Candidates have differing opinions on mining’s future in Sudbury – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – May 12, 2022)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Green candidate says new jobs will come from supply and services, and research, not mineral extraction

With the PC rep absent there was plenty the remaining mainstream Sudbury candidates could agree upon, although the three did clash from time to time — particularly on the question of how much mineral extraction drives the local economy.

Both Jamie West, the NDP incumbent, and David Farrow, running for the Liberals, took exception to Green candidate David Robinson’s assessment of how significant the city’s signature industry is to its future prosperity.

“It’s not the mining industry we have to support because we’re not going to do a lot more mining in Sudbury,” said Robinson, during a virtual candidates meeting hosted by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. “We have to focus on building up our mining supply and services sector, and the research sector.”

West agreed the latter areas are important but couldn’t let Robinson’s comment regarding mining itself go unchallenged. “Pretending mining is no longer important and is not going to affect the economy makes no sense,” he said. “The reality is that mining is important — for every mining job there are seven spinoff jobs. It’s not the main driver of the economy, but it’s very, very important.”

For the rest of this article:https://www.thesudburystar.com/news/local-news/candidates-have-differing-opinions-on-minings-future-in-sudbury