Farmland advocates denied freedom of information requests for Wilmot land details

The Fight for Farmland group is searching for answers once again after an additional 21 Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to the Region of Waterloo for transparency on the controversial land assembly in Wilmot were denied.

This latest denial of information comes in response to the Fight for Farmland asking the region why their original requests, replied to in early July, were denied in the first place.

“We are continually disappointed by the lack of transparency surrounding this proposed industrial mega-site,” said Alfred Lowrick, spokesperson for the Fight For Farmland group, in a press release.

“Despite two Wilmot Township Councillors standing up and thousands of people in our community demanding more transparency, our basic questions remain unanswered for the second time. This ongoing secrecy is deeply troubling and raises serious concerns about what the Region might be hiding. We are left to wonder if the necessary investigations, studies, and research have even been conducted for this massive proposal, which could have such profound impacts on our community.”

Last week, Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Mike Harris Jr. confirmed the provincial government’s involvement in the land assembly

Kevin Thomason, the Vice-Chair of the Grand River Environmental Network, alleged the province has a bad track record of planning, pointing to their involvement in the Wilmot land assembly another example of that.

“Ontario Place doesn’t seem to be very well thought out or planned, the Ontario Science Centre has been a disaster, the Greenbelt was a fiasco: this seems to have more fingerprints of that,” said Thomason. “…that lack of public engagement, lack of consultation, lack of planning, and just trying to force something that isn’t going to fit or work.”

The group argued the provincial non-disclosure agreements signed on the land assembly have placed a muzzle on elected officials and staff.

“Unfortunately, I feel like we’ve sold out to the province, we’ve got nothing in return, and we’ve lost everything in the process,” added Thomason.

They’re concerned that there has been no public meeting about what could be one of the largest and most expensive developments in the history of the Waterloo Region.

“We’re talking something that is literally an eight and a half kilometer drive around it that will have impacts for kilometers in every direction,” said Thomason. “This needs to be some of the most studied, most understood, and best planned things we’ve ever done, and yet there hasn’t even been a single public meeting on this yet.”

570 NewsRadio Kitchener has reached out to the Region of Waterloo for a response.