Wanted: New deal – by PJ WILSON, QMI AGENCY (Sudbury Star – May 18, 2012)

 The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

NORTH BAY — Northern Ontarians will be able to let the provincial government know where they stand on the ONTC divestment.

A partnership between the Northern Communities Working Group and the Northern Regional Publishing Group of Sun Media is giving residents of the North their chance to get a new deal for Ontario Northland.

The 11 Sun Media newspapers in Northeastern Ontario — The Nugget, Sudbury Star, Sault Star, Timmins Daily Press, Cochrane Times Post, Elliot Lake Standard, Kapuskasing Northern Times, Espanola Mid-North Monitor and Kirkland Lake Northern News — will run ads and window inserts calling for a New Deal for Ontario Northland.

“We are looking to show the government that there is support for a new deal for Ontario Northland and that Northerners expect the premier … to come to the North and meet with Northern mayors,” said North Bay Mayor Al McDonald.

He said mayors across the North have been trying to meet with Premier Dalton McGuinty since the March 23 announcement the province would divest Ontario Northland, but “the premier refuses to meet with the mayors.”

The ads in the Northern newspapers consist of information and a coupon that readers are encouraged to fill out and return to their local papers. The coupons register readers’ support for the New Deal initiative, while the window signs are a visible show of support, McDonald said.

“We want a new deal for Ontario Northland, we want a meeting with Dalton McGuinty here in North Bay and we expect the government to show Northerners the respect they deserve,” McDonald said.

He credited Dan Johnson, senior group publisher of Sun Media’s Northern Division, with the initiative.

“We in the North are pleased to be able to lend our support to the Northern Communities Working Group,” Johnson said.

“As the news leader in the region that is affected by the divestment of the ONTC, we have a responsibility to the communities that we serve,” Johnson said.

“Millions of dollars and hu ndreds of jobs are at stake. Jobs that belong to our neighbours, friends and families.”

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