Solomon says Ottawa not responsible for AI data centre power

Federal AI Minister Evan Solomon told a Senate committee Thursday that Ottawa is not responsible for regulating the electricity used by AI data centres, Global News reported.

“The federal government is not responsible for power,” Solomon told the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, according to Global News. He said power regulation falls to provincial regulators and that Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia are creating their own data centre laws.

Solomon also called doubling Canada’s energy grid capacity “absolutely critical” to the federal AI strategy, Global News reported. He said Ottawa has received more than 160 data centre proposals, and that large projects need about 100 megawatts per building. Ottawa has memorandums of understanding with about four data centre companies.

Ottawa’s recently released Responsible Data Centre Development Principles say companies should not shift electricity costs onto Canadians. Global News noted that information technology and electricity grids are designated federal critical infrastructure, and that under the National Strategy for Critical Infrastructure, Public Safety Canada can manage risks and reduce vulnerabilities.

The question is live in Nova Scotia, where EverWind Fuels announced that Anthropic signed a 20-year lease for an 18,600-square-metre data centre in Point Tupper, about 200 kilometres east of Halifax. The company describes the $10-billion project as the largest private investment in provincial history. Phase one draws 95 megawatts and is to come online late next year, with a 325-megawatt expansion expected in mid-2028, for a total demand of 420 megawatts.

Premier Tim Houston called the project a major vote of confidence in the rural area and said Canada lacks enough secure data infrastructure. EverWind says its closed-loop cooling system would draw about 100,000 litres of water a day from Landrie Lake in phase one and about 500,000 litres after expansion, roughly one per cent of the lake’s safe daily yield of 34 million litres.

We have reported on the same debate elsewhere, including the Cape Breton lease, the Nova Scotia NDP’s call to recall the legislature, Alberta’s grid plan for data centres and Manitoba’s data centre levy.

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Source: Global News, Oct. 22, 2026.