After previously voting 15-1 in June in favour of having staff draft an interim control by-law to pause AI data centre applications in the City of Hamilton for a period of one year, Council reversed course and defeated the by-law in a 6-10 vote last Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Mayor Andrea Horwath announced a Special Council Meeting to have elected officials learn more about data centres.
Council heard from Dr. Martin Karsten, a University of Waterloo Computer Science Professor, Dr. Michael Schull, the Chief Executive Officer of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, and Dr. Gianni Parise, the Vice-President of Research at McMaster University.
The delegates sought to dispel some concerns from residents related to noise, energy requirements, and water usage associated with data centres.
Karsten shared that new modern data centres use closed-loop cooling systems, so water is sealed in and recirculated like a car engine.
He added that noise and vibration are “very well contained and the vibration simply does not exist because these computers are way too delicate to tolerate any significant vibration.”
Officials from Alectra Utilities also clarified that the city’s east-end industrial sector, where the Digital Research Alliance of Canada wants to build an AI data centre as part of the new Steelport development on former Stelco lands, has the capacity for 743 megawatts, with current industry only using 31 per cent of that capacity.
The Digital Research Alliance of Canada is a national not-for-profit funded by the Government of Canada.
Steelport would reportedly need 200 megawatts, meaning that electrical capacity for that project already exists.
The other imminent data centre proposal is being put forward by McMaster University at the former Hamilton Spectator building.
Both facilities have a public research component and are thus much smaller than the hyperscale facilities built by large AI firms for consumer usage.
But it was another meeting, held behind closed doors with City of Hamilton legal staff on Wednesday, that appeared to influence Council the most.
Council heard that any interim control bylaw pausing data centres for one year would not apply to the McMaster proposal and would also be vulnerable to a legal challenge, which would cost the city to defend.
The motion for the by-law was brought forward by Councillor Nrinder Nann (Ward 3 – East Hamilton Centre) and seconded by Councillor Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2 – Downtown Hamilton).
Nann argued that the city needs to have proper rules in place first for data centre approvals and that the by-law gives the city more time to put that in place.
“This is about enabling the City of Hamilton to upgrade our zoning and land use planning tools and criteria given that AI data centres have not even been contemplated as a land use when our zoning codes were established 15 years ago,” said Nann.
Councillor Mike Spadafora (Ward 14 – West Mountain) countered that any proposal that comes forward will still have to go through all the proper processes.
“You cannot just show up tomorrow with an excavator and start digging for a data centre,” he said.
“The only thing we may be doing is pissing off a couple applicants that are going to take their investment elsewhere.”
He also noted concerns about a potential legal challenge to the by-law.
“At the end of the day, a legal challenge will come. We are going to spend a ton of money to challenge the federal or provincial government’s regulations or a proponent’s regulations.”
Councillor Brad Clark (Ward 9 – Upper Stoney Creek) agreed and also noted the positive economic impacts of data centres.
“The City of Hamilton is in a serious economic decline, not just in Hamilton, but the province. We have steel companies that are literally on life support. And we have brothers and sisters working in those companies worrying every day whether or not they’re going to get laid off because of these additional tariffs,” Clark said.
“I cannot be a Councillor that says, you know what, to hell with $2 billion worth of new investment in the City of Hamilton because we want to ask for an interim control bylaw that’s going to bring us right back to where we are today,” he concluded.
Horwath voted against the interim control by-law and said that data centres are important for universities and colleges, computing capacity, research, and innovation in the medical industry and other industries.
She added that there are construction jobs related to the centres, research jobs, advanced manufacturing jobs, and maintenance jobs.
AI is used in relation to McMaster’s nuclear facility, so researchers say that it is important for that data centre capacity to be located within Canada for national security reasons and data sovereignty.
VOTING RESULTS
IN FAVOUR of an interim control by-law to put a one-year hold on data centre applications (6): Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2 – Downtown Hamilton), Nrinder Nann (Ward 3 – East Hamilton Centre), Matt Francis (Ward 5 – Hamilton East-Stoney Creek), Tom Jackson (Ward 6 – East Mountain), Esther Pauls (Ward 7 – Central Mountain).
AGAINST the interim control by-law (10): Maureen Wilson (Ward 1 – Chedoke-Cootes-Westdale), Tammy Hwang (Ward 4 – Hamilton East), Rob Cooper (Ward 8 – West/Central Mountain), Brad Clark (Ward 9 – Upper Stoney Creek), Jeff Beattie (Ward 10 – Stoney Creek-Fruitland-Winona), Mark Tadeson (Ward 11 – Glanbrook-Binbrook-Mount Hope), Craig Cassar (Ward 12 – Ancaster-West Flamborough), Alex Wilson (Ward 13 – Dundas-Central Flamborough), Mike Spadafora (Ward 14 – West Mountain), Ted McMeekin (Ward 15 – East Flamborough-Waterdown), Mayor Andrea Horwath.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
