"Kevin O’Leary’s plans to build the world’s biggest data centre in a drought-stricken part of Alberta highlights the big questions and concerns about the resource demands of artificial intelligence"

"It was announced last December that a data centre more than 32 times the size of the current largest data centre in the world has its sights on a drought-stricken region in Alberta.  

Chief Sheldon Sunshine of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation first heard about the $70-billion data centre campus proposed right next door in a press release. 

Sunshine was surprised, as his nation had not been consulted on the proposal. Looking back through his inbox, he found an overlooked email from just a few days prior to the announcement, bearing a subject line with the name “O’Leary.”

That email referred to Kevin O’Leary, also known as “Mr. Wonderful” of Shark Tank and Dragon’s Den fame. It was a message detailing O’Leary Venture’s plans for a data centre campus called Wonder Valley in the Greenview Industrial Gateway, an industrial development just over 500 kilometres from Edmonton, within Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation’s traditional territory and adjacent to their reserve."

Savannah Ridley reports for The Narwhal October 8, 2025. [2]