Months ago, Beck’s team wrote to Environment Minister Darlene Rowden asking why an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was not conducted despite provincial laws which requires proponents of designated developments to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for ministerial review and approval. Rowden has not responded.
"There are only two possibilities: either the Sask. Party completed the environmental and risk assessments and is hiding what they found, or they approved one of the largest industrial projects in Saskatchewan history without following the law," said Jared Clarke, Shadow Minister for Environment. "Neither is acceptable. Saskatchewan people deserve to know what this project means for their water, their air, their power grid, their Crowns and their communities."
At the same time, SaskTel has rejected requests for its internal analysis of the risks associated with the project and even refused to disclose the dates and agenda items from board meetings held between March 2024 and March 2026.
When Bell sought to acquire Manitoba Telecom Services in 2016, SaskTel publicly discussed the regulatory, competitive and financial risks facing the Crown corporation and publicly released its corporate response.
Now, Scott Moe's government will not disclose what risks SaskTel identified, what policy or financial decisions are under consideration, or what analysis has been done on the project's impact on SaskTel, SaskPower and Saskatchewan ratepayers.
"The people of Saskatchewan are being patted on the head and told to 'trust them’ by a Sask. Party government with a 20-year record of scandal, waste and mismanagement," said Brittney Senger, Shadow Minister for Tech, Innovation & AI. "We all own SaskTel. We all depend on SaskPower. When a project of this size could affect our public utilities, our environment and our electricity system, 'nothing to see here' is not an acceptable answer."
The Sask. Party claims the project will generate $12 billion in economic activity although they haven’t revealed the methodology behind that number. An EIA would require the Sask. Party to provide the basis of these projections.
“If the Sask. Party is confident in its $12-billion claim, it should have no problem showing the analysis behind it. Instead, it's avoiding the very process that would require it to prove its case,” said Clarke.
The proposed 300-megawatt data centre would operate around the clock less than half a mile from an established neighbourhood and a long-term care home currently under construction. The first phase is expected to be operational in the first half of 2027.
Neighbouring landowners have raised concerns about noise, lighting, stormwater, groundwater, residential wells, road damage and have repeatedly asked whether independent environmental and health assessments were completed before construction began.
Earlier this month, the reeve for the RM of Sherwood, Ray Orb, handpicked by the Sask. Party after four councillors resigned, acknowledged that available documents concerning the project were only made public in February, just two months before construction began saying, “It was clear the general public was not aware of what was going on.”
Last month, Shadow Minister for Jobs, Economy and SaskPower Aleana Young and Senger wrote SaskPower seeking answers to more than 30 questions concerning the project's electricity demands, financing arrangements and impacts on Saskatchewan's power grid.
"We already know Scott Moe is driving Saskatchewan toward a $26-billion coal catastrophe while families brace for higher power bills," Young said. "Now the government refuses to tell people whether they're also being asked to subsidize this massive AI project."
"Scott Moe can end the speculation today. Release the environmental assessment. Release SaskTel's risk analysis. Release the information Saskatchewan people have been asking for and let the public judge whether this project was approved responsibly,” said Clarke.
“Every day this government refuses to answer straightforward questions raises one even bigger question: what are they trying to hide? Saskatchewan people deserve transparency before they're asked to shoulder the risks.
It's time for change."
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