Waterloo MPP asks for audit on Wilmot land assembly

Expropriation protest signs in Wilmot Township on April 4, 2024. (Chris Thomson/CTV Kitchener)

The fight over the sale of Wilmot farmland has taken a new turn.

Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife and John Vanthof, the MPP for Timiskaming-Cochrane, sent a letter Monday to Ontario’s auditor general requesting a “value-for-money” audit of the controversial land assembly process.

The letter was also posted to Fife’s X account, under the caption: “The lack of transparency is typical of this government and the people of Ontario deserve better.”

“Over the past year, the Ontario government has been funding and directing a plan for the Region of Waterloo to acquire prime farmland in Wilmot Township for the purposes of industrial development,” the letter begins. “The provincial government has mandated that this plan proceed largely in secret, requiring local officials to sign non-disclosure agreements that prevent them from explaining to the public the basis of decisions concerning this land assembly, including why the government would seek to place a new industrial campus in the middle of prime farmland and not other locations already planned for development. Farmers that resist demands that they sell their land have been threatened with expropriation.”

The property in question is 770 acres between Nafziger Road, Bleams Road and Wilmot Centre Road.

Farmers, community members, business leaders and politicians have all weighed in on the plan to purchase the land.

One group, called Fight For Farmland, has made multiple freedom of information requests to the region and all were rejected. They also recently organized a tractor convoy and protest at both Wilmot and Region of Waterloo council chambers.

• TIMELINE: Waterloo Region’s plan to purchase Wilmot Township properties

Fife’s letter calls for an investigation into the government’s decisions, including if it follows provincial plans, policies and laws. It also asks the auditor general to determine if the government has “adequately considered the economic impact of the loss of prime farmland and the jobs they support, as well as other threats to the integrity of the region’s agricultural systems.” Finally, the letter requests a look at the environmental impact on the soil and water sources.