By Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The attempt to acquire 770 acres of land in Wilmot Township by the Region of Waterloo for a future mega-industrial site has reached a new level of confusion.
The release of a report on the controversial destruction of 160 acres of corn on a recently sold farm failed to provide the public and elected officials with any detailed information. Some councillors in the region were so disappointed they sent it back to staff to take another stab at it. Council also asked for a legal opinion on the status of confidentiality obligations.
Kevin Thomason is a Wilmot resident and part of the Fight for Farmland group. He said the report didn’t answer a single question and included none of the information Salonen’s motion asked for.
“It had five or six very detailed points we were hoping would be clarified and instead we got a three-page report that said nothing. Not only was that the message coming from members of the public, but it was also clear from a number of councillors.”
Wilmot Mayor Natasha Salonen, who put the motion to table the report on the agenda about two months ago, was one of them.
“I also was surprised by this report and I appreciated and recognized the legal context of some things that cannot be shared in the open, however, even the fact that the financial implications weren’t included in this to me was pretty alarming.”
One of the most controversial parts of the entire land acquisition in the township is, according to staff at Wilmot and the region, that a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) exists, meaning no one can discuss the majority of the details in a public setting. The details to date have only been brought up behind closed doors at in-camera meetings.
One question the Gazette has asked but has not been answered is who at each municipality was responsible for signing an NDA and where the documents originated from. That information has remained secret.
A heated debate at last week’s meeting started when Coun. Rob Deutschmann questioned if an NDA was still in place.
“What document are we talking about that has subjected us to confidentiality at this point? I would have expected at a minimum that this report would have had details of any discussions we had with the province regarding this corn. That, at a minimum, I would have expected in here because the NDA no longer applies and we’re not subject to that.”
He summed up his request by asking anything not specific be made more specific.
“Who was the Biofuel company? Who were the farmers who asked about it? Who are the farmers that came (to plough the corn down) and how much did we pay them for the work they did? That’s not subject to any confidentiality agreement. That should be for the people to hear.”
Regional chair Karen Redman responded by asking Deutschmann what the logic was behind his request.
“We are going down this rabbit hole again. If someone approached me and I am farmer ‘X’ and I don’t want to do ‘Y,’ why would I think that would show up in a public document?”
After Deutschmann responded with, “Why would you not,” Redman suggested the region may not have taken the lead on the destruction of the crop.
“It’s an interaction between someone who approached me, not necessarily the region. I know we worked very closely with the Township of Wilmot staff,” Salonen said.
Deutschmann, an attorney by trade, wasn’t satisfied with Redman’s answer.
“Did the parties have a discussion saying don’t disclose my name? Is staff going to say we talked to some people and not to disclose their names? Did we sign NDAs with these individuals? No.”
The Gazette asked Thomason if he considered the chaos at the meeting a win for those against the land acquisition since some councillors are beginning to lose patience with the behind-closed-doors process.
“They don’t even know if they have an NDA and the questions councillors had were embarrassing to the region. It didn’t show that they knew what was going on and it didn’t show they were aware. It reflected the chaos of this entire land assembly.”
Thomason said he fully believes the province is calling all the shots and the region is being dragged along.
“In the end, it's not at all what anyone wants or needs,” he said.
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