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Northern Ontario Politics

A debate in, for the North – Editorial (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – May 21, 2014)

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

Two weeks after it was issued, and with one week left before the event, there is still no word whether Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak will accept an invitation to attend a May 26 debate on Northern Ontario issues. Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath have accepted the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association invitation to Thunder Bay May 26. On Tuesday, Hudak’s campaign office called it “unfortunate” that Wynne, Horwath “or anybody else” would publicly confirm a date before confirming it with the Tories who are seeking alternate dates to accommodate Hudak’s schedule.

Changing the date now would simply cause the other two leaders to have to juggle their schedules. NOMA says it offered a selection of dates and when nobody responded by May 7, it set May 26. That’s the date that Hudak has to make.
Last election it was then Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty who opted to forego a northern leaders debate.

This time, Wynne challenged her two opponents to a northern debate in advance of her May 1 budget in case it was defeated. Horwath accepted while Hudak demurred. We find it surprising that Hudak can apparently not make himself available next Monday. What is so important that he can’t be here?

There is no shortage of things to talk about. What does Wynne have to say about all reasons for the delay in Ring of Fire mining development and precisely what will all leaders do to hasten the project from the day they take office?

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PCs respond [Ontario election] – by Leith Dunick (tbnewswatch.com – May 21, 2014)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

THUNDER BAY — The Ontario Progressive Conservative party says it’s unfortunate organizers of the Northern Ontario leaders’ debate chose a date that worked for some parties, but not all.

In an unsigned release issued on Wednesday, party officials said they wanted leader Tim Hudak to participate, but the May 26 date OK’d by organizers conflicted with other campaign stops that couldn’t be altered.

“Given the important issues that face the North, it was our hope that there would have been an equal opportunity for all parties to communicate their plans for the North. We were led to believe there was a desire to have that comprehensive discussion,” the release states.

Both Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath accepted the May 26 invitation over the Victoria Day weekend. Hudak was a vocal critic in 2011 when then premier Dalton McGuinty was a no-show at the inaugural Northern leaders’ debate.

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Hudak declines [Ontario election] debate – by Leith Dunick (tbnewswatch.com – May 20, 2014)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

THUNDER BAY – The Northern Ontario leaders’ debate will go ahead on May 26 without Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.

Hudak, who publicly chastised former premier Dalton McGuinty for a no-show at the same debate in 2011, informed debate organizers his campaign schedule won’t allow him to attend the one-hour event.

Both Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath accepted the invitation on the weekend. Iain Angus of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association said Tuesday organizers were hoping Hudak could find the time to take part in the debate, a lunch-hour affair at the Valhalla Inn.

Angus said prior to Hudak’s answer that he couldn’t understand why the Conservative leader couldn’t free up the time.

“The information we have is that (Hudak) has some schedules that have been locked down, which quite frankly surprises me, ” Angus said. “Given my long involvement in the political process, I know that most campaigns do not lock in more than a couple of days in advance.

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Clement says Wynne’s Ring of Fire letter shows election desperation – by Jessica Hume (Toronto Sun – May 20, 2014)

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/home.html

OTTAWA – Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s criticism of the feds’ contribution to developing northern Ontario’s mineral-rich Ring of Fire shows she’s become a “desperate” campaigner, Treasury Board President Tony Clement says.
She recently called for more cash for the project.

On Tuesday, Clement called Wynne’s letter “political positioning in the middle of an election.” “We’ve seen desperation in the campaign of Kathleen Wynne in the last few days and this is just another example of that,” he said.

The funding issue has caused tensions over the development of this vast territory, about 535 km north of Thunder Bay, Ont.

The minerals are worth billions, but before any mining can begin, plenty of infrastructure needs to be built. No roads connect the Ring of Fire to the rest of the province. Wynne says $2 billion is needed to build enough infrastructure to begin any work.

In her own recently announced budget, Wynne allocated $1 billion for Ring of Fire infrastructure in the hopes of inspiring other levels of government and the private sector to ante up.

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Northern Policy Institute talks Ring of Fire infrastructure (CBC News Thunder Bay – May 20, 2014)

http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/ The fledgling Northern Policy Institute [NPI] will soon release research on the Ring of Fire that deals with issues such as road access versus rail access to the mining region. The think-tank was established to do independent studies on big issues affecting northern Ontario. “I’ve had opportunity … to hear [Matawa First Nations negotiator] Bob …

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Kathleen Wynne gets good value in her fight with Stephen Harper: Editorial (Toronto Star – May 9, 2014)

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

“… the $11 billion that Ontario sends to Ottawa each year and doesn’t
get back in federal transfer payments, and his government’s lack of investment
in northern Ontario’s massive resource opportunity, the Ring of Fire….
To be fair, Wynne’s promise to invest $1 billion in the Ring of Fire
relies on matching funds from the feds, so it’s essentially meaningless.”

Liberal Kathleen Wynne says she’s the only Ontario leader who will fight the stingy federal government on behalf of Ontario. Who is Kathleen Wynne campaigning against, anyway?

The premier and Liberal leader has spent the past few days attacking Prime Minister Stephen Harper with such glee that you’d think he was her chief competitor in the provincial election.

The best part, for Wynne, is Harper’s response. Instead of ignoring her, as the nation’s leader should do with a pesky provincial politician, Harper and his staff keep firing back, which only fuels awareness of the big Liberal ideas that the federal Conservatives oppose.

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PoV: Liberal promises like disappearing ink – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – May 3, 2014)

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

Want proof that the money the Liberals have offered in the budget, especially in the North, is just fleeting words?

It’s buried in the budget document released Thursday. It’s not in the speech, but it is mentioned in the budget document itself.

It’s the reference to the $1 billion the province “committed” to infrastructure to develop the giant Ring of Fire chromite and metals deposit in the James Bay lowlands.

“Committing up to $1 billion towards infrastructure development for the ring of fire contingent on matching investment by the federal government,” the budget document reads.

That word — contingent — was nowhere to be found in Monday’s original announcement. Three cabinet ministers got together in Thunder Bay and, led by Northern and Development Minister Michael Gravelle, announced $1 billion to develop the Ring of Fire. Granted, Gravelle spent much of the press conference beseeching the federal government for money, but the impression from the presentation was that the $1 billion was there, hard cash, ready to go when the actual nature of the infrastructure – east-west route, rail or road — was ready to go.

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North a battleground in pending election – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – May 1, 2014)

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

Premier Kathleen Wynne is trying to put Northern Ontario back in play for the Liberals. It will be a bumpy road – there are a lot of potholes on northern roads, both literally and figuratively.

The Liberals hold only four of the 11 seats in the North, dropping three in the 2011 election and barely holding on to Sudbury and Thunder Bay Atikokan. Three of their four MPPs in the North are cabinet ministers. The NDP, which holds five seats in the region, is putting on a heavy push. Leader Andrea Horwath is a regular presence, touring the region often and showing up at candidate nomination meetings.

The Progressive Conservatives’ have two northern MPPs, finance critic Vic Fedeli in Nipissing and Norm Miller in Parry Sound-Muskoka. Neither appears to be in any danger.

The rest of the North is becoming a battleground between the NDP and the Liberals, and unlike Dalton McGuinty – who refused to show up to a debate on Northern issues in Thunder Bay in 2011 – Wynne has realized the party must have a significant presence in the region if she is to have any shot at a majority government.

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Challenge is on [Northern Ontario issues] (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – April 28, 2014)

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

THERE was no way Kathleen Wynne was going to let herself get put into a situation of having to respond to a challenge to debate other party leaders in Northern Ontario. Dalton McGuinty did that and came off looking bad when he refused an invitation that Tory Tim Hudak and New Democrat Andrea Horwath accepted. They spent much of their time in a 2011 face-off in Thunder Bay hammering the then-premier for being a no-show. Northerners do not take kindly to snubs — real or perceived — from politicians from southern Ontario.

With more and more people sensing an election when Wynne’s government presents a budget May 1, the premier has been in full campaign mode. At least once a week for some time now her government has issued policy proposals across the political spectrum.

Hudak and Horwath insist these are not good ideas though neither of them has yet come up with a firm policy framework of any kind. Wynne spoke to an audience of over 200 Northern mayors, councillors, and business leaders at the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association’s annual conference in Fort Frances late last week and ended with a bang.

If the other parties force an election by voting down the budget, Wynne proposes they come north and debate Northern issues in the campaign that follows.

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Statement by NDP Northern Development and Mines Critic on Ring of Fire announcement: Michael Mantha

April 28, 2014

THUNDER BAY – NDP Northern Development and Mines Critic Michael Mantha, MPP for Algoma-Manitoulin, released the following statement in response to today’s announcement about the Ring of Fire.

“An economic opportunity the size of the Ring of Fire requires strong action and planning from government, not inaction and broken promises. Northerners have seen Liberals make grand announcements before and then seen those same plans fall through.

“The Liberal government has had over five years to come to the table, with not only funding for infrastructure, but a real plan for the Ring of Fire that benefits First Nations and Northern communities, creates jobs, and tackles infrastructure and the high price of electricity. But instead of a plan that could create an estimated 5,500 jobs annually, this government stood by as companies walked away from Ontario.

“More money for infrastructure in the Ring of Fire sure sounds like a good step forward but Northerners are tired of broken promises, and are worried this investment is coming too late.”

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NEWS RELEASE: LATEST LIBERAL PROMISE RINGS HOLLOW – Vic Fedeli

April 28, 2014

QUEEN’S PARK – Today’s pledge from the Wynne Liberals to invest in Ring of Fire infrastructure simply isn’t credible, Ontario PC Finance Critic and Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli said today.

“The government has embarked over the past month on making 39 pre-election vote-buying announcements that would add at least $5.7 billion in new spending to an already ballooning debt and deficit,” Fedeli said.

“After six years of doing nothing to advance the Ring of Fire opportunity for Northerners, they’re now promising the moon without having put forward a concrete plan for developing the Ring of Fire,” stated Fedeli.

“It’s simply not believable.” Fedeli added that there is no timeline for development and no firm indication on the orientation of the transportation link.

“Again, there’s no mention of the ONTC in the Liberal announcement today. It’s very troubling especially when the Finance Minister recently told London that city’s rail expertise will be useful in the Ring of Fire.”

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Up to $1B could go toward Ring – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 28, 2014)

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

An industry insider, who did not wish to be identified, said he wouldn’t be paying
attention to Monday’s announcement because the amount of money pledged by the Liberals
– three days before it delivers a spring budget that could trigger an election –
is irrelevant.

Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha travelled to Thunder Bay for a Monday morning news conference at the Ring of Fire Secretariat to find out if what his Queen’s Park sources were telling him was true.

That Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle was to announce a provincial investment of up to $1 billion to develop infrastructure for the Ring of Fire, but only if the federal government matches it.

Mantha, the New Democrats’ mining critic, said figures ranging from $770 million to $1 billion were being bandied about as the amount the province was going to announce last week and, if they’re accurate, it’s good news.

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[Ontario] Tories would pursue ‘quick win’ to kick start Ring of Fire: Fedeli – by Darren MacDonald (Sudbury Northern Life – April 24, 2014)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Says work on east-west road could begin in the fall

A Progressive Conservative government would back an industry plan that could see work begin on an east-west road into the Ring of Fire as early as this fall, Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli said Thursday.

“We believe there’s a quick win here, and that’s the Noront Resources solution,” Fedeli said during a visit to Greater Sudbury.

Noront is working to develop its Eagle Nest and Blackbird deposits, a mix of nickel, copper, platinum and palladium, as well as its chromite deposit in the remote site in northwestern Ontario. It proposes building a permanent road from the Webequie First Nation through Pickle Lake to Saugeen, connecting it to existing road and rail infrastructure.

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Ontera – The Liberal Anchor – by Phil Koning (Northern Ontario – Political Issues Blog – April 13, 2014)

http://northernontariopoliticalissues.blogspot.ca/

After two more years of turmoil at the hands of the Liberal government, ONTC has suffered another debilitating attack, by a party eager to appease the corporate world. The Liberal party is trying to convince the corporate world they have the ability and discipline to govern after their unbelievable indifference to the cost of gas plant relocation’s and subsequent coverup. The fact that Ontera is being gifted to Bell as the result of a process defined by the problems the passenger and freight rail divisions have endured over the past two decades defies any logic or grasp of good government policy.

Although we do not know the details of the proposed firesale, and likely never will, it is hard to believe that Bell will even maintain service levels in the marginal areas that Ontera has provided service, let along protect price levels with a clear monopoly in the North.

So, with the absence of any reason that makes sense in providing good government we are left to speculate why the Liberals have headed down another road to self destruction.

The creation of the new Development corporation could be a clue. Why the Ring of Fire needs a completely new corporation with all the cost that goes along with that, to develop the infrastructure for the mining industry is a secret known only to the Liberal strategists.

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Ontera vital to growth in Northeastern Ontario – by Wayne Snider (Timmins Daily Press – April 8, 2014)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – The ONTC saga came to a head late last week in the form of an announcement by Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle.

Gravelle said the provincial government would be selling off Ontera and keeping four other divisions of the Crown agency.

Thus ends the two-year debate on divesting the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, which was introduced in the provincial spring budget of 2012 — and supported by both the Liberals and NDP.

At the time, the plan was to shut down the Northlander passenger rail service and sell off the remaining pieces of the ONTC.

In reaction to the following outcry by Northerners, Gravelle — to his credit — formed an advisory committee with stakeholders to look at completing the rest of the plan. Gravelle later said that privatization wasn’t the only possible solution for dealing with all of the ONTC’s assets.

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