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While the first phase of the Bell AI data centre is slowly being built just outside Regina’s city limits, Premier Scott Moe questioned why anything like a town hall would be needed on the issue.
Some have been frustrated with what they see as a lack of consultation on the now massive project, the plans having recently been expanded to a 1.2-gigawatt project.
Citizen groups and Standing Buffalo First Nation have spoken out, saying they don’t feel heard, and the Sask. NDP has specifically called out a lack of town halls.
Read more:
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When asked on Wednesday why his government hadn’t held any town halls about the data centre, Moe shot a question back.
“Why would you hold a town hall? We don’t hold a town hall when we build a mine site,” he said.
He conceded there are situations and points where consultations are required, and there are regulations and metrics which dictate who, where and when. Moe said those would be followed with the Bell AI data centre.
“There will, I would suggest, likely be some consultation that will happen around the power plant, for example. That’s a significant outbuild; there’s other factors that would be involved with that discussion around whether it’s natural gas or some other fuel, emissions, those types of things,” said Moe.
Bell will have to build a 900-megawatt power plant to run the second phase of the project. The company has said it will be a natural gas plant.
Moe compared the Bell project to the Co-op refinery or InterPro Pipe and Steel in terms of size, saying it’s not so dissimilar to those operations already in Regina that employ thousands.
“That is really the focus that we see in the data centres as well, is to have those thousands of indirect and direct jobs moving forward for people in and around the city of Regina,” said Moe.
While the province may not be planning any town halls, the RM of Sherwood, where the data centre will be located, is planning a public hearing Nov. 5 on the bylaw changes that are needed for the project’s expansion to happen.
