Mississauga council voted unanimously Wednesday to put a one-year freeze on new data centre projects, the latest municipality to hit the brakes on the artificial intelligence-fuelled buildout. The pause is framed as a chance to study what guardrails the city could place around new data centres as local lawmakers grapple with residents’ concerns about possible energy, water and noise impacts. “We’ve heard your voice loud and clear,” Martin Reid, the councillor who sponsored the moratorium, said during Wednesday’s council meeting. Municipalities are on the front line of a debate over how to handle a new wave of data centre projects cropping up across Ontario. While the province has long hosted data centres handling cloud storage, financial transactions or websites, the AI boom has led to a surge in projects with far more intensive energy demands. The province and federal government have broadly backed the data centre buildout as a chance to exercise greater domestic control over the digital economy and attract investment. But they face critics who say cities have been left with little guidance or enforceable standards. “It’s kind of a Wild West,” said Reid. Mississauga’s pause applies to data centres with energy demands over 10 megawatts, or enough electricity to power roughly 10,000 homes. The city joins neighbouring Oakville, which last month passed the province’s first moratorium. Other cities, including Hamilton and Burlington, have directed staff to carry out data centre planning studies but rejected a moratorium. Under pressure from municipalities, Ontario released last month a draft “playbook” for new data centre projects. Premier Doug Ford, who has been critical of moratoriums and framed data centres as promising investments, said projects would be required to pay for all their electricity costs and demonstrate community benefits. That playbook is encouraging but lacks teeth, said Reid. “There’s no recourse,” he said. “That’s why this (moratorium) is critical for us in this time to make sure that Mississauga is set up for success.” The vote appears to put in limbo a 40-megawatt data centre project in the city’s northwest pursued by Prologis, a major U.S.-headquartered firm. The site is just south of Highway 401, neighbours with an Ikea warehouse, close to an electrical substation and about a kilometre away from the nearest residential neighbourhood. In a statement, the company said it was disappointed by the vote and was considering its next steps. “We remain committed to Mississauga and confident that a carefully planned data centre in Meadowvale Business Park can bring significant long-term economic benefits to the community,” read the statement. It marks what could be a significant turnaround for a project that initially received an approving reception from councillors. When the project came before a planning committee in March, Reid said he was excited about it and lauded its potential boost to the city’s tax base. After the committee voted to advance the project’s application for additional work with staff, Mayor Carolyn Parrish said, “who turns down Prologis? I haven’t seen anyone yet.” That tone shifted as residents learned about the project, raising a number of concerns related to its energy demands, backup generators and location in a floodplain, among other issues. A town hall, attended by residents and Prologis, helped to convince Reid to bring in a moratorium, he said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2026. Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press
