The Issue: In what has been dubbed a modern tale of David beating Goliath, farmers, urbanites and Melancthon Township residents celebrated this week after a U.S. hedge fund-backed company withdrew its application to dig a 2,300-hectare limestone mega-quarry in fertile potato-farming land north of Orangeville. The proposal was cancelled after more than six years of fierce, sustained protest across southern Ontario.

Local farmer John Herndon: “It’s a testimony to what can be done if people get together and exercise their democratic rights and obligations.”

Highland principal John Scherer, in a Globe and Mail interview: “In hindsight, we did not do a real good job of engaging the local community and the public at large about our project and about the benefits and how we would move the project forward. As a result, there is a lot of misinformation that was out there.”

Carl Cosack, a Melancthon rancher: “It’s a good day for me and thousands of other people who just poured their heart into this. The voice of the people — it’s starting to mean something again.”

Michael Stadtländer, chef, organizer of the Soupstock 2012 culinary protest event and president of the Canadian Chefs’ Congress: “We are ecstatic that the company has bowed to pressure and has committed to farming the land rather than blasting a huge open pit beneath our precious countryside.”

Melancthon Mayor Bill Hill: “We were a small township that most people couldn’t pronounce, let alone spell, a couple of years ago. Now we’re this national story. It’s like the little engine that could.”

Steve Paikin, host of TVO’s The Agenda: “The little guys won. ... It did seem next to impossible for the company to make good on its claim that digging for aggregate would in no way adversely affect the other land-use activities in the area. The wind was blowing quite fiercely the entire time I was there. It seemed unlikely that digging for aggregate wouldn’t have sent dust blowing in every direction, harming the crops and water supply.”

Dale Rutledge, Melancthon farmer who was a key figure in the anti-quarry campaign: “Everything we did, I think we put a hole in them each time. ... The land is special. It’s my life I’m fighting for.”

Sasha Chapman, from an August feature in Toronto Life magazine on the fight against the quarry: “(Highland’s former president John Lowndes’) offers of up to $20,000 a hectare, even for unworkable land, were well above market value. His tactics were sometimes aggressive. Farmers claim he’d arrive unannounced with a cheque already written and an offer that would expire in 24 hours; he’d return again and again to badger those who refused to sell. (A Highland spokesperson denies the claims.)”

Lyle Parsons, a farmer who regretted selling his land to the Highland Companies, which later revealed it had plans to dig a quarry: “Perhaps I was a little naïve. Knowing what I know now, I never would have sold.”

Moreen Miller, CEO of the Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association, in a statement: “We were disappointed to hear that Highland has withdrawn its application. At a time when the province is investing money and resources into boosting the economy and building a better Ontario, this will come as a setback for Ontario families. The project would have created hundreds of jobs and helped meet the overwhelming need for infrastructure improvements in Ontario.”

By Sarah Barmak

Published in "The Star", Nov. 23, 2012

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/1291645--talking-points-the-little-guys-won