Manitoba Premier Kinew says no to hyperscale AI data centre south of Winnipeg

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA - Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says a massive artificial intelligence data centre southeast of Winnipeg will not go ahead.

Kinew said Thursday that the sheer size of the project, the energy it will consume and its impact on the community outweigh the limited gains. 

"There's a big threat to the environment and not much benefit to the economy," he told reporters at the Manitoba legislature.

He said he was also skeptical of the long-term demand for centres of this scale given advances in computing.

U.S.-based Jet.AI and Consensus Core Technologies, a British Columbia firm, were hoping to build a centre powered largely by natural gas turbines near Ile des Chênes.

The companies say they've secured 142 hectares of land in the area for the project, which could scale up into the hundreds of megawatts. 

Consensus CEO Wayne Lloyd said in a statement that the company was reviewing the premier's comments and looks forward to a "robust engagement process" with the Manitoba government.

He said the project doesn't need power from the provincial grid and would provide benefits to the economy.

"It creates a significant amount of well-paying union jobs both during and after construction," said Lloyd. "It will also provide millions of dollars in annual local tax revenue that would directly fund major community benefits."

Kinew said Manitoba has existing AI data centres and will have more, but said the hyperscale operations are a far different order of magnitude.

"It's very clear AI is transforming our economy and our society," he said.

"But I think Manitobans want that to happen in a way where AI serves us and we're not servants to AI."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2026.