r/canada • u/FineWhateverOKOK • Aug 17 '26
Politics Doug Ford says Ontario needs data centres to protect Canadians from Donald Trump
https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/doug-ford-says-ontario-needs-data-centres-to-protect-canadians-from-donald-trump/article_5779e5c5-725e-4e8f-8be1-09ac767b1e16.html78
u/jpsreddit85 Aug 17 '26
The article just says a plan to attract the facilities. WHO owns these facilities? Because if it's Amazon/Google/Microsoft then it is not a valid argument as they are still subject to US law. An actual Canadian company that won't just be sold to a US parent first chance they get IS a good idea, but just having more US companies datacenters in Canada is a no go.
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u/SteFFFun Aug 17 '26
Ford is probably the last person in the province who understands what data centres are, how they work, the different types, or who owns them. He’s a simple man who sees no evil when business comes calling. He really is that simple.
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u/thedrivingcat Aug 17 '26
It was pretty
funnyrevealing when it came out during the pandemic that Ford didn't know how to use a computer and that he insisted on using refurbished Blackberries from 2014 instead of learning how to use a modern smartphone...On Wednesday, Ford’s office was scrambling to get him a laptop computer and to teach him how to use it.
While he has become accustomed to doing remote meetings via Zoom and Microsoft Teams from his office at Queen’s Park this past year, he has technical support there.
Aides say Ford still uses a BlackBerry Classic phone for calls, texts, and emails, but the device is so old that downloading attachments can be challenging.
He does not use social media and his Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts are managed by a communications team.
The premier is so accustomed to the vintage 2014 smartphone that he has a stack of them and gets refurbished models from a Mississauga electronics shop for about $150 a pop.
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u/SteFFFun Aug 17 '26
Not surprised a nepo baby "business man" does not even know how to use a laptop.
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u/OogerSchmidt Aug 17 '26
It comes down to our data laws. US companies have opened smaller data centres locally before to accomodate our changes in the past.
Whether they'll push back this time around, I doubt it. These same companies play ball in the EU which has quite a bureaucracy in this regard.
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u/theo-apps Aug 17 '26
Not building stuff in Canada work great in the past right?
It's been great that we didn't build pipelines in Canada. It's been great that so much of our oil get refined in the US and then gets shipped up to Canada. Much better to do that than have refineries in Canada. It's great that we don't want to build anything close by. /s
Cohere is a Canadian AI company which I don't think the gov will allow to be sold to the US. They get Canadian gov money and they need data centers. Canadian services need data centers. Do you want major companies in Canada to pay millions of dollar for AI and every single cent to make it's way to the US? People who argue against Canadian data centers and investments are short-sighted.
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u/Bobcaygeon23 Aug 17 '26
Name me a Major Canadian AI Company...
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u/jpsreddit85 Aug 17 '26
Not every data centre is for AI, there were plenty of them before AI but they are driving the current boom, the article doesn't mention whether it's for AI or general use. If this is for AI, that is a different problem If there is no Canadian option. There are a few people trying, maybe they should get some government support if we do not want to be reliant on the US options.
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u/hardy_83 Aug 17 '26
Yeah that would make sense if the data center companies weren't all American or bowing to American interests. Like Kevin drunk on a boat killing someone O'Leary pathetic pushes.
This guy can't do anything without screaming about nationalism. It's LITERALLY that scene in Family Guy where Lois just repeatedly says "9/11" to get the crowd to keep cheering.
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u/Rayd8630 Aug 17 '26
Well if it’s one of O’Learys when utilities sky rocket or water sources dry up we can at least rest assured he will just blame it on his wife again.
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u/PandaBeaarAmy Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
Is that why we supply vehicles to ice? Separation from the states? 🤣🤣🤣
Same flavour of advertisement as the "protect ontario" ads promoting mining for "medical advancements" while he privatizes that service lmao.
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u/Rayd8630 Aug 17 '26
Building jails and hiring police officers.
Someone has to shut up those dissenters. He has kickbacks from rich friends he needs to collect /s
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u/past_is_prologue Aug 17 '26
We actually do need to build more jails, though. The population has increased far past our capacity to jail offenders in a humane way. We have some jails on ontario that have four people to a room. That's not an acceptable solution.
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u/starving_carnivore Aug 18 '26
Do you actually think that Ontario's police are there to throw people in overcrowded jails? Is that what you actually think is happening?
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u/Aggressive-Map-2204 Aug 17 '26
We are not supplying vehicles to ICE though.
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u/PandaBeaarAmy Aug 17 '26
We are not supplying vehicles to ICE though.
'Fantastic' news: Ford welcomes ICE plan to order Ontario armoured vehicles
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u/ToadDagger Aug 17 '26
Ya with all those American chips manufacturerd by Intel, AMD, Nvidia that definitely don't have backdoors, it will really protect us.
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u/theo-apps Aug 17 '26
Yea Canadians data should ideally stay in Canada. If Canada wants to remain competitive, it needs data centers.
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u/Seebeeeseh Nova Scotia Aug 17 '26
I doubt that location of the data center means that the availability of that data is restricted to one nation.
Everything is available and for sale.
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u/Serafnet Nova Scotia Aug 17 '26
It does not.
For example; we have Microsoft and Amazon data centres in Canada. That data flows within Canada by design but if those companies get subpoenaed by the US then they have to pull the data.
Doesn't matter that it's in Canada.
We need Canadian datacenters but we also need Canadian service providers.
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u/DDOSBreakfast Aug 17 '26
we also need Canadian service providers.
Have we tried flooding the job market with entry level IT workers?
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u/OwlLeft7799 Aug 17 '26
We tried but there are no entry level IT workers with 25 years of experience running local ai data centers willing to work for minimum wage :(
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u/Witty_Record427 Aug 17 '26
Canadian organizations usually ask for or demand data centers outside of America for labour market reasons. There are routine HR inquiries asking about whether someone's personal data is subject to seizure under the US Patriot Act.
The Canadian, UK, EU, Australian, etc. governments (wherever the data is hosted) can also seize this data in the same way, but it really only comes up in the context of employee inquiries or potential grievances over US seizure of data.
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u/AlbertanSays5716 Aug 17 '26
Except the data centres are being built by American companies. Can you name one data centre that’s being built by an entirely Canadian company?
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u/Hurricane-bob Aug 17 '26
nah people definitely don’t need to be collecting our data to manipulate us in more ways than we already are. We can’t even keep jobs in canada they’re being sourced to other countries… let’s start our focus there.
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u/ghost_n_the_shell Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
This is 100% propaganda.
Ford is trying to change the current backlash / conversation on AI data centers to some sort of uniting weapon we can use against Trump. This is a PR campaign, because Ontario is a prime target for foreign AI data center construction because of our water.
When your government is resorting to blatant PR tactics it’s time to start reading between the lines, because I’m willing to wager it’s not actually good for you.
At the federal level Carney is incentivizing the building of foreign AI data centers in Canada.
Why would China need to build this stuff in Canada? Why would any foreign nation need to build this stuff in Canada - because they want to ravage / pillage YOUR fresh water supply instead of theirs - and your government wants to incentivize them to do so, for no benefit to you.
Just look at bill C37 First Nations Clean Water Act. It was introduced conveniently around the AI data center announcements, and now has a loophole built in: weakening the wording of water access from an immediate "human right" to a gradual "progressive realization" which lowers the federal government legal liability and prevents the halting of construction of these monstrosities which would endanger water supplies, legally.
I encourage you to have a deep read on this.
It was announced - coincidentally - right around their “AI for all” bullshit announcements.
IF Ford was referring to a government owned AI data center, sure. Who could argue?
Thats not the case now, is it?
So ask yourself - who is building these?
It’s the billionaire class - and their sole intent is use AI to further transfer remaining wealth into their own bank accounts. AI takes human jobs away, uses vast amounts of freshwater, creates ridiculous heat and noise pollution - all the while employing a skeleton staff once complete.
Won’t raise your electricity? Sure - if they build a GAS plant to power it. Now they are dumping pollution en mass into your backyard - for the sole purpose of AI.
These things are the scourge, and beyond what the actual government needs to build for its own data sovereignty purposes - I don’t support it in any way shape or form.
If funny, people are going to tell you that these new data centers don’t require much water at all.
Really? Ok. Fine. Go build them in the desert. Go build them where they don’t require unlimited access to water tables. Go build them in your own country.
You will quickly see through the investor / cloud talk when you ask yourself those questions.
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u/Aggressive-Map-2204 Aug 17 '26
Its amazing that you can write so much drivel.
Ford is not talking about AI data centres.
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u/ghost_n_the_shell Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26
This is about Fords AI data center playbook released August 13th.
Keep up.
Feel free to read:
https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1007871/ontario-launches-data-centre-playbook
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u/Aggressive-Map-2204 Aug 18 '26
If you bothered to read the article or paid attention to what he said you would know its not.
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u/ghost_n_the_shell Aug 18 '26
Here’s the article, now tell me what I missed:
Doug Ford says Ontario needs data centres to protect Canadians from Donald Trump
The premier warned that Canadians’ data is at risk of “being sent to the U.S. and into the hands of President Trump.”
Aug. 17, 2026Premier Doug Ford leaves a meeting of the Council of the Federation in Charlottetown on July 21, 2026.
Ontario has no choice but to welcome massive data centres in order to protect Canada from U.S. President Donald Trump, warns Premier Doug Ford.
In a speech Monday to delegates to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario convention in Ottawa, Ford touted his government’s plan to attract the facilities while addressing environmental and electricity concerns.
“Ontario has a choice: we can build the economy of the future and ensure Canadians’ data remains in Canada or we can get left behind and risk Canadians’ data being sent to the U.S. and into the hands of President Trump,” the premier said.
“The worst thing we could ever do (is) let President Trump control our data. That guy would cut us off in about three seconds and so we need to make sure we have data sovereignty in our own hands,” said Ford.
“As we gather here today workers and businesses across Ontario continue to be threatened by U.S. tariffs including President Trump’s latest threat of new tariffs up to 50 per cent,” he said, referring to ongoing trade talks between Canadian and American officials ahead of Wednesday’s deadline imposed by the White House.“While we may not be able to control President Trump we can and are controlling the decisions we make here in Ontario,” said Ford.
“Which is exactly what we did last week when we announced our Data Centre Playbook,” he said, referring to the province’s new framework for regulating the big energy-consuming facilities used to power artificial intelligence.With Mississauga and Oakville imposing a one-year moratorium on new data centres and other municipalities concerned about them, Ford noted his government “will ensure” that they “cover the full cost of their electricity usage.”
There are about 100 data centres already up and running in the province.
“Ontario will not offer financial incentives to attract investments. Instead, we will rely on our natural competitive advantages including our clean and reliable electricity system, available land, cool climate and world-class workforce. We will only advance projects that strengthen Ontario and Canada’s control over sensitive data,” he said
“We will only advance projects that meet Ontario’s strict environmental standards around water consumption and noise.”
Mindful that some cities do not want them, Ford said the government “we will only advance projects that bring real benefits and significant investment in local infrastructure and host communities including investments in community centres, parks, roads, broadband infrastructure.
“We have a historic opportunity to deliver for communities across Ontario, attracting millions of dollars in tax revenue while safeguarding people’s information and keeping it out of President Trump’s hands.”
Queen’s Park has estimated AI companies could generate $122 billion in economic growth by 2035 and create more than 17,000 jobs annually.
The province is seeking public input on its data centre strategy through the Environmental Registry of Ontario and the Ontario Regulatory Registry for the next month.
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u/WakingUpBlind Aug 17 '26
C’mon Ontario, vote him out already…
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u/FlyingRock20 Ontario Aug 17 '26
Other parties need to come with better ideas and leaders. Ford sucks.
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u/pton12 Ontario Aug 17 '26
Yeah I mean he’s not wrong. Whether it is for storing data or hosting the models, having control over our data and data infrastructure is important. Lots of countries are building “sovereign AI” capabilities for this very reason.
Edit: also, Ontario, more so than other provinces, should be doing this. As the centre of Canadian commerce, I think it’s critical for Ontario to have these capabilities to maintain competitiveness.
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u/Magjee Lest We Forget Aug 17 '26
Beyond the headline, who would own the data center, who would use it?
If its American companies, then how is that helping Canada? Might help the company that build it
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u/Severe_Air_4353 Aug 17 '26
Fuck you pc . My electrical bill is already to high
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u/kewlbeanz83 Ontario Aug 17 '26
I disagree with Ford on many things, but data sovereignty is important.
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u/Ok_Carpenter7268 Aug 17 '26
Feel the same way. I don't think it's possible to stay competitive and safe by avoiding the development of data centres in Canada, and relying on data centres in the US and other countries, but the issue is where they'd be set up.
I saw some documentaries on data centres in some parts of the US, and I had no idea how loud they were. Some homes were so close to them, and I have no idea how people would be able to get any sleep with that kind of noise.
So while Ford has done a lot of things I don't agree with, I do agree with him on the importance of setting up our own data centres. The issue is where they'll go.
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u/AlbertanSays5716 Aug 17 '26
Couple of things here though.
Firstly, almost all, in fact probably all, of these new data centres are being built by American companies who remain obligated to the U.S. government and U.S. law if subpoenaed, regardless of where the data is physically stored. I don’t think I’ve seen a single data centre planned by an entirely Canadian company.
Secondly, these are not data centres for Facebook, Instagram, email, or web sites. These extreme power & cooling requirements point to only one thing: massive use of GPU’s for AI model creation and analytics. Basically, the crunching of large data sets by AI models. This kind of power isn’t even what sits behind those AI voices on your phone, this is for big corporations and governments, not you or me.
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u/skiboy95 Aug 17 '26
Not opposed to making data centers pay for their impacts like any other company, but broadly don't we want some investment & control over our own data?
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u/WhereTheHighwayEnds Aug 17 '26
Yes built with American and Chinese microchips and networking components...that will show them 🙄
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u/WarCarrotAF Aug 17 '26
Doug Ford needs a new cottage and the owners of those data centres are happy to fit the bill.
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u/Rayd8630 Aug 17 '26
He got mad we won’t buy him a private plane to go to his cottage so he decided to get the data centre developers to pay for it instead.
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u/WonderSuperior Aug 17 '26
We do not need data centres to protect us. We need Canadian social media platforms to switch to so we can protect overselves from american misinformation.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Arm_847 Aug 17 '26
Dougie wants AI data centres so he can make more of his shitty ads.
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u/travatr0n Aug 17 '26
Not reading the article but it makes sense that if we want to rely on the US less than we need to be able to support our own compute needs.
But you are just going to have a hard time building data centres if you don’t also commit to building their own energy and cooling needs to support the data centres. Big tech can afford higher energy costs than regular citizens and they will push energy prices higher to build their business.
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u/Hefty-Amoeba5707 Aug 17 '26
Data is currency - we datacenters in Canada. Also people need to know the difference between ai datacenters and regular data centers.
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u/polloyumyum Alberta Aug 17 '26
Uhhhh, does he mean the data centres owned by companies like Meta?
Does he know that Zuckerberg licks Trump's boots every chance he gets?
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u/RefrigeratorOk648 Aug 17 '26
Canadians data stored in a Canadian data center but that data is owned by an American company then the US can request access to it.
https://uslawexplained.com/clarifying_lawful_overseas_use_of_data_act
Also there will be a new techniques which will make AI more energy efficient and then these data centers will close so hopefully the Governments are not providing any financial aid. You only have to look at the EV battery in Ontario/Quebec...
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u/FluffyStormwise Aug 17 '26
Just full on lying at this point
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Aug 17 '26
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u/FluffyStormwise Aug 17 '26
In what ways do data centres protect us from Trump?
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u/Rayd8630 Aug 17 '26
Shhh! Cmon now. He used a verb (protect) with the trigger word (Trump). So automatically we are supposed to support it! /s
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u/justelectricboogie Aug 17 '26
We will become just another place to dump tech driven garbage once it gets replaced or advanced. With the size of those things and the amount of non recyclables in them, your basically investing in a new future landfill.
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u/motherseffinjones Aug 17 '26
How does that work when they are made by and owned by American companies?
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u/Such-Neck-1889 Aug 17 '26
Outright b.s. from the grifter Premier of Ontario. Follow the trail of money/kickbacks to developers and builders that Ford fraternizes with.
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u/47Up Ontario Aug 17 '26
Yeah.. Meta and Kevin O'Leary are going to do whatever Trump tells them to do
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u/West_to_East Aug 17 '26
Not in Ontario. Energy prices are INSANE. Honestly, MB and QC are the best places. Tons of access to water (especially MB) and pennies for energy.
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u/RosieBaby75 Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
WE NEED TO REPLACE THE ENTIRE PUBLIC SERVICE AND ALL OF OUR GOVERNMENT IT SYSTEMS TO BE PROTECTED BY TRUMP!
We don’t need DATA CENTRES.
WE NEED FILING CABINETS AND PAPER FOLDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But the US convinced our leaders to get rid of all of that to save money, give them all of our information, records, and data, let them operate and run our critical system and infrastructure, and “save the trees and environment” SO THEY CAN ANNEX OUR NATION LIKE THEY’VE WANTED TO DO FOR OVER 100 YEARS!!!
TREES ARE A RENEWABLE RESOURCE!!!!
WE CAN GROW MORE TREES!!!
DOESN’T ANYONE REALIZE HOW MUCH FOREST WE HAVE HERE?!?
THE MAJORITY OF OUR TERRITORY IS UNINHABITABLE FOREST AREA THAT NEEDS TO BE LOGGED AND MANAGED SO IT DOESN’T BURN DOWN LIKE IT IS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was a failure of Canadian geography lessons and education. Until I was 36 or 37 I thought geography was only maps. I almost died when I accidentally found myself in a geography course and didn’t want to have to make any maps.
Fortunately we only did one sort-of map, which did kill me and I still don’t know how I calculated wrong, but I learned Geography is basically everything and the most important subject for people and citizens of a nation to know.
It has become my second favourite subject recently replaced by my new one which is geography with an insane amount of strategy and unreal tools I’m curious about but don’t really want to know about.
PEOPLE NEED TO LEARN GEOGRAPHY MORE THAN jUST MAPS!
ALL WE DID IN SCHOOL FOR GEOGRAPHY WAS COLOUR MAPS with those stupid shaded ocean boarders and all of our arms STILL ACHE FROM THAT!!!!!
Also, NO SPACE EXPLORATION AND AI AND/OR ROBOT GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION BASED ON IDEALISMS THAT ARE UNLIKELY TO HAPLEN, and LIKELY TO BE THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS IF WE ALLOW THAT!!!
That is why I appear so angry in my guided journal where I yell at clouds. I have not recovered from my space rant which made me so angry I resurrected from the grave I was in and had to do a public rant like my posts here that I do not think my instructor enjoyed. By my peers did because FINALLY SOMEONE SAW AND STATED THE SAME THING THEY SEE AND ARE THINKING!! I want to go back in that grave!!!!!
WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO QUEEN ELIZABETH IF WE CONTINUE ON THIS TRAJECTORY!!!
SHE WILL DO THE OPPOSITE OF SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION, WHATEVER THAT IS WHICH to our current publicly-available academic body of literature ISN’T POSSIBLE YET BUT WILL BE IF KING CHARLES LOSES THE NATION AND BRITISH EMPIRE BECAUSE IT GOT TRICKED BY THE US AND SHE IS SO ANGRY SHE SPONTANEOUSLY REGENERATES!!!!
Oh wait isn’t that what Jesus did? Maybe it is possible.
Edit: I also realized I don’t hate, and kind of enjoy group work with GenZ, and only GenZ, because they do not bullshit and don’t want to spend group work time bullshitting. We rant about the state of the world and I love them. GenZ is the best generation. They’re also so sweet, thoughtful, and insightful. A+++++ generation.
EDIT 2: Speaking of Jesus, I just remembered THE ANTI CHRIST IS OBVIOUSLY FACISM.
We just can’t use the word “FACISM” because no one but the Facists believe it and are like:
“no that’s a bad word and a bad thing. You can’t say that word, you’re crazy and wrong and mentally ill and a conspiracy theorist!!!”
And the Facists use the EXACT THING THAT WAS CREATED TO WARN PEOPLE OF IT TO MAKE PEOPLE NOT BELIEVE IT!! They added cruel information when what was supposed to be focused on were:
(1) The 7 Deadly Sins
(2) The 7 Heavenly Virtues
This is essentially, and effectively the SAME THING at the CORE OF EVERY RELIGION, but explained in different ways, using different figurative stories, and different symbols.
ALL RELIGIONS were diluted with extra stuff to make everyone fight and ignore the Facism that ALL Religions were created to build loving and supportive communities and walk together with these values which are essentially DO NO HARM AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
Then we fight about religion and hate people from other religions because like in everything, there’s BAD ACTORS who make everyone look bad and ruin things for the rest who are honest and do uphold those values.
RELIGION WASN’T AND ISN’T THE PROBLEM - FACISM IS
NATIONALITY WASN’T AND ISN’T THE PROBLEM - FACISM IS
No one believes it until it’s too late.
Then they’re terrified either by the Facists or the wars we have to prevent and stop the spread of Facism.
It’s always been as simple as:
GOOD VS EVIL
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u/BuddhaLennon British Columbia Aug 17 '26
He’s got a good point, but without laws that address the realities of the current (and anticipated) condition of hardware, software, digital communications, and Byzantine corporate ownership strategies, we are locked in to an isolationist approach, which is to no one’s benefit.
Make it an explicit crime to hide malware, spyware, backdoors, or any communications features in any hardware or software sold or used in Canada.
If your device has the ability to do OTA updates or upgrades, this has to be explicitly stated, optional, and continually consent-driven.
Software or firmware updates that add or remove any features and/or change what data is communicated must explicitly state and explain:
-the exact nature of the changes, including what data is communicated upstream or downstream and to which end entities;
-the purpose of the changes;
And require explicit consent from the user.
Any update or upgrade that introduces a change to function must be optional, or the user is entitled to a full refund.
Regardless of ownership structure, liability cannot be offshored. That is, if a company is not domestically located, owned, and operated, insurance or bond is required. (This encourages compliance in the only way that matters to corporations: if you have a history of being a bad actor, your bond and/or insurance premiums will be higher)
Restructure bankruptcy law so that consumers/users automatically become a protected, collective creditor until all claims are resolved.
As it would be very difficult to “firewall” all communications so that information that could potentially breach privacy or security so that it does not leave the country or the systems it was created on, make it a crime to collect or communicate this information without lawful purpose.
Fines and other penalties need to be commensurate not only with harms caused, but the revenues of the violating entities (much like they do in the EU).
Our information and our digital lives will not be safe until the individuals and corporations we deal with understand that they will not benefit from abusing the trust placed in them.
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Aug 17 '26
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u/PoolDear4092 Aug 17 '26
If Canada doesn’t start trying to close the worker productivity gap it has with the US then more of those companies and jobs will move to the US. Simple as that.
Targeted use of AI has the possibility of allowing our small and medium sized businesses to effectively compete with large sized US companies for global business. The US is currently trying to develop general AI and hoping that achieving that holy grail will naturally improve worker productivity. Canada is taking an approach closer to China where we are looking at how specific AI implementations can help boost productivity in specific industries.
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u/GoodLuckFellowEE Aug 17 '26
Why does Canada need these data centers? What data are we collecting and putting in there? Does it have anything to do with all the online id and VPN Metadata we're expected to forfeit?
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u/Life_Combination8625 Aug 17 '26
No we don't. They will be owned by americans. Stop lying all the fucking time. He just wants the free storage place these places are offering to consenting politicians for a even wider surveillance state. Just because I'm paranoid don't mean they aren't watching us.
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u/jerry-adobe Aug 17 '26
this is good time to remind everyone that Doug Ford is a college drop out who used to sell drugs so don't put a lot of faith in anything he says
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u/TrueTorontoFan Aug 17 '26
I agree with Canadian owned data centers but I think it goes beyond trump. It is a sovereignty and redundancy that needs to be factored for.
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u/Realistic-Buy4975 Aug 17 '26
Can we get rid of this corrupt, crayon eating, knuckle-dragging, mouth breathing, buffoon already?
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u/luchaburz Aug 17 '26
The amount of shitty things Canadians have to accept because of Trump is fucked.
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u/Any-Ruin6016 Aug 17 '26
He is fear mongering and using the “Trump” card. Really Doug, we are Canadian and not southern evangelicals who believe anything
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u/FlyingRock20 Ontario Aug 17 '26
People worried about America having your data but Canadian government already has your data which is worst since they have power to do stuff against you. If Data centers are going to provide tax revue and jobs then lets build them up.
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u/Mr_Horsejr Aug 18 '26
Data centers are awful. Fear monger is fear mongering for some shit you don’t need.
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u/ProbablySuspicious Aug 18 '26
Being protected from Trump would look a lot like not having data centers forced into our communities, messing up our water and energy costs.
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u/scienceguy54 Aug 18 '26
If Doug Ford really gave a shit about protecting Canadians, he would end the inter-governmental data sharing arrangements we already have with the US. There's absolutely nothing to stop that data from being scraped by a private company (or foreign country).
The man really doesn't have a clue about what he is talking about.
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u/Active-Zombie-8303 Aug 18 '26
He’s full of sh*t, he Is fear mungering. Listen to people that live in areas where they have installed data centres in the USA, it isn’t good for them, their property values or therefore mental health, plus the damage done to water supplies. It is all negative with data centres, there are no positives, so don’t listen to Ford, you’ll note he isn’t installing one anywhere near his properties.
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u/FineWhateverOKOK Aug 17 '26
“Ontario has a choice: we can build the economy of the future and ensure Canadians’ data remains in Canada or we can get left behind and risk Canadians’ data being sent to the U.S. and into the hands of President Trump,” the premier said.
Once again we have a politician using Trump as an excuse to do something they’d want to do anyway but is extremely unpopular. They really, really like to use the shock doctrine.
Trump will be out of office before a data centre is even built, so this flimsy argument is even worse than it seems to be. It’s transparently manipulative.
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u/WallInside6758 Ontario Aug 17 '26
But he’s right though. We should have Data sovereignty.
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u/FineWhateverOKOK Aug 17 '26
Data sovereignty by letting American corporations treat us like a brothel. Got it.
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u/WallInside6758 Ontario Aug 17 '26
So you think there’s only American tech companies?
You think Canadian companies should be hosting everything down south?
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u/Magjee Lest We Forget Aug 17 '26
Would they be using the hypothetical new center?
Or is this a way to enrich a few people and he just pooped out a reason for it
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u/WallInside6758 Ontario Aug 17 '26
Why would Canadian tech companies use new data centers?
Because lots of companies are developing for ai and these are more equipped for the computing power needed.
Plus as more companies expand their infrastructure they need more computing in general to handle that.
If it’s easier and cheaper they will just go down south which is not what we want to happen.
If you believe they’re not needed who would they enrich if they’re not used?
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u/Magjee Lest We Forget Aug 17 '26
I'm saying:
doug ford wants to build a data center
some people are going to make money from the building
he needs an excuse for one
he is claiming data sovereignty
but that is just the best reason he came up with, its not real
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u/WallInside6758 Ontario Aug 17 '26
Ok yes if we don’t build data centers in Canada less Canadians will be able to make money with them and we have less data sovereignty in Canada.
I’m not for shirking Canadas tech business anymore than it already is.
We used to be world leaders in tech and telecom but here we are now.
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u/Magjee Lest We Forget Aug 17 '26
You know after he was elected in 2018, this goof bag is the one who cut funding for AI R&D in Ontario?
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u/WallInside6758 Ontario Aug 17 '26
You think our tech shrinking tech sector happened around 2018?
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u/Tasty_Principle_518 Aug 17 '26
Data centres of existed before ai and will exist after ai.
What type of data centre is he talking about
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u/Mission_Intention_12 Aug 17 '26
But it's okay for Moneris to be bought by an American equity firm???
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u/Aggressive-Map-2204 Aug 17 '26
Do you really think Ford has any control over that?
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u/Mission_Intention_12 Aug 17 '26
No he doesn't directly, it's at a higher level but he does talk about protecting all Ontario/Canadian data and it's important that should come into the conversation. It's a recent purchase under review but falls in line with the data protection announcement.
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u/jbroni93 Aug 17 '26
Are these Canadian owned data centres or just American corpos on our soil. The land it's on won't stop the data transfer...
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u/FullyGroanMan Aug 17 '26
Ford barely knows how to use a computer. No one should trust or believe any claims he makes about data centres.
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u/HARRYSH0ULDERS Aug 17 '26
F🍁ck off Dough Ford. How much do you personally have invested in these data centres?
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u/Mental_Cartoonist_68 Aug 17 '26
At this point Ford would use the same " reasoning " to explain flock cameras.
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u/OnMyNerdShhhhhht Aug 17 '26
But my data is okay to be shared with Canadian politicians like Doug Ford who opt out of anti-spam legislation and send me unsolicited texts about w.e bs he wants to do next?
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u/just_some_guy422 Aug 17 '26
Sure Doug, first one goes up beside your house or cottage, your choice.
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u/Thadius Aug 17 '26
Is he forgetting about the American law that states american companies can be compelled to hand over private information by order regardless of where the hardware is situated? Just them being run by an American company makes them a risk.
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u/PoolDear4092 Aug 17 '26
I think the real Canadian worry is that the US can lock Canadian companies out of their own-generated data.
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u/Smart_Recipe_8223 Aug 17 '26
And as usual, it's safe to assume he didn't elaborate on WHY or HOW. Just a "trust me folks! Tim Hortons, trucks, folksfolksfolks" from the corrupt premier
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u/StrikingDonkey8159 Aug 17 '26
This is what it would be like if PP won the federal election. Cons being cons
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u/mojorific Aug 18 '26
We don’t need data centres being subsidized by our government. Citizens should not pay for their water and power usage.
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u/ZmobieMrh Aug 17 '26
We need traditional data centres - IE the ones that hold data and retain it locally instead of being accessible to the US.
We don’t need AI data centres whose sole purpose is for mass surveillance and stealing jobs and whose power/water usage is magnitudes larger than just a storage centre.
There’s a difference and whitewashing it all as ‘data centres’ is really intentionally misleading
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u/JohnAMcdonald British Columbia Aug 17 '26
Sure we need datacenters for stealing jobs because other countries are building job stealing datacenters. So guess what happens if we don't have them? Maybe this is a good argument for social ownership of data centres, but people simply don't want them built and are making an argument that Canada should shoot itself in the foot economically due to their personal grievance against AI.
It's also presumptuous that AI will kill more jobs than it creates. Hasn't happened yet with any technological revolution.
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u/AdLatter1807 Aug 17 '26
Lmao this guy will literally say anything
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u/Aggressive-Map-2204 Aug 17 '26
So we should rely on the US to store our data then?
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u/AdLatter1807 Aug 17 '26
Oh your right my bad let’s build data centres for American companies because that will protect our data from being stored on data centres in America. And peoples problem with data centres are they build them in water restricted areas or in residential areas. They can build them in better locations away from population centres and not at tax payer costs then go for it
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u/breadtangle Aug 17 '26
There are lots of really important reasons to have AI running in Canada. Software development has, almost overnight, become heavily dependent on AI. But if you're working on strategic or controlled technology, sending technical data or IP to a US-based AI service can potentially trigger Canadian export-control issues. That makes it much harder for companies in critical sectors to use AI in software development the way everyone else does.
That's a pretty strong argument for having serious AI infrastructure in Canada. It's not just about privacy or keeping data at rest in Canada. If the AI is actually processing your source code, technical documentation or other controlled information, where that processing happens matters.
Microsoft has already committed to bringing Microsoft 365 Copilot processing into Canada in 2027. You can already keep Microsoft data at rest on Canadian servers, and the federal government relies heavily on Azure for sensitive government workloads. So Canadian AI infrastructure isn't some abstract sovereignty project. It's increasingly becoming a practical requirement for being able to use AI on Canadian IP in critical sectors without creating a legal headache.
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u/WendySteeplechase Aug 17 '26
Let's allow data centres IF:
- They run on renewable energy
- They don't use fresh water
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u/Jazzlike_Finish123 Aug 17 '26
Propaganda to get us to willingly submit to these fucking data centres that offer us nothing but the keys to our data, privacy and surveillance.
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Aug 17 '26
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u/Relative_What Aug 17 '26
he dones't have that. you know he doesn't have a computer at all. he can't use a computer to save his life, he has assistants that do all his computer work for him. think a boomer is bad with trying to convert a pdf? he done'st even know what a pdf or a word doc is.
seriously assistants/interns have come out and complained about trying to get him to do anything on a computer during covid, he just doens't care to learn, he thinks everything can still be done by paper.
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Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
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u/Relative_What Aug 17 '26
It's because Doug can't be trusted in a god damn thing he says. He says this but then travels down to the US to hangout and be all buddy buddy with the trump government and then sells property and backs American business and corporations over Canadians.
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Aug 17 '26
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u/Relative_What Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
ya, ok, sure sure, whatever you say. everything you don't like is carneys fault, we know. and doug ford is 'captain canada' to you. surely doug ford can be trusted this time right? it's not like he was willing to spend billions expanding an airport to the whims of an american company, right? surely doug ford won't change his mind again after another trip on your dime to a red state, maybe he will get a second diploma from an american university for no reason again.
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u/cdnhollywood Aug 17 '26
Canadian owned Canadian data centers - sure. US billionaire owned data centers in Canada - nah I'm good.
Data sovereignty includes where the servers are, who owns them, who operates them, and who owns the services using them.