A massive defence project planned for agricultural land in Clearview Township is facing fierce pushback. Wednesday afternoon’s meeting held by the Department of National Defence (DND) was the first of two in our region. Tensions ran high at a public meeting in Creemore as locals voiced their opposition and wanted answers as the DND held an information session regarding a preliminary receive site for the Arctic Over-The-Horizon Radar (A-OTHR) program. A $33 billion project to modernize the North American Aerospace Defence Command—or NORAD—over the next two decades. Residents bringing a variety of concerns to life during the meeting, including Samantha Mason, a resident of Wasaga Beach. “Nobody knows what this is, you know, or the potential impacts on those communities, because we’re just at a loss,” said Mason. The DND purchased a parcel of land last spring suitable for the project, with development beginning in early 2026, with a functional A-OTHR operating by 2029 - with all levels of government left in the dark until a few weeks ago. “We were advised approximately five weeks ago by simply an email that came to us from the Department of National Defence,” said Clearview Township Mayor Doug Measures. With Simcoe-Grey MP Terry Terry Dowdall echoing Measures’ surprise. “I didn’t know about this project as a Member of Parliament pretty much until it was already purchased in the deal,” said Dowdall. A brief 20-minute presentation by the DND was followed by two hours of concerned residents with questions on the site, expropriation, home values, and more. Ron Precious is a resident whose home will face adjacent to the property. “They’re worried about the value of the property and what’s going to happen to their farms and concerned about wildlife,” said Precious. “There’s talk that they’re going to fill in half of Minesing Swamp just to make it level; that’s not right.” With agriculture rooted deep in the community now at jeopardy over this proposed site. “We’re very much attached to agriculture in Clearview Township, and it is a deep-rooted activity and way of life,” said Measures. “And frankly, it’s the culture of our community, and so this is being threatened as a community.” A sentiment felt by the agriculture community, according to Dave Ritchie, president of the Simcoe County Federation of Agriculture. “In Simcoe County, we generate $1.2 billion with the economic activity; one in eight jobs comes from farming in the communities like Clearview, for example. That’s probably 95 per cent of the economic activity,” said Ritchie. “It’s a big hit, and it’s a big concern for a lot of the farmers in this area.” Over-the-horizon radar can conduct surveillance at far greater ranges than regular radar technology by bouncing radar beams off earth’s ionosphere. DND plans to conduct several environmental and site studies before beginning work, which is scheduled to be completed by 2029.
