Spectators heading to the RBC Canadian Open at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley this past Saturday were greeted by protesters opposed to a mega-quarry proposed for Caledon.

More than a dozen people demonstrated outside the golf course on June 13, targeting the proposed Votorantim/CBM quarry and its ties to the tournament venue, the Caledon Citizen reported. The event drew thousands of travellers through Alton on their way to the Open.

Focus on water

The demonstration was organized by the Forks of the Credit Preservation Group (FCPG), whose chair, David Sylvester, said water was the day's central concern.

The proposed quarry would span 645 acres and use controlled explosives to extract up to 2.5 million tonnes of bedrock per year. To dig below the water table, the operator would have to pump out groundwater to keep the working bed dry — something Sylvester said the application documents put at upwards of half a million litres per day.

Sylvester described TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley president Chris Humeniuk as an "active partner" in the operation.

He agreed to take this half million litres of water discharged daily, and pump it into his golf course holding ponds.” — David Sylvester, FCPG chair, quoted by the Caledon Citizen

The FCPG says that runoff would ultimately flow into the Credit River.

The impacts on the ecosystem of the river would be devastating.” — David Sylvester

Sylvester also pointed to the application's own documents on private wells. He said more than 100 residences are nearby, and the documents acknowledge that a quarter or more of those wells could run into trouble once groundwater pumping begins.

“A marathon not a sprint”

After holding a similar day of action a year earlier, Sylvester said the campaign is "a marathon not a sprint."

We know that they are hoping that the opposition to this proposal will diminish and fade away. We're going to be certain that that's simply not going to happen. We'll be there right to the end.” — David Sylvester

He added the group had one clear message for the day.

If Chris Humeniuk chose not to accept this discharged groundwater onto his property, we wouldn't be here today. We would be quite satisfied with that decision, and we would be very grateful.” — David Sylvester

In its announcement of the day of action, the FCPG said the quarry proposal conflicts with Golf Canada's environmental stewardship goals and with climate action policies of RBC, the tournament's main sponsor.

A participant identified as "Grumpy," a member of the Chapleau Cree Fox Lake community, joined the protest with the message "Water is Life," and said he wants people to understand that water is not the unlimited resource it is often assumed to be.

Course president responds

In a statement released to the Caledon Citizen after the event, Humeniuk said the club has invited the FCPG "on multiple occasions to engage in collaborative discussions about their concerns," but that the group has rejected those invitations.

Nobody has more invested in our community than we do, and the last thing we desire is to harm the very place my family and our business calls home.” — Chris Humeniuk, in a statement to the Caledon Citizen

Humeniuk accused the group of misleading the public with inaccurate speculation and of attacking him personally in an effort to attract the attention of major media covering the tournament, adding, "We will continue to celebrate Caledon's moment in the spotlight this past week."