It’s my pleasure to talk briefly about a petition that I have regarding protecting farmland and sustainable growth in Waterloo region. We do know that the province of Ontario is losing 319 acres every day.

What is happening in Wilmot is that 770 acres of prime farmland are proposed to be expropriated for a large mega-industrial project. There has been no—made public any environmental assessments. No politician at any level is giving any answers or any transparency, in a democracy. This is clearly an early notice that Bill 185 is on the books and boundaries don’t mean anything anymore.

I fully support the petition and call on the Waterloo region and the provincial government to pause this irresponsible and unsustainable use of prime farmland.