Better legislation needed to govern quarries (letter)

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Published on Thursday, 15 August 2013 07:04

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Dear editor,

Many people think the mega quarry battle is over now that Bonnefield has bought the farmland that was first proposed for the mega quarry.

Although we are all very pleased that Bonnefield, with its stated purpose of encouraging farmers, are the new owners, we cannot depend on the goodwill of individual companies to protect our precious resources for future generations.

Even if all companies had only the best intentions (a most unlikely scenario), companies come and go.

We must have intelligent and comprehensive legislation governing quarries so that another egregious application such as Highland’s could never even be contemplated in the future.

 The current ARA does not make any sense whatsoever:

• It offers no protection for prime farmland. Canada’s vast landmass contains only 0.5 per cent of rare Class 1 farmland, and most of this is in southern Ontario. We are in danger of no longer being self-sufficient in food production as farmland is rapidly disappearing with urbanization and quarrying.

• It does not protect our precious water resources.  Although Canada has enormous water resources, most are inaccessible.  Water is fast becoming one of the most valuable commodities, and there is world wide concern about its conservation.

• Each time an inappropriate application is made, the public has to raise a huge protest at great expense, time and effort.

• It specifies that “need” is not a consideration, thereby allowing aggregate to be exported.

• It allows the industry to pay minimal fees for extracting the aggregate. Even some in the industry itself allow that the fees should be increased. Also, one of the effects of allowing “cheap aggregate” to trump all other considerations is that there is no incentive to recycle, thereby using ever more aggregate and dumping the used material in our already overburdened disposal sites.

• The final decision is made by the unelected and much criticized OMB.

It simply does not make sense that there are no clear rules to prohibit quarrying on prime farmland, on land where such activities would jeopardize the water,  special UNESCO land, or in other situations with profoundly negative effects.

It does not make sense that the public in each case must bear the burden of acting in the best interest of the province and its people as well as future generations.

We must continue to pressure our representative to do the right thing — by joining NDACT (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or ndact.com), putting up a “Food & Water First” sign on your lawn or automobile, or whatever else we must do to stop this reckless disregard of the big picture.

Christina Wigle, Creemore

Published in the Orangeville Banner, Aug. 15, 2013

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