Potential data centre a bad fit for Wilmot says local activist

Prime farmland in Wilmot Township, part of a 770-acre land assembly, is being eyed as a potential site for a $4-billion QScale data centre, a plan that has sparked debate over development versus preserving agriculture. File photo

By Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A Quebec-based data company has confirmed Wilmot and Waterloo Region are potential spots for its next mega centre.

QScale is looking to move into Ontario with an investment of around $ 4 billion, and the region has been put on the shortlist of potential sites.

Martin Bouchard, the company’s president and co-founder, told the Waterloo Region Record newspaper that while he can’t disclose specific options for a future site for competitive reasons, he can confirm Wilmot and other parts of the region are included in the evaluation.

 “Wilmot is a great place to live, work and invest, so it’s no surprise that privately owned employment lands across the township may attract a wide range of inquiries,” said Wilmot Mayor Salonen. “To reiterate statements made by the Region of Waterloo, the regional land assembly is not being pursued for any specific business or end user at this time.”

On its website, the region said the land assembly is meant to create a “shovel-ready site” to attract a major employer and secure long-term jobs and investment.

Local activist and opponent of the region’s 770-acre land acquisition Kevin Thomason said the idea is a bad fit for Wilmot.

“Even the most massive data centres being built right now are only 100-200 acres in size, and most of that is for massive amounts of heavily polluting methane gas turbine generators to produce the massive amounts of electricity required.”

He added there are dozens of already serviced, shovel-ready industrial sites in Waterloo Region sized between 10 and 100 acres.

“We don’t need to be destroying working farms in distant Wilmot Township for any parcels that size.”

Thomason explained it’s not in the best public interest to see a huge amount of prime farmland destroyed for a data centre that doesn’t need to be located on prime agricultural land.

“Only one per cent of Ontario is prime farmland, and food security is so important. We need data too, but place it on rock and the other 99 per cent of Ontario that we aren’t depending on for food and drinking water.”

Thomason added the township isn’t even close to being able to provide what any major development would need to move ahead.

“We have very little electricity; there is no redundancy to electrical power whatsoever, with only a single transmission line running through Wilmot. We have no lakes or large cooling capacity unless they are going to risk our Waterloo Moraine and drinking water with geothermal loops, which would be really expensive and destructive to build. Wilmot has no major fibre infrastructure or significant data routing capabilities that are required at a massive scale for data centres.

“Almost none of the required infrastructure exists so far from urban centres. We have only a single major hydro transmission line with little redundancy, we have no major fibre optic or communications infrastructure, we have no cooling or geothermal infrastructure. Everything a large data centre would require would have to be provisioned from scratch at great expense and taking considerable time.”

One proponent of a potential QScale development is Tony LaMantia, president and CEO of the Waterloo Region Economic Development Corporation.

“We welcome sovereign data centres. We would prioritize Canadian-owned and operated data centres,” said LaMantia. “The future of our computer capability and what’s happening just across the board in terms of artificial intelligence means that we actually need that infrastructure.”

The Gazette asked Thomason if he felt the region is feeling pressure to get some sort of development deal in the Wilmot site. He said the region and province are desperate to try to justify the Wilmot farmland assembly.

“I fear they would jump at anything that comes along as vindication, no matter how inappropriate it would be for the community. A massive data centre that will consume all our electricity, overwhelm our water aquifers and pollute our communities like huge data centres are doing to communities elsewhere or even a chemical plant or nuclear facility. I wouldn’t put anything past certain elected officials when we see the announcements being made elsewhere despite public outcry.”

Thomason did not specifically name which elected officials he was referring to. He also had his own ideas for what types of manufacturing would be a good fit for the site, including agricultural food production and processing.

“Our number one industry, revenue generator and employer in Waterloo Region continues to thrive. Our townships have always been clear that they wish to remain rural, agricultural communities, not become bedroom suburban sprawl or be overrun by development such as Milton. We must ensure a better future for the 770 acres than the scheme some elected officials are trying to force onto our Wilmot communities.”

He added it’s a downward spiral once bad planning choices are made, which usually leads to many others.

“Good planning isn’t an accident and is very hard to do. We already had the visionary official plans we needed for a successful future. We need to get back to those plans and get back on track before even more taxpayer dollars are wasted.”

The region has not been able to acquire any more land in the township with the last update on May 15, saying they have purchased just over 550 acres or 70 per cent. Thomason said landowners have made it clear from the onset that they don’t want to sell.

“This isn’t the future they want, and they are unwilling. Some have been forced to sell under great duress, others continue to hold out, determined for a better future. The region and province continue to do everything they can to force this massive industrial site that they admit they don’t even have a customer for.”