PC platform has no specific plans for ONTC or Ring of Fire
Premier Kathleen Wynne and Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath made similar promises at the northern debate Monday about investing $1 billion into the Ring of Fire, but neither commented as to whether development plans would include Ontario Northland.
Junior miner KWG Resources is calling on all party candidates to support a plan to turn the ONTC into a development corporation responsible for accessing the remote region, saying that would then allow it to build everything from road and rail infrastructure—and even an airport.
However, Jean-Charles Cachon, a business professor at Laurentian University, said ONTC’s existing rail assets are vital and that KWG’s property sits on a key spot for rail tracks.
“They are trying to have it developed into a railway and they do not have the money to do so.” Chachon said. “So they are either looking for a large company to be a partner and,or the government of Ontario through some sort of agency such as ONTC.” Cachon said that using the ONTC to develop the Ring of Fire could work, but it would hinge on funding from the private sector.
“You can’t really imagine, in the fiscal situation at the moment, that government of Ontario would invest two, three, four billion dollars into that project.” he said.
The union that represents workers at ONTC said it was pleased a junior miner, KWG, was pushing for ONTC to be involved in developing the Ring of Fire.
Tim Hudak did not attend the northern debate in Thunder Bay, but the Progressive Conservative platform does not lay out any specific plans for the Ring of Fire or the ONTC.
For the original version of this article, click here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/wynne-horwath-mum-on-ontc-development-in-ring-of-fire-1.2655567