Dear Minister Piccini, The…

Dear Minister Piccini,

The Township discussed in depth the new requirements for excess soil O. Reg. 406/19 regarding the proposed pause on the implementation of those requirements and most recently the proposed changes as outlined in the ERO proposal No. 019-6240.

At Council’s meeting on April 13, 2022, Council expressed its significant disappointment in the Ministry’s decision to pause the implementation of this important legislation. As the Ministry is aware, many operators across Ontario took steps to comply with the new legislation. This was no doubt costly and time consuming.

The Township of Puslinch is an active member of TAPMO (Top Aggregate Producing Municipalities in Ontario) and as such has a keen interest in the Province establishing requirements to better protect the environment and ground water. The proposed changes that eliminate the requirement for sampling, tracking and inclusion on the excess soil registry for generating sites that are deemed to be ‘low risk’, shifts the risks from the generating site to the receiving site.

In addition to shifting the risk from the generating site to receiving site, the proposed legislation also shifts the regulatory requirements from the Province to the local municipality seeking to protect its environment, groundwater and drinking water supplies. This is keenly significant in Puslinch as groundwater is supplied to not only our own residents but to large neighbouring municipalities such as City of Guelph, Region of Waterloo, Hamilton and Halton. These municipalities are designated growth areas by the Province and as such will be supplying an increased amount of citizens in the future.
It is of significant concern that a number of Qualified Professionals, representing the operators and not municipalities, are raising a number of comments and concerns relating to the proposed legislation.

It has not gone unnoticed that while the Province provides a comment period for these proposed changes, the decision is often issued within 1-2 business days, or in some cases prior to the commenting period ending. Interested and affected parities spend considerable time, and often funds, to prepare meaningful comments and contribute to the decision making process.

The Township respectfully requests that the Province gives due consideration to the comments and concerns submitted prior to making a decision.