A protest sign can sometimes tell us more than a policy paper.
At a recent Vancouver rally against artificial intelligence data centres, the messages ranged from energy use to water, schools, Big Tech and the future of humanity. Some signs were funny. Some were bleak. All of them showed how quickly a technical infrastructure issue can become a symbol for everything people feel is going wrong.
That shouldn’t be dismissed. People have a right to ask hard questions when large new facilities are proposed in their city. Will they use too much power? Will they raise rates? Will they consume water? Will they create noise? Will they take land from housing? Will the benefits stay in Canada, or flow elsewhere?
Those are legitimate questions.
But a serious society should not stop at fear. Data centres are not a passing fad or a niche concern for technologists. They are the physical backbone of the digital economy. Every search, cloud file, online medical record, banking transaction and AI application relies on buildings full of servers, cooling systems, electrical equipment and skilled workers.
The cloud was never really in the sky. It has always been on the ground.
B.C.’s advantage is real, but not unlimited
British Columbia has a genuine opportunity. Our electricity grid is among the cleanest in North America. Our climate is favourable for cooling. We have strong universities, a growing technology sector and industrial expertise in power, construction, engineering and resource development.
That makes B.C. attractive for artificial intelligence and data infrastructure.
It also makes the province vulnerable to a new kind of scarcity, since clean electricity isn’t infinite. Every megawatt assigned to a data centre is a megawatt that can’t be used by a mine, a mill, a port, a hydrogen project, an LNG facility or a growing community unless we build more supply.
This is why the province and BC Hydro have moved to a competitive allocation process for large AI and data centre projects. That is the right instinct. First come, first served isn’t good enough when demand is rising quickly and the public grid is at stake.
The real test should be value per megawatt. Does a project create jobs? Does it strengthen Canadian data sovereignty? Does it pay its own way for grid upgrades? Does it reduce emissions elsewhere? Does it support Indigenous and local partnerships? Does it provide durable public benefit?
If the answer is yes, it deserves consideration. If the answer is no, it shouldn’t jump the queue.
The overlooked heat question
This is where Vancouver’s current debate becomes more interesting than the slogans suggest.
In a companion article, engineer Matthew Klippenstein explores one underappreciated possibility: data centres can produce useful heat. If designed properly and placed near district energy systems, the waste heat from servers can help warm nearby buildings. That can reduce natural gas use and cut urban emissions.
This matters in Vancouver.
The city already has district energy systems that move heat through underground pipes. The False Creek neighbourhood energy utility uses sewage heat recovery and already supplies low-carbon heat to parts of Southeast False Creek, Mount Pleasant and the False Creek Flats. Creative Energy’s downtown steam system has long supplied major buildings around the core.
A data centre connected to those systems can be part of an urban energy network, not just a box of machines..
That doesn’t make every proposal automatically good. The details matter. The public should know how much electricity will be used, how much heat can actually be recovered, how much natural gas will be displaced, what happens in summer, how cooling will work and who pays for the needed infrastructure.
But it does change the question.
Instead of asking only whether a data centre consumes energy, we should also ask whether it can help the city use energy better.
Western Canada faces different choices
The same debate is unfolding across Western Canada, but not always in the same form.
Alberta is actively courting AI data centres. Its strategy leans on natural gas, new generation, cooling advantages and the province’s desire to become a North American hub. That reflects Alberta’s strengths. It also raises different questions about emissions, gas-fired power, carbon capture, water use and who pays for grid reliability.
Saskatchewan and Manitoba will face their own versions of the same issue. So will northern and rural communities where land may be available but transmission is limited.
This isn’t a simple contest between “urban” and “rural,” or between “technology” and “resources.” Data centres depend on the resource economy. They need power lines, transformers, concrete, steel, natural gas backup in some jurisdictions, skilled trades, cooling systems and land. They depend on the people who build and maintain real things.
Canada can’t claim to be a digital country while pretending the digital economy has no physical footprint.
A better test for saying yes
Resource Works exists not to cheerlead every project, but to insist on a more honest conversation about prosperity, energy, and the people who make both possible.
For data centres, that means five tests.
First, they must pay their own way. Ratepayers should not carry hidden costs for private projects.
Second, they must bring measurable value. Jobs, Canadian data control, research capacity, industrial innovation and local procurement should count.
Third, they must use energy intelligently. Waste heat recovery, flexible demand, clean power contracts, efficient cooling and transparent reporting should be expected, not treated as public relations.
Fourth, they must respect host communities. Noise, design, water use, emergency planning and neighbourhood impacts need clear answers before shovels go in the ground.
Fifth, they must fit into a broader energy plan. B.C. can’t electrify everything, attract new industry and meet housing growth without building more generation and transmission.
That is the part many debates avoid. Saying no to data centres will not eliminate AI. It will simply move the infrastructure somewhere else, often to jurisdictions with dirtier grids and weaker public oversight.
Saying yes without conditions would be just as irresponsible.
The better answer is yes, when a project earns it.
The future needs infrastructure
The signs at the protest captured a real anxiety. People feel technology is moving faster than democracy, faster than planning and faster than trust.
The cure is a clear public standard. British Columbia should welcome data centres that strengthen sovereignty, support communities, protect affordability, reduce emissions and create opportunities for the workers who make modern life possible.
The future will not be built by slogans. It will be built by people who know how to connect ambition to infrastructure.
That is the conversation B.C. should be having now.
Stewart Muir is the president and CEO of Resource Works Society.
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