Government responds to ARA report!

Government responds to ARA report!

From NDACT (North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Taskforce)

As you’ll recall, we were deeply disappointed in the review of the Aggregate Resources Act which was completed by the Standing Committee on General Government last fall. Despite excellent recommendations made by several agricultural stakeholders, the ARA report contained no protection for prime farmland or source water regions. Instead, it focused on the sketchy scenario of rehabilitating  pits and quarries to farmland.

The Ontario government has now responded to the Committee’s report and appears to have listened to the many concerns we raised. Here is a detail from the government’s response which was tabled in the Legislature yesterday. While we still have some distance to travel, the last comment, in particular, is promising.

Government Response

–       We are striving to achieve a balance that meets our need for aggregate resources while protecting other assets like water, natural and cultural heritage and agricultural resources.

–       This government fully supports the Committee’s recommendations related to aggregate operation on agricultural lands. Ontario’s farmland is a finite, non-renewable resource and its long-term protection is  important to the government,

–       Our agriculture and aggregate resources are both vital to our society, and we need to work together to continually improve how we manage multiple resources on the landscape. Ontario’s long-term prosperity and social well-being depend on protecting agricultural and aggregate resources, given their economic and social benefits.

–       The Committee’s recommendations point to the need to do a better job of rehabilitating aggregate sites to agricultural uses and improve the monitoring and reporting on those activities, enabling the public and our stakeholders to see this progress.

–       Some of our key aggregate and agriculture industry stakeholders are already working toward these goals.

–       We agree with the Committee that it is important to bring all of the parties together to develop the detailed changes that are needed to support these improvements.

–       On the matter of aggregate extraction on prime agricultural lands, the government believes that there may be a need to go beyond the Committee’s recommendations to address concerns, expressed by some of our agricultural stakeholders and through various public interest groups, about the need to protect farmland.

Read full government report at: http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/stdprodconsume/groups/lr/@mnr/@aggregates/documents/document/stdprod_110383.pdf

Thanks to your letters and e-mails, it appears the government is paying attention. We’re getting closer to creating a lasting legacy for our province and future generations.