creating the bylaw<\/a> after one the size of three football fields was proposed in the city.<\/p>\nThe province and federal government have broadly backed the data centre buildout as a chance to exercise greater domestic control over the digital economy and attract investment. But they face critics who say cities have been left with little guidance or enforceable standards.<\/p>\n
“It’s kind of a Wild West,” said Reid. <\/p>\n
Victoria Mancinelli, spokesperson for labour union LiUNA (Labourers’ International Union of North America), which represents 120,000 members across Ontario, says she is disappointed in the city council’s decision. <\/p>\n
“At a time when Ontario is competing for investment, jobs and the infrastructure that will power our digital economy, closing the door on opportunity sends the wrong message,” she said over email. <\/p>\n
“Today, [people from Mississauga] sent a message that they are closed for business and that they do not care about the jobs their lack of foresight impacts.”\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Vote puts freeze on current project<\/p>\n
The vote appears to now put in limbo the 40-megawatt data centre project in a business park in the city’s northwest pursued by Prologis, a major U.S.-headquartered firm.<\/p>\n
The site is just south of Highway 401, neighbours an Ikea warehouse, is close to an electrical substation and about a kilometre away from the nearest residential neighbourhood. <\/p>\n
In a statement, the company said it’s disappointed by the vote and was considering its next steps.<\/p>\n
“We remain committed to Mississauga and confident that a carefully planned data centre in Meadowvale Business Park can bring significant long-term economic benefits to the community,” read the statement.<\/p>\n
Prologis said a third-party assessment, done by the Toronto-based consulting firm Parcel Economics Inc., estimated the project’s construction would have supported about 1,690 jobs. Parcel said the centre’s operations would have supported about 63 jobs in Mississauga.<\/p>\n
The vote also marks what could be a significant turnaround for a project that initially received an approving reception from councillors.<\/p>\n
When the project came before a planning committee in March, Coun. Reid said he was excited about it and lauded its potential boost to the city’s tax base. <\/p>\n
After the committee voted to advance the project’s application for additional work with staff, Mayor Carolyn Parrish said, “who turns down Prologis? I haven’t seen anyone yet.”<\/p>\n
That tone shifted as residents learned about the project, raising a number of concerns related to its energy demands, backup generators and location in a floodplain, among other issues. A town hall, attended by residents and Prologis, helped to convince Reid to bring in a moratorium, he said. <\/p>\n
WATCH | Mississauga votes to ban new data centre projects for 1 year:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789608372_642_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Why data centre communities worry about water<\/p>\n
As resistance to AI data centres grows, industry leaders say there are ways to build more community-friendly facilities. For Radio-Canada, Ana\u00efs Elboujda\u00efni examines the water concerns and explores the arguments for a more sustainable approach in Canada.Issue at centre of city’s mayoral race<\/p>\n
The issue of AI data centres has been at the core of Mississauga’s mayoral race, with the city’s top three candidates expressing their support for the moratorium.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an emailed statement Wednesday, former mayor and current candidate Bonnie Crombie said she supports the interim bylaw.<\/p>\n
“We need to understand the impacts on our neighbourhoods, the costs to our infrastructure and the benefits to Mississauga before making decisions,” she said. “Any development should always be prioritized based on public interest and the highest and best use of the land.” <\/p>\n
Crombie is running for her old position after she resigned as leader of Ontario’s Liberal Party this year.<\/p>\n
Damerla, who is also running for mayor, said in a statement she is committed to protecting the city’s power grid and water supply, and will build strict, enforceable zoning rules with residents at the table.\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/p>\n
“Mississauga should decide the terms of how \u2014 and whether \u2014 these facilities operate here,” she said in the statement. “Today’s vote was an important step. I’m going to keep pushing to make sure it isn’t the last one.”<\/p>\n
Ward 2 Coun. Alvin Tedjo joined the chorus, saying in a statement he also welcomes the council’s decision to pause projects for a year. <\/p>\n
“Residents are right to be asking questions, and they deserve clear answers,” he said.<\/p>\n
The race to be Mississauga\u2019s next mayor features 14 candidates. A full list of mayoral candidates can be found on the city\u2019s website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mississauga city council has voted unanimously on a moratorium on new data centres for one year, the latest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":898583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194297],"tags":[49,48,55405],"class_list":["post-898582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mississauga","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mississauga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}