Texas and Ontario do not agree on much when it comes to energy policy. But on data centres, Texas is showing something Ontario's government seems unwilling to match: caution.

On August 3, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a pause on new data-centre approvals pending a review of their impact on the state's electricity grid, water supplies, tax incentives and local communities.

This is Texas, not a bastion of anti-development activism. Yet even one of North America's most business-friendly jurisdictions has decided that before committing vast amounts of electricity to global technology companies, it should first understand the consequences.

Ontario should be doing the same.

Instead, Premier Doug Ford is barrelling ahead in the opposite direction.

Last week, the province unveiled legislation designed to fast-track the construction of hyperscale data centres across Ontario, including proposals that would give Queen's Park the final word over municipal objections.

According to Ford, concerns about data centres are based on “misinformation.” But the concerns Ontarians are raising are neither radical nor unreasonable.

Families are worried about electricity bills, farmers are worried about losing productive land and municipalities are worried about water use, noise and an AI bubble bursting.

Meanwhile, workers are wondering whether........

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