NEWS RELEASE: Tim Hudak: Time to Break a New Frontier with the Ring of Fire

Tuesday, June 26th, 2012

QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario can change course from its slide to rust-belt status, but only with the courage to seize opportunities that lie dormant all around us, PC Leader Tim Hudak said today.
 
Hudak, a former Minister of Northern Development and Mines, made the comments after returning from the Ring of Fire – a vast, untapped deposit of chromite, nickel, copper, zinc and iron ore in the James Bay Lowlands. Chromite is now especially valuable because it is essential for making stainless steel, in huge demand worldwide because of rapid growth in developing countries. Ontario stands to gain 50,000 direct and indirect jobs, and potential economic activity of hundreds of billions of dollars, by moving the project forward, Hudak added.
 
“In 2001, Ontario was the world’s Number One in mining,” Hudak said. “By last year we had slipped to twenty-third, thanks to years of high taxes and electricity costs and over-regulation – and a government that seems to think mining is a dirty ‘sunset industry’. That’s wrong. This is a once-in-a-century opportunity for Ontario – but only if the Premier takes the lead in selling it.”
 
Yet, Hudak said, this isn’t just the North – it’s about all of Ontario: “The economic activity generated by projects like these has ripple effects across a variety of sectors, from manufacturing and high tech to financial services, where the TSX is the world’s largest mining exchange. That’s why the Ontario PC Party won’t apologize for its historic enthusiasm for this industry.”
 
Hudak was accompanied to the Noront Resources Ltd. site by PC Northern Development and Mines Critic Norm Miller, Energy Critic Vic Fedeli and Natural Resources Critic Laurie Scott.
 
“This government has paid only lip-service to the Ring of Fire,” Miller said. “The PC Caucus is not content simply to manage our decline – or to speed it up as the Premier is doing, with more business taxes, higher energy costs, and arbitrary limits on Northern development. The Premier’s dismissive talk of ‘pulling stuff out of the ground’ sends the wrong signal to businesses and investors who can ignite the Ring of Fire, leading to decades of job creation.”
 
Key to that will be affordable energy, Fedeli noted. “But the huge spike in energy costs under this government is driving processing out of Ontario – not drawing it in.” Scott added that resource development has always been one of our strengths for creating jobs: “But it has to begin by seizing on advantages and opportunities that are right under our noses.”
 
Developing the Ring of Fire is a priority because of the competitive advantages Ontario would enjoy in the global chromite and base metals market, Hudak added. “We are a far more secure source of supply than Africa and Central Asia, where most chromite comes from now.
 
“So we will champion the Ring of Fire as part of our call for action to seize on this dormant competitive advantage and create jobs. It’s time to break a new frontier – and swing our doors wide open to the world again.”

Ontario PC Caucus Ideas – Backgrounder

THE “RING OF FIRE” WILL GROW ONTARIO’S ECONOMY AND CREATE JOBS

· Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire and its untapped mineral deposits have the potential to turn the province into an economic leader once again – creating thousands of jobs at a time when close to 600,000 men and women are out of work.

o To determine how sound economic policies can encourage investors to develop the area, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak and MPPs Norm Miller, Laurie Scott, and Vic Fedeli met with Noront mining executives yesterday at the Ring of Fire’s Esker Camp.

o They also toured the area’s core sample collection site, geologist lab, waste water treatment plant and worker accommodations.

· Located in the James Bay Lowlands, the Ring of Fire contains one of the most promising mineral development opportunities in recent history. In addition to nickel, iron ore and copper, the area is home to possibly the largest chromite deposit in North America.

· As chromite is used in making stainless steel, the deposit could make Ontario a key player in the global steel industry – opening the province up to markets across the continent, as well as India and China, where stainless steel is needed for everything from skyscrapers to kitchen appliances.

· Moreover, the mineral deposits – if fully developed – could return the province to its former leading status in mining. In 2001, Ontario was ranked first in the world. Today, Ontario has fallen to 23rd place. Within Canada, Ontario is currently in eighth place when it comes to mining – despite being home to vast mineral resources.

· Compared to places such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kazakhstan and Russia, there are many advantages for businesses to invest in Ontario’s mining industry: the province is strategically located on the continent, has a modern, developed economy and is politically stable and reliable.

· However, the right economic fundamentals must be in place first before Ontario can take advantage of the Ring of Fire’s untapped potential.

Returning to the economic fundamentals will attract investors to the Ring of Fire

· To attract investors, the current government must change its stance on increasing regulations on resource development, higher taxes and unaffordable energy policies.

o To date, the Far North Act has hampered exploration and development efforts by making approximately 40 per cent of the province – 225,000 square kilometres from north of Timmins and Thunder Bay – permanently out of bounds for companies.

o Meanwhile, industries and developers wanting to invest in the province face “uncertainty and confusion” due to overlapping policies by different levels of government, as noted by the Drummond report. For example, the mining industry faces conflicting legislation that regulates where and how it can conduct explorations.

o Taxes on businesses also deter investments in Ontario. In addition to scrapping the legislated business tax reduction in the latest budget, the government wants to review the mining tax on investors’ profits, with the possibility of raising it.

o Ontario’s energy rates are another deterrent to investors. Currently, the province has the highest industrial energy rates in Canada and key U.S. markets.

· Moreover, to even make it possible to do business in the Ring of Fire, the government must develop partnerships to build infrastructure – such as energy lines and roads – that a strong mining industry requires.

Tim Hudak and the Ontario PCs would kick-start the economy and create jobs by:

  •  Balancing the budget by reducing the size and cost of government, encouraging businesses to expand and hire;
  •  Lowering business taxes to create a competitive business environment;
  •  Treating affordable energy as a cornerstone of economic growth;
  •  Permanently reducing Ontario’s 386,251 pieces of regulation by at least a third, and working with the federal government to  harmonize the environmental assessment processes that slow down important projects;
  •  Repealing the Far North Act, which bans any kind of development in 50 per cent of Northern Ontario north of the 51st parallel; and
  •  Modernizing the apprenticeship system to create 200,000 new skilled trades jobs