Nova Scotia residents protest data centre over water, job concerns
Protesters say the facility will strain local water supplies and create few lasting jobs for the community.
HALIFAX — Residents of Nova Scotia gathered in Halifax on Saturday to protest a planned multibillion-dollar data centre they say threatens local water supplies and offers few lasting benefits.
"These companies don't have a lot of information that they're able to give us, we don't know what this is gonna look like, we already have wells that are drying up in the summertime. I don't think we can afford to do this," said Megan Boudreau, one of the protest organizers.
Energy company EverWind announced Friday it had secured $10 billion in private investment for a data centre campus at its Point Tupper site, to be leased and run by AI firm Anthropic.
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"Canadians are using Claude in growing numbers, and we want our infrastructure to be closer to the people who rely on it," said Jacob Glick, head of Canada Public Policy with Anthropic.
EverWind said the campus will begin with a 95-megawatt phase in late 2027, followed by a 325-megawatt expansion targeted for 2028, reaching 420 megawatts at full capacity.
Protest organizers called the plans "randomly announced" and are raising awareness about potential harms.
"They tell us AI will take our water and our power and our jobs and our art, and maybe will kill us all. And they shouldn't be surprised that we're upset and standing up here today after knowing these things," Boudreau said.
Premier Tim Houston said Friday the opportunity had been discussed for about a month and would help Canada build its computing power.
"The data we use every day in our healthcare system, for all our banking needs, for everything on our phones. Business is run on data, government runs on it. We need more secure infrastructure, more secure data infrastructure," Houston said.
EverWind CEO Trent Vichie said the project would create up to 2,000 construction jobs and 215 operating jobs.
Protest organizers called those numbers misleading.
"There's not going to be the CEO coming from Nova Scotia. They're going to be coming from Anthropic. We know it's Anthropic that is going to take over this company or this AI center and we simply cannot just be continuing to throw our money back at the Americans," said co-organizer Ashley Drodge.
Glick said Canada has set a "high bar" for responsible data centre development.
Resident Aidan Pottie, however, is concerned about the project's impact on the town water source, Landry Lake.
"The water source that the data centre is drawing from is Landry Lake, and that is the Port Hawkesbury town water source, that's our drinking water, that is our shower water, that's our cleaning water, and quite frankly I just don't think that's alright," Pottie said while holding a sign reading "you can't drink data."
Port Hawkesbury is less than a kilometre from the Point Tupper site.
Pottie said he feels the process has been hidden from residents.
"A few weeks ago there was a conference in Port Hawkesbury with EverWind, that said 'I was in talks, there'll be more information' and yadda yadda, and as we saw yesterday on the news, clearly this has been in the works for months," he said.
Boudreau and Drodge said they are planning a province-wide protest for Nov. 7.
With files from Global News