The debate around data centres is growing louder across Canada. Questions about energy, water, land use, environmental impact and community infrastructure are legitimate. We should be asking them.
But too often, someone is missing from the conversation: the people who actually build them.
LiUNA members build data centres. They build the roads, utilities, water and wastewater systems, energy infrastructure and surrounding developments that allow these investments, and entire communities, to function.
Yet when major projects are proposed, workers can find themselves caught in the crossfire, their work reduced to a political talking point or vilified as though supporting construction, economic growth and good jobs means caring less about their communities.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Our members don’t simply arrive at a jobsite, collect a paycheque and disappear. They are the community.
Their children attend local schools. Their families use the parks, hospitals and community centres. They support local businesses, coach sports teams, pay municipal taxes and drive the same roads as everyone else.
They care about protecting our environment because it is their environment too. They care about energy security because reliable energy powers their homes, workplaces and Canada’s economy. They care about responsible development because they live beside what they build.
And they care about jobs because a good union job can change the trajectory of a family for generations.
Yet far too often, our workers are disregarded, dismissed and disrespected by increasingly reflexive anti-development rhetoric, whether the project is a data centre, highway, nuclear energy, housing or the critical infrastructure our communities depend on.
We cannot allow ideology to become a substitute for responsible planning. We must move from politics to policy, and from rhetoric to results.
Ontario has taken an important step with its Data Centre Playbook, establishing a more deliberate framework for approaching this rapidly growing sector.
That is the conversation we should be having.
Government, industry and municipalities should be focused on answering the practical questions, where projects should be located, how they connect to our electricity grid, how water and resources are managed, what infrastructure communities require, how environmental standards
are upheld and how local workers benefit.
We should be focused on getting development right, rather than politicking about whether we should build at all.
There is an enormous difference between scrutinizing a project and simply opposing progress.
Good public policy should demand that investment meets high standards while creating the certainty necessary to attract capital, build infrastructure and create good jobs.
That is why moratoriums are not the answer.
A moratorium does not resolve legitimate questions. It delays answering them, putting investment, jobs and economic opportunity on hold rather than doing the harder work of developing the policies and standards necessary to move forward responsibly.
If there are concerns, address them. If stronger safeguards are required, establish them. If infrastructure needs to be expanded, plan for it and build it. If proponents need to meet higher standards, set them and hold proponents accountable. And do it on a focused, practical timeline.
Responsible development should mean finding solutions, not finding reasons to stand still.
We should reject the false choice between economic growth and environmental responsibility,
attracting investment and protecting communities, or building tomorrow’s infrastructure and
preserving quality of life.
We are capable of doing both.
Data centres are becoming critical infrastructure for an increasingly digital economy. Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing, advanced manufacturing, health care, financial services and countless other sectors depend on secure, reliable digital infrastructure.
If Canada intends to compete globally, attract investment and maintain greater control over its economic and digital future, we cannot simply assume that infrastructure will be built somewhere else.
And development must be responsible.
That means rigorous planning, sufficient energy and water infrastructure, practical environmental protections and meaningful community engagement.
It means giving municipalities the tools to manage growth. And it means ensuring when billions are invested in Canadian communities, Canadians benefit from the jobs and opportunities created.
For LiUNA, that means highly skilled, well-trained workers earning family-supporting wages under some of the strongest health, safety and training standards in the industry.
It also means recognizing what gets lost when these debates become polarized, the men and women who build these projects have a lasting stake in the communities they help build and strengthen.
That is the opportunity before us. To bring workers, communities, government and industry together around a shared vision for responsible growth, one that protects what matters while creating new opportunities for generations to come.
It means asking difficult questions, but moving the conversation toward solutions, not moratoriums, not continued red tape.
Canada has the talent, resources and ambition to build for the future. Our focus should be on
creating the policies and partnerships that allow us to move forward, together. Because we as a country cannot afford lost opportunity.
We need investment, resilient infrastructure, energy security and good sustainable careers that allow working people to build a future for their families.
Our members understand better than most that what we build today will shape the country our children inherit tomorrow.
That’s precisely why they care so deeply about getting it right.
And getting it right means finding a responsible way forward.
Victoria Mancinelli is director of government, public and community relations with LiUNA. Send Industry Perspectives Op-Ed comments and column ideas to [email protected].
