What I saw at Alberta's anti-AI protest
A $13 billion investment from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, will see a new data centre built near Edmonton. But not all Albertans are on board with the development, and Rebel News heard from protesters opposed to the project.
I went to a protest against an Alberta data centre the other day. It was a Sunday, in a small town, and 200 people showed up.
That’s a lot.
And unlike most protests I go to, where the protesters have no clue what they’re protesting about, everyone here had a lot to say. Even stranger, they didn’t try to block Rebel News. And the strangest thing was, one of the protesters was a die-hard Rebel News fan.
So, are these protesters right? Are data centres something we should fear?
The demand for computer processing is so huge these days — think of streaming a Netflix show or making a Zoom call — that the computing power doesn’t come from your laptop or your phone anymore. It comes from buildings stuffed with computers, called data centres. And as artificial intelligence becomes more commonplace, the need for data centres is going to grow.
There’s a bit of a race between China and America on AI, and that’s fuelling some of the fevered growth, too.
And to me, that’s an important point, and one that I put to a number of the anti-AI protesters: AI isn’t going away. The question is, do you want AI controlled by Communist China, or do you want it controlled by America? Which is more likely to respect privacy and freedom?
That was the real fear of the people I spoke with. Their objections to the big $13 billion data centre being built in northern Alberta wasn’t really about its proposed water use (it will use less than a golf course) or it’s power use (it’s actually building its own $4 billion power plant). It’s about AI itself.
AI is something to worry about, and to make sure that it’s done right. No doubt it will change many things in our lives. But protesting a computer factory in Alberta isn’t going to change the answers to that — all it might do is push some construction jobs down to Texas, or China itself.
Watch the full video I did with Sheila Gunn Reid in Morinville, Alberta. I did my best to let the protesters have their say. I wasn’t surprised that there were climate activists there, but I thought it was weird that the Revolutionary Communist Party was out in such force.
I should tell you, I just finished doing a lengthy interview with Nate Glubish, the Alberta cabinet minister in charge of data centres. I actually went up to the construction site of the big new data centre to interview him on location. I’ll have that video for you later this week.
What do you think? Is opposition to this data centre just a front for opposing AI itself? And if so, isn’t AI just like the Space Race — it’s a race between us and China, whether or not we like it?
This video first appeared on Rebel News Plus — that’s our special premium content, available only to subscribers. If you want to see our long-form journalism before we put it on YouTube, please subscribe, at www.RebelNewsPlus.com — it’s only $8/month.
In fact, subscribers to Rebel News Plus already have access to the interview with Minister Glubish — subscribe right now to watch it immediately. (Or, stay tuned — we’ll roll it out to the public in a day or two!)
Ezra Levant
Rebel Commander
Ezra Levant is the founder and owner of Rebel News and the host of The Ezra Levant Show. He is the author of multiple best-selling books, including Ethical Oil, The Libranos, China Virus, and most recently, Trudeau's Secret Plan.
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COMMENTS
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susan gerbes commented 2026-08-13 23:24:17 -0400even Ezra’s picture of him pointing to the crowd is fake…. -
susan gerbes commented 2026-08-13 23:23:12 -0400everyone pls watch the 100 Huntley Street special on AI….rebroadcast this week. What we should worry about is the way it will destroy communication, relationships, culture. When people with poor self-discipline or mental illness can fall in love with an AI singer and pretend to end up marrying them, it ’s worse than scarey. Isolation during Covid??? – that will be a long-gone memory compared to what AI can distract us with.
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Marilyn Hagerman commented 2026-08-12 15:29:44 -0400Remember how everyone got sucked into the big COVID farce that ended up killing and disabling millions of people???? Seems many have quickly forgotten!! Carney’s “no objection silence” should be enough to give all albertans second thoughts!!
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Ron Hoover commented 2026-08-12 15:03:41 -0400@Marilyn.
Data centers provide economic benefits and countries , provinces, regions , cities and people can protest all they want but those who do not adopt and embrace this will be left behind. The key to prosperity is productivity and AI is driving this forward at an unpresented rate.
You cannot turn back the clock, ask the luddites how that turned out for them.
Here is a snip from a report looking at the economics that I ran across a few days ago
The ongoing boom in mega data center construction is profoundly reshaping local economies across the U.S., as counties that host these massive technological hubs are vastly outperforming national economic averages.
By tracking some 200 data centers with capacities of 500 megawatts or larger, Wells Fargo analysts have identified a stark contrast in economic vitality between the broader U.S. economy and communities with operational data facilities since 2024. Hyperscalers like Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META) are driving a massive infrastructure buildout to support booming AI demand.
The real estate market in these tech-centric regions has experienced unprecedented growth. Counties with operating data centers have witnessed a remarkable 50% surge in new housing units built, while the national average has remained virtually flat over the same period, according to Wells Fargo. Furthermore, home values in these specific areas have grown by ~14%, effectively doubling the nationwide growth rate.
The labor market reflects similar localized strength. Communities with active data centers boast a low unemployment rate of 3.5%, falling well below the 4.1% July national average. Additionally, job growth in these counties has climbed to nearly 4%, easily dwarfing the overall U.S. total of around 1%.
Even areas where facilities are merely under construction maintain better employment figures than the national baseline. As demand for artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure accelerates, securing a mega data center has emerged as a powerful catalyst for enduring local prosperity.
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Richard Ditchburn commented 2026-08-12 14:51:58 -0400AI is coming to North America. Please do not stand in the way of it. It is far better for Canada and USA to have the data centres than China. I trust North American data centres more than I trust China data centres. Elon is already promoting data centres in space. Let Canada have our own data centre and prosper from building these centres. Why shouldn’t Canada prosper from building data centres, and not just the States.
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Marilyn Hagerman commented 2026-08-12 13:23:20 -0400Many Kids Are Not OK With AI.
Older generations tend to see AI the way we see most new technology: as a tool that does or doesn’t work, that we adopt or resist on our own terms, in our own time. Younger generations don’t have that luxury of distance, and there is a fury at being told how to feel about it by people who built it, sold it, or profited from it first without understanding the consequences of using their youth as part of a larger experiment.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/the-kids-are-not-okay-with-ai-and-they-know-it-6054398
Why Ezra does this “let’s beat China” idea drive rational thought????
This big “Meta” gift to Alberta doesn’t hear a peep from marxist Carney!! Wonder why????
Alberta needs mega resource development – not this power, water sucking monster that will only employ Meta approved very few once it’s up and running!!!!
