Group opposed to Milton quarry asks for urgent meeting with Doug Ford

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A Milton group has started a petition to prevent a local quarry from reopening.

A group of concerned Milton residents campaigning to stop a quarry from being constructed in a rural part of the town are demanding an urgent meeting with Premier Doug Ford in the lead-up to the upcoming byelection.

Today (April 24), ACTION (Association of Citizens Together In Our Nassagaweya) Milton, a group opposed to the reopening of a quarry in the Guelph Line and Hwy. 401 area in Campbellville, said it must meet with Ford before voters select a new MPP on May 2.

“With the polls showing a race too close to call, ACTION Milton is asking Premier Ford to urgently meet,” the group said in a statement.

“The premier knows the people of Milton don’t want the Campbellville quarry and that taxpayers should not be stuck with an unnecessary environmental assessment.”

In the statement, the group said Ford assured PC candidate Zee Hamid that the proposed quarry would not be approved. That said, the group says Hamid told them during an all-candidates meeting that an environmental assessment would take place and that “community members should trust the process and let it play out.”

In a statement, the group called this “unacceptable.”

“The time is now for the PCs to keep their promise and do right by the residents of Milton and Campbellville. With the stroke of the premier’s pen…Milton residents could save hundreds of thousands of dollars and avoid health and safety concerns,” the group said.

George Minakakis, chair of ACTION, recently told inhalton.com that the reopening of the Reid Road Reservoir Quarry would be terrible for the community, with explosions affecting the quality of life of local residents by potentially impacting groundwater and creating airborne dust and contaminants.

At an earlier press conference at Queen’s Park, he said Ford has not kept his promise to reject the project.

Ford said he was opposed to the quarry in 2020, saying residents and Milton Mayor Gordon Krantz were not in favor of the project.

ACTION said the estimated cost to fight the proposal is approximately $1 million, with funding coming from local residents. According to a recent news release, the group was formed after James Dick Construction Ltd. applied to ship up to 990,000 tonnes per year of extracted and reprocessed material from the quarry. Underwater blasting will be used to extract up to 350,000 tons per year, according to the group.

The group said the construction company’s experts said in years with less rain, extraction below 350,000 tons a year could impact water levels in nearby wetlands and affect endangered and threatened species near the site.

In a previous news release, the group said it has concerns about underwater blasting and is worried about the short distance (less than two kilometers) between the quarry site and the Guelph Line and Campbellville Road area, which is home to a church, post office , restaurant and homes.

The group is also concerned about the potential impact on the environment, particularly protected species such as turtles, salamanders, butternut trees and red dace fish, and traffic.

In a statement, ACTION Milton said it has sent a letter to Ford outlining the legal options available to stop the proposed quarry and that it also has a petition with close to 2,000 signatures that the NDP presented at Queen’s Park earlier this week.

The group says all leaders have vowed to stop the project.

“It is notable that all provincial leaders—the premier, NDP leader Marit Stiles, Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie, and Green leader Mike Schreiner—are now on the record opposing the quarry,” the release said.

“ACTION Milton hopes to hear back from the premier’s office at the earliest opportunity.”

– With files from Jeffrey Allen

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