Meta announced on July 8 plans to construct its first Canadian data center in Sturgeon County with 1-gigawatt capacity and an investment of C$13 billion. The project is the company's 33rd globally and will take two to three years to build. Alberta's government participated in the announcement while the province's grid remains 60 percent natural gas.
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The project locks in fossil-fuel dependence on a 60 percent natural-gas grid and reinforces corporate power with limited public oversight.
“Climate urgency and concentrated corporate influence”
Alberta's reliable energy mix and pro-development stance successfully attract large-scale investment over restrictive policies elsewhere.
“Economic competitiveness and policy certainty”
Meta responded to price signals and existing infrastructure through voluntary exchange, though political involvement raises subsidy questions.
“Property rights and neutral policy versus favoritism”
All three overlook potential negotiated concessions on power and water plus Meta's externalization of AI infrastructure bottlenecks.
“Unexamined physical constraints and public infrastructure extraction”
Ratings by MBFC