‘It is a horrific plan’
Wilmot farmers, supporters rally to defend farmland from expropriation
The threatened expropriation of 770 acres of farmland in Wilmot Township is one of several parcels of land being opened for development with no consultations or planning studies, a public meeting was told Thursday morning.
Premier Doug Ford is expected to use his majority government at Queen’s Park to give third and final reading to Bill 162 — the Get It Done Act — as early as next week, which will open thousands of acres of land to developers in Kitchener, Cambridge, North Dumfries, Woolwich and Wilmot, said Kevin Thomason, the vice-chair of the Grand River Environmental Network.
Thomason, a Wilmot Township resident for 30 years, told the more than 114 people who packed into the Wilmot Mennonite Church on Bleams Road that the plan, orchestrated by Queen’s Park and some municipal councils in the region, will more than double the population of Baden and New Hamburg if it proceeds.
Angie Hallman was among the organizers of the meeting that included Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife, Kitchener-Centre MPP Aislinn Clancy, Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner, Kitchener-Conestoga MP Tim Louis, as well as Thomason. In the audience were members of several environmental organizations that support the farmers. The location of the meeting was changed four times to accommodate the growing number of people who wanted to attend.
The Region of Waterloo and Wilmot Township have confirmed there is a land assembly underway for the six farms and six houses bordered by Bleams Road, Nafziger Road, Highway 7/8 and Wilmot Centre Road to create a large, shovel-ready site for a big economic investment.
Officials with the region and the township did not respond to requests Thursday for comment. There has been no public discussion from elected officials despite repeated requests. Earlier this week, regional Chair Karen Redman released a statement saying the move does not violate the region’s official plan, which allowed for the assembly of land for
economic development.
The Wilmot lands are one of several land parcels that will soon be available to developers in Wilmot and elsewhere in the region once Bill 162 passes, the public meeting was told. There are hundreds of acres north of Highway 7/8 that Wilmot staff and council asked the province to open for residential and industrial development.
“It is clear this about more than 770 acres,” said Thomason. “There is development planned for the lands all the way from here to Waterloo-Oxford High School, and Wilmot Township council is seeking to destroy hundreds and hundreds of acres of farmland on top of these 770 acres.”
The veteran environmental activist was in Toronto recently for public hearings on Bill 162 when he saw a map that shows the lands that will be opened to developers when the legislations becomes law.
“It is a horrific plan to override our visionary and sustainable regional official plan,” said Thomason. “We need to speak up for our farmland, our water and our future.”
Clancy was recently appointed to the Queen’s Park standing committee on Infrastructure, Heritage and Cultural Policy. When it meets next week, she will propose changes to Bill 162.
Clancy said her proposed amendments would restore the Region of Waterloo’s official plan, “and put the boundaries back to protect thousands and thousands and thousands of acres for future generations.”
Last year, the Ford government disregarded the official plans for several municipalities, opening land to developers.
In Waterloo Region, the province opened thousands of acres to developers.
The province backed off when the Green Belt scandal broke, which saw the Ford government sell off environmentally sensitive lands to developers with Tory connections. The minister of municipal affairs resigned, and the RCMP is investigating.
The new minister of municipal affairs sent letters to mayors in this region, saying if they wanted the extra land, all they had to do was ask.
“The Township of Wellesley voted against it, saying look: ‘If the RCMP is already investigating this government, no one can explain the Green Belt scandal, no one can explain how these forced boundary expansions happened, we don’t want any part of that,’” said Thomason.
Waterloo and Wellesley voted against the move, but Kitchener, Cambridge, North Dumfries, Woolwich and Wilmot all asked the province to expand the development boundaries beyond those in the region’s official plan.
The Region’s official plan opened 113 acres to new development in Wilmot Township to accommodate 7,000-14,000 new residents. But the changes on the way with Bill 162 and the threatened expropriation of the farmland, will open more than 1,400 acres to residential and industrial development, said Thomason.
During the past two weeks, the farmers and their supporters in Wilmot Township have prepared for an all-out fight, hiring a lawyer, building a website and collecting more than 22,000 signatures on a petition opposing the land expropriation.
“We can’t get answers,” Alfred Lowrick, a spokesperson for the farmers, told the meeting.
Farmers were approached in early March by representatives of Canacre, a private-sector consultant doing the land assembly on behalf of the Region of Waterloo and the Township of Wilmot. Canacre offered the farmers about $35,000-an-acre. At least one farmer was told the land would be rezoned industrial after it was assembled. If the farmers did not agree to sell, the region and township would expropriate them.
There is widespread speculation the land is for an electricvehicle battery factory and assembly line. But nobody at the region or township who know the plans say they can’t discuss the plans.
So far, nobody has received a notice of expropriation from the region or Wilmot Township, but they are expected to arrive soon, said Lowrick.
Threatening to expropriate so much land with no explanation or public planning has undermined the authority of local politicians who continually refuse to explain themselves, he said.
“It strikes at the heart of public trust in our government institutions and the integrity of our democratic processes,” said Lowrick. “On top of this was the leak of confidential plans to (a numbered company) that tried to purchase lands before the expropriation process started.”
Lowrick calls the controversy “Green Belt 2.0,” or “Farmgate.”
Wilmot Mayor Natasha Salonen and the township council were invited, but did not attend. Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Mike Harris Jr. was also invited, but did not attend either. Harris was recently made parliamentary assistant to the premier.
“All roads, with regard to what’s happening here in Wilmot, lead to Queen’s Park,” said Fife.
Fife said regional staff and elected officials are bound by a single non-disclosure agreement. She said she’s never heard of that happening before.
“I have to say, the fact a developer approached the farmers offering to pay $58,000-an-acre because he heard the land would be rezoned to industrial, this is exactly why the RCMP is investigating Doug Ford right now,” said Fife. “We need to find out how developers knew this back in January.”
Schreiner, the MPP for Guelph, said legislation is needed to permanently protect all existing farmland in the province, which is disappearing at the rate of 319-acres-per-day.
Louis told the crowd the federal government is not involved in the land assembly, but made it clear he shares their frustration. “This is a community that cares and deserves to be informed,” said Louis.