Mr. Speaker, I rise to table a petition on behalf of the people of Simcoe County, and of course to support my colleague from Simcoe—Grey, because prime farmland is now under attack again.
The Department of National Defence has purchased 700 acres of prime farmland overlapping wetlands. This is on the preliminary site. It also has a requirement to potentially purchase another 2,600 acres of prime farmland in Clearview Township to build the over-the-horizon radar.
The petitioners are calling on the government to stop the building of the over-the-horizon radar on the already purchased property, prevent further acquisition of prime farmland that obviously Canada and Ontario relies on, and register the previously purchased property with the Ontario Farmland Trust to preserve its agricultural heritage.