Local politicians won’t talk publicly about their plans but they want to expropriate 770-acres of prime farmland in Wilmot Township, just west of Kitchener, for an industrial venture even though the 12 farmers and property owners do not want to sell and move. The property owners have been offered a fraction of the price of the land’s value as an industrially-zoned site. The battle over this land is just heating up.
Patrick Meagher
Farmers Forum analysis
KITCHENER — Councillors from Wilmot Township and the Region of Waterloo have a lot of explaining to do. They gave 12 farmers and property owners in the township 10 days to agree to sell and accept $35,000 per acre or face expropriation of 770-acres of land. The councillors won’t say why they want the land and have offered a fraction of the land’s value. Expropriation is allowed for a public need like a hospital. But this site is 25 kilometres out of Kitchener and we know the region wants the farmland for an industrial site and wants a done deal by August.
The whole thing stinks. The chief administrative officers, the top bureaucrats from the city and the township, each signed non-disclosure agreements that bind their councillors. But now that the cat is out of the bag, every councillor should be allowed to speak. They need to be more transparent with the landowners and their constituents. They serve the people, not a bureaucrat and certainly not an out-of-region private company that they say wants to build there. But they won’t even outline how the project might benefit the community.
It’s all a big secret. They won’t talk publicly about their plans and they don’t even want to hear from the landowners.
Wilmot Township and the Waterloo Region want to expropriate 770-acres of farmland, close up above and black outline below, for a private industrial project but won’t tell the landowners what the project is or give them commercial value for the land.
The township refused to let them speak at a council meeting but there were so many people in chamber, in the stairwell, and lined up in the parking lot, that council gave the landowners three-minutes to speak but no questions. They’re all heart. A few days later, the Region of Waterloo caved at a meeting and gave the landowners 5-minutes to speak but no questions. It’s unthinkable. You get five minutes to state your case and then we take your land, your house and your livelihood anyway.
Move along, peasants. Hand over your keys on the way out the door.
But the landowners didn’t move along. They organized quickly and are united in their cause. They meet almost daily, have become fast friends, have hired lawyers and share their expertise. Their team includes an environmentalist, a lobbyist, a public relations specialist and a number of people helping with research. On the very first weekend, now two months ago, they set up a website (fightforfarmland.com). A petition against expropriation now has 36,000 names and the population of Wilmot is only 22,000. They ordered 1,500 lawn signs that can be seen even on front yards in the city of Kitchener. On some streets in New Hamburg, every house has a sign. They have attracted the support of farmers even farther afield and figure they can assemble a demonstration of more than 300 tractors in a day’s notice.
Landowner spokesman Alfred Lowrick
“We caught the region off guard in terms of pushback,” said the landowners’ main spokesman Alfred Lowrick.
They sure did and good for them. No one likes a shady deal.
The landowners are winning the public relations battle and it’s the township’s and Waterloo Region’s own damned fault. If the township and region take the 770-acres from the local farmers and landowners it will be seen as a $700-million heist, making the recent $20-million gold heist at the Toronto airport look like chump change. Politicians will be seen as the property gangsters.
Ontario Federation of Agriculture director Mark Reusser is right when he said the landowners, not a private company, should benefit from the true value of that land.
Even if the councillors have the noblest of plans, they squandered every ounce of good will.
Even Premier Doug Ford has weighed in and said that “there has to be a willing host” or the developers should move on. The township councillors and the Waterloo Region councillors have their answer. Stay away from that land or come back with one hell-of-a-bigger wheelbarrow full of money.
Can government take your land if you say NO?
The short answer is, “Yes”, but certain conditions apply. The Expropriation Act R.S.C., 1985, c. E-21 reads:
“4 (1) Any interest in land … that, in the opinion of the Minister, is required by the Crown for a public work or other public purpose may be expropriated by the Crown in accordance with the provisions of this Part.”
• The major exception is lands held by various indigenous groups.
• Reason for expropriation must be given unless it’s a matter of national safety or security, in which case only general reference is needed.
• Applicable purposes include educational institutions, hospitals or other medical or health institutions, as well as energy interests, public infrastructure, the military.
• Property owner may notify the authority to have a hearing where a tribunal shall test the merits of the objectives of the expropriating authority. Such hearings seldom change the outcome.
• Land can be expropriated for the purpose of subletting to a private corporation or interest if it meets the requirement of “for the public work or public purpose.”
— John Scwartzentruber
