Wilmot Township not suitable for EV battery plant: minister

Two locations for new factories to be announced soon, Fedeli says

Wilmot Township is not suitable for an electric-vehicle battery plant and did not make the list of potential sites for two other big factories that will make essential parts of the batteries, says Vic Fedeli, Ontario minister of economic investment.

“The other two plants will also have a significant jobs,” Fedeli said Thursday in an interview just after Honda announced a $15-billion investment in a four-plant, electricvehicle supply chain in Ontario.

“These are extremely large investments,” said Fedeli.

An electric vehicle-assembly plant will be built in Alliston, next to an existing Honda plant, and an EV battery plant will be built across the street. The locations of the other two factories will be announced very soon, said Fedeli.

The plants require massive amounts of water, so Wilmot was never shortlisted for one of the factories, said the veteran Progressive Conservative MPP from North Bay.

For nearly two months, Wilmot Township has been rife with speculation that the Region of Waterloo and the township are assembling 770 acres of land bordered by Nafziger Road, Highway 7/8, Wilmot Centre Road, and Bleams Road to clear a site for an EV battery plant.

But that can be crossed off the list of possible explanations.

“I’m not aware of any prospects for Wilmot,” said Fedeli. “They are responding to the premier’s call.”

About a year ago, Premier Doug Ford told municipalities to start assembling shovel-ready sites if they wanted to be part of the electricvehicle supply chain that is being built in Ontario. So far, the key locations include Windsor, St. Thomas, Alliston and two others that will be announced very soon.

“These are selected communities, mayors have been working with us, we are excited for those communities,” said Fedeli.

Months after Ford’s call, six farmers and six residential property owners in Wilmot Township received offers from a private-sector

company called Canacre, which specializes in putting together big parcels of land. Canacre says it is working for the Region of Waterloo and the Township of Wilmot.

It has been about two months since the offers were made by Canacre and, so far, nobody has received a notice of expropriation.

Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Mike Harris did not attend the any public meetings in Wilmot Township during the past eight weeks, but he did respond to one concerned township resident with an email that says, in part, the land assembly underway there will attract investment and create jobs.

“I understand that site selection has been underway for some time,” the Harris email reads. “This area was identified for several reasons, namely its proximity to the highway and other critical infrastructure.”

Alfred Lowrick, spokesperson for the Wilmot farmers, said the group is still waiting to hear what the region and township want to do with their land beyond having a big, shovel-ready site. “What is really concerning is the lack of information,” said Lowrick. “And what it’s created is even more lack of trust in our government.”

Economic development in Waterloo Region is especially important, he added, but Wilmot Township is not the right location for heavy industry that requires a lot of water.