The electoral contest may be over, but the community concerns in Milton persist.
Among them, the proposed Reid Reservoir Quarry in Campbellville looms large, with no immediate resolution in sight.
The Reform Gravel Mining Coalition (RGMC) said that gravel mining — as it did in this spring's byelection — will play a pivotal role in the 2026 provincial elections.
Candidates from the four major parties, with Conservative Zee Hamid as the eventual winner, all opposed the project. But both Hamid and Premier Doug Ford agreed to let the environmental assessment process run its course before making a decision.
“Hamid’s election reaffirms the necessity for the PCs to make good on their promise to stop the Campbellville quarry, and for the government to honour its obligation to protect all Ontario residents from the negative impacts of gravel mining,” said RGMC president Doug Tripp in a news release.
David Donnelly, an environmental lawyer who represents many RGMC communities, said the byelection “serves as a definitive call to action for policymakers of all parties to take a firm stance on gravel mining projects like the Campbellville quarry, and to act swiftly in aligning their policies with the environmental and community interests that were clearly expressed by the voters in this byelection.”
According to the news release, a December 2023 report from the Auditor General of Ontario concluded that the industry has failed to prove that Ontario needs more quarries.
Said Donnelly, “We have an oversupply of available aggregate; it’s time for the Ontario government to implement an immediate moratorium on all new pits and quarries until the Auditor General’s recommendations are fulfilled.”
Gord Pinard, president of Conserve Our Rural Ecosystems (CORE) Burlington, which is fighting to protect Mount Nemo from a proposed mega quarry in the Milton riding, said: “It is evident that Milton and Burlington voters, along with voters throughout critical 905 ridings, are increasingly concerned about aggregate mining. They are engaged in heightened advocacy, not just to protect their own communities, but to safeguard the water all Ontarians drink, the farmland that supplies our food, the safety of the air we breathe, and the climate that sustains all life.”