https://thenarwhal.ca Deep Dives, Cold Facts, & Pointed Commentary en-US Copyright 2026 The Narwhal hourly 1 https://thenarwhal.ca/olds-data-centre-denied/ Fri, 06 Mar 2026 20:21:18 +0000 https://thenarwhal.ca/?p=156271 Lack of public consultation means a project that would have consumed as much power as the city of Edmonton won’t go ahead — for now Drew Anderson and Gavin John News AI Alberta Residents look at a map showing a proposed data centre in Olds, Alberta. https://thenarwhal.ca/olds-alberta-ai-data-centre/ Mon, 23 Feb 2026 13:00:00 +0000 https://thenarwhal.ca/?p=155044 The project, if built, would include the second-largest power plant in Alberta and consume as much electricity as the city of Edmonton Drew Anderson and Gavin John News On the ground AI Alberta https://thenarwhal.ca/manitoba-ai-data-centre-explainer/ Fri, 14 Nov 2025 14:00:00 +0000 https://thenarwhal.ca/?p=148809 Manitoba — home of much hydro power and notoriously cold winters — says it’s perfectly positioned for a data centre boom. Here’s what that means for the province Julia-Simone Rutgers Explainer AI electricity Manitoba renewable energy Winnipeg Photo: Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press Close view of a server rack stacked with computers https://thenarwhal.ca/carney-budget-environment-cuts/ Wed, 05 Nov 2025 15:05:40 +0000 https://thenarwhal.ca/?p=148197 Prime Minister Mark Carney’s budget scales back rules around greenwashing, and hints an oil and gas emissions cap is unlikely. But it introduces a youth climate corps and renews efforts to lift boil-water advisories Carl Meyer News AI carbon pricing federal politics greenwashing Mark Carney Photo: Kamara Morozuk / The Narwhal Mark Carney smiling in a crowd. https://thenarwhal.ca/ai-data-centres-canada/ Wed, 08 Oct 2025 12:00:00 +0000 https://thenarwhal.ca/?p=146081 Kevin O’Leary’s plans to build the world’s biggest data centre in a drought-stricken part of Alberta highlights the big questions and concerns about the resource demands of artificial intelligence Savannah Ridley Analysis AI Alberta drought Illustration: Shawn Parkinson / The Narwhal https://thenarwhal.ca/drought-data-centres-wildfires-canada/ Fri, 15 Aug 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://thenarwhal.ca/?p=142947 A rush of water-hungry AI data centres is just one reason to rethink industrial water use, as drought becomes a real, year-round problem across Canada Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood Explainer News AI Alberta B.C. drought logging Manitoba Ontario Saskatchewan Wildfire Photo: Jesse Winter / The Narwhal Under an orange, smoky sunset just outside of Kamloops B.C., the Thompson River is low, slow and glassy - completely still and smooth while experiencing historically low water levels. https://thenarwhal.ca/great-lakes-data-centres-threat/ Tue, 20 May 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://thenarwhal.ca/?p=137505 Ontario could learn a lot from Michigan about the coming data centre boom, and how it could impact our freshwater resources. But much is still unknown Stephen Starr In-Depth AI Photo: Taylor Vick / Unsplash Colourful wires plugged into machines behind translucent doors in a data centre https://thenarwhal.ca/heiltsuk-salmon-ai/ Wed, 10 Jan 2024 16:54:55 +0000 https://thenarwhal.ca/?p=96791 Using AI means some communities are starting to collect quicker, more accurate data on salmon than the federal fisheries department Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood News AI B.C. climate change Indigenous Rights salmon Photo: le colibri STUDIO / Wild Salmon Center In Heiltsuk territory, three people stand mid-thigh deep in the Koeye River. Sun spots glisten in the upper corner. The Koeye fish weir, a steel fence low in the water, is on the left. The three people smile, talking as they work