While Alberta embraces data centres, New York’s moratorium hands China the advantage
Data centre divide: Alberta embraces growth and jobs while New York’s moratorium risks handing technological leadership to China.
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Article by Rebel News staff
Tonight on The Ezra Levant Show: New York’s tech ban, China’s gain and Meta’s $13 billion bet on Alberta. Also constitutional lawyer Darren Leung of Charter Advocates Canada on the major victory for free expression as court strikes down Ontario Ministry of Transportation’s political billboard ban.
A data centre is not just a warehouse of blinking lights. It is the core of everything digital. Every Netflix binge, every photo in your cloud, every tap on your phone runs through these modern factories. From eBay to hospitals, from tax departments to government agencies, nothing works in the digital age without them. With artificial intelligence rapidly expanding, demand for these massive computer hubs continues to rise.
New York becomes the first state to impose a data-center moratorium. 'The bottom line is: Progress shouldn't arrive with a higher utility bill, depleted water supplies, or noise pollution,' New York Governor Kathy Hochul said https://t.co/9DvlhZuiZU pic.twitter.com/kmSCFh4sbU
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 14, 2026
That is why New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s year-long moratorium on new data centres is such a self-defeating move. Citing higher utility bills, water use, and noise, she is freezing the infrastructure of the future while New Yorkers keep using data every single day. You cannot ban New Yorkers from streaming movies, using social media, banking online, or making Zoom calls. The data still has to go somewhere. Blocking new builds does not stop demand. It just hands the advantage to competitors.
Months ago, my AI data center moratorium bill was called a radical idea.
— Sen. Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) July 14, 2026
Today, New York became the first state to enact a moratorium and a majority of voters nationwide support it.
AI must benefit ALL of humanity, not just a handful of Big Tech billionaires.
Left-wing politicians quickly piled on. Senator Bernie Sanders, turning a technical issue into class warfare, cheered the ban. He boasted that his own moratorium idea, once called radical, is now mainstream. He insists AI must benefit all of humanity, not just a handful of Big Tech billionaires. Never mind Sanders’ own multimillionaire lifestyle with three homes. In practice, this approach means less investment, fewer jobs, worse services, and American innovation falling behind.
China wins. 🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/tTiMwxPNaq
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) July 14, 2026
Senator John Fetterman cut through the noise in two words: China wins. That is the real cultural divide. While American progressives obsess over perceived threats from tech success, Beijing is ready to seize the lead. Data does not respect state borders. If New York or anywhere else bans the factories of tomorrow, the digital economy will simply move elsewhere.
Contrast that with Alberta, where Meta is investing more than $13 billion in a new AI-optimized data centre, its first in Canada. The project will create thousands of construction jobs, hundreds of permanent high-paying roles, and tens of millions in local infrastructure upgrades. It will run on 100 percent renewable-matched power with a closed-loop liquid cooling system that uses zero operational water. Alberta is not wringing its hands over lost opportunities. It is positioning itself as a winner in the global tech economy.
Meanwhile, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew abruptly cancelled a major data centre project over vague, conspiratorial fears about surveillance. There is no evidence, just paranoia. Shutting down the building where processing happens will not stop cookies, terms of service, or online tracking. It is like blaming the farm because your steak was undercooked. The real result is lost investment, lost jobs, and a missed chance for the province.
At the federal level, the Liberals, with Mark Carney pulling strings in the background, have been silent. No congratulations on the Alberta win. No push for innovation. Just indecision while the world advances.
Legitimate concerns exist around AI, including job displacement and privacy. History offers optimism. Two hundred and fifty years ago, 90 percent of North Americans worked on farms. Today it is around 2 percent. The rest found new work that was unimaginable then. We should be techno-optimists while managing real risks.
But much of the opposition falls into three groups: hardcore anti-industry activists who oppose any development, natural skeptics wary of Big Tech’s power and past mistakes, and those who simply want the West to lose ground to China. The last group is not against data centres. They are against American and Canadian success in this space.
Meta’s Alberta project addresses many practical concerns with its own power generation, minimal water use, and community benefits. Legitimate issues around zoning and transparency can be solved without conspiracy theories or economic surrender.
The choice is clear: build, create, and compete, or hand the future to adversaries because politicians are distracted by scare campaigns and class envy. Where leaders welcome investment, data centres bring jobs, opportunity, and technological strength. Where they yield to activists or petty politics, competitors abroad win. That is not progress. It is surrender.
GUEST: Darren Leung (lawyer) on the major victory for free expression as court strikes down Ontario Ministry of Transportation’s political billboard ban.
COMMENTS
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Lance Humphries commented 2026-07-15 03:47:29 -0400 FlagData centres were being used for computing power and memory storage. Nvidia has completely undermined the need for computing power with 2 different units, There’s the DGX Spark w a PetaFlop of computing power. that sits on the corner of one’s desk. Super secure as it’s in-house and no internet required.
All for under 5k!! https://marketplace.nvidia.com/en-us/enterprise/personal-ai-supercomputers/dgx-spark/
Then there’s the Jetson-Orin for developers. $250 US does 67 trillion operations per second (TOPS). https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/autonomous-machines/embedded-systems/jetson-orin/nano-super-developer-kit/
It’s a false dichotomy to assert it’s a race to the future between us and China. They wanna surveil their citizenry – let them!! But it’s not a race we want to be part of. General Ai isn’t working, and in fact, causing huge problems and costs more than human staff. Ai must be tailored to each application. One for factory jobs, different for autonomous vehicles etc. https://slaynews.com/executives-panic-huge-ai-bills-plans-replace-human-workers-backfire/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-newsletter
Quantum computing is where the discoveries and inventions will come from. -
Benjamin Raber commented 2026-07-15 00:54:48 -0400 FlagForgot to cover the noise issue, and the claims that the recirculating water is actually debunked marketing trick.
Wab had one point in that speech you didnt cover which is that the individuals computers may be handling more of the AI, making these centres obsolete.
Also the loss of prime farmland etc, going along with wind solar etc.
Im group 2! -
J.G. Smith commented 2026-07-14 23:53:33 -0400 FlagEzra failed to recognize a fourth group/point of opposition. It is clear to many that the globalists/collectivists are in the process of building a global digital prison/surveillance state. This is certainly great cause for concern and in my mind worthy of addressing prior to criticizing the potential loss of a few potential jobs. -
Matt Abrahams commented 2026-07-14 20:43:23 -0400 FlagYou seem to be confusing AI datacentres with conventional datacentres. AI datacentres have considerably more computing computing power, consume considerably more electricity, and generate considerably more heat than conventional datacentres. Their cooling systems emit a constant drone that can be heard from miles away and consume an incredible amount of water. Your website, your Netflix and anything else you may use are not hosted in AI datacentres; they are hosted in conventional datacentres. I have no issue at all with conventional datacentres, but I am vehemently opposed to AI datacentres.
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Bruce Atchison commented 2026-07-14 20:40:47 -0400 FlagSocialist Luddites don’t realize that they use data centres. But they don’t care that China is far more diabolical than Meta. They’re like the folks who rail against big box stores while shopping at Walmart and other chain stores.
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Bernhard Jatzeck commented 2026-07-14 20:25:04 -0400 FlagKathy Hochul is Andrew Cuomo’s successor. How is she an improvement? And let’s not forget how AOC made sure that Amazon couldn’t set up a facility in the New York City area.
Sanders is also a blatant hypocrite. How many houses does he own, yet he verbally chastises “deplorables” for travelling?
