The AI Data Centre Report Danielle Smith Didn’t Want You to See

 

Danielle Smith seems to be gung-ho for AI data centres according to a leaked report released today. Perhaps we should take a look at how Ireland is doing since they bent over and took unlimited AI data centres up the rear. Let's just say it's not all 4-leaf clovers over there. 

Data centres don't necessarily belong to companies like Meta and Amazon, though many do. The trend is to build data centres that "rent" space to companies that need it, like banks, shipping companies and larger corporations who need it. This is a very new game, and there is lots of interest for big money to run into the pool to play. It kind of reminds me of when they made pot legal in Canada.....everyone and their dog wanted to be a part of it. And there were a lot of failures as a result of that...more on that in a moment. 

So let's break down this report today. 

According to a report published by The Narwhal today, a leaked document labelled a “cabinet report” lays out a sweeping plan to expand natural-gas infrastructure in Alberta in order to support both increased oil and gas production and the province’s push to attract massive AI data centres. They recommend changing legislation, creating new Crown corporations and potentially giving the Alberta government a much larger role in the natural-gas pipeline business. Sounds a little like "socialism", no? Maybe UCP supporters don't like that. 

This is so much bigger than AI. We all know that the government is begging for these centres and we all know they will suck a ton of energy. Right now, new AI data centres can't access the grid because there simply isn't enough power, and they require new plants to build their own power plants, with natural gas. So the big question is where is this gas coming from and who is building the pipelines? 

Here is where it gets interesting? TC energy doesn't want to play ball and invest all this money for new pipelines and isn't giving the government what it wants. So the Alberta government wants to take some crazy measures. The big idea is to give the federal government the middle finger and wrestle regulatory control over pipelines and create a crown corporation to build new pipelines with taxpayer dollars so the friends of the UCP with their data centres do not have to build their own pipelines. I am sure there are many Government of Alberta tax breaks, grants and loans that will not be too far behind. 

In other words, Alberta taxpayers are going to foot the bill for it all. You and I will take all the legal and financial risk, so Danielle Smith and her corporate friends can profit. And this is where my mention of making pot legal comes into play. There will be failures in this AI data centre business, and it will be ugly. Government funding will go down the sewer all over the place. 

The leak says it will cost more than $162 million just for the crown corporation itself...before anything is built. You could have a referendum for that kind of money in this province. There is also mention of a $6 billion pipeline. Paid for by Alberta taxpayers. Oh, and that doesn't include the lawsuits and legal challenges that will run in the tens of millions of dollars. 

....But wait, there is more! (I always wanted to say that)

Turns out that the report also says there could be a 100% increase in the price of natural gas and a 25% increase in the price of electricity as a result of these centres. So not only can you enjoy the sound of a data centre in your area, not only will you know they are sucking up our precious water, but you will have a massive increase in your utility cost. And when they close down, there will be a giant empty space that no one will ever reclaim, and that we will be paying the infrastructure for, for years to come. 

As the report points out, we may be "sensitive to any change in perceived affordability". It doesn't matter if you are left, or right, UCP or NDP or Tory or Green or Communist or a separatist. This affects us all. 

Alberta’s Referendum Process Is a Democratic Disaster Waiting to Happen

 There is something deeply troubling about the way Alberta is conducting its upcoming referendum. On October 19th, we will be voting on not one, but 10 questions. Today, my mail-in ballot arrived in the mail. Turns out it is 10 separate ballots. 

10 Separate ballots. 

For anyone that has ever worked as an election worker, it is normally one ballot per person. While I believe that our elections system is honest and fair, I am actually one of those people that would prefer hand counting over the electric automated tabulators. I just trust my neighbours over machines, that is all. 

But this time it is different. What we are doing here is the same work as 10 elections. Elections Alberta says 45 million ballots will be printed, and they expect 34 million ballots will be used. They are saying they need 60,000 workers. I can't even begin to tell you how big that is. By comparison, there were 1.78 million votes cast in the last provincial election. 

This isn't just a referendum, this is an enormous ballot processing operation and the public expects it to be over by the end of the night with results in hand. This is impossible. It will not happen. Elections Alberta has never done anything close to this before. They even said it is a "colossal undertaking." 

Each question/ballot will be counted independently on referendum day. Now imagine having to separate them, count them, verify them, deal with rejected or questionable ballots, record the totals, have scrutineers observe the process, seal the materials, report the numbers and then start the process again for another question. We have trouble getting that done for ONE question by the end of an election night, and we are going to process 10? I don't think so. 

At this scale, accuracy comes into play. The more ballots you process manually, the more opportunities there are for mistakes, recounts, disagreements over ballot validity and simple human fatigue. The system that Elections Alberta has been given will result in grossly delayed results, which in turn will result in allegations of vote rigging, magically suitcases of ballots, etc etc. Whichever side loses, they will say it is rigged. 

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Paying for Health Care in Alberta: Why I Think It Could Work

 

First things first. I am not a fan of the UCP government in Alberta. When the UCP government now allows doctors to charge for some services, giving people a chance to jump the line, I was actually horrified. Wait times are already crazy in this province, and now it is going to get worse....unless you pay. How fair is that? Of course, I jumped to the usual conclusions about how the UCP just wants to make everything private....because they have a habit of wrecking everything. 

Then I started looking at health care across the country. It seems that health care in this country is in a big crisis. 15 hour wait times at the ER are now the norm. People cannot get doctors. It seems to get worse the further east you go.....in fact, Alberta is not doing bad compared to other provinces, and that tells you how bad it is in other provinces. In Manitoba it is not unusual to have to travel 3-5 hours for an MRI if you want to get the earliest option. And they will not cover the costs to get there and back. This happened to someone I know. It was the quickest option. Friends of mine in New Brunswick tell me about how much worse health care is in that province compared to Alberta. Good luck getting a specialist. I didn't think we could get any worse in this country than what we have in Alberta. When you look at the big picture, we are holding out really well. 

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Like anything the UCP government does, you sort of have to put on your UCP/Conservative/MAGA/Separatist/Capitalism hat and try to see their point of view. 

First, the UCP are living in their own bubble. They are terrible at communicating anything to the public, and they are really poor salespeople. They know they will likely win the next election, that without a split conservative vote they are a shoe-in. We will save talking about gerrymandering for another day. They have sort of thrown out this new health policy, without explaining what they are thinking. 

The stark reality is Alberta is fighting for professionals, not only with the rest of Canada, but globally. If you are a doctor, you can get a job.....anywhere. Why would they want to live in a place like, say, Thompson, Manitoba when they could be living in Florida with no snow and low taxes? If I was a doctor, it would kind of be a no-brainer for me. This is the kind of problem we are facing. Giving doctors an opportunity to make more money will bring more doctors to Alberta and make it more competitive. We have a low provincial income tax, we have the mountains, and now doctors can make money on the side for those willing to pay....follow the money. Now I understand the concerns about people jumping the line, and in reality, they will likely do it by taking out a line of credit if they want their new hip or knee that badly. 

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The market will indeed decide....that is what the UCP are thinking here. I interviewed my own doctor during a recent appointment. He said in short order, many doctors will come to Alberta and getting health care will actually be easier, because they will over-estimate the amount of private work they will do, and in turn to do more public health care. That is the likely outcome here. One thing that does bother me, is they have not really ironed out the number of what percent of the work must be private or public. You can guess doctors will be allowed to do as much private work as their hearts desire. If that is the case, it will attract many more doctors here.....and they will then find the only work is in the PUBLIC system....which is a massive win for public health care. 

This is the experience in other countries. 

The loser in all this will be health care in the rest of Canada. If you thought health care was bad in other provinces now, it is about to get really bad. In a perfect world, we would have an entire country that would be using public health care and everything would be great, but many of these professionals are taking the money in the States....and the weather. Even those doctors we have recruited from overseas...it is not long before they leave. The doctors that remain will do so as an act of charity....perhaps their family is here, they don't want to move the kids, etc. 

At the end of the day, this move by the UCP government does seem backwards, but in reality it will likely make the public system stronger. We must keep the government's feet to the fire however, so that they FUND public system properly. In the meantime, lets lure all those doctors here.