Last year, As It Happens presented several stories about a proposed giant quarry about a hundred-and-twenty kilometres north of Toronto. A Boston-based hedge fund was attempting to build North America's second-largest open pit mine on some of the best farmland in Canada, digging a hole that would go below the water table.

An enormous campaign in support of those farmers forced Ontario's Liberal government to order a full environmental assessment of the project -- and it also promised to review the provincial Aggregate Resources Act, which has been criticized for putting the interests of the aggregate industry ahead of agriculture.

This week, hearings into that legislation began, but the farmers who prompted the review were not invited to testify. Moreover, the timing and location of the hearings -- just six hours this week and next, in downtown Toronto -- have made it difficult for those farmers to participate, even as members of the public.

Dave Van Der Zaag is perhaps the farmer who stands to lose the most should the mega-quarry go ahead: his potato farm is near the proposed site, just north of Shelburne, Ontario.