The provincial government has awarded the Municipality of Leamington $41-million to help greenhouse operations with improved wastewater treatment services.
Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma said building critical infrastructure will allow more to build more housing, support the farming sector and keep workers on the job.
Mayor Hilda MacDonald was ecstatic to receive the money.
She said the money will be used to build the North Trunk Sanitary Sewer Line, which has been in development for nine years, from the pollution control plant to the 4th Concession and employment lands.
"We still want to take it north to the outer edges of the municipality, but this gets a big bulk of it done, and it allows us to oversize it, to also bring in the greenhouses at some point in time, but right now it opens up residential land, and it opens up industrial land and that too is very important to the growth of the municipality," MacDonald said.
MacDonald said the sewer will eventually allow greenhouses to tap into it and build farmworker housing on site rather than build cost prohibitive septic systems.
"So many greenhouses have bought houses in our municipality so that they can house their workers because they are unable to build on farm housing. Huge for all of us," she said.
MacDonald said the project could attract new operations to Leamington, specifically around the intersection of 4th Concession and Highway 77.
"We've already called some of the folks that projects in the queue to expand their operations and to build," MacDonald said.
"It is an industrial sector that will bring in new businesses, tax dollars, it is very for our municipality."
MacDonald said they are currently taking the design of the project to tender, with the hope of shovels in the ground by spring 2026.
The Niagara Region was also awarded approximately $94-million, which includes 53-million for six water systems projects and $41-million for irrigation pipelines.