N.S. NDP wants legislature recalled over AI data centre

Nova Scotia NDP Leader Claudia Chender asked Premier Tim Houston on Monday to recall the legislature for an emergency debate on the proposed $10-billion AI data centre at Point Tupper, N.S., and to adopt binding rules for such projects, The Canadian Press reported.

Updated Oct. 19, 2026. This story is developing.

Chender, who leads the official Opposition, wrote to the premier Monday morning, according to CTV News, which carried the Canadian Press report. She said the government has backed AI data centres without public input or regulations, and she raised concerns about water use, community impact and electricity consumption.

EverWind Fuels announced the project Friday at a funding event in Point Tupper. The company called it the largest private investment in provincial history and said the U.S. AI company Anthropic has signed a 20-year lease. The first phase is an 18,600-square-metre facility drawing 95 megawatts of electricity, The Canadian Press reported. We reported the details of the lease in our earlier story, Anthropic leases Cape Breton data centre in $10B plan.

Chender argues Houston is relying on non-binding guidelines. She wants the legislature to debate and pass binding rules instead.

Houston has set out conditions, but not legislation. Before the project was announced, he said any AI data centre must meet or exceed federal standards for responsible development, The Canadian Press reported. In a social media post in late September, he listed closed-loop cooling, strict water, noise and emissions standards, benefits and a financial return for residents, and no increase in power rates for Nova Scotians.

The NDP has also focused on the cost to ratepayers. In a party news release issued Oct. 16, Chender said Houston attended the Point Tupper announcement even though he had previously said data centres were not right for the province. The release is the party’s own account, and its claims are the NDP’s.

“Meanwhile the Houston government is supporting this project without any discussion, consultation, legislation or regulations,” Chender said in the release.

The party said the average Nova Scotia power bill has risen about $400 a year since the Houston government was elected in 2021. It said bills are set to rise another $250 on Jan. 1 if customers are required to pay for Nova Scotia Power’s coal plant retirement costs. It asked Houston to protect ratepayers through legislation and regulations, and to reverse his shift on securitization, which would keep those costs with shareholders as he said in January.

The question of who pays for the grid is also live elsewhere. Hydro-Québec has asked regulators to raise what data centres pay for power, as we reported in Hydro-Québec seeks to double data centre power rates.

The premier’s office has not said whether Houston will recall the legislature, and the coverage reviewed did not include a response to Chender’s letter. Nor did it say how much water the facility would use. Anthropic has said it will pay for required grid upgrades and protect existing customers from related price increases, The Logic reported earlier. No formal provincial approval or regulatory decision on the campus has been reported.

Organizers of a Halifax waterfront rally have planned a province-wide protest for Nov. 7, Global News reported.

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Via The Canadian Press (CTV News). Additional sources: Nova Scotia NDP, The Logic, Global News.