Ontario government set to approve AI data centres, despite moratorium calls

The province laid out its management of data centre plan with the August release of the Data Centre Playbook

Published Nov 04, 2026  •  Last updated 7 minutes ago  •  1 minute read

The Hon. Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade speaks at City Hall in Hamilton, Ontario on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. Photo by Peter Power /Postmedia News

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Due to increasing demand from the tech industry, the Ontario government seems ready to move ahead with its first batch of AI data centre proposals sooner rather than later.  

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“We are assessing them at the moment, and we’ll be making some decisions in the relatively near future,” Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli said, per Global News, adding that the Ford government will approve its first data centres “sooner rather than later.”

The province laid out its management of data centre plan with the August release of the Data Centre Playbook.

The core themes surrounding the playbook include advancing economic development; protecting data security and digital sovereignty; investing in communities and earning public confidence. 

Since then, proposals have been flooding in from tech companies.

“At one time, we had a hundred (proposals),” Fedeli said. “This would be from two kids in a garage all the way to the more sophisticated, multi-billion-dollar investments.” 

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A moratorium request

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner is pushing for a moratorium on new or expanded AI data centres.  

“We have no guardrails. We have no enforceable regulations,” Schreiner said. “If you look at the government’s playbook, there are so many holes in it, you could drive a truck through it. The playbook, quite frankly, has no enforceable scoring system or measurable limits. There’s a lot of weasel words in there.” 

Even though the government is poised to support data centres, several communities around the province are concerned about noise, water usage and environmental worries. 

Fedeli says the benefits of data centres outweigh the potential negatives.  

“We think many (municipalities) are very eager,” Fedeli said. “This is a big economic driver for a municipality. It creates jobs, it creates a huge tax base for them, it puts a place for our Canadian data to be in a secure place.” 

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