Council wants aggregate fees to be increased

Caledon council will request the provincial government consider increasing the fees and royalties charged to aggregate operators.

It wants this additional revenue to be used to provide the Ministry of Natural Resources with resources to staff an enforcement branch.

Gord Miller, environmental commissioner of Ontario, outlined in a report to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario a number of inadequacies in the capacity of MNR to properly oversee the approvals, compliance, rehabilitation and long-term planning to protect Ontario's aggregate resources. Chief among those concerns was MNR's lack of adequate funding to properly operate an effective compliance and enforcement program.