Has destroying acres of corn and thousands of dollars worth of field corn, made any sense to anyone in South Western Ontario?
They say common sense is hard to find and the Waterloo Regional Council has certainly illustrated this point by destroying 160 acres of corn that was only eight weeks away from harvest in Wilmot Township outside of New Hamburg.
Karen Redman, who chairs the Waterloo Region, says this land is important for development in the future for this region – 770 acres of Fertile Farm land for development.
If this is true, why the gag order on the Wilmot Township Council, if this land is so important for industrial development. Why were the farmers offered much less than what their land is worth and threatened with expropriation. This is their livelihood.
Why should so few be forced to accept minimum pay for this development, which you say is so critical for the future of the Waterloo County area.
One has to wonder what was the region’s urgency to destroy 160 acres of corn that could’ve been harvested in eight to 10 weeks, and revenue from that could have been donated to the food banks who are begging for donations to feed the hungry in the Waterloo region.
If you say, there are no plans, other than for future development, then the reason for destroying this crop, appears on the outside to be, “we’ve got to show those farmers who are holding out, who is boss!”
Does the region want to act like Goliath and exert power and show area farmers what the region will do if and when expropriating the land is really what they appear to want to do in the first place?
If this is not the case, tell me why this foolish destruction of a maturing corn crop took place?
What a total waste it was!!
The saga continues with two area members of the provincial government (Mike Harris and Vic Fedeli) weighing in and now blaming Waterloo Regional Councillors for “mishandling the land assembly, citing the threat of expropriation at the onset of the process, and a lack of transparency. They did confirm that Premier Doug Ford’s government supports the industrial intent and is helping to pay for the land.
If you have never heard of such a boondoggle, you have now!
Murray McGonigle, Wilmot
