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2010

Se r v i n g Wi l m o t Tow n s h i p, We l l e s l e y, Sh a k e s p e a re , Ta v i s t o c k , Br i g h t , Pl a t t s v i l l e a n d a re a s i n c e 1 8 7 8 .

decision possible.” be purchased rather than

Plus, Neice said, the
MTO has told her that
design for the new highway
will start at the end of
March, just days after the
deadline for public com-
ment. The province needs
time to properly consider
her group’s comments, she
said.
“We find that pretty
offensive,” she said. “I don’t
now how much they’re real-
ly interested in listening the
public. It’s pretty disheart-
ening.”
“We have to keep trying.
Our goal is to protect agri-
cultural land and to educate
them on the business of
agriculture.”
The ABC group spoke at
Perth East Township’s coun-
cil meeting March 15 to out-
line their concerns.
Although Perth East would
not support scrapping the
MTO’s current plan, the
township is preparing their
Concerned farm families along the proposed new route for Highway 7/8 south of Shakespeare will be sending their con- own report that will include
cerns to the province this week. the agricultural concerns.
SCOTT CRESSMAN, INDEPENDENT STAFF
That report goes before
council in a special meeting
have the people live in
limbo for the next 15 or 20
years until they decide to
build this thing,” Forest
said.
The province already
bought a strip of land 30
years ago, Neice said. The
land now sits empty, just
north of the current pre-
ferred route, and her group
would like to see it used
instead of more farms cut in
two.
Perth East is also con-
cerned with north-south
access for emergency vehi-
cles and farm equipment,
Forest said. Township serv-
ice vehicles need a way to
cross the highway, and
Perth East won’t endorse the
plan until they know how
the province will solve that
problem.
So far, planners and con-
sultants have been open to
public feedback, Forest said,
but that doesn’t mean
everyone will be happy.
“Just because they listen,
it doesn’t mean everyone
who submits is going to get

Farm families won’t back down March 22 for approval.

Concern grows among farmers impacted by MTO-proposed Highway 7/8 route
SCOTT CRESSMAN
Independent staff
As the clock ticks down
to a March 25 deadline for
public input on the High-
way 7/8 expansion, Shake-
speare-area farmers are
anxious to be heard.
Ontario’s Ministry of
Transportation presented
its preferred route in Janu-
ary, which would see the
expanded highway cut
along the railway line just
south of Shakespeare.
The Agricultural Busi-
ness Community represents
farmers along that route,
and they say the plan would
split businesses and make
life hard for farmers. They
want the province to go
back to the drawing board,
or at least answer their con-
cerns.
The province needs to
understand that agricultural
businesses own a patch-
work of land on both sides
of the proposed highway,
said Paula Neice, a volun-
teer with the Agricultural
Business Community.
Those farmers need to
move equipment and
machinery back and forth
on their lands, but the
province hasn’t yet said how
that would be achieved.
Overpasses or underpasses
could do the job, but would
eat up even more agricul-
tural land.
In fact, a nine-kilometre
stretch of the preferred
route is planned as “closed-
access,” she said, with no
north-to-south crossing
points.
“We as a community are
being asked to give input
but are not given enough
information,” she said. “ABC
has always said we are not a
stop-the-road group. Some
producers will be impacted.
We want the ministry and
consultants to learn about
agriculture to make the best
Perth East has been
working for quite some time
on its own response to the
ministry’s preferred route,
said mayor Ian Forest.
“We were on the same
page with many issues,” he
said of the ABC group’s
presentation. “The part
where council differed with
them was that [the MTO]
should go back to square
one.”
The township wants the
province to buy the land it
wants quickly, he said, so
that .
“Once the route has been
settled, we want the land to
their way,” he said. “There’s
so many conflicting opin-
ions on it.”
Interest in the Agricul-
tural Business Community’s
campaign has increased
since the province present-
ed its preferred route
through the farmland, Neice
said: “Our membership sky-
rocketed in January because
people were so furious.”
As it stands, the planned
highway would affect twen-
ty-two farm businesses
totaling 14,000 acres, Neice
said.
The ABC group will also
present to Perth South
Township this week.