Citizen activism against big box stores knows no political boundaries. Sprawl-Busters received the following report this week from north of the border, where residents feel they are being hammered by Home Depot, and are hammering back: “We are from Barrie Ontario,Canada and are in desperate need of your help to keep Home Depot from building a 108,000 square foot store and 18,000 sq foot garden centre literally a hundred feet from our front doors! We’ve been doing our research on Home Depot and found out many things, mostly bad not good. They are presenting to our City Council on April 3rd after making amendments to their plans from a previous meeting. However, they now want to have a larger store and invite another power retailer to join them on the parcel of land neighbouring our community and nearby lake and wetlands! We realize that Home Depot basically presents a redundant strategy to City Councils. They have even lied to our councilors in the presentations and media and we have proof of that as well.”
Unfortunately, Home Depot Canada pursues the same “scorched earth” policy as its parent, Home Depot U.S.A. For other stories about big boxes over the border, search Newsflash by “Canada.”