16 AVENUES WINTER 2019 LEGISLATION & REGULATION D uring the lengthy Liberal reign in Ontario, a steady stream of changes in legislation, policy and regulation led to significant duplication and redundancy in approval requirements and processes involving the aggregate industry. More recently, the Conservative government announced that Ontario is “open for busi- ness.” In its economic outlook statement, A Plan for the People, it promised to “create an environment across the province that will help reduce costs for businesses, strengthen their ability to invest and grow, and stimu- late job creation.” The Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (OSSGA) applauds this new approach and is looking forward to working with the government to present its concerns on barriers to aggregate businesses in Ontario – barriers created by the increasing amount of red tape over the years. The aggregate industry today is one of the most highly regulated industries in the province, with compliance requirements included in more than 25 pieces of legisla- tion and hundreds of regulations. These rules were intended to protect people, as well as the natural environment and our natural resources. OSSGA and its members are equally committed to the responsible extraction of this important and scarce resource throughout its entire life cycle – from initial land use planning, to final rehabilitation, to the increased use of recycled aggregates. But it’s important to note that significant reductions in red tape can occur without compromising the strong environmental protection inherent in Ontario legislation and policy. Aggregate – stone, sand and gravel – builds Ontario. On average, approximately 164 million tonnes of aggregate are used in the province each year, contributing $1.6 billion to Ontario’s GDP. Without aggregate, everything stops. It’s in the buildings we live and work in, and the roads and sidewalks we drive and walk on. It is used in water purification and in the manufacturingof everythingfrompaperandpaint tochewinggumandhouseholdcleaners.Andthen there are the millions of tonnes the public sector itself uses for road, highway, sewer and transit construction. Demand for high-quality aggregate is growing, and new sources will be needed. A concerted effort to reduce the red tape will promote job creation, make housing more affordable, decrease the govern- ment’s own procurement costs, and attract economic investment throughout the prov- ince. In the aggregate industry, we believe we have moved beyond what could be described simply as regulatory burden. The regulatory framework in our industry is a labyrinth that has expanded from years of regulation to form an intricate web deterring investment in Ontario. The overlapping involvement of multiple ministries and agencies sees new projects reviewed by multiple bodies, be it the MNRF, MMAH, MECP, MTO, munici- palities, conservation authorities, the NEC, or other agencies. Untangling all of this will not be easy, but it must be done to ensure future investment in this essential industry. We need to make a start, beginning with the opportunities for quick wins. Fundamentally, there are two things that need to be known about aggregate: Addressing duplication and redundancy in processes involving the aggregate industry UNTANGLING RED TAPE •  It is used to build everything. The aggregate industry supplies the material for all of the growth in Ontario: roads, schools, sewers, transit, housing. It all starts with aggregate. •  It is a clean industry. No chemicals are used in the processing of aggregate. The closer an aggregate site is located to the job site, the less trucking is required, and the more environmentally friendly it becomes. Yet, despite these two truths, over the past 15 years, the fierce increase in NIMBY oppo- sition to this industry has spawned a maze of regulation making it increasingly expensive (in terms of both time and money) and risky for companies to invest in pursuing new licence applications that may, in the end, be denied. The result is that new aggre- gate supply – close to the Greater Golden Horseshoe – is not being replaced. At the same time, it is projected that Ontario will see a 30 per cent increase in population by 2041 and require nearly four billion tonnes of aggregate to build the infrastructure to support that growth. TACKLING EXCESS BUREAUCRACY To move forward, OSSGA has outlined its concerns and recommendations in detailed reports submitted to Ontario’s Red Tape and Regulatory Burden Reduction Initiative, with the following expanded recommendations: 1. Eliminate duplication and inefficien- cies across ministries and agencies. During both the application and permitting phases of a new aggregate site proposal, it is not uncommon for three or four different agen- cies to require reports on the same topic