Majority of Kitchener Conestoga voters oppose Wilmot land assembly: Poll

A new survey concludes that a strong majority of Wilmot residents and voters in Kitchener Conestoga are opposed to plans for a large industrial site.

According to the poll by Pallas Data, 51 per cent of Wilmot residents believe Wilmot Council should pass a resolution opposing the Region of Waterloo’s plan to expropriate 770 acres of farmland in the township. Forty-one per cent said they disagreed with the idea of a resolution and eight per cent were unsure.

Pallas Data out of Toronto and Pallas Data was hired by the group Wilmot Civic Action Network (CAN) to conduct the poll. It was conducted between Jan. 30-31 via automated telephone interviews and included a sample of 302 adults living in the riding of Kitchener Conestoga.

The majority (61 per cent) of respondents said they don’t believe local or provincial governments did enough public consultation about the Wilmot land assembly and 60 per cent of Wilmot residents would not vote for a councillor in the next municipal election that was in favour of the expropriation.

Fifty-nine per cent of respondents said they believe elected officials should be able to participate in public debate about the land assembly. Regional councillors and those in Wilmot have all signed provincial non-disclosure agreements from the province.

“These results are decisive: opposition to the expropriation is significant,” Dr. Joseph Angolano of Pallas Data said in a press release. “In some cases, residents opposed to the expropriation outnumber supporters by three to one, and nearly six to one on the question of adequate consultation.”

Wilmot CAN has since called on Wilmot Council to pass a resolution declaring the township is “not a willing host” to a mega industrial site, and that local politicians “must stop hiding from public discussion of the issue.”

The organization also called on the province to cancel funding for the proposed expropriation and that the Greenbelt should be expanded to protect farmland in the region.

“The findings underscore widespread concerns about transparency, environmental impact, the loss of agricultural land, and the serious erosion of local democracy,” John Jordan, a spokesperson for Wilmot CAN, said in a press release.

Wilmot CAN says they will be holding a public information session about the poll on Thursday Feb. 13 at the Zion United Church in New Hamburg starting at 7 p.m. They say they have invited several provincial election candidates to attend the meeting.

Of the 302 respondents, at least 61 were from Wilmot and the other 241 were from other urban areas in the riding. The margin of error for the poll was +/- 5.6 per cent, at the 95 per cent confidence level.