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Aggregate Act hearings to go on the

road AgMedia Inc.

May 13, 2012

Public outcry about Dufferin megaquarry proposal sparked

legislative review but wont change the Highland Companies

proposal

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

Initial hearings concerning Ontarios Aggregate ResourcesAct wrap up in Toronto this coming week but the politicians

on the provincial legislature committee conducting the

review have voted to introduce a second phase of evaluation

that will involve travelling throughout the province.

The decision comes after the Standing Committee on

General Government was roundly criticized by a group

protesting the development of a 2,300-acre quarry on primefarmland in Dufferin County near Shelburne for scheduling

the hearing during the spring planting season.

The committee members decision is another unbelievable

boost to the proper way of doing democracy and for all the

people who engage in this when asked to, says Carl

Cosack, an organic beef farmer who chairs the North

Dufferin Agricultural and Community Taskforce, Inc. He says

the committee decision to ask the house leaders for

permission to extend the hearings and travel the province

came after his group lobbied hard and obtained the support

of groups and individuals who wrote to the committees

chair, David Orazietti, Liberal MPP for Sault Ste. Marie.

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Mike Colle, parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Natural

Resources, says he anticipates the dates and locations of the

meetings throughout the province will be established some

time over the next several days. We hope that we will have

months of opportunity for people to participate, he says,

noting the second phase could continue until November.

Colle says there will be opportunity for groups and

individuals to make presentations to the committee if it is

permitted to go on the road. There are also plans to visit

operating and retired quarry sites, and to explore how the

legislation fits in with other provincial legislation.

Growing public outcry about The Highland Companies

Dufferin County quarry proposal sparked the legislative

review but any changes to the Act the committee might

recommend wont affect the quarrys development.

Whatever legislation is in place when you initiate your

application is what the review would be based on, explains

Dufferin-Caledon Conservative MPP Sylvia Jones, who sits on

the committee.

The review shes referring to is a full class environmental

assessment, which last fall the Liberal government ordered

the Highland proposal to undergo. Its the first time a quarry

in the province has had to undergo such an assessment,

Colle says. The Ministry of the Environment is still waiting to

receive suggestions from Highland about terms of reference

for the assessment, notes Jones.

Cosack says his group is fully aware that any action taken

from reviewing the Act wont affect the Highland quarry

proposal. Nevertheless, the group is committed to working

with others to change aggregate policy in the province.

Recent high profile conflicts concerning quarry proposals

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have brought recognition that there has got to be a better

way, he says. And somehow the megaquarry has touched

something in so many people right across the province that

that awareness and expertise thats being offered. Were

trying to lever that expertise and the proper type of public

engagement to change policy.

Gord Miller, Ontarios environment commissioner, was one of

several people who made presentations to the committee

this past week. According to Hansard transcripts, Miller

advocated for allowing municipalities to have more say in

the decision to grant permission to develop a quarry. The

Act, he says in a telephone interview Thursday, is primarilyunder provincial control although municipalities do have

some influence through zoning. With municipalities being the

quarries biggest customer, they are unlikely to cut

themselves off, he says. But clearly a lot of the issues are

planning related issues and a lot of friction were seeing out

there relates to conflicts that arise between municipalities

trying to plan for their residents and the fact that aggregate

resources approvals can override much of municipalplanning.

During the presentation he also criticized using proximity to

market as a heavily weighted factor for approving quarry

development and noted that the way the provincial policy

statement is written makes it impossible to weigh need as a

factor.

There is no question there are some policy failures, Millersays by phone. But mostly, the problem has to do with

failures in procedure and enforcing compliance. He

attributes the compliance problems to not having enough

people in the Ministry of Natural Resources to do it. Lack of

enforcement of progressive rehabilitation plans, usually a

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key point in negotiations for developing a quarry or a pit, in

turn means that the land usually undergoes profound and

lasting transformation, he says. Many pits and quarries end

up as a small lake devoid of aquatic life or being

rehabilitated to residential or commercial development,

instead of being returned to previous use, he points out.

Hearings continue Monday May 14 from 2 to 6 p.m. AndWednesday May 16 from 4 to 6 p.m. BF