Farmers, landholders and environmental advocates are continuing to muster opposition to a massive land expropriation by the Region of Waterloo for a secret industrial project on a massive chunk of prime farmland.
The project in Wilmot Township, about 120 kilometres west of Toronto, threatens to expropriate 310 hectares of prime farmland and has been shrouded in secrecy for months.
Despite multiple attempts by Canada’s National Observer to obtain information, the Region of Waterloo chair and councillors, as well as their counterparts in the Wilmot Township, refuse to disclose details of the project, citing the Municipal Act, which keeps closed-session discussions confidential.
All decisions about the land selection process have been made behind closed doors.
“There is still no indication of what this land will be used for,” said Alfred Lowrick, who represents the affected landowners and concerned citizens of Wilmot Township. “What we know so far is that the region does not have a buyer for the land. They may be looking at putting multiple industries on the land, which means multiple operations and multiple businesses will run here. This is not really what we think is the proper use for this property.”
After months of silence, two Wilmot Township councillors, Kris Wilkinson and Harvir Sidhu, expressed concerns about the process last week and called for greater transparency from the Region of Waterloo to release technical details of the project.
“We have been pressuring the mayor and the councillors to be more transparent for quite some time, and we are pleased with the response and having those councillors come forward to start breaking down the barriers,” said Lowrick. “Everything is kept in secrecy, which shouldn’t have been the case. The Region of Waterloo is obviously the organization here that needs to step up, take action, and come forward with some information which only they have.”
A statement from Fight for Farmland, a group representing residents and landowners who are against the proposed industrial development in the Township urged the councillors to reject the project and also encouraged other councillors to follow suit. “Councillors are elected to advocate for their community, and our community has been pleading with Wilmot Township for over three months now to reject this industrial site in favor of a more suitable, properly researched, and less impactful location that does not involve sacrificing prime agricultural land and causing so much environmental damage.”
The Fight For Farmland group is hosting two town hall meetings, including one today, for Wilmot residents to discuss the project. The session will include a presentation on key information and critical next steps. The group also launched an online petition that has garnered over 37,000 signatures. They are calling for an immediate halt to the expropriation of 770 acres of farmland in the area, arguing that this "forced acquisition" by the Region of Waterloo would severely impact Ontario's food security, farmers' livelihoods, and the environmental well-being of the community.
Land expropriation and legal implication
Lowrick told Canada’s National Observer the region has the right to expropriate land if it is deemed to be for the public good and interest, such as building roads, hospitals, or a hydro line that needs to go through certain sections.
“In this case, we know the region wants this for a private enterprise industrial site,” said Lowrick. “They are expropriating this land for private enterprise, and we are having a hard time understanding how this could be possible.”
Even if this land is used for the greater public use and interest, it shouldn’t be secretive, and the community should be informed and consulted, Lowrick added. “We feel the process has been flawed right from the beginning! I don't know who they [the region of Waterloo] were listening to, but it did not follow the original official plan, and it also didn't follow the processes that have been in place for years.”
Lowrick noted landowners have not yet received a letter of land expropriation. Once the expropriation notice is issued, farmers and landowners will be required to follow this process, he added. As well, landholders can legally demand a “hearing of necessity” under the Expropriations Act. “However, once the expropriation happens, it is unlikely to stop and typically becomes only a matter of how much compensation the farmers and the community are entitled to receive.”
Ordinarily, keeping the nature of a project secret would make it difficult for the region to demonstrate that expropriation is necessary, said Phil Pothen, land use and land development program manager at Environmental Defence.
“However recent changes to the laws around expropriation in Ontario make it much more difficult to challenge the necessity of expropriation.”
Expropriation law has been in flux in Ontario for the past several years, with the province making it easier for governments to exercise their right to take over land for public projects — and more changes could be on the way, according to documents reported on by The Narwhal this spring.
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