Will Hamilton hit pause on data centres? Council set to vote on moratorium

“It’s tense,” said Nick Tsergas, a Hamilton resident who has helped rally moratorium support, in an interview outside council chambers.

A key question facing Wednesday’s vote is whether any councillors will try to introduce an exception to the moratorium. Developers pursuing a data centre in the city have asked for them but hundreds of public letters from residents have appealed for a full moratorium with no loopholes.

“There’s a range of possible outcomes. I have no idea which one is going to happen,” Tsergas said.

Councillors went into a closed session to discuss legal advice on the moratorium before debate was expected to begin Wednesday afternoon.

Hamilton emerged as a flashpoint in the debate over the AI infrastructure when earlier this year residents learned of plans for a possible data centre campus at Steelport, the three-square-kilometre redevelopment on a former steelmaking site led by Slate Asset Management.

Slate’s application to split off about a quarter of the land to advance a potential campus was rejected by a city committee and helped inspire the push for moratorium. The company has appealed that decision.

Residents backing the moratorium say it will give the city time to study a land-use that’s never been properly contemplated.

They have raised concerns about possible noise, water and heat impacts of a data centre, especially near neighbourhoods already bearing the brunt of Hamilton’s industrial burden. Others say a large data centre could strain the power grid and drive up utility bills, while offering few long-term jobs. Data centres have also become a proxy for broader critiques about the rapid rise of AI, from workforce disruptions to misinformation.

Slate has said it has no committed data centre users and has declined to comment on whether it’s held discussions with any large AI firms, such as Meta or OpenAI.

The only group with publicized interest in Slate’s data centre site is the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, a federally funded non-profit tasked with securing computing space for university researchers. The group said it has applied for federal funding for a data centre on a small portion of the Steelport lands.

A full moratorium would appear to cover a data centre proposed by McMaster University and its partner s2e Technologies at the former Hamilton Spectator building. They have asked city council for an exemption for smaller data centres established primarily for research purposes.

Mississauga, Burlington and Vancouver are expected to debate their own moratorium proposals this month.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2026.

Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Will Hamilton hit pause on data centres? Council set to vote on moratorium

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