Canadians Are Divided on AI Data Centres Near Home

Key Findings

• A near even split at home. 45% would support a large data centre proposed in or near their community and 41% would oppose it.

• Opposition runs deeper. 25% strongly oppose a local data centre, more than twice the 12% who strongly support one.

• Good for the province, on balance. 55% say data centres are good for their province once jobs, tax revenue and grid demand are weighed, against 34% who say bad.

• Conditions, not a blank cheque. Only 15% say Canada should actively attract data centres with tax incentives. Most want them to pay their way or face limits on power and water.

• Local voices first. 35% say local municipalities should have the main say on where data centres are built, the most of any option.

• AI users are more open. 58% of daily AI users support a large data centre near home, against 29% of people who never use AI tools.

A Data Centre in Your Community

Support and opposition are close overall, but intensity is not. One in four Canadians strongly opposes a data centre near home, while only one in eight strongly supports one. Projects that look popular in a topline poll can still face a determined local opposition.

Good or Bad for Your Province?

Canadians are warmer on data centres for their province than for their own neighbourhood. A majority see a net benefit, but mostly in a qualified way: "somewhat good" is the single largest answer.

How Should Canada Handle Data Centres?

Only 15% favour incentives. The rest of the public divides between paying the full cost, strict limits and outright restriction, which together account for 78%. Power and water are the terms of the debate.

Who Should Decide Where They Go?

AI Users Are More Open to Data Centres

Asked "Do you use any AI tools or assistants, such as chatbots?", 83% of Canadian adults say yes, and 47% use them daily. How often people use AI is closely tied to how they feel about the infrastructure behind it.

What the Numbers Tell Us

The headline split hides sharp differences between groups. The cuts below use all 250 completed interviews and show only groups with at least 30 respondents. They are unweighted and the sample is not a probability sample, so treat the differences as indications of where opinion diverges rather than precise estimates.

The gender gap is the widest demographic divide. Men lean toward support (59% support, 33% oppose) while women lean the other way (32% support, 49% oppose). Women are also less convinced that data centres are good for their province (43%, against 68% of men).

Older Canadians and British Columbians are more resistant. Support falls from 50% among 35 to 54 year olds to 38% among those 55 and over, where opposition edges ahead. In Ontario support leads by 16 points (51% to 35%); in British Columbia it is reversed, with half opposed (35% to 50%).

AI users and the better informed lean toward support. The more people use AI, the more open they are to the infrastructure behind it: support drops from 58% among daily users to 26% among occasional users. Awareness works the same way. Those who have heard a lot about data centre plans support a local site 57% to 37%, while those who have heard little or nothing lean against (34% to 43%). But awareness also sharpens opposition: 30% of those who have heard a lot strongly oppose a local site, the highest of any awareness group.

The backyard gap is real but modest. Support at the provincial level runs 10 points ahead of support for a site near home (55% against 45%). Most people are consistent: 77% of those who see a provincial benefit would also accept a local site. But 17 respondents, 7% of the sample and 12% of those who say data centres are good for their province, would still oppose one near them. Those swing residents, together with the undecided, are the audience a local project has to win.

What it means. Opposition is concentrated among women, older Canadians, British Columbians and people who rarely use AI, and it is held more intensely than support. For developers and governments, the policy answers point the way: most Canadians want data centres to pay their full cost of power and water or operate under strict limits, and they want local municipalities to have the main say.

About This Study

The Ethos Market Research pulse survey is a quarterly study of Canadian opinion. This wave was conducted online with 250 Canadian adults aged 18 and over from the Ethos Market Research panel, from November 6 to 8, 2026. Results are unweighted. Because the sample is drawn from an opt-in panel and is not a probability sample, no margin of error is reported. Percentages may not add to 100 because of rounding.

Weighted results and full tables by region, age and gender are available on request.

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