North Grenville
has a deal to buy most of the Kemptville College campus on March 28 and plans
to turn it into an education and community hub.
It’s another
chapter in government failures to maintain the college as an agricultural
education centre for Eastern Ontario.
It was operated
by the Ontario government which turned it over to the University of Guelph,
along with similar colleges at Alfred and Ridgetown.
Then the
University of Guelph shut down Kempville and Alfred. It continues to run
Ridgetown.
Former federal
agriculture minister Lyle Van Clief was asked to head an inquiry into what
ought to be done with the facility and one of his recommendations was that it
be turned over to the municipality.
The purchase
includes the main buildings and 633 acres.
An agreement announced Wednesday between the municipality and
the province will see the “majority” of the Kemptville campus transform into an
“education and community hub that focuses on: education and training, health
and wellness and economic development, emphasizing climate change resiliency
and low-carbon innovation.”
