The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.
At a time provincial Liberal cabinet ministers are strutting around the south — their chests all puffed out with pride — bragging about all the good they are doing for Northern Ontario, mayors from across the region are doing their damnedest to let everyone know the real reason behind such upper body over-inflation.
The government is full of hot air.
One day after Ohio-based Cliffs Resources announced it will invest $1.8 billion to build a chromite processing facility in Capreol — creating hundreds of direct jobs in the process — municipal leaders were calling the government out on Northern issues.
Kapuskasing Mayor Al Spacek, president of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM), and Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren, chairman of the Northeastern Ontario Municipal Association (NEOMA), were front and centre at meetings in North Bay this week with other Northern political and business leaders. They were hell bent on spreading the word.
The government’s decision to divest itself of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) has proven to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.
Northerners readily admit changes need to be made at Ontario Northland, but where is the consultation? This is a move that will have a major impact on business and industry in Northeastern Ontario for decades to come and it is just being rammed through Queen’s Park — and down the throat of Northerners, who are trying to scream stop.
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