“It’s always been a sore spot with us on council and being relatively powerless when it comes to making the decision on where these gravel pits just keep going and going.”
— Councillor Derrick Ostner, North Dumfries
“Maybe it’s time we say to the gravel industry we want a pause, we want to reexamine all these things … We should be exploring these opportunities and see what we can do.”
— Councillor Rod Rolleman, North Dumfries
“The aggregate industry just keeps saying they need more and yet every year they used actually less. So, this is greed.”
— Mayor Sue Foxton, North Dumfries
“We first raised the question with the province about why they were allowing companies to go below the aquifer. We then said that if it becomes polluted, council members are responsible, so we need indemnification.”
— Mayor Jamie McGarvey (Parry Sound) and President of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario
“All it seems you have to do today is buy a hundred acres of land, hire some consultants and next thing you know you’ve applied for a quarry. They are popping up all over Ontario … They should have to prove there is a need before getting the green light to go ahead.”
— Mayor Rick Bonnette, Halton Hills
“...the question should be asked about what’s happened with existing licenses — how many are active, how many are dormant and how much aggregate is left? It’s self-reported by the industry right now. At the very least, we need a serious objective audit of what’s happening out there.”
— Mayor Marianne Meed Ward (Burlington) and Member of Top Aggregate Producing Municipalities in Ontario (TAPMO)
“Given the climate change crisis, people are expecting a change in behaviour from the municipalities. When people see this application come forward on Niagara Escarpment land, where we have rich biodiversity … they ask how it could be possible to have an expansion, in 2022, on this land. And it’s a fair question.”
— Councillor Rory Nisan, Burlington
“It’s not a good industry to have … [I’m] not against aggregate [but] against how mines are operated.”
— Councillor Ian Sinclair (Caledon) and Member of the Region of Peel Council
“If they are mining it out in short order in a methodical way, closing it up and rehabilitating to a beneficial land use, that would be acceptable … But now we have an increasing moonscape, and nothing of benefit from it.”
— Councillor Ian Sinclair (Caledon) and Member of the Region of Peel Council
“The aggregate industry is an embedded cartel at Queen’s Park.”
— Councillor Ian Sinclair (Caledon) and Member of the Region of Peel Council
“They have free rein I guess to do whatever they choose to do, without any repercussions … That’s actually quite scary.”
— Councillor Annette Groves, Region of Peel
“The aggregate industry has two features, one is greed, the other is waste.”
— Councillor Carolyn Parrish, Mississauga
“We need something to hold everyone accountable.”
— Mayor Allan Thompson, Caledon
“The lower tax rate [granted to aggregate companies] is acting as an incentive for companies to not rehabilitate.”
— Ken DeHart, Treasurer for the County of Wellington
“I think this initiative is a good one, not to stop it, not against it, but just to take a careful look at what our needs really are relative to the supply.”
— Councillor Carol Armstrong, Trent Lakes
“If you go over there into North Dumfries, they have so many gravel pits it’s just decimating the land over there with how many gravel pits they have, and there just seems to be no end in sight.”
— Councillor Patrick Merlihan, Woolwich
“Small municipalities like ours, we supply all the gravel for Waterloo, Kitchener … and we get the headaches that go with it, so we’d like the support of those cities as well to recognize the inconvenience and other issues associated with gravel pits, and make this an issue worth talking about in the election coming up.”
— Councillor Patrick Merlihan, Woolwich
“In determining the need for new aggregate, looking at a below-water table [applications] to reflect current groundwater sciences, I think that’s really important … The thing I’ve been talking about for seven years is the cumulative impacts of the aggregate operations in terms of off-site impacts to environmental systems and groundwater regime and contribution to area water courses and wetlands.”
— Mayor Sandy Shantz, Woolwich
“ … I think that putting a request in to review the legislation makes sense. Eventually they will need to review the legislation – we’re requesting that that happens a little bit earlier, and having an opportunity to comment on their revisions and on the things that are specific to the township would make sense.”
— Deanne Friess, Director of Development Services, Woolwich
“Although the regulations say where possible mineral aggregate extraction should be as close to the markets as possible, it doesn’t have a requirement for a demonstrated need of mineral aggregate resources or supply demand analysis to find out how much is actually needed to support those local markets …”
— Deanne Friess, Director of Development Services, Woolwich
“There’s no sunset clause so they can keep it going forever.”
— Councillor Larry Shantz, Woolwich
“We’re in an election year for those politicians and they should be put on notice that this is something that municipalities and residents who live in areas that have gravel pits want to make an election issue and they should be prepared to answer those questions.”
— Councillor Pat Merlihan, Woolwich
“With all of the things that our governments at different levels are trying to do better with climate change I feel at the moment that the gravel industry could be doing better … This is an important place that we need to set standards that we as a community are willing to accept.”
— Councillor Cheryl Gordijk, Wilmot
