MHCA stresses importance of aggregate resource access

WINNIPEG — The Manitoba Heavy Construction Association (MHCA) is insisting the provincial government protect access to aggregate resources as municipalities reject applications for pits and quarries.

MHCA members made the remarks while meeting on July 16 with consultants conducting a provincial review of the planning act.

The consultation is part of a review of the act expected to be complete by October, which will then provide recommendations to the government, which has a year to respond.

The planning act was amended in 2018 with the passage of Bill 19, an MHCA release said, and its changes included the introduction of a provincial technical review of the proponent’s quarry application to feed into a municipality’s decision-making process. At least 25 objectors are required to trigger a public hearing prior to a municipal decision and the right to appeal a municipality’s decision to the provincial municipal board.

Points made by the MHCA and industry representatives included:

• Quarry/pit applications continuing to be rejected.
• The right to appeal to the municipal board seems to be used as a way for municipalities to defer decisions.
• Provincial technical review reports are not given sufficient weight.
• The municipal board should be quasi-judicial in nature, with sufficient resources, to allow evidence to be called and tested, ensuring decisions are based on evidence.
• Greater awareness and education for the public and municipal officials would help underscore the importance of protecting access to aggregate resources, to push back on NIMBYism.
• There needs to be an increased understanding of limits of municipal authority.
• More consistency is needed in the application of rules and exercise of authority.
• The provincial authority over land use should assert itself to ensure municipalities don’t have ability to sterilize aggregate resource zones.
• The municipal board needs greater resources to reduce/prevent backlog that are delaying hearings and decisions.

The industry needs clarity, transparency, structure, set timelines, a responsive process, consistency and consequences to be built into both the legislation and the process followed at municipal level.