Oakville has implemented a one-year suspension on new data centers, making it the first Ontario municipality to do so as local officials grapple with concerns surrounding the surge of facilities supporting artificial intelligence.
Council members have also instructed staff to assess if the town’s regulations need updating to address potential noise, vibration, emissions issues, and broader land-use considerations related to data centers. Mayor Rob Burton emphasized that the decision was not made out of fear or in response to any particular application but as a proactive measure to ensure the town’s well-being.
This move by Oakville comes at a time when neighboring Mississauga is poised to vote on a similar pause next month, while other Ontario municipalities are exploring ways to regulate these new developments.
Although there are no formal data center applications in Oakville, developer Hive Digital Technologies revealed plans for a 320-megawatt AI facility in the Greater Toronto Area by the second half of 2027. Records show that a Hive subsidiary acquired property in Oakville shortly before the announcement.
Councillor Tom Adams, representing the area where the property is situated, supported Oakville’s moratorium, calling the town’s study on data centers both appropriate and responsible.
In response to the moratorium, a spokesperson from Hive expressed respect for Oakville’s initiative in developing a planning framework for data center growth, emphasizing the company’s commitment to transparency and community trust.
The competition among tech giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, and Google has driven a surge in demand for data centers, which are energy-intensive facilities housing powerful computer chips crucial for training and running complex AI models.
While Canada currently has a few large hyperscale data centers, numerous others are in the pipeline. Meta recently announced plans for a one-gigawatt data center in Alberta, to be powered by a new gas plant.
Hamilton was the first Ontario municipality to propose a data center moratorium, but the measure did not pass. Mississauga is set to vote on its proposed moratorium soon. In a similar vein, Waterloo Region recently directed staff to study data center impacts and potentially advocate for a provincial framework to assess and manage proposed developments, following a similar motion passed by Toronto city council last month.