OMA report gains broader exposure at economic conference

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

The recently released Ontario Mining Association economic contribution study “Mining: Dynamic and Dependable for Ontario’s Future” was highlighted at an academic forecasting conference yesterday. The study was a component of the program at the University of Toronto’s Policy and Economic Analysis Program’s (PEAP) bi-annual conference.

The main part of the PEAP conferences involves model construction and explanation for predicting future growth and growth rates in the Canadian economy and where that growth will be derived. Members of PEAP are predominantly economists involved in forecasting, planning and marketing for both private sector and public sector organizations.

In attendance yesterday were representatives from the financial services sector and other industries, the ministry of finance, economists from other industry associations and academia. PEAP works closely with government finance officials, banks and Statistics Canada in developing its projections. Domestic factors as well as global economic trends, which affect the Canadian economy, are examined by this group of specialists. Of particular interest were current social and economic trends in China, Europe and the United States.

“This type of conference and its audience provide greater and higher level exposure to the content of the OMA economic impact study ‘Mining: Dynamic and Dependable for Ontario’s Future,'” said OMA President Chris Hodgson.

“Mining plays a significant and positive role in the provincial and national economies and OMA members are pleased this report can be utilized to help increase that recognition.”

University of Toronto economists and PEAP executives Peter Dungan and Steve Murphy presented key findings from the OMA 81-page OMA study, which included 47 charts, 32 tables and four maps. They also presented the methodology used in the study as an example of how other sectors of the economy can be more closely examined to gauge their impact on the broader economy.

“The study demonstrates how important mining is to Ontario and it provides an illustration of how you can go about evaluating the impact of any industry on the economy,” said Mr. Dungan. He directed PEAP conference participants to the OMA website www.oma.on.ca where a full version of the economic impact study can be viewed and downloaded.

For the record, the prediction of the University of Toronto’s PEAP forecast for Canada’s economic growth in Canada for 2013 is 1.7% and for 2014 it is 2.8%. We know mining will be playing a big role in contributing to that growth in jobs and opportunities across the country in the years ahead.

December 14, 2012

The payroll for Ontario’s mining industry is about $1.7 billion annually.

This means that, even when very conservatively estimated, Ontario mining industry employees pay in excess of half a billion dollars in personal income tax per year.