If Alberta wants to remain an energy leader, it also has to build the computing infrastructure behind the next industrial era. The oil patch is already doing it, mostly out of the headlines, and the debate over data centres has largely missed that.
Key facts
- Suncor reports the world’s largest autonomous ultra-class haul truck fleet at a single mining site, at its Base Plant operations near Fort McMurray.
- Imperial Oil runs robots and drones at its oil sands operations, with generative AI a newer addition, as reported in May 2025.
- Data centre projects near Sturgeon County, Edson and Indus are drawing debate over size, location, water use and power demand.
AI Is Already Working In The Oil Patch
Suncor reports the world’s largest autonomous ultra-class haul truck fleet at a single mining site, with almost 120 autonomous trucks across the two mines at its Base Plant near Fort McMurray. That is no pilot project on a handful of trucks. It is a production fleet doing the heaviest physical work in the mine, coordinated by software and a central control room.
Imperial Oil has taken a similar path, running robots and drones at its oil sands operations and adding generative AI to the mix. Both companies got there the same way Alberta’s energy sector has always improved, by adopting whatever technology cuts cost and risk fastest, without waiting for a press release to make it official.
The Debate That Keeps Missing This Part
Every new data centre proposal in Alberta draws real, fair scrutiny over size, location, water use and power demand. It should. But that scrutiny sometimes slides into treating AI infrastructure as an import from outside the province, something being done to Alberta rather than something Alberta’s own signature industry has already been doing for years.
Dismissing AI infrastructure altogether while celebrating an increasingly technology-driven oil and gas sector is an inconsistent position. Autonomous haulage and AI tools both depend on computing capacity, which is what a data centre exists to provide.
Two Kinds Of Leadership, One Province
None of this settles the argument over where a specific data centre should be built, how much water it can use, or what a host community is owed in return. Alberta should debate every one of those questions hard, the way it is already doing over projects near Sturgeon County, Edson and Indus.
But the debate should start from an accurate premise. Alberta became an energy leader by building infrastructure and adopting better technology before it was fashionable to do so. The oil patch already proves the province can run advanced automated operations on its own terms. The question worth answering now is whether Alberta becomes an energy leader and an AI leader, with sensible rules on where the next generation of facilities gets built, or cedes that second title to somewhere else by default.
