Data centres as 'good citizens?' Toronto councillor’s motion shot down
· Toronto Sun
A Toronto councillor tried to get City Hall to take a side on the issue of AI data centres on Thursday, only for her effort to short-circuit.
Dianne Saxe, the representative for University-Rosedale ward and formerly an environmental commissioner for the province, said while data centres are increasingly important to the economy, they can be noisy, water-guzzling “bad citizens.”
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“The national electrical regulatory commission in the United States in the last few weeks (has) issued a very unusual three-alarm notice, a Level 3 alert about the effect of data centres on electricity grids, and particularly the risk that they could bring down an entire electricity grid, by the speed in which they ramp up and down,” Saxe said.
She told the council chambers on Thursday about a number of headline-grabbing problems caused by data centres, including an incident in the U.S. where more than a gigawatt was zapped from the grid in an instant.
In an exchange with Councillor Rachel Chernos Lin, Saxe suggested action is overdue and would clearly be in line with council’s broader goals.
“We don’t have to ask staff whether these are good ideas, and certainly the indication that I got from the press was, like, ‘Where the hell is Toronto?’” she said. “These are not new objectives.”
Saxe was attempting to tack the issue onto a council debate about Toronto Hydro. She urged her colleagues to adopt a document from the non-governmental organization C40 Cities to “set a vision for data centres in our city that are strategically integrated, sustainable and resource-efficient, accountable and community focused, and an engine for cost security and shared prosperity,” as per her motion.
“This is asking that this council join with other cities – including the City of Montreal, cities around the world – to say, we want this vision of data centres as good citizens,” Saxe said.
“That’s going to take better management, better regulation, better standards. It’s not going to be simple to get there, but we need to at least create the vision, work with others and do what we can because it could have a very significant effect.”
‘Now I’m less clear’
Her motion, however, was ruled out of order by Speaker Frances Nunziata, who found it wasn’t truly related to the matter at hand. It was also clear from the questions by other councillors that Saxe’s proposal wasn’t ready for its big moment on the council floor.
“Who do you want to set the vision? What members of staff are we talking about?” Councillor Shelley Carroll asked.
Saxe told Carroll that she was open to rewording her motion to have the city manager in charge of the vision, and to tie in a report on the subject that Saxe herself played a role in ordering earlier this year. Chernos Lin and Councillor Stephen Holyday had already expressed concern to Saxe that her new proposal would be stepping on the toes of that report.
Carroll was caught off guard.
“And what report have we requested?” Carroll asked during her exchange with Saxe. Told it was ordered in March or April, Carroll replied: “Now I’m less clear.”
Carroll, the councillor for Don Valley North, asked why council would take a stance on the issue mere months after ordering a report on it. She also asked: “If the issue here is just endorsing this pact, why can we not see it?”
“Well, it is here,” Saxe replied, holding up a few pages. “It’s quite short.”
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Councillor Stephen Holyday argued Saxe’s proposal seemed “premature,” coming before the city’s own policy on data centres, and asked if the regulation of an electricity consumer might not fall under the city’s jurisdiction.
“It’s not just the electrical grid,” Saxe replied, explaining data centres also have effects on water consumption, noise and planning in the city.
“Sure, so do condos,” Holyday replied.
C40 Cities had yet to respond to a request for comment from the Toronto Sun as of Thursday afternoon.
While Saxe’s proposal failed, the item before council was itself mostly a formality, effectively serving as Toronto Hydro’s annual general meeting. Council agreed to accept a list of reports, some of them confidential.