Commentary

The cost of extraction: When local land becomes a commodity

November 13, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Councillor Tess Prendergast

In Dufferin and Caledon, we pride ourselves on being good stewards of the land. Farmers, families, and volunteers work hard to protect the headwaters, care for the soil, and preserve the rural character that defines this region. But increasingly, that stewardship feels like it’s being tested and, at times, undermined by outside forces with little connection to the community.

The proposed blasting quarry in Melancthon is one example that should concern every resident of this riding. The company behind the project has applied for a licence to extract millions of tonnes of material each year, below the water table, in one of Ontario’s most sensitive headwaters areas. The potential risks to local wells, water quality, and ecosystems are significant.

What’s happening in Melancthon reflects a wider pattern across Ontario—one where decisions about local land are driven by large external interests rather than by the communities that live with the consequences. There’s nothing wrong with success or prosperity, but the pattern is impossible to ignore. The profits and influence from operations like this tend to flow outward, while the costs and risks stay behind. The company’s leadership has made significant charitable donations to hospitals and foundations in the Greater Toronto Area, contributions that are commendable but that highlight an imbalance. The wealth generated from resource extraction in rural Ontario is often reinvested in urban centres where executives live, rather than in the communities where the natural resources are taken and the environmental costs are borne.

The scale of extraction proposed here also raises serious questions about need. Ontario already extracts more than 160 million tonnes of aggregate every year, enough to supply the province many times over. In fact, according to multiple reports, Ontario licenses extraction at levels up to thirteen times higher than the amount actually used annually. Yet new applications continue to appear, often in environmentally sensitive areas like ours, far exceeding what is necessary for Ontario to build and grow.

Meanwhile, residents in Melancthon and across Dufferin and Caledon are left to deal with the dust, truck traffic, noise, and long-term environmental uncertainty that come with these operations. Local councils face an uphill battle against provincial systems that consistently favour major developers and aggregate corporations. The province holds most of the decision-making power, while municipalities are left to manage the impacts of projects we have little ability to refuse. We are often told that such projects bring economic benefit, but to whom? The short-term jobs and modest tax revenues pale in comparison to the long-term environmental costs and infrastructure burdens. The real gains leave the riding entirely.

It’s time to look more closely at how we balance economic opportunity with community well-being. Local governments and residents deserve a stronger voice, not just in mitigating impacts but in deciding whether these projects belong here in the first place. Transparency about ownership, corporate structure, and community benefit should be a basic requirement before any approval is granted.

Our land and water are not expendable assets. They are the foundation of everything that makes Dufferin and Caledon a place worth calling home. We need leadership and policies that protect that foundation, because when the blasting stops and the trucks leave, it’s the people who live here who will still be here, living with the consequences.

The views expressed in this column are those of Tess Prendergast.

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