A significant majority of Canadians say they’re worried that the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence data centres across the country could send their electricity bills soaring and take a toll on the environment, according to a newly released Leger survey.
The poll found that 81 per cent of respondents are concerned about the possibility of rising household power costs tied to the growth of data centres, while a nearly identical proportion 79 per cent expressed worry about environmental consequences, pointing to the enormous quantities of electricity and water these facilities require, along with the emissions they generate.
Despite those concerns, Canadians appear split when the conversation shifts to data sovereignty. When asked whether building domestic data centres to support Canadian AI services would be beneficial, support outweighed opposition: 46 per cent called it a positive step, compared with 37 per cent who viewed it negatively.
Andrew Enns, Leger’s executive vice-president for Central Canada, said the results point to a country still working out how it feels about this fast-moving industry.
“We’re seeing evidence that there is a bit of a divided opinion amongst Canadians regarding the construction of these data centres around the country,” Enns said.
That split becomes even more pronounced when the question turns local. Asked how they’d feel about a data centre being built in their own province, 44 per cent said they’d welcome it, while 42 per cent said they’d push back a virtual dead heat that underscores just how contentious these projects have become at the community level.
The survey, conducted online between July 10 and July 13 among 1,505 people, also found that public familiarity with data centres is fairly widespread, with 62 per cent of respondents saying they’d at least heard of them. Because it was an online poll, the Canadian Research Insights Council a body that sets standards for the polling industry notes that no formal margin of error can be applied, since participants weren’t drawn through random sampling.
Beyond environmental and cost concerns, the poll dug into who Canadians think should be footing the electricity bill for these facilities in the first place. A majority, 58 per cent, said it should fall to provincial governments or utilities to supply power to AI data centres. Meanwhile, close to a third of respondents said that should only happen if the companies operating the centres cover the entire cost of power and any infrastructure upgrades needed to support them. A separate 31 per cent went further, arguing data centre operators shouldn’t be allowed to draw from the public grid at all and should instead be on the hook for generating their own energy supply.
The findings arrive as Canada braces for a major buildout of data centre infrastructure, with Alberta expected to host the bulk of new development. Many of the facilities planned for the province are expected to run on power from natural gas plants rather than drawing directly from the electrical grid.
Even so, resistance to these projects has been building in communities across the country Alberta included. In June, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew turned down a proposal for a large-scale data centre planned for a site southeast of Winnipeg, a decision that added fuel to the broader national debate over where and how this kind of infrastructure should be allowed to grow.
As AI adoption accelerates and demand for computing power climbs, the Leger poll suggests governments will need to navigate a public that’s simultaneously intrigued by the economic promise of the technology and wary of who ultimately ends up paying its energy bill.
