The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.
THUNDER BAY, Ont. — Ontario’s Liberal Party has recommitted to spending $1-billion to build a highway to the province’s remote, northern Ring of Fire region, regardless of federal government spending.
The funding was the only deviation from the 2014 budget — which marked the Ring of Fire project as contingent on matched federal funding — in the Liberal platform released by party leader Kathleen Wynne in Thunder Bay on Sunday.
“We are making it a priority for my government,” Ms. Wynne said to cheers from the local crowd. “We will commit $1-billion with or without the federal government involvement.”
The funding, which would start paving roads to spur industry in the area that contains large mineral deposits, was announced earlier this year. When the 2014 budget was released, the Liberal party made the project contingent on matched funding from the federal government. But Ms. Wynne said Prime Minister Stephen Harper has shown little interest in contributing, so her party has re-committed to getting the ball rolling on their own. They pledged to have a development corporation established within 60 days of being re-elected, including First Nations, local communities, private partners, the province and perhaps the federal government.
The rededication to the project, along with the decision to release the platform in Thunder Bay underscores the party’s efforts to win votes in Ontario’s northern reaches where the NDP holds the bulk of their seats.
Ms. Wynne will also be participating in a debate on northern issues with NDP Leader Andrea Horwath in Thunder Bay on Monday, an event her party skipped in 2011.Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak has opted not to attend this time around.
“I wasn’t the premier in 2011,” Ms. Wynne said when asked why the shift to focus on the north. “I’m telling you that it would never occur to me not to take part in the northern debate.”
The platform was based on the same spending and revenue calculations as the budget, which was voted down by the NDP earlier this month, prompting the election. On Sunday, Ms. Wynne elaborated on some of the specific projects and programs that would benefit from the funding outlined in the budget.
The Liberals detailed their prioritized list of transit and infrastructure in the province. The budget earmarked $15-billion for transit projects in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area and $14-billion for project in the rest of the province. For the former allotment, the Liberals pledged to prioritize all-day, two-way GO service, expand the GO lines to Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph, and develop the Brampton Queen Street Rapid Transit line.
In the rest of the province, the Liberal Party introduced a plan to expand the Ottawa LRT, extend the Kitchener-Waterloo LRT to Cambridge and spread GO service throughout the province from Brantford to Niagara to Dufferin County.
There were also specific commitments made in health care — including capping hospital parking fees — and education, such as updating the careers curriculum for Grade 10 students to be more hands-on.
For the rest of this article, click here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ontario-liberals-promise-1-billion-for-ring-of-fire/article18835742/#dashboard/follows/