Less than a week after taking their request to Champlain Township council, representatives of the Hawkesbury Industrial Investment Association (HIIA) received the same answer from Hawkesbury council about reaching an agreement to provide infrastructure for a proposed business park.

In 2022, the HIIA acquired 130 acres of land in Champlain Township, east of Tupper Street in Hawkesbury, and north of Highway 17. The site of the proposed business park is in Champlain, but the water and sewer services are only available from nearby Hawkesbury.

On October 9, Patrick Tallon, who is also President and Chief Executive Officer of Tulmar Safety Systems and Alain Ménard, who is also President and Co-Founder of Green Beaver had approached Champlain Township council requesting it reach an agreement with Hawkesbury to obtain water and sewer services for the site, or for Hawkesbury to annex the land from Champlain so the services could be extended to the area by the town.

Champlain Township Mayor Normand Riopel responded to the October 9 request by saying that negotiations between the two municipalities about services for areas within Champlain, near the Hawkesbury town limit, are going well and he is hopeful there will be favourable results soon.

On Tuesday, October 14, Tallon and Ménard appeared before Hawkesbury council and again said the HIIA regularly turns interested investors away because there is no serviced industrial land available in or near Hawkesbury. Tallon said 12 firms have located other places in Eastern Ontario or nearby in Québec because no space was available in Hawkesbury.

“We’re missing opportunities,” Tallon said. 

He said the HIIA is respectfully requesting an accelerated pace between the two municipalities to reach an agreement and offered the HIIA’s assistance.

“We’re here to assist,” Tallon added.

Mayor Robert Lefebvre said council is very familiar with the matter and supports new industrial investment and development, but it would not be good for the negotiations already in progress to bring in additional involvement from the HIIA.

“Bringing in a third party would not necessarily be appropriate at this time,” Lefebvre said.

Tallon and Ménard understood Lefebvre’s answer and there was no further discussion.