Twenty-three AI, cloud and real estate companies have signed Ottawa’s new data centre development principles, committing to protect electricity customers, limit water use and deliver local benefits—but the framework remains broad.

OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and Meta are among the signatories announced Thursday by Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon and Federation of Canadian Municipalities president Tim Tierney.

The principles say data centres must create lasting community benefits, avoid shifting electricity costs to Canadians, minimize water use and environmental impacts, disclose local effects and deliver strategic value to Canada.

“If you build in Canada, you must build responsibly and transparently and you must build for Canadians,” Solomon said.

The government did not specify performance targets, reporting requirements, enforcement mechanisms or penalties.

Ottawa said development decisions remain local and the national framework is intended to complement provincial, territorial, municipal and Indigenous approval processes.

Tierney called the framework a first step toward helping municipalities assess complex proposals. He said local governments need complete information, stronger accountability and resources to protect community interests.

Major commercial real estate and infrastructure signatories include Prologis, Cologix, Equinix, QScale, Buzz High Performance Computing, eStruxture and Urbacon Data Centre Solutions.

Anthropic recently began hiring a community engagement manager in Alberta to address concerns over power, water and land use as it explores a Canadian buildout.

Canada has more than 300 data centres. CBRE forecasts the market will grow 62%, from $10.4B in 2024 to $16.8B by 2030.

Ontario has proposed making large data centres pay more for electricity, while several municipalities have pursued development pauses.

Three major proposals alone represent $26.5B: Meta’s $13B Sturgeon County campus, Synapse’s $10B Olds development and HIVE Digital Technologies’ $3.5B Oakville campus at 3480 Ninth Line.