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The provincial government’s recent erasure of four years of planning by the Town of Caledon to strengthen its gravel policies was a shock and a “gut punch” for the Forks of the Credit Preservation Group (FC Preservation), says it chair, David Sylvester.
In late July Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack announced that the province was making 60 modifications to the Town’s Official Plan Amendment.
Key provisions of the amendment, which was enacted in October 2024, were updated mineral aggregate resource policies including prohibiting aggregate operations in evaluated and unevaluated wetlands. In addition, there were strengthening requirements for blast, vibration and flyrock management. (Flyrock is the term to describe rocks propelled through the air by blasting operations.)
FC Preservation was instrumental in the Town adopting those policies. They pushed for an Interim Control Bylaw on the licensing of new pits and quarries. And they will continue its fight to stop CBM Aggregates’, a division of Brazilian conglomerate Votorantim Cimentos, bid to blast an 80-foot-below the water blasting quarry on approximately 700 acres of prime agricultural land adjacent the Credit River in northwest Caledon, says David.
The bylaw was implemented for a one-year term in 2022. It was then renewed for a second one-year term in 2023, after a FC Preservation-commissioned planning consultant’s report revealed that Caledon’s aggregate policies were the weakest of Ontario’s top ten municipal gravel producers.
A key plank in that battle is preparing for an Ontario Land Tribunal hearing on CBM’s application, which could be held in one or two years.
Through its membership in the Reform Gravel Mining Coalition, an advocacy group which works to limit the environmental and social impact of gravel operations, FC Preservation has access to legal and technical experts to help prepare for the hearing, he explained.
David was asked about the ramifications of the OLT’s approval of Nelson Aggregates’ bid to significantly expand its quarry on Mount Nemo in Burlington. Citizen groups, the City of Burlington and Halton Region have vigorously fought that expansion.
“That is not what we wanted to hear. But the Mount Nemo decision will, in no way, determine the outcome of CBM’s application” David asserts.
Citizen and municipal fights against quarries have succeeded, he points out.
A major example is the 2010 Ontario Municipal Board rejection of the proposed Rockfort Quarry at the intersection of Winston Churchill Boulevard and Old Base Line Road in Caledon following intense opposition by citizen groups and the Town of Caledon.
As part of its ongoing initiatives, FC Preservation’s board of directors met with Dufferin Caledon MP Kyle Seeback a few months ago to discuss CBM’s plans. At this point, the MP has remained non-committal. But Seeback has come out against Strada Aggregate’s application for a blasting quarry on property it owns in Melancthon Township, says David.
As Fisheries and Oceans Canada, a federal body, has responsibility to protect aquatic species and fish, the Federal government does have a role to play. “And certainly, aquatic species and fish will be harmed if the CBM application goes ahead” he points out.
Seeback’s willingness to engage with the group is in direct contrast with that of Dufferin Caledon MPP (and Deputy Premier) Sylvia Jones who has ignored the Town of Caledon and FC Preservation’s numerous requests for a meeting according to David.
“We also intend to keep our members and supporters engaged,” he states, referring to a number of social and information gathering meetings to keep those members abreast of new developments.
Those members remain engaged and motivated, “because they’re trying to protect their homes and the town.”
Former Caledon Councillor Ian Sinclair is pushing back on the province’s significant modifications to the Town’s gravel policies. He has asked Council to pass a four-point motion, hopefully at a special September meeting.
If passed, the motion would call on the province to revoke its Official Plan aggregate policy modifications, and then conduct an aggregate review for the entire province. It would also reimburse the Town for the planning studies it conducted that were instrumental in the creation of its updated gravel polices.
As well, the motion would contain a clause that it be circulated to all Ontario municipalities. Ian believes the motion will have wide support from municipalities, “who are fed up with the provincial government’s top-down dictatorial approach.”
For the past 45 years or so, successive Caledon councils have fought to limit the impact of gravel operations on the town, says Ian.
“It is important to know that history in the context of what has happened.”
With the province’s modifications to Caledon’s gravel policies, “the aggregate industry has basically taken control of Caledon’s communities and landscape” he concludes.
