Community planning is not supposed to be a secret

Wilmot Township is just the latest piece in an interesting puzzle beginning to take shape in Ontario.

The city of Windsor had to assemble more than 200 acres of land to host a Stellantis battery plant. The last parcel, a private family home, was expropriated under an order from the lieutenant-governor of Ontario.

In St. Thomas, negotiations continue over hundreds of acres of farmland being expropriated to make way for a sprawling industrial park that will be home to a massive new Volkswagen battery manufacturing facility.

And now, in Wilmot Township, more than 700 acres of farmland are being gobbled up in what we’re told is an effort to create jobs and spur economic growth.

While nobody is saying exactly what is being planned for the site in Wilmot, the projects in Windsor and St. Thomas provide clues.

Also worth noting is Toyota’s desire to build a new electric vehicle facility near its existing plant in Cambridge. Earlier this year, our local chambers of commerce said that “making sure Toyota continues expanding here should be a huge priority for this region.”

There does appear to be an urgency attached to the land assembly in Wilmot, with farmers given just days to decide whether to accept a purchase offer or risk expropriation. The goal is to have all the land acquired by August.

The process is moving forward at a dizzying speed and comes with significant shock value. After all, it’s been less than a year since Waterloo Region’s new official plan was approved. This road map for growth in our community was created after months of careful consideration and extensive consultation with experts and with the community.

The official plan protected our precious Countryside Line, maintaining a distinct urban-rural boundary in Waterloo Region, and a piece of local legislation we’ve boasted about for decades.

The official plan also included enough employment lands to ensure our sustainable growth for the next 30 years. Curiously, the land now being assembled in Wilmot Township was not identified as necessary employment land.

Further, these 700-plus acres in Wilmot have always been protected by the Countryside Line. They were never planned for development, and nobody asked them to be.

Until now. The examples in Windsor and St. Thomas suggest the provincial government is pulling the strings here, which explains the silence from local councillors.

Could future provincial funding for important municipal projects — like a new hospital or Phase 2 of LRT — be in jeopardy if we don’t play ball on this project?

There is likely a very strong economic case for developing this land in Wilmot as a key to our future prosperity in Waterloo Region. By not making that case to the community, though, residents rightly feel hoodwinked.

Where is the voice of our region and the people who live here?