Danielle Smith announces a $13 billion Meta data centre in Sturgeon County, Alberta, set to be the largest in Canada.
In contrast to Carney’s federal A.I. strategy, which promised clean, sovereign, and ethical A.I., Smith refers to the Meta project as a “digital refinery,” fuelled by a natural gas plant that will be built to power it.
Instead of digital sovereignty, is Canada going to end up being a branch-plant, resource economy at the service of Big Tech?
Plus, the best Canadian films you probably haven’t seen, and Big Tech’s new hiring target: philosophers.
Host: Jesse Brown
Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Kallan Lyons (Associate Producer and Fact Checking), Caleb Thompson (Mixing and Mastering), Tristan Capacchione (Senior Production Supervisor), Jesse Brown (Editor)
Guest: Douglas Soltys
Further reading:
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Campus Town Hall - Civil Conversations
7pm | July 21st, 2026
University of Waterloo
Pearl Sullivan Engineering Building
PSE 7303
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