The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.
TIMMINS – Ontario Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli visited the Northeast on Tuesday. He was fully charged over plans for hydro generating improvements. The Ottawa West – Nepean MPP was named to the cabinet in February when newly elected Premier Kathleen Wynne dismantled the array longstanding McGuinty Ministers.
Chiarelli visited both Cochrane and the Lower Mattagami Project in an effort to shed light on the good clean energy projects being developed throughout the Northeast.
“What we are seeing here is capacity building for Northern Ontario,” said Chiarelli, while overlooking the expansion of the Smoky Falls Generating station, roughly 80 kilometres north of Smooth Rock Falls.
“This is 450 megawatts of hydroelectricity generation, 1,500 jobs at maximum, a significant number of which will be made available to First Nations members who have been trained and apprenticing on this particular site.” The energy being generated from the site will be distributed throughout the province. “This energy will be traveling all of the way down south,” said Chiarelli.
“So not only are we supporting industry here in Northern Ontario, we will be supporting and ensuring expansion in the south as well, this is a tremendous project.”
The expansion throughout the Lower Mattagami Project area represents a $2.6-billion investment from the Ontario government.
“The provincial government is very proud of this investment and what it means for the North,” said Chiarelli.
“There is a partnership here with the Moose Cree Nation, they are partners in this project, they are helping to build this project with trained people from their community.”
For Chiarelli, this is a symbol of provincewide progress.
“This is an indicator of what is going on throughout the province,” he said.
“Whether it is renewable energy or hydroelectric projects, there are a tremendous number of partnerships with First Nations and the Government of Ontario has a number of loans, training and partnership programs specifically for the Aboriginal community.”
Chiarelli,was impressed with the scale of the Lower Mattagami Project.
For the rest of this article, click here: http://www.timminspress.com/2013/08/06/minister-gets-a-charge-from-hydro-project