Meta to speak at Industrial Heartland conference

The annual conference put on by Alberta's Industrial Heartland Association will include a look "behind the build" of the $13-billion AI data centre that Meta plans to put in Sturgeon County. Matt Sexton, an Iowa-based community engagement manager with Meta, will give the presentation with moderator Keith Bradley, acting CEO of Invest Alberta, at the Sept. 10 conference at the Edmonton Convention Centre, where 1,000 business leaders and decision-makers are expected to discuss what Canada's first designated industrial zone has to offer.

The Meta project and the Alberta government's desire for more AI data centres have been met with reactions ranging from skepticism to swearing from many members of the public, much to the surprise of Mark Plamondon, the AIHA's executive director. As the temperature rises on this file, the federal government has introduced a set of principles for responsible data centre development, a non-binding framework asking data centre projects to create lasting local benefits, avoid shifting electricity costs to Canadians, minimize water and environmental impacts, communicate transparently with communities, and bring strategic value to the country. Meta is among the 23 signatories, as is Beacon Data Centers, which also has plans for data centres in Alberta. So is Anthropic, which has posted job listings for an Alberta-based community engagement manager.

For a sense of how this issue plays out on the local level, the Sept. 3 meeting of Fort Saskatchewan city council is instructive. As councillors considered updates to the city's land use bylaw, they briefly considered language that would prohibit data centres within city limits. But Mayor Lisa Makin reminded council that Fort Saskatchewan is "a proud member" of Alberta's Industrial Heartland, which "supports data centres as a provincially regulated and approved use in this area." Prohibition "would put us in an awkward and contradictory position with an organization that we work really well with," she said. Councillors ultimately passed a motion asking administration to come back with amendments to restrict data centres, rather than prohibiting them.