Dozens gathered outside the Sturgeon County Centre in Morinville on Sunday to protest Meta's $13 billion data centre, the company's first in Canada and the largest AI infrastructure investment in Canadian history. The rally ran from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 9613 100 Street, organized by Ben Baril, a 20-year-old Sturgeon County resident and university student, who had expected between 50 and 100 people. Baril argues the facility will strain Alberta's water supply and electricity grid, contribute to climate change, and threaten jobs, and he said the issue became personal when governments began courting AI projects. His specific environmental concern is emissions from the natural gas plant being built to power the campus. The opposition crosses party lines, with his committee including people he disagrees with on other issues, and Amnesty International has criticized the project. The project is already approved on land zoned for heavy industry decades ago. Premier Danielle Smith has said Alberta's grid operator will use surplus energy until the Greenlight Electricity Centre begins supplying it in 2030, while Meta says the campus will be online within two to three years, leaving roughly two years in which a 970-megawatt load draws on the existing grid. AESO calls this bridging load, anticipated to increase pool prices while reducing transmission costs. A public town hall follows on August 22.