Join Jeanine in calling for a moratorium on new AI data centre approvals until Metro Vancouver, BC Hydro, and the Province have a comprehensive, transparent plan to meet our region's long-term electricity and water needs.

Metro Vancouver is considering plans for a series of energy-intensive AI data centres. Meanwhile, BC is running out of electricity.

Persistent drought and low snowpack since 2022 has drastically reduced BC Hydro’s energy production, forcing the province to spend billions on imported electricity. 

Meanwhile, the energy provider has already received 15 applications in its 2026 process for new AI data centre connections, which are requesting 800 MW of new electricity—an enormous amount of energy equivalent to powering 600,000-800,000 homes. This is on top of the energy increases already expected from population growth and industrial development.

Despite the massive scale of the proposed data centres, there is very little publicly available information about how much electricity these facilities will actually require, whether new generation, transmission, or grid upgrades will be needed to serve them, who will pay for those upgrades, and how the needs of homes, businesses, and essential public services will continue to be prioritized as industrial demand grows. BC Hydro's own 2025 Integrated Resource Plan is still under regulatory review, and there is no publicly available plan showing how climate change, population growth, and this new wave of industrial electricity demand have been assessed together.

Water security is another concern. Metro Vancouver's drinking-water and BC Hydro's electricity systems are directly connected: Coquitlam Lake alone supplies roughly a third of Metro Van's drinking water, rising to nearly half during peak demand in summer. Coquitlam Lake also feeds the Coquitlam-Buntzen hydroelectric system. As the region grows, Metro Vancouver is securing more of that lake's water for drinking supply, including water previously allocated to power generation. New industrial water users—who currently pay the lowest industrial water rates in Canada—are being considered for approval without a transparent public accounting of how that added draw will impact this already strained system.

Residents deserve to know, before any AI data centres are approved, how governments intend to provide—and pay for—the massive energy demands these projects will bring and how they will impact the already strained energy and water systems that our communities depend on.

Petition calls on Port Moody City Council to formally advocate to the Metro Vancouver authority, BC Hydro, and the Province of British Columbia for a moratorium on the approval of AI data centres in Metro Vancouver until there is a comprehensive, publicly available plan demonstrating that residents' long-term electricity and water needs will continue to be met.

Specifically, we ask Port Moody City Council to advocate for:

• A comprehensive assessment of cumulative electricity impacts, including projected demand from multiple AI data centres, the transmission and generation upgrades that would be required, who will pay for them, and how the needs of homes, businesses, and essential public services will continue to be prioritized.

• A clear, publicly available plan showing how AI data centre growth has been incorporated into BC Hydro's long-term electricity planning and Metro Vancouver's long-term water planning (including how industrial water use will be managed during droughts and how residents' access to drinking water will remain protected).

• Independent environmental and infrastructure assessments that evaluate the cumulative impacts of multiple AI data centres on the electricity grid and regional infrastructure before additional projects are approved.

• Meaningful public consultation and transparency, ensuring residents have access to the information needed to understand the long-term electricity and water impacts of these projects before decisions are made.

When elected, Jeanine Longley, will bring this petition before Port Moody City Council and introduce a motion calling on the City to formally advocate as outlined above.

If you agree that residents deserve answers before new AI data centres are approved in Metro Vancouver, add your name to this petition today.