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Data centres have been the subject of controversy in the United States, with concerns such as power consumption, noise, and water usage being brought forward.
And the announcement of an AI data centre being built by Bell Canada just outside Regina city limits in the RM of Sherwood is prompting people in the community and online message boards to echo those concerns.
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“There’s challenges that different communities were having in the United States, a lot of community opposition,” Simon Enoch, senior researcher for Saskatchewan issues and policies at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said on The Evan Bray Show Monday.
Enoch co-authored an article called So you’re getting a data centre! Here’s what to know for the organization in February.
“Seeing that we’re about to launch our own sort of data construction boom here in Canada, and seeing what we could learn from the U.S. experience, that really was the sort of impetus for writing the piece,” he said.
“We can create the conditions that maximize the benefits of these investments and minimize the harms. If we can do that, then I think it’s an important sort of investment to consider. But there’s no reason why we can’t ensure that we don’t suffer the same sort of harms that they have in the United States.”
Among the main concerns is power consumption. Enoch points to Virginia, which has a high concentration of data centres. He says electrical bills there have doubled.
“A lot of that is just the cost of new connections, infrastructure upgrades, building substations, and then higher electricity demand having to be spread across all consumers,” he said.
The province has said it has sufficient power generation, with Bell eventually generating additional electricity on-site. SaskEnergy will supply natural gas through a high-pressure pipeline.
Michael Martin, vice-president of technology at Metercor Inc., has previously served on the board of a data centre operator and has also worked as a consultant for companies like IBM.
In an article published in January 2025, The Rise of Canadian A.I. Data Centres, Martin discusses the potential of a data centre boom in Canada.
He said Saskatchewan’s interest in future use of small modular reactors has huge potential for the sector.
“In the long term, I think Saskatchewan has a brilliant strategy for these SMRs, the small modular reactors that are coming, and there’s some pretty ambitious plans for that that will give Saskatchewan a strategic advantage in its exports and its capabilities,” Martin said in an interview.
“But again, that’s at least a decade away. So right now, we’re going to be running on some fossil fuel-based generation, which is not the best scenario, but it’s the one that’s on the table right now.”
Premier Scott Moe speaks at an event about the new AI data centre, with Bell CEO Mirko Bibic on March 16, 2026. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)
Water and concerns about ‘closed-loop’ cooling
Martin said the use of a “closed loop” or “closed circuit” cooling system that recirculates water is a smart strategy.
“Water is a big, big issue in Saskatchewan, so having a closed circuit system means they’re not constantly drawing water,” he said. “They’re reprocessing the water and reclaiming it and putting it back to work, like a radiator on a car.”
Kerry McPhedran, a professor of civil, geological, and environment engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, agrees that a closed loop system would be the best way to cool such a facility.
“(I) imagine there’s going to have to be some wastewater at some point with that. It’s not going to be, you know, 100 per cent perfect with that. But if it is closed loop, then that is a minor usage,” he said in an interview.
But Enoch told The Evan Bray Show such a system might not be quite as green as it sounds at first.
“In order to recycle it and to maintain that water and prevent things like rust, like freezing, bacteria, they have to add chemicals to it. Anti-corrosives, things called biocides and antifreeze, and that sort of loop has to be purged every so often, which means it has to be dumped somewhere,” he said.
Noise pollution is another topic that has drawn attention in the world of data centres. Enoch said there weren’t a lot of regulations when data centres began popping up in the U.S., and many of them were built too close to residential areas.
“This one, at first, I wasn’t that concerned, because it seems significantly far away from any residential development,” he said. “But now that it sounds like there’s actually going to be a natural gas turbine on site to deliver about 100 of the 300 megawatts, that could be significantly loud for people in that area.
“So once again, really important that we set down some rules and regulations before we’re sort of inundated with all these data centers.”
Enoch, who will be making a presentation on the topic at the University of Regina in April, advises people to ask questions.
“I would really ask people to think about how do we want these things to operate? How do we mitigate the harms that come with them, and how do we maximize the benefits? So we don’t experience, we don’t go down the same road as the United States.”
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