What to know
- Oakville has become the first Ontario municipality to pause new data centre development for one-year.
- The moratorium will allow the town to study potential impacts on electricity, water, noise, emissions, infrastructure and residents.
- Council says the pause is not a permanent ban, but a chance to review and update planning and zoning rules.
- The move comes as data centres rapidly expand alongside AI, raising questions about whether other municipalities, including Toronto, could follow.
Oakville has now led the province in being the first municipality to pause the development of new data centres, as the city looks into the impacts the technology would have on the environment and livability of the area. Could Toronto be next to follow suit?
On Tuesday, Oakville council passed an interim control bylaw that would pause the development of new data centres, enterprise computing facilities and some high-intensity processing facilities for one year.
In Ontario, municipalities can use an interim control by-law to restrict land uses while completing a land use planning study, of up to one year, with the ability to extend to two years.
This one-year moratorium will allow the town to assess Oakville’s Official Plan policies and zoning regulations, to determine what needs to be implemented in future projects, and to allow sustainable function without environmental harm.
What will Oakville study during the one-year pause?
The town will examine potential impacts involving:
- electricity demand;
- water use;
- telecommunications infrastructure;
- noise and vibration;
- emissions;
- land use;
- municipal infrastructure;
- environmental goals;
- public health/community impacts.
Ward 6 councillor Tom Adams told council the town hopes to see how data centres interact with electricity, water, telecommunications infrastructure, environmental goals, and the health of Oakville residents.
“Further study is not only appropriate, it’s responsible,” he said.
In a news release, Adams added the move was for the town’s future.
“This one-year moratorium gives us the time to do the necessary work and ensure future decisions are made in the best interests of Oakville,” he stated.
The decision follows a Mayoral Direction that was issued on July 21 by Mayor Rob Burton, as well as a staff memo received by Council on Monday that outlined the infrastructure, environmental, legislative, economic impact, as well as municipal policy considerations that would come with any future data centre development in Oakville.
Canada’s AI growth
The pause comes as data centres continue to grow with the improvements in artificial intelligence.
National Resources Canada expects the growth to increase the use of data centres to consume energy sources, such as around 1 to 1.4 per cent of the electricity used worldwide.
In an email to Now Toronto, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon’s office stated that although Solomon supports the development of data centres, he acknowledges planning studies to be important to ensure the large facilities don’t greatly impact the environment.
“Data centres are essential to Canada’s digital sovereignty and our ability to develop and deploy AI under Canadian laws and standards. But how they are built matters,” they stated.
“…We recognize that data centre proposals can raise legitimate concerns about electricity demand, water use, noise, emissions and local impacts. Those concerns should be addressed through municipal planning, provincial review and utility allocation processes, supported by early and transparent engagement with local communities.”
They added they support Oakville’s responsibility to look into these potential impacts.
Many Canadians have spoken out about the use of data centres in the past, with the Council of Canadians having released a letter calling for moratoria across the nation on Aug. 4.
Just south of Oakville, Hamilton’s council voted against a temporary ban on the development of data centres in July. Toronto City Council passed a motion in the same month, asking Ontario’s government to establish a province-wide framework by early 2027 to manage the impacts of large AI data centres.
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As of now, Oakville does not have any large-scale data centres, and the town said it has not received a formal application for a new data centre recently, but that the moratorium is not intended to permanently ban data centres.
Instead, the town will determine whether the existing rules currently in place are effective or if they need to be realigned.
