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An image from inside the Guelph Data Centre in Guelph, Ont., on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. Photo by Peter Power\/PostmediaWhat the others are doing<\/p>\nArticle content<\/p>\n
Following the lead of other centres in the region, the City of Mississauga has placed a moratorium on new data centre projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis\u00a0(interim control by-law)\u00a0places a moratorium on data\u00a0centres\u00a0larger than 10 megawatts,\u201d Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish said in a statement to the Toronto Sun on Wednesday. \u201cThis is the right approach to address this issue: All governments working in partnership listening to people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
An interim control by-law\u00a0(IBL)\u00a0is a temporary \u201cfreeze\u201d that a local council can place on land use or development in a specific area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moratorium goes into effect on Wednesday and will be\u00a0enforced for exactly one year.\u00a0
The temporary halt gives\u00a0the city a chance to study what limits need to be\u00a0placed\u00a0around projects as the AI\u00a0boom increases demand for larger, more energy-intensive facilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And while every city or region in the Greater Toronto Area may not be affected by every issue on this list, the most pressing concerns for municipalities revolve around water consumption, heat generation, power systems, air emissions, infrastructure upgrades, servicing capacity, environmental impacts, public health impacts, economic influences and climate effects. \u00a0<\/p>\n
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An image from inside the Guelph Data Centre in Guelph, Ont., on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. Photo by Peter Power\/PostmediaWhat the others are doing<\/p>\n
Toronto city council directed staff back in July to review the city\u2019s planning policies around data centres. Staff were also directed to alert city councillors about any large data centre applications.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A notice of motion to study the issue was put forward by Coun. <\/a>Rachel Chernos Lin and seconded by\u00a0Coun.\u00a0Dianne Saxe\u00a0in March. In Oakville, plans for a data\u00a0centre\u00a0caught fire on social media\u00a0in July.\u00a0On Aug. 11,\u00a0the city\u00a0enacted a one-year moratorium<\/a> on new data\u00a0centres.\u00a0<\/p>\n Vancouver-based\u00a0Hive Digital Technologies Ltd. had planned a 320-megawatt AI facility on land it purchased earlier this year.\u00a0 \u201cCouncil took decisive action to make sure Oakville has the right safeguards in place before any proposals come forward,\u201d Oakville Coun. Tom Adams\u00a0said at a council meeting on Aug. 11.\u00a0\u201cData\u00a0centres\u00a0can have significant impacts on land use, infrastructure, energy and water, and we need to understand those implications fully.\u201d
\u201cThere are good data sovereignty reasons to want Canadian data managed in Canada, and the many data-reliant Canadian businesses headquartered in Toronto have good reasons to want their data managed here,\u201d Lin said. \u201cAt the same time, AI data\u00a0centres\u00a0may put a significant strain on power grids, driving up the cost of electricity for all users, displacing other valued uses of electricity, and increasing climate pollution from electricity generation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The vote\u00a0on the moratorium\u00a0was unanimous.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Burlington,\u00a0Milton\u00a0and Hamilton all\u00a0voted\u00a0down\u00a0an\u00a0IBL,\u00a0electing to study the issue further.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n