For most people, making their thoughts known on social media or on the sidewalk, the initial reaction was disbelief. Over the course of the day though, as the news became real, disbelief became jubilation, albeit tinged with a hint of caution.
The Creemore Echo received the news at 10 am on Wednesday, with an email from Highland Companies’ public relations firm, Hill & Knowlton. “The Highland Companies announced today that it is withdrawing its application to develop a quarry in Melancthon Township,” it said.
John Scherer, speaking for Highland in place of John Lowndes, who resigned from his post as company president on Wednesday, explained the rationale behind the decision. “While we believe that the quarry would have brought significant economic benefit to Melancthon Township and served Ontario’s well-documented need for aggregate,” said Scherer, “we acknowledge that the application does not have sufficient support from the community and government to justify proceeding with the approval process.”
According to the release, Highland plans to continue focusing on its farms and on “supplying its customers with high quality potatoes and other crops.” The company is currently the largest potato producer in the province.
Mulmur rancher Carl Cosack, who has led the North Dufferin Agricultural Task Force in opposing the quarry since the group was formed in 2009, said he felt “truly humbled” upon hearing the news. “There are a thousand pieces to the puzzle that beat this,” he said, “from the local residents, to the folks at the Creemore Farmers’ Market, to the media, to the chefs, to the politicians who got on board. We have had such tremendous support, and all of it has been courteous, professional and solutions-based. I can’t thank people enough.”
While Cosack said the news caught him unawares in the moment, the fact Highlands was withdrawing was actually not that surprising to him. The ongoing Environmental Assessment of the project was nearing the peer review stage, and according to Cosack, the sheer size of the proposal was starting to look like too high a risk for the province. “I think Highland was beginning to see the writing on the wall,” he said.
Cosack also sounded a note of caution, pointing out that the Aggregate Resources Act, which was under review when the provincial government prorogued parliament, remains unchanged. “We need to make sure those changes are made, or else five years from now we could be looking at this thing again,” he said.
That said, the announcement remained a cause for celebration, said Cosack, and Wednesday would be remembered as a “tremendous day.”
That thought was echoed by Maple Valley resident Miriam Streiman, who along with Sandi Wong and Donna Baylis worked tirelessly to get word of the quarry application out to Farmers’ Markets and community groups across southern Ontario. Streiman was also a major organizer of Foodstock and Soupstock.
“This is a very special moment,” she told the Echo. “We never gave up, and today I’m proud to be a member of this community and a resident of Ontario.”