Powerfully Built

To meet its ambitious infrastructure goals, Ontario needs a strong aggregate industry

by: Matthew Bradford

Shovels are in the ground across Ontario as work proceeds on critical infrastructure projects.

Whether the goal is to improve transportation, build healthcare capacity, or relieve the housing crunch, every solution involves aggregate – or sand, stone and gravel.

“Nothing gets built without aggregate,” says Mike McSweeney, OSSGA’s executive director. “That applies to everything – transportation lines, schools, hospitals, recreational facilities, and all our public and private buildings. Stone, sand and gravel play a central role in developing all that.”

In Ontario, it is estimated that nearly 164 million tonnes of aggregate are consumed annually to keep pace with the province’s infrastructure needs. The Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) alone uses 73 million tonnes of that share, and the province is projected to consume another four billion tonnes of aggregate by 2041 as growth continues across the province.

“Federal and provincial governments are in an unprecedented time of investments into infrastructure, and much of that infrastructure will be built in municipalities,” McSweeney reports. “We have three levels of government commitment to a number of projects up and down Ontario, and they’re all going to be coming to the aggregate industry for materials.”

Much of that infrastructure is being built to meet the needs of a large influx of immigrants to the country. Canada is aiming to welcome half a million immigrants annually in the coming years, and many of them are expected to settle in Ontario, one of the country’s most popular destinations. In the first half of 2023, the province attracted 101,455 new permanent residents – around 38.5 per cent of the total for Canada (immigration.ca). The numbers are expected to be just as high for the second half of the year.

FOUNDATIONAL RESOURCE

There’s no overstating the importance of aggregates in building up the province’s cities and municipalities to accommodate this mass influx of new residents. Aggregates, after all, are crucial to the growth and evolution of any growing society. Indeed, as Kevin Powers, managing principal at Project Advocacy Inc., aptly states, “Building stone has been the foundation of civilized infrastructure since the time of the pharaohs, alongside a steady supply of clean water and arable land. The same thing can be said today, where nearby stone, sand and gravel supplies are responsible for building Toronto and the GTHA.”

While they are no longer being used to craft mud brick houses, aggregate materials remain foundational for our built environment. Today, high-quality sand, stone and gravel are increasingly in high demand across all construction sectors, particularly among residential builders working to alleviate the country’s housing crunch.

“We have a housing crisis upon us right now, and it’s telling us that we need to build a million-and-a-half new homes in the next 10 years,” says Greg Sweetnam, executive vice president of James Dick Construction Limited.

That’s a lot of houses, Sweetnam continues, and reaching this goal will require nearly 190 million tonnes of aggregate a year, not to mention the additional materials needed to build supporting residential infrastructure. “When you build a residential development, you’re not just building houses; you’re building the streets, the sidewalks, the curbs, the gutters, the storm sewers, the sanitary sewers, the water mains, and the water systems that go with that, as well as any upgrades of any required wastewater treatment plants and stormwater management ponds and water filtration plants,” Sweetnam says.

SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Expansions to Ontario’s healthcare and education systems are contributing to aggregate demand. The province committed to building over 30 hospitals and 300 long-term care homes between 2016 and 2025 and earmarked $208 million between 2023-24 to support critical upgrades and repairs at 131 hospitals and 58 community healthcare facilities.

Ontario is also slated to spend $15 billion over 10 years for new school construction, with hopes of accelerating their development. In a December 2023 statement to the press, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce noted: “Our government is taking new measures to ensure school boards are building schools in nearly half the amount of time it took before – cutting down the timelines by nearly 50 per cent through a transparent, accountable and clear process that prioritizes shovel-ready projects… [so] that we get schools built faster for Ontario families, and for the children of this province too.”

Ambitious plans for Ontario’s transportation infrastructure are also playing a part in straining current and future aggregate supplies. Specifically, the province is spending $25.1 billion over the next decade to enhance the way its people and goods move. Major projects include creating Highway 413, expanding Highway 401, building the Bradford Bypass, and rehabilitating the QEW Garden City Skyway, among other key initiatives. 

“Ontario is the economic engine of Canada, and we produce a lot of goods that need to be moved, and if they don’t go by rail, they go by trucks. Therefore, they need that road infrastructure,” insists McSweeney.

With these and other developments planned across Ontario’s residential, industrial and commercial sectors, one can see why aggregate producers are in high demand. With more initiatives getting the green-light each year, industry stakeholders like Sweetnam hope decision-makers recognize the importance of enabling access to high-quality aggregate materials. After all, he says, “Every time you approve development, you’re actually approving aggregate. Municipalities don’t often think about that. A lot of times they approve all this development, and aggregates are an afterthought. That leaves aggregate producers to figure out how to get the pits and quarries licensed to meet demand.”

SHRINKING SUPPLY

Aggregate has an undeniable and irreplaceable role in building Ontario. The question is if aggregate producers have what they need to keep pace. The answer, says Powers, is uncertain: “We’ve been lucky to have sources of high-quality limestone within 50 kilometres of the GTHA since its inception, but that abundance is rapidly coming to an end. More than 90 per cent of our existing limestone deposits in the GTHA have been sterilized by development, regulations or zoning, and the roads, condos and office towers that are being built right now are being supplied by quarries that were approved decades ago or nearly depleted.”

Moreover, Powers adds, the little remaining limestone in proximity to the GTHA that has not been excavated or sterilized is under threat by regulation, by NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) opposition, and other barriers: “This dwindling supply of close-to-market aggregate for a big stumbling block for the province’s transportation targets, for its housing targets, and its environmental targets.”

This issue is documented in The Long Haul: Examining the Implications of Far-from-Market Aggregates, a study commissioned by the Ontario Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (OSSGA) and prepared by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC). It raises concerns over the depletion of limestone quarries in close proximity to the GTHA. With supplies running out and fewer close-to-market operations coming online, the study predicts the region will become an “aggregate desert” within the next two years, leaving no other option than to bring in materials from over 150 kilometres away.

 “The abundant supply of high-quality aggregate is rapidly coming to an end, and within the next decade, nearby supply is headed off a cliff with far-reaching implications for city building,” says Powers. “That’s largely because the number of pits and quarries data cited in the GTHA continues to drop while the population continues to climb. And if no quarries are licensed in the GTHA in the next 10 years, close-to- market supply of stone, sand and gravel will disappear.”

CLOSE-TO-MARKET

While mining activity in Ontario’s North bodes well for the province’s economy, to make good on its infrastructure plans, many believe that closer-to-market aggregate supplies are vital. There are several reasons why mitigating the long haul of sand, stone and gravel makes sense. For one, says Powers, it is easier on the bottom line. “Transportation is the single biggest expense in aggregate production, absorbing up to 60 per cent of the cost. The farther it’s produced from the market where it’s consumed, the more expensive it becomes,” he says.

Naturally, adds McSweeney, reducing transportation requirements also has environmental benefits: “Yes, we can bring aggregate from North Bay or Parry Sound to Ontario’s waterfront, but think of how much greenhouse gas is being produced by all that transportation, not to mention the wear and tear it’s having on our roads and highways. I always say that if you believe getting your food close to home is a sustainable way of life, then you should believe in getting your construction material as close to home as well.”

There are logistical, financial and environmental advantages to supporting close-to-market aggregate production. Moreover, says Sweetnam, there is enough unlicensed rock resource in southern Ontario to supply regional developments for years to come. The key, he continues, is to convince decision makers to allow the industry to license these strategic, provincially significant resources. This often means convincing politicians and parts of the population that having a pit or quarry close to where they live is a benefit, not a disturbance.  

“Pits and quarries can operate in close harmony with their communities and the environment without conflict,” explains Sweetnam. “Look at the Town of Caledon, where we have the bulk of our operations. Despite the fact that it’s a major aggregate producer and one of the largest concentrations of aggregate sites in Canada, Caledon was just voted the ‘Happiest Community in Canada’ and residents’ property values have doubled in the last few years…. What more do you want as proof that aggregate extraction in close-to-market locations does not have a negative impact on people?”

For now, the barriers to getting more pits and quarries online near the GTHA continue to be NIMBYism and red tape – both of which require ongoing public education and political support. Until then, there is an opportunity for recycled aggregates to help fill the supply need. “Recycled aggregates make up a small fraction of the amount of aggregate, and many municipalities have complete bans on using recycled aggregates because it is not as strong,” says Powers. “Still, recycled aggregate has a lot of basic uses and can be of help right now.”

There is no overstating the role aggregates play in building and maintaining our modern way of life. As Ontario continues to approve developments that will spur growth and accommodate its growing population, access to high-quality sand, stone and gravel materials will be essential.

As Powers observes, “If you believe in this province, and you believe that roads are the lifeblood of its economic prosperity, and that affordable housing, quality healthcare and strong education are the foundation of the Canadian dream, then you need to support the aggregate industry and its push for new quarry development.”