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Thursday, October 15, 2026

Canada Compute Map - Canada’s data-centre boom, counted honestly

An interactive field guide to Canada's data-centre boom: what is operating, what is proposed, and what powers it.

Source: Canada Compute Map - Canada’s data-centre boom, counted honestly

0:05:20 · Download the MP3

Ten things

  1. AWS, Vantage, TELUS Rimouski, QScale, and Vantage Quebec City draw on Hydro-Québec’s near-100-percent renewable grid.
  2. The most solid entries are cloud regions and existing campuses - less spectacular than the AI headlines, but already energized.
  3. Wonder Valley, Beacon Indus, Bitdeer Fox Creek, AVAX One, and Meta’s Sturgeon County project are designed around on-site natural gas or gas-led supply.
  4. Synapse near Olds, a hyperscale proposal near Winnipeg, and Steelport in Hamilton show where projects did not survive regulatory or community scrutiny.
  5. Explore 18 tracked Canadian data-centre projects by status, capacity, power source, and location.
  6. Operator announcements from Meta, eStruxture, Vantage, QScale, TELUS, AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Bitdeer, and O’Leary Ventures.
  7. The four cloud regions are the most credible entries partly because they predate the current AI boom.
  8. The host, analyst, and reporter work through what is operating, what remains a claim, and what powers the proposed build.
  9. GW requested against an interim connection allowance of roughly 1.2 GW through 2028.
  10. An interactive field guide to Canada's data-centre boom: what is operating, what is proposed, and what powers it.

Five questions

  1. Which term completes this sourced statement? “AWS, Vantage, TELUS _____, QScale, and Vantage Quebec City draw on Hydro-Québec’s near-100-percent renewable grid.”

    1. Steelport
    2. operating
    3. Rimouski
  2. Which term completes this sourced statement? “Wonder Valley, Beacon Indus, Bitdeer Fox Creek, AVAX One, and Meta’s _____ County project are designed around on-site natural gas or gas-led supply.”

    1. Sturgeon
    2. Microsoft
    3. Canada
  3. Which term completes this sourced statement? “Explore 18 tracked _____ data-centre projects by status, capacity, power source, and location.”

    1. spectacular
    2. Canadian
    3. operating
  4. Which term completes this sourced statement? “The four cloud regions are the most _____ entries partly because they predate the current AI boom.”

    1. Canada
    2. Steelport
    3. credible
  5. Which term completes this sourced statement? “GW requested against an interim _____ allowance of roughly 1.2 GW through 2028.”

    1. connection
    2. spectacular
    3. Microsoft

Answer them in the interactive edition, where each question is read aloud.

The Ginger Rice Lunch

No added sugar.