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Northern Ontario Politics

Liberals hedge on Ring of Fire promise – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – July 16, 2014)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Significant work is being done to establish a Ring of Fire development corporation and keep a campaign promise that it be done within 60 days of a Liberal government being elected.

But it’s not clear when the clock began ticking on that 60-day guarantee, says Michael Gravelle, who was reappointed Northern Development and Mines minister by Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Nor is it clear what exactly is meant by “establishing” the development corporation. Gravelle doesn’t know if the 60 days started when he was sworn in June 24 or when his government delivered its Throne Speech on July 3.

And he and his staff are working to determine what exactly will be in put place during the 60-day commitment.

“We are not there yet in terms of determining exactly what form it will take other than that we are grateful to have the opportunity to move this project forward and to have this kind of a timeline in place,” said Gravelle in a telephone interview Tuesday from Queen’s Park.

What matters is that he and ministry staff are working hard to set up the development corporation, conscious of the fact people are eager to hear how it will operate.

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A model for First Nations relations – by David Zimmer (National Post – July 9, 2014)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

David Zimmer is the Ontario Liberal Minister of Aboriginal Affairs.

The Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision in the Tsilhqot’in Nation case arising out of British Columbia will inform the way business is conducted across Canada. Here in Ontario, I believe the ruling is consistent with the progress our government has been making in the area of aboriginal consultation and resolving land claims for many years — an approach that has created a province well-prepared for sustainable development benefitting aboriginal people, industry and all Ontarians.

The Tsilhqot’in Nation decision builds on earlier decisions of the Supreme Court, including the Delgamuukw, Haida and Mikisew cases, that have given meaning to the constitutional protection of aboriginal and treaty rights and established principles that guide governments in their relationships with aboriginal communities. Consistent with the spirit of these decisions, Ontario launched the New Relationship Fund in 2008.

The Fund has so far helped almost 200 First Nations and Métis communities and organizations engage in consultations with governments and industry on resource-based economic development activities. And the principles underlying the decisions are the same as those that led the province to modernize the Mining Act in 2009, creating the first legislation in Ontario that embeds consultation principles related to established or asserted treaty and aboriginal rights.

It’s also in the spirit of these earlier rulings that, this year, the government signed a historic regional framework agreement with the nine Matawa member First Nations for negotiations on sustainably developing the Ring of Fire.

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[Ontario’s] North has voices at Wynne’s table – Editorial (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – June 24, 2014)

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

If three key Northern Liberal ministers end up back in the Ontario cabinet today, as anticipated, it will be another one of those political ironies that, this time at least, worked in this region’s favour.

Some may recall that Northern Liberal stalwart MPPs Michael Gravelle, Bill Mauro and David Orazietti did not back Kathleen Wynne’s bid for party leader. Despite their support for Liberal warrior Sandra Pupatello, all three were eventually appointed to cabinet after Wynne became the province’s first woman premier.

Wynne’s decision in 2013 to put Gravelle back into Northern Development and Mines and give Orazietti, of Sault Ste. Marie, his first cabinet post at Natural Resources were in keeping with a political strategy to keep key parts of the North in Liberal hands.

This strategy became more apparent when, on the eve of this spring’s election, Mauro was promoted to cabinet to oversee a fairly tricky ministry — Municipal Affairs and Housing.

On the face of it, the appointments seem fairly obvious, especially when one considers how much time Wynne spent in Northern Ontario charming local mayors, as both premier and, before that, in various minister roles that included transportation, municipal affairs and housing, and aboriginal affairs.

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Ontario, Ottawa have to make up [Ring of Fire] – Editorial (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal (June 16, 2014)

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

AN uncomfortable truth emerged from National Affairs columnist Tim Harper’s take on Ontario’s election results. In his Saturday column, Harper notes the majority Liberal election victory gives Prime Minister Stephen Harper a ready-made enemy in next year’s federal election.

Besides a set of proposals, it always helps to have a party to criticize and Harper and his cabinet have been using Ontario as a piñata for several years. The late federal finance minister, Jim Flaherty, went so far as to advise against investing in Ontario until its budget was addressed in the way he thought necessary. There was some truth to the observation but making it publicly, warning would-be investors around the world to steer clear of a Canadian province, crossed a line that had never been approached before.

If Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives had won last week’s Ontario election, Harper would have to look elsewhere for a whipping boy. But now that Kathleen Wynne is back with a majority — whipping Hudak’s backside in the process — Harper may be all the more anxious to sound off about her plans for Ontario’s future, plans which include more spending and fewer corporate tax breaks than the PM would like.

This brings us to Northwestern Ontario where the two levels of government have been dancing around the mighty Ring of Fire mining development that sits awaiting the bell Ontario has not yet rung.

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Ring of Fire bigger than an election issue: Thomas – by Richard Gilbert (Daily Commercial News – June 11, 2014)

http://dcnonl.com/

A construction leader in northern Ontario says the Ring of Fire is too important to be reduced to a point on a political party’s platform.

“The Ring of Fire is not an election issue, because it is a far bigger endeavour than is warranted by an election platform,” said Rick Thomas, manager of the Sault Ste Marie Construction Association. “Whatever government is in power will generate a lot of money from this project.”

Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne launched her re-election platform on May 25 in Thunder Bay, which includes investing $1 billion for the construction of a road to the Ring of Fire region in northern Ontario.

During an election debate in Thunder Bay on May 25, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said her party would also contribute $1 billion for Ring of Fire infrastructure development.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak did not participate in the debate, but his party’s platform includes the repeal of the Far North Act, which involves the development of the Ring of Fire.

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Thunder Bay candidates talk Ring of Fire, spending at Chamber forum (CBC News – June 06, 2014)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada

Mining and money were hot topics at an election debate forum presented by the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce Thursday night.

Candidates from the two ridings that cover Thunder Bay spoke in front of about 50 people — many of whom were family and friends of the candidates. The candidates made their pitches on how their parties would improve northwestern Ontario’s economy.

Thunder Bay-Superior North PC candidate Derek Parks said that, when it comes to the Ring of Fire mining project, the government should help business, and stay out of discussions between remote communities and mining companies.

“The Ring of Fire, I would suggest has been hijacked by special interest groups through a few First Nation bands,” he said.

“Government interventions in this negotiation have brought it to a halt.” The Liberals and NDP say they would each invest heavily in the Ring of Fire. The other major topic — government spending — put Thunder Bay-Atikokan Liberal candidate Bill Mauro on the defence.

“Would you have not done the conversion of the coal plants or the four-laning of the highways or the angioplasty program or the 1,200 jobs at Bombarider? Which of those would you have chosen not to do?”

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Liberals developing Ring of Fire at the pace of ‘a sleepy turtle’ – by Darren MacDonald (Sudbury Northern Life – June 05, 2014)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

The Liberals are developing the Ring of Fire at the pace of “a sleepy turtle,” the audience at the all-candidates debate for Nickel Belt were told Thursday night.

While the barb was from NDP incumbent France Gélinas, it was a metaphor embraced by Liberal candidate James Tregonning, who argued better a slow pace than to make major mistakes.

Thursday’s debate was sponsored by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce and held at Confederation Secondary School in Val Caron. It featured Marck Blay of Progressive Conservatives, Heather Dahlstrom of the Green Party, as well as Gélinas and Tregonning.

With the election a week away, it was one of the last opportunities for candidates to make their pitch for support. But it was also the last in a debate-heavy week, and many familiar themes were discussed. As has been the case in debates in Sudbury and Nickel Belt, the Ring of Fire was discussed early and often.

Gélinas said many people, even in Northern Ontario, don’t understand the magnitude of the chromite and other mineral discoveries in the remote northwestern Ontario site.

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A voice in the wilderness barks again for the Northern Ontario Heritage Party – by Roy Macgregor (May 29, 2014)

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.

NORTH BAY, ONT. — ‘Just give me a minute to put my teeth in!”

It has been a wild week for 82-year-old Ed Deibel of the Northern Ontario Heritage Party. The clock on the wall behind the double-screen computer on which he hammers out his missives on how the North gets shortchanged has ticked past 2 p.m., the deadline for registering as a candidate for the June 12 provincial election, and he is getting a bit jittery waiting for the confirmation from Elections Ontario that eventually does come.

Teeth in, the man known for decades more for his bark than his bite is ready to go. “On Monday I wasn’t a leader, I wasn’t a candidate, the party was going to be de-registered,” he says. “Now I’m a candidate … and I guess I’m the leader.”

There were only two registered candidates on the NOHP ticket, but then a group of disenchanted northerners in the riding of Thunder Bay-Atikokan rounded up 25 signatures, enough to get a name on the ballot, and they asked if the old leader of the often-dormant party would let his name stand.

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Wynne ties her government’s success to developing Ring of Fire -by Darren MacDonald (Sudbury Northern Life – May 27, 2014)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Premier makes first visit to Sudbury since June 12 election call

In Sudbury on Tuesday, Premier Kathleen Wynne tied the success of her government to the successful development of the Ring of Fire.

Speaking at Northern Centre for Advanced Technology, Wynne was flanked by Sudbury candidate Andrew Olivier, Nickel Belt candidate James Tregonning, Timiskaming-Cochrane candidate Sébastien Goyer, as well as outgoing MPP Rick Bartolucci.

After touring the centre, Wynne fielded questions from a throng of local and provincial media. She compared the Ring of Fire to the Alberta Oilsands, a development which has received significant support from the federal government. Ontario is hoping for similar help, Wynne said, which would repair the province’s relationship with the feds.

“That would be absolutely grounds for a positive relationship with the federal government,” she said. “We’ve put a billion dollars on the table (and) we would love to have a federal partner.” But the province is committed to spending $1 billion for the Ring of Fire infrastructure, regardless of what Ottawa does, she added.

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Developing ‘Ring’ a priority, Wynne says in Sudbury – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – May 28, 2014)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Should she be elected, Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne won’t consider her premiership a success unless her government achieves significant progress in developing the Ring of Fire.

That’s how important developing the rich chromite deposits in the area 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay is to her party, Wynne told reporters during a campaign swing through Sudbury on Tuesday afternoon.

Wynne’s government promised $1 billion in its failed May budget for infrastructure for the Ring of Fire and has included that figure in is election platform. And it’s promising to establish the development corporation to decide upon that infrastructure within 60 days of forming a government.

That’s despite the fact her Liberal government announced the creation of the development corporation last November and in February appointed consulting firm Deloitte LLP to help set up the corporation.

When asked why no progress was made during her term in government to get the “devco” operating, Wynne pointed to progress made regarding the Ring of Fire in recent months.

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Wynne, Horwath mum on ONTC development in Ring of Fire (CBC News Sudbury – May 27, 2014)

http://www.cbc.ca/sudbury/

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.

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Horwath, Wynne vow $1B for Ring of Fire during feisty debate (CBC News Thunder Bay – May 26, 2014)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada

Tough-talking NDP leader says people fed up with Liberal ‘betrayal and lies’

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath came out swinging at Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne during Monday’s election debate in Thunder Bay — calling the Liberal government corrupt — before the pair addressed the economic needs of northern communities.

Horwath’s sharp tone came in her opening statement of the debate on northern issues, a one-on-one with Wynne in the absence of Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak, who said a scheduling conflict kept him from taking part.

Wynne stayed focus on questions about northern communities, asked by local mayors, on what can be done about high energy costs, how to provide skilled workers for the mining sector, how First Nations can reap economic benefits from mining, and how long will it take to have infrastructure in place to mine the massive Ring of Fire region.

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Hudak plan could hit Sudbury hard: Analysis – by Ben Leeson (Sudbury Star – May 23, 2014)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Economists and union officials say Greater Sudbury will be particularly hard hit if Tim Hudak follows through on his pledge to cut 100,000 public-sector jobs in the province.

David Robinson, a professor of economics at Laurentian University, said based on population, he can see at least 1,000 local jobs being eliminated if the Progressive Conservatives take power in the June 12 provincial election.

Officials for the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union (OPSEU) predicted even bigger cuts for the Nickel City, due to its disproportionately high number of civil service jobs here, pegging losses at more than 1,600, along with more than 1,100 lost in the private sector as spin-off

But Sudbury PC candidate Paula Peroni said while her party is still working on its own numbers, she expects local public-sector losses to be much lower, and for private-sector jobs to be created by other elements of Hudak’s platform.

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Candidates sound off on combining Northern Development with Natural Resources – by Leith Dunick (tbnewswatch.com – May 22, 2014)

 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

THUNDER BAY — Michael Gravelle does not want to see the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines rolled into the Ministry of Natural Resources.

But that’s precisely what will happen if the Progressive Conservatives under Tim Hudak are elected to office on June 12, the Liberal candidate in Thunder Bay-Superior North warned.

Gravelle, who held the Northern Development and Mines portfolio before the writ was dropped, said it shows the PCs don’t understand the importance of a standalone ministry for Northern Ontario.

It also shows a failure to understand the complexities of the MNR, he added. “For the Conservatives to talk about putting those two ministries together, that is not about making a stronger representation of Northern Ontario,” Gravelle said. “It’s about reducing the effectiveness of our cabinet presence.”

The MNR has province-wide responsibilities and the North cannot afford to have its voice reduced or diluted, he went on to say.

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