Canada’s largest AI data centre starts construction this spring in Saskatchewan. It’s one of many being built or proposed across the country. Today, a look at these centres’ controversial track record.

Bell Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan move to expand domestic AI compute capacity, signaling a shift toward sovereign infrastructure as demand for AI power accelerates across education, research, and enterprise.

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The project is expected to generate up to $12 billion in economic value for Saskatchewan, including construction, long-term employment, and indirect job creation. Bell estimates at least 800 roles during construction and around 80 permanent positions once operational, with additional community employment projected.

Premier Scott Moe says the investment reflects both economic and research priorities: “The announcement of this facility is great news for Saskatchewan's economy. This investment by Bell will create jobs, strengthen provincial research capacity, and facilitate the creation of new businesses built on advanced capabilities.”

The agreement with the George Gordon First Nation includes provisions for procurement participation and workforce development. Chief Shawn R. Longman says the partnership is structured to deliver long-term outcomes: “On behalf of George Gordon Developments, the business arm of George Gordon First Nation, we are excited to partner with Bell AI Fabric on this major economic project. George Gordon First Nation has a history of working with industry leaders to ensure long-term mutual benefits that lead to measurable community outcomes while respecting our treaty rights, cultural protocols and environmental stewardship.

“George Gordon First Nation will support and collaborate directly with Bell Canada to ensure the success of this project for the members of George Gordon First Nation and the Province of Saskatchewan.”

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford's cellphone records took centre stage as the provincial legislature resumed sitting Monday for the first time since December, with the opposition accusing the premier of having something to hide.

One of the many pieces of legislation the government has signalled it will introduce during the spring sitting is a bill to exempt records of the premier, cabinet ministers, their staff and parliamentary assistants from disclosure under freedom-of-information laws.

Ford, who has often boasted about his government's transparency, said it just follows what other provinces have already done.

"We should have moved a lot quicker on this," Ford said during question period.

"There are two groups that are concerned about it. The opposition — they should talk to their federal partners — and the media. Everyone else is focused on something else. They're focused on the economy, about jobs, fighting President Trump."

Cardiac services are set to expand at a Winnipeg hospital once regarded as one of the best in Canada for heart care.

The 2026 provincial budget includes $22.1 million to enhance cardiac care at St. Boniface Hospital, a ministerial spokesperson said in advance of the budget's release Tuesday.

New Democrats promised during the 2023 election campaign that they would create a cardiac centre of excellence, saying the cardiac-care program faltered under the Progressive Conservative government.

Funding for the enhanced unit, called Heart Care Manitoba, will add 18 beds and create a cardiac assessment unit, the government said. The funding will also be used to place a cardiologist in the emergency room to provide quick consultations to patients experiencing chest pain and other symptoms.

Dr. Anita Soni, who leads cardiac sciences at St. Boniface, said rebuilding cardiac capacity is vital, with cardiovascular issues accounting for one-quarter of deaths in Manitoba.

Thunder Bay, Ont., is a health-care hub for members of dozens of surrounding First Nations who travel to the city for medical appointments that aren’t available at home.

For years, community members relied on the city’s Wequedong Lodge for accommodation and transportation — but a lack of secure, stable funding from Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) resulted in a significant cutback in its services in April 2024.

That’s when the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority (SLFNHA) stepped up to help fill the gap by launching its own medical transportation program in town.

SLFNHA supports 33 First Nations, 28 of which are remote. Since April 2024, it’s provided about 38,000 rides to patients and their family members in Thunder Bay.

But the program is ending as of April 1.

“It's been very upsetting for us because we know this program is good. We know that it's working. We know that we're transporting people in the way that they need to be transported,” said Monica Hemeon, SLFNHA’s vice president of regional services.

Newly declassified documents obtained by CBC Indigenous confirm that the RCMP infiltrated and sought to disrupt legitimate political Indigenous organizations in the 1970s, in an extensive program of covert surveillance, informants and countersubversion.

“It’s impossible to get a single right answer that is consistent throughout each support agent,” said Sloot, who lives in Toronto.

Sloot is one of more than a dozen customers with whom Marketplace has spoken who say they are frustrated with the poor customer service they received from Canada’s big three telecoms: Rogers, Bell and Telus. Complaints include long hold times, multiple transfers and escalations, dropped calls and overall poor communication, which can make seemingly simple issues take days or weeks to get sorted.

Employees at two of the largest telecom companies, Rogers and Telus, told Marketplace that frontline customer service representatives have less incentive to help issue credits or lower bills, and said they’re measured on their abilities to increase customers’ bills.

It comes as complaints against telecoms reached an all-time high last year, with more than 23,000 complaints filed with the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS), the majority of them relating to billing issues like incorrect monthly charges and missing credits. Meanwhile, in Spain, a new law is looking to cap how long customers have to wait when addressing similar issues — and some say Canada should take note.

'The system is designed to frustrate as many people as possible'

Tenumah believes Bell is following a pattern he has seen many times before. “The system is designed to frustrate as many people as possible,” he said. “Part of the design is that people will give up so that [companies] don't have to incur that expense.”

Reps encouraged to increase customer’s bills: insiders

It’s not just consumers who are frustrated — some telecom employees are, too. Marketplace has spoken confidentially to several current employees of Telus and Rogers, whose identities we are concealing because they fear professional repercussions.

Marketplace spoke to a Rogers worker who takes escalation calls and supports frontline agents. He said those employees' ability to help customers, including by issuing credits, is "decreasing constantly."

A longtime customer service representative with Telus said similarly.

“When I first started, we listened to customers, we appreciated them. I never had any hesitation reducing someone’s bill.”

Now, she says she’s monitored on the number of credits she issues. She says credits of a certain level have to be approved by a manager, and her scorecard is affected negatively if she lowers a customer’s bill.

Another Telus employee, a technician, said he has high sales targets to meet and he’s expected to upsell customers when he arrives at their home to install or fix equipment.

Spanish law limits wait times to three minutes or face fines

In late December 2025, Spain passed a law introducing mandatory customer service standards for telecoms and other large companies with more than 250 employees. It stipulates that customer calls must be answered within three minutes, 95 per cent of the time.

“This will be a revolution, in that it's a small thing, but will change the everyday life of millions of consumers,” said Pablo Bustinduy, the Spanish consumer affairs minister.

Under the new law, which goes into effect within the next year, customer complaints must also be resolved within 15 days, or five if it involves “improper charges.” Non-compliant companies could be fined up to 100,000 euros.

Josée Bidal Thibault, commissioner and CEO of the CCTS encourages Canadians to file a complaint if they can’t get resolution through their telecom.

I've added this image-based direct link to help folks here have an easier line send a 🖕 to your service provider if they've been screwing you over.

When the CRTC, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, allowed the Rogers Shaw acquisition to go though on March 24, 2022, I knew that enshitification was inevitable at that point.

I'm hoping that enough folks are tired and frustrated with the frankly shit service that we get, enough so to bring this to Mark Carney to do something about it.

It really doesn't make sense for Canada, a first world country, to have such shit internet service.
As a Canadian Korean, I often look at South Korea and wonder just why fellow Canadians here have to deal with this hostile system when really it doesn't have to be like this. I'm tired of this and I'm hoping others feel the same.

At about 8:30 a.m. on March 17, a police officer pulled up beside an electric car and observed a driver with her eyes closed and arms crossed while travelling eastbound on Highway No. 1 in Coquitlam in slippery, rainy conditions.

“The driver appeared to be literally asleep at the wheel,” said Cpl. Michael McLaughlin with BC Highway Patrol.

“The driver said that she had ‘zoned out’ but was fully alert with her hands on the steering wheel. In-car police video did not support the driver’s claim.”

A Metro Vancouver woman, 37, was issued a ticket for allegedly driving without due care and attention under section 144(1)(a) of the B.C. Motor Vehicle Act, carrying a fine of $368.

She was also ticketed for speeding against a highway sign under section 146(3) of the Act, with a fine of $138.

Archived link

Three Quebec soldiers who fought in the war in Ukraine were honoured Saturday during a ceremony in Montreal.

Two of the soldiers never came home.

Jean-Francois Ratelle, from Joliette, was 38 when he died on the front lines in 2024.

Montrealer Emile-Antoine Roy-Sirois was 31 when he died in July 2022, a few months after the war began.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022, making the conflict now more than four years old.

During the ceremony, their families stood in their place to accept the Ukrainian Canadian Sacrifice Medal, which honours Canadian citizens who have been killed or wounded while serving with Ukraine’s armed forces.

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Denis Perrier survived the conflict. He was 55 when he made the decision to go to war and said he couldn’t ignore the sense of obligation.

“So I saw that war can destroy family and child kill people,” said Perrier, who was injured while he was on the ground. He spent 10 days in hospital.

It’s not clear how many Quebec soldiers are still fighting in Ukraine.

Michael Shwec, president of the Quebec Provincial Council of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said he was thankful for the volunteers who have put their lives at risk.

“The values of Ukrainians and the values of Quebecers are very, very similar. They value life, they value family, and they are willing to fight for it,” Shwec said.

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It's interesting to perspectives from elsewhere. The Netherlands is also facing a housing crisis, and they're also talking about significant increases in construction. Part of that will be to limit local control.

Interestingly, they're also talking about changing the type of construction: fewer rooms.

There isn't quite enough context to explain why that would help, but it's something I haven't really heard politicians saying here in Canada.

What changes would you make to speed up housing growth here?

Full Testimony (PDF).

The House of Commons public safety committee is planning an inquiry this spring to examine "systemic discrimination and organizational culture" within Canada's border agency.

In recent months, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has been facing growing complaints of stonewalling investigations and a toxic work environment from current and former employees — some of whom have formed a network to help support border officers with their cases.

CBC News revealed this month that several female employees were subjected to degrading comments and behaviour of a sexual nature at the CBSA, often by superiors or more experienced colleagues.

"[The CBSA] is discriminatory and toxic for everyone ... but it does seem disproportionately discriminatory against women," said Conservative MP Rhonda Kirkland, the committee member who has been spearheading calls for an inquiry after hearing from one of her constituents.