The proposed Campbellville quarry, a contentious issue in last year’s provincial by-election in Milton, is poised to return to the spotlight with a rally scheduled at Country Heritage Park next week.
With Premier Doug Ford widely expected to call an election soon, opponents of the quarry — including co-organizer ACTION Milton — are ramping up efforts to hold Ford and MPP Zee Hamid accountable for their commitments to block the project.
Ford’s promise back in 2020 remains a rallying cry for local advocates, as he assured residents and officials that “we’re going to make sure it doesn’t happen one way or another.”
His stance has since softened.
In April 2024, Ford said he’d wait for the completion of the Reid Road Reservoir Quarry project’s environmental assessment (EA) review before deciding. Following Hamid’s by-election win last May, Ford said: “We’ll sit down (with the community). We believe in listening to the people.”
Hamid, while opposing the quarry, echoed the need to let the EA process play out. “That’s the right thing to do. We’re going to talk after the EA,” he said at the time.
The approximately 72-acre site, located at 9210 Twiss Rd., is earmarked for aggregate extraction by James Dick Construction Ltd., which plans to extract up to 990,000 tons of aggregate annually by underwater blasting. Critics — including the Town of Milton and Halton Region — have raised concerns over the project’s potential health and environmental impacts, particularly risks to the water supply for more than 20,000 residents.
Organizers argue the rally is not just about the Campbellville quarry but also about setting a precedent for communities across Ontario to push back against unnecessary gravel mining projects.
The event — also addressing the proposed expansion of the Nelson quarry at Mt. Nemo — will take place next Saturday, Jan. 25, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Country Heritage Park.
Organized with support from the Reform Gravel Mining Coalition and CORE Burlington, the rally is expected to feature speakers such as Mayor Gord Krantz and Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward.