REGINA — New data centres in Saskatchewan must be Canadian-owned and are also required to supply their own electricity, the province announced Thursday.
The measures are part of a new framework that Saskatchewan's government says ensures Canadian data is protected while also keeping utility services reliable.
"We felt from the very, very beginning that it was important for Canadian companies to be the proponent companies for data and AI infrastructure," Jeremy Harrison, the province's Crown Investments Corporation minister, told reporters.
"I think a lot of the reasons have been made even more apparent over the course of the last number of weeks. In the long-term, data and AI security is going to be as important for nation states as energy security is."
Applicants proposing to build data centres must also be experienced and demonstrate they can create significant jobs, Harrison said.
He added the province will create a centralized intake system to decide whether to approve new projects.
Harrison had made the announcement at the site of Bell Canada's $1.7-billion AI data centre outside Regina, which is currently under construction.
Crews were seen on Thursday moving large equipment. Framing was also being done on two of the site's four buildings.
Bell's data centre is set to be the country's largest Canadian-owned facility, using 300 megawatts of power. Some residents have been opposed to the site, raising concerns about noise, water and power usage.
The centre is not subject to the province's new framework, as it will draw on electricity from Saskatchewan's grid run by Crown utility SaskPower.
Asked why the framework wasn't brought to the public before the construction of the Bell site, Harrison said the province was already operating with the guidelines in mind.
"Bell really was our partner right from the very beginning and we felt it was important to move quickly on this project," Harrison said. "We had the ability to do it because power was available to allocate."
He said public feedback helped inform the framework.
"I think there's broad support for the direction we're moving in," he said.
"People have different views on AI and that is legitimate. I think the reality, though, is AI is here to stay, AI is an important part of our lives today and it's going to become increasingly more important."
John Watson, group president with Bell, said at the announcement the data centre will use no groundwater.
He later told reporters the site plans on using a closed-loop system where a fluid continuously runs through the data centre to cool it.