Protecting Alberta’s economic future.
The Alberta NDP Caucus is proud to be the party of jobs and economic development. The UCP government has only listened to big tech as they jumped on the AI data centre bandwagon. They did not craft regulations to protect Albertans and ensure these centres include good jobs, utility affordability, investor certainty and environmental protection.
Good economic development must always meet three criteria:
- Community benefits for people including good, permanent jobs.
- Certainty for investors on what the approval’s regulatory process is.
- Project benefits must outweigh the financial and environmental costs.
The UCP government’s wild-west approach that waives impact assessments does not meet any of these criteria. With these criteria in mind, our caucus has conducted a series of province-wide town halls about the future of data centres. We have created a framework which the UCP government has failed to do.
We’ve heard loud and clear from citizens that they need certainty.
We are calling for a pause on data centre approvals until every project passes an impact assessment.
An impact assessment would include the following for data centre projects:
- Must have community benefit, including permanent jobs for Albertans
- Must be on the right land zoned for proper use with setbacks from homes
- Must minimize the use of fresh water
- Must not increase utility prices and must mitigate emissions
- Must have full lifecycle plans including end-of-life reclamation
- Must respect people’s privacy and contribute to Canada’s data sovereignty
- Must include meaningful consultation with nearby residences and businesses
Albertans raised these criteria in public consultations held in Sturgeon County, Red Deer, and provincewide in an online consultation and through website feedback. Our position reflects the volume and passion of public input that we’ve received.
