A group in Milton says it’s taking action against a proposed reopening of a quarry in Campbellville. They are calling on premier Doug Ford to keep a promise he made years ago to stop it. And this is all happening ahead of a provincial by-election in the area.
The group of residents are pointing to a news conference in the area held back in July of 2020. At the time Ford said he knew most people in the town did not want the quarry and he didn’t want it either.
Four years later, the group says the premier made a promise and they want him to keep it.
“We aren’t going to put something in that the whole community is dead against. It’s very simple. I know the mayor, you don’t want it, no one wants it. I don’t want it, we’re going to make sure it doesn’t happen one way or another,” said Ford in 2020.
Four years later, George Minakakis, the chair of Action Milton and a Campbellville resident of 20 years, says he is still waiting on Ford to make good on his promise.
“All of us are just scratching our heads saying, ok well wait a minute, if the premier said he’s going to stop this one way or the other, why are we being dragged through this,” said Minakakis.
Since that 2020 news conference, an environmental assessment was announced for the proposed reopening of the Reid Road Reservoir Quarry. It’s still ongoing with no specific time frame for construction.
Action Milton, a group opposed to the quarry — says residents have multiple concerns — including potentially impacting ground water and air quality.
“A lot of people worried about their well water, they’re worried about traffic from the trucks,” said Minakakis. “vibrations, there’s fly rocks that can happen, so we’re saying, there’s plenty of risks.”
The proposed site of the quarry is 9210 Twiss Road.
The area is currently heavily forested with bodies of water.
Environmental Defence says a quarry would result in a loss to a lot of valuable green space.
“This is also the Niagara escarpment, right, so this is our area of most forest cover in southwestern Ontario, we know that sprawl has been really unleashed by the current government, so remaining areas of natural cover, wetlands are incredibly important,” said Environmental Defence Executive Director Tim Gray.
This all comes ahead of a provincial by-election in Milton next week.
George Minakakis says he wants to ensure potential replacements of former Milton MPP Parm Gill — are on resident’s side.
Zee Hamid is Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative candidate for the by-election.
“We’ve sent a letter to the premier asking for a meeting with him. We’ve met with every leader of every party, the Green, NDP and Liberal. There’s a lot of promises on the table during the election about affordability, housing. Delivering on something as simple as this, just re-enforces you will be able to deliver on all those other things too,” said Minakakis.
CHCH News reached out to the premier’s office for comment as well as PC candidate Zee Hamid, but have yet to hear back.
Meanwhile, a rally this Saturday is going to be held next to Milton town hall to protest the quarry.