Ford is sending Wilmot’s water and farmland into crisis

April 1, 2026

QUEEN'S PARK — Mike Schreiner spoke alongside representatives from WilmotCAN at a press conference calling on the Ford government to cancel the Wilmot industrial mega project.

For two years now, farmers in Wilmot have been fighting to protect their land and the countryside line from expropriation for an unspecified industrial mega-site. 

Attendees called out the ways the Ford government’s approach to planning is destroying prime farmland and worsening the ongoing water crisis in the Region of Waterloo. 

“The Ford government is forcing their bad planning onto municipalities and is putting our water, food security, and agrifood economy at risk,” said Schreiner. “A Minister at Queen’s Park shouldn’t be able to overrule responsible local planning to benefit wealthy investors. But Doug Ford continues to bulldoze ahead with a plan to pave over farmland that local farmers desperately need to grow and build their businesses.”

“Affected farmers and landowners have faced relentless, intense pressure to give up their land,” said Szimanski.

“This massive mega industrial land assembly has been forced onto our communities by the province without a single public meeting or a study released to the public on where the huge quantities of needed water will come from…at a time when we can’t even provide enough water to meet the needs of our current citizens, farmers, businesses and developers,” said Jordan.

WilmotCAN representatives presented an interactive map showing the scale and impact of proposed development. They are calling on the Ford government to:

• Cancel the Wilmot mega industrial land assembly;
• Find additional local water sources and provide funding to repair municipal water infrastructure in the region;
• Enact a moratorium on provincial water taking permits and new gravel pits;
• Reverse Bill 17, to ensure Green Development Standards remain in place to ensure resilience to climate impacts;
• Pass MPPs Schreiner and Brady’s Foodbelt bill, Bill 21: Protect Our Food Act, and;
• Establish stronger local planning authorities that cannot be overridden by the province.

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