RE: GRAVEL PITS & MORE POLITICIANS HAVE EARNED THEIR DISGUSTING REPUTATIONS

Their basic raison d'etre is a lie. They are not making their livelihoods as public servants but rather as servants to the already wealthy and powerful in Canada, very often at the expense of the public whom they are supposed to be serving. It's called the public interest. Filling in and developing wetlands is contrary to the environmental interest as well as to the public interest. Similarly excavating more gravel, sand or limestone pits is also not in the public or environmental interest especially when it is suggested that there is an oversupply in the marketplace. ........................................................................................................................... Today's Waterloo Region Record has an excellent Opinion piece written by Susan Koswan who has been long involved in various regional environmental issues. Her article is titled "All of the gravel pit opposition has to count for something". She relates several past and present ongoing gravel pit controversies in Waterloo Region including a proposed pit in Maryhill as well as Shingletown, Rockwood, Milton and Burlington. She also visited a couple of local pit sites (Hallman Pit & Chudyk Pit) for a first hand observation of the natural environment there including "...beautiful rolling hills, prime farmland, small settlements, ponds and forests." Besides advising readers of gaps and failings in process around siting of pits as well as overlapping authorities among various provincial ministries; one of the biggest items to me addressed what I had long suspected. Absolutely none of these proposed pits as per provincial legislation ever has to justify an economic need for another new pit. Hence when Ms. Koswan states that there is a declining value of aggregate in the marketplce likely due to an oversupply of sand and gravel, it confirms my suspicions. Gravel pit owners and operators are simply opening pits willy nilly in an attempt to be able to underbid competitors to supply gravel etc. by shortening their distance to the end uses be they roads, highways, construction projects, asphalt and cement plants. In other words we the public do not need more pits. We have plenty within Waterloo Region and likely throughout Ontario. It is simply to increase the profits of our aggregate produces at the expense of both the environment and the nearby residents. .................................................................................................................................... And here is what our government does for us: Aggregate producers donate to both the Liberal and Conservative parties. They buy influence and good will and our provincial governments reward their largesse by passing legislation protecting them and their economic interests while throwing both the environment and local citizens under the bus. Keep on voting Liberal and Conservative if you are O.K. with that.