Open for signatureElectronice-7553 · Parliament 45

Apply IAA to hyperscale data centres

Sign on the House of Commons website

Petitioners ask that hyperscale data centres emitting >100,000 tCO2 or drawing >100 MW be covered by the Impact Assessment Act; that DFO assess Lorneville habitat impacts; and that AI strategy require binding community and environmental standards before further support.

Why we would sign this petition

  • Creates mandatory federal review for very large data centres so cumulative GHG and grid impacts are assessed before projects proceed.
  • Requires Fisheries and Oceans review of Lorneville, ensuring federal habitat-protection obligations are evaluated for that specific project.
  • Makes federal AI support contingent on binding community and environmental standards, giving affected municipalities and ratepayers enforceable protections.

Why we wouldn’t sign this petition

  • May delay or deter AI and data-centre investment by adding federal review steps, potentially slowing economic development.
  • Thresholds and federal requirements could overlap with provincial rules, creating regulatory duplication and procedural complexity.
  • New mandatory standards and reviews could increase costs or timelines for projects, possibly shifting expenses onto users or taxpayers in unintended ways.

The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.

Official petition

Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled The Government of Canada has actively promoted hyperscale AI data centre development through its national AI strategy without establishing corresponding federal protections for the communities, ecosystems, and public utilities that bear the costs; A proposed 390-megawatt hyperscale AI data centre in Lorneville, New Brunswick, powered in part by a natural gas plant operated by U.S.-based VoltaGrid LLC, would become one of the province's top three industrial greenhouse gas emitters, directly undermining Canada's commitments under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act; The project would draw 200 megawatts from NB Power, a publicly owned utility, raising federal concerns about energy security, affordability, and the socialization of costs onto ordinary ratepayers to subsidize a private foreign corporation; and No federal regulatory framework exists to evaluate the cumulative environmental, energy, or social impacts of hyperscale data centre development, and consultations on the federal AI strategy have excluded affected municipalities and communities. We, the undersigned, people of Canada, call upon the House of Commons in Parliament assembled to: 1. Apply the Impact Assessment Act to hyperscale data centres exceeding 100,000 tonnes of annual CO2 emissions or drawing more than 100 megawatts from a public grid; 2. Direct the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to assess federal habitat protection obligations triggered by the Lorneville project; and 3. Require that the federal AI strategy include binding community and environmental protection standards before any further federal support is directed toward hyperscale data centre development.

Government response

No government response is available yet.