificial intelligence strategy, released June 4, calls for the development of large-scale data centres in Canada capable of scaling to at least 100 megawatts, with partnerships currently being finalized expected to add 850 megawatts of computing capacity by 2030.

Project Opposition

An online petition is underway to oppose the Manitoba project, citing negative impacts on the community such as increased noise as well as light and air pollution. It had gathered more than 13,500 signatures as of June 5.

The petition was started by resident Christie Little, who lives near the proposed site of the AI data campus.

“The construction and operation of this massive AI Data campus threatens to bring significant negative impacts to our tranquil lives,” Little wrote in the petition. “The anticipated air pollution from turbines, & back up generators, constant noise pollution from the humming of the 24/7 facility operations, and light pollution will drastically disrupt our daily lives. Not to mention, this development jeopardizes the preservation of our precious farmland, a cornerstone of our local economy and environmental health.”

Climate Action Team Manitoba, a coalition of environmental and community non-profit organizations, said in a post written this spring that the proposed Jet.AI and Consensus Core facility would rank as “one of the largest polluters in the province.”

The post goes on to say that such huge AI facilities “threaten Manitoba’s clean energy future.”

Kinew said Manitoba has established AI data centres and intends to develop more, but he emphasized that hyperscale operations are not of interest to the province.

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

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.