Farmland conversion and landfill sites

[ijmorlan]

I would also say that expropriation should not be useable to short circuit the normal search for a site for something. It should only be allowed when a specific piece of land is required. For example, to negotiate privately with landowners to assemble land for a highway across the province would be unmanageable. Whereas something like a factory always has numerous potential locations. I always considered that Yonge/Dundas Square should not have been allowed to be expropriated — if the City wants to build a public plaza, they can do it anywhere. Whereas in downtown Kitchener the train station obviously needs to be where it is going to be, so expropriation was perfectly appropriate there (although the Region did most of it without expropriation by conducting its real estate activities with discretion).