“Be a Good Neighbour” Caledon residents urge Osprey Valley to rethink quarry water deal

June 12, 2025 · 0 Comments

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

“Say it clear, say it loud, leave our water in the ground!” rang out last week outside TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley on the second day of the RBC Canadian Open.

Forks of the Credit Preservation Group (FCPG) were protesting to urge Chris Humeniuk, the owner of TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, not to accept the groundwater from a proposed Caledon mega quarry.

According to the group, Humeniuk has partnered with a Brazilian cement company called CBM to submit a proposal for a 700-acre mega-quarry just down the road.

“If that quarry is approved, the environmental and social impacts will be devastating,” said David Sylvester, Chair of FCGP.

Sylvester said this quarry will create a “host” of environmental issues, including traffic, air, and natural environment, and the issue focused on that day is water.

FCGP has previously protested against the proposed mega quarry.

The day’s demonstration focused on the millions of litres of excess water the golf course would potentially take into their own ponds.

Sylvester spoke about how the quarry proposal requires that the aggregate company continuously pump out or remove millions of litres of water from the quarry.

“That’s upwards of 500 million liters of water discharged from the quarry, and it has to go somewhere,” said Sylvester. “Chris Humeniuk has agreed to take the water onto the golf course property, dump it into one of their discharge ponds or holding ponds, where it will then run into the Credit River.”

Sylvester said the many issues this can cause in the credit, including the effect on Brook Trout.

Brook Trout can only survive in cold water, and dumping excess water will affect the climate of the credit.

He shared another major issue with the mega quarry will be the impact on residents in the northwest part of Caledon who rely on private wells.

Sylvester addressed the quarry application documents that show a significant number of private wells for residents will be impacted.

“You just can’t live without water,” said Sylvester. “The CDM people claim to have a mitigation plan to help compensate local folks who don’t have water. That includes big plastic tanks on our front lawn, which are refilled maybe once a week. But that is absolutely unacceptable. It’s insulting to think that that’s an appropriate way to rectify or correct such a serious issue.”

FCPG shared that they are not against the RBC Canadian Open, and were there in hopes to bring more awareness to the public.

“We’re not against the Canadian Open, we’re not against the golf course, we’re against the golf course taking the water,” shared Debra Wilson, an FCPG volunteer.

She said that despite the rainy weather, they received much support.

“We decided we need more voices, and people said they’ll come out and say ‘we’re absolutely supporting you, we’re on the side with us’,” said Wilson.

“We would like to think that Chris Humeniuk and TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley will reconsider this decision they’ve made to take the water and do the right thing, be a good neighbor, and leave the water on site,” shared Sylvester.

In a statement to the Citizen, Chris Humeniuk, President of TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, shared the following.

“I am tremendously grateful for the support we received as we celebrated the RBC Canadian Open with our friends, neighbours and over 130,000 visitors to Caledon. It is disappointing that the FCPG attempted to use the occasion and spotlight of the week to both attract attention to themselves and to undermine this historic event as it took place in Caledon for the first time.

“However, it is not surprising. Over the past several months, we have taken the initiative to engage them and offer the qualified consultants they claim to have retained the opportunity to attend the site and review reports submitted as part of the regulatory approval process.

“To date, our repeated invitations have been rejected.

“Rather than providing any qualified evidence to support their assertions, the FCPG has chosen to repeatedly mislead the public with inaccurate speculation and attack me personally in an effort described on their own website as one designed to attract the attention of the ‘big media’ covering the RBC Canadian Open.

“From our perspective, the ball is in their court. The qualified reports upon which we are relying are all a matter of public record. We have invited the FCPG to share the findings and reports of their qualified consultants that might differ with those submitted by CBM or the Town of Caledon’s review of the same. Nobody has more invested in our community than we do, and the last thing we desire is to harm the very place my family considers home. If they have real, qualified information then we want to know about it.”