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Northern Ontario Politics

[North Bay Vic Fedeli’s]’Bombshell’ a dud – by Gord Young (North Bay Nugget – June 1, 2013)

http://www.nugget.ca/

The province has estimated divestment of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission could cost as much as $790 million.

And while Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli is suggesting the information is a smoking gun that shows the sell off can no longer proceed, the Liberals, New Democrats and ONTC unions are all accusing him of political rhetoric.

“He promised a bombshell and it’s a dud,” said Brian Kelly, a spokesman for the General Chairperson’s Association, representing unionized workers at the ONTC. Kelly said the it’s “old news” that there are huge costs tied to divestment – something ONTC unions have claimed from the outset.

“We have been saying that from Day 1,” said Kelly, suggesting Fedeli’s announcement Friday revealing the potential liabilities associated with divestment does nothing to fuel efforts to protect ONTC jobs and services.

He said the province appears to have already shifted its position, with Northern Development Minister Michael Gravelle announcing options other than divestment are now being considered.

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How Ontario’s Liberals can win back rural Ontario – by Michael Warren (Toronto Star – June 2, 2013)

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.

Wynne is starting to deliver on commitments to rural and northern voters.

There is a method in Premier Kathleen Wynne’s madness. Firing Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) chair Paul Godfrey. Forming a four-minister task force to review rules for renewable energy projects. Negotiating with the horse-racing industry.

All these seemingly unrelated actions have one purpose. Winning back rural Ontario. Most of the 18 Liberal seats lost to the opposition in the last provincial election were in rural Ontario. It was northern and rural voters who said no to a Liberal majority government.

Former premier Dalton McGuinty governed from his bunker at Queen’s Park. He saw the big issues of the day through a metropolitan prism. His government developed a big city “we know best” attitude that infuriated rural voters.

His rural MPPs and cabinet ministers told McGuinty about the deepening sense of Liberal abandonment in their ridings. But he wasn’t listening. Almost all of them went down to defeat as a result. This didn’t go unnoticed during February’s Liberal leadership race. Every candidate talked about the needs of the North and the hinterland.

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[Ontario] Green [Energy Act] isn’t all good – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal (June 2, 2013)

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

And those 50,000 jobs? McCarter concluded: “A majority of the jobs will be temporary.”
In other jurisdictions, there was actually an offsetting loss of jobs as a result of the
impact of higher renewable energy electricity prices on business, industry and consumers.

IF legislation is a work in progress, Ontario’s Green Energy Act is increasingly an exercise in futility. Launched in 2009 with great fanfare by then premier Dalton McGuinty, this head-first dive into responsible energy production was to place Ontario on the leading edge of a modern industry bursting with potential.

Ontario would attract wind and solar power developers with lucrative contracts. They would develop all kinds of clean power to replace that from Ontario’s cancelled coal plants, leading the way in Canada’s climate change efforts. Developers would agree to manufacture components in Ontario. There would be 50,000 new jobs by the end of 2012, McGuinty said, and untold economic benefits throughout the province.

Who could argue with that? A good many people, it turns out. The contracts were so rich, the terms had to be changed to appease a public angered at learning it was paying considerably more for power from free sun and wind than from costly conventional sources.

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Ontario conservation group fears endangered species taking back seat to industries – by Raveena Aulakh (Toronto Star – May 30, 2013)

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.

There will be serious repercussions to the habitats of endangered species if the province bends over backward to accommodate industries, warns an environmental NGO.

Wildlands League, a leading Ontario conservation agency, resigned from the Endangered Species Act Panel earlier this week and wrote to Premier Kathleen Wynne outlining its concerns.

“If the regulations your government is about to enact go forward as contemplated, we fear that the act will be neutered; species survival will be jeopardized,” Janet Sumner, executive director of the league, told Wynne in the resignation letter.

She also said the ministry of natural resources seemed to be offering too many exemptions. But Natural Resources Minister David Orazietti says that is “unequivocally untrue.” “We believe we have reached a very effective balance in the proposed regulatory changes that will continue to safeguard Ontario’s endangered species,” he said.

The ministry embarked on “modernization of approvals” under the Endangered Species Act in September 2012 and invited organizations to be part of a panel. The modernization includes streamlining the way the ministry issues permits and licenses.

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Wynne could get frostbite from North – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – May 30, 2013)

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

An HST increase to help pay for improvements to the Toronto-Hamilton transportation corridor could be lethal for Premier Kathleen Wynne outside of that region. Yet she’s seriously considering campaigning on the issue in the next election.

It is a curious gambit, one that could undo the efforts she’s making to win back support in rural Ontario. But as we saw in the last election, if the Liberals can ride their support in urban areas, they need only a little help in the outlands to give them a majority.

Municipalities outside of the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area (GTHA) have their financial problems, and some even have innovative solutions that require the province’s help, but rarely does the government abide. Toronto, however, is a different story.

A report by Metrolinx, the regional transit authority, says $2 billion more is needed annually to pay for transit improvements to alleviate congestion, hence its support for a one-percentage-point increase to the HST. Other revenue generating tools would be applicable only in the GTHA, but the HST hike would likely be levied province-wide.

On Wednesday, Sun Media columnist Christina Blizzard asked, “If you live in Timmins or Niagara Falls, how do you feel about that?”

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ONTC: Options for Ontera – by Maria Calabrese (North Bay Nugget – May 25, 2013)

http://www.nugget.ca/

NORTH BAY – The telecommunications arm of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission is back on the table for options other than divestment.

Local politicians are hoping that won’t matter as they anticipate an announcement from the province that could bode well for the future of the Crown agency put up for sale by the province 14 months ago.

“I believe this issue will be resolved very quickly this summer,” said Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli. “The Liberals will want this resolved before the auditor general comes out with his report. Once his report comes out, they’ll have to end the fire sale.”

Fedeli called in the auditor general to look into ONTC divestment which he said would cost $530 million in pension, benefits, workers’ compensation, severance and other liabilities based on ONTC financial statements, contradicting the government’s projected savings of $265 million.

Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle penned letters as recently as April 29 indicating the divestment process was still underway, and softened the government stance after those numbers were made public by suggesting there are options to divestment, Fedeli said.

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Still up in the air [Thunder Bay power plant] – by Leith Dunick (tbnewswatch.com – May 23, 2013)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

Premier Kathleen Wynne promised Northwestern Ontario will have the energy it needs.

What she didn’t say Thursday during a brief visit to Thunder Bay was how the province would accomplish the feat. Wynne waltzed deftly around several direct questions about the future of the Thunder Bay Power Generating Station, which supporters of its closure suggest will save the province $400 million.

“This is an ongoing discussion. This is not a dead issue by any stretch of the imagination. We’re still working with the community and the Ministry of Energy is very much engaged with this,” Wynne said.

“I stand by that commitment to make sure we have the generating capacity necessary.” Asked about a demand earlier this month by Mayor Keith Hobbs to either re-start the conversion of the plant to natural gas, a plan halted by former energy minister Chris Bentley, or apologize like she did to southern Ontarians over the gas-plant closure scandal, once again Wynne toed the party line.

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Wynne ready to face [Northwestern Ontario] challenges (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – May 24, 2013)

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

Ontario’s premier is happy she’s finally getting a chance to do her job. Kathleen Wynne was named premier earlier this year, and came into the job amidst a variety of crises, such as the gas plant controversy, the teacher standoff and a budget battle in which the Progressive Conservative party said it wouldn’t support the Liberal budget before any of its members even saw it.

But now, Wynne has worked out a deal with the provincial NDP that will see the NDP support the budget, avoiding an election and keeping the minority Liberal government in power.

“We’re pleased to be able to say that,” a smiling Wynne said at the Hoito on Thursday during her first-ever visit to Thunder Bay as premier. She’s been here before in her other Liberal roles; she was here, for example, a few days after last year’s flood in her role as minister of municipal affairs and housing.

“We’re in a minority parliament, so that sense of uncertainty doesn’t go away completely,” she said. “But that’s OK, because that keeps us sharp. “There’s a lot of work to do now. Yes, we have the support of the NDP to pass the budget, but that doesn’t mean that implementing the budget isn’t a huge priority. Once we get it through the legislature — we’ve got some work to do on that in the next few weeks — the implementation is really important to me.

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Industry, jobs and the environment (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial – May 23, 2013)

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

It goes without saying, but there has to be a balance between environmental protection and economic interests, particularly in Northern Ontario. The economies of Northern towns and sensitive ecosystems depend on it. However, that balance was called into question this week by Resolute Forest Products, which pulled out of negotiations on the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement over how much land to set aside for conservation.

While environmentalists accused Resolute of not living up to its promises to protect habitat for caribou, the company said “draconian” demands by environmental groups would have forced the closure of multiple mills and multiple projects in both Ontario and Quebec.

Two of those projects in Northwestern Ontario — the restart of the Ignace sawmill and a new sawmill project in Atikokan — would have been shelved, and a Fort Frances paper mill would have closed, the company said, if it agreed to environmentalists’ terms.

Resolute said it put forward proposals for more protected areas, including an additional 204,000 hectares of forest for conservation in Northern Ontario, but it wasn’t enough for environmentalists. Company spokesman Seth Kursman said that the company “was not about to negotiate people’s livelihoods away.”

“Many communities have already been hit by the forest industry crisis, (so) we could not unilaterally support such measures,” he said.

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The tax dilemma in Northern [Ontario] towns (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial – May 22, 2013)

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

A Northern town trying to shore up its assessment base by attracting new residents would be hard pressed to do so if potential newcomers knew they’d be facing sky-high taxes. Yet that’s the dilemma in Schreiber, where a lack of industry has left some homeowners paying $5,000 or more in residential taxes just so the town can keep the streets plowed and streetlights on.

One of the North’s oldest municipalities, Schreiber was once fairly prosperous, one of many single-industry towns on the Trans-Canada Highway.

But as its businessman mayor Don McArthur explains, for more than a decade the town has been slowly crumbling in the wake of a mine closure and the overall forestry collapse that felled many towns like it between Kenora and White River.
A situation that has left residents paying the price for a backlog of $3 million of unpaid and uncollectable commercial taxes has reached the point of no return, it seems.

If it isn’t addressed soon, says McArthur, the town will spend another 10 years lucky to tread water while its neighbours break free of the recession. In the short term, McArthur wants the province to cover half the cost of clearing the hefty backlog so the municipality can reduce the time required to break free of what the mayor bluntly terms “a financial sinkhole.”

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Hudak promises to ‘fire up’ North’s economy – by Carol Mulligan (May 23, 2013)

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

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak slammed what he called the identical twins of bigger government, higher taxes and deeper debt – the Liberal and New Democratic Party coalition – during a swing through Sudbury on Thursday.

Hudak repeatedly swiped at the NDP for propping up what he called the corrupt government of Premier Kathleen Wynne, charging it wasted millions of dollars when it cancelled two Toronto-area gas plants before October’s provincial election to save two Liberal MPPs’ seats.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath announced this week she would back Wynne’s spring budget, averting a June election. “This is clearly about the NDP and the Liberal MPPs putting their own seats and their own pay cheques ahead of Northern Ontario families,” Hudak said during a whistle stop at Anmar Mechanical and Electrical Contractors in Lively.

Hudak visited the Mumford Road plant to lend his support to Sudbury PC candidate Paula Peroni who this week went public with her 15-month battle with breast cancer.

The Tory leader has been pitching northern voters in recent weeks saying Northern Ontario residents are being harder hit than the rest of the province by the loss of jobs and increasing debt in Ontario.

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Northern Ontario is a [political] fossil with a future – by David Robinson (Northern Ontario Business – May 2013)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

Once upon a time Britain had a colony. And this unusual colony had a colony of its own. Then the colony-with-a-colony joined with other colonies and got some more colonies. And Canada was born!

That isn’t quite the history we were taught, but it is technically correct. And this version actually provides a clue about the economic future of Northern Ontario.

The colony originally called Canada was the most valuable of Britain’s North American possessions (after the Americans jumped ship). Britain was such an empire builder that even the British colonies wanted colonies. Upper Canada grabbed what we now call Northern Ontario. Then Upper Canada and Lower Canada got together to grab all the British territory east of the Rocky Mountains and south of the North Pole.

Personally, I’m happy that they did this. If they hadn’t, those nasty Americans would have gobbled most of what we now call Canada.

But Canada is coming to the end of its Colonial Era. For more than 100 years the federal government has been transferring its decision-making powers to the territories it grabbed.

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ONTC ‘essential’ for economy: Hudak – by Maria Calabrese (North Bay Nugget – May 16, 2013)

http://www.nugget.ca/

The Conservatives want the province to get out of the alcohol business while promising the publicly owned Ontario Northland Transportation Commission has a place in the province’s future.

“The government I lead will see the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission as an essential element for economic infrastructure. It’s going to open up jobs and create wealth in our province, not shut it down,” Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak said during a conference call to Northern media Wednesday.

“How are you going to get Northeastern Ontario’s economy to rebound if you tear apart the ONTC?” Hudak asked.

He made the comments as LCBO workers draw closer to their strike deadline Friday ahead of the Victoria Day long weekend. They’re threatening to walk off the job over part-time, temporary work and the lack of quality, full-time positions.

Hudak distinguished his support for one Crown agency and intent to dismantle another by saying the Liberal decision to end the ONTC was politically motivated while the Conservative plan to privatize the LCBO will give residents more choice.

Many communities don’t have an LCBO and are looking to the private sector for access to beer, wine and spirits which would increase revenue to the province, Hudak said.

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Northern MPs united against boundary changes – by Elaine Della-Mattia (Sault Star – May 16, 2013)

http://www.saultstar.com/

All five Northern Ontario members of Parliament agree that the federal electoral boundary lines should not change in the region and a “special exception” should be invoked.

Sault MP Bryan Hayes, along with MP’s from Timmins, Nipissing, Algoma and Sudbury all appeared before the standing committee on Procedure and House Affairs last week to tell the committee that the Sault Ste. Marie electoral boundary should not change.

An original report from the boundary commission recommended no changes to the riding but the second report proposes removing Echo Bay, St. Joseph Island, Bruce Mines and the surrounding areas from the Sault Ste. Marie riding and adding them to the Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing riding.

Hayes said the proposed change was strongly opposed by those impacted at a public hearing in Sault Ste. Marie last fall.

“I was disappointed when the commission’s report of hearings in Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing, Timmins – James Bay, Sudbury and Nipissing-Timiskaming persuaded a change to the initial recommendations for Northern Ontario,” Hayes said.

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Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne apologies – 11 times in one interview – for $585-million gas plant cancellations (Canadian Press – May 15, 2013)

The above program came from TV Ontario’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin

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

TORONTO — Premier Kathleen Wynne offered an apology Tuesday for the cancellation of two gas plants that will cost taxpayers at least $585 million.

Wynne had previously rebuffed calls for an apology, saying only that she regretted the cost of cancelling the plants, which was more than double what the governing Liberals had claimed. But she finally apologized on TV Ontario’s The Agenda, saying she was “very sorry” for the mistakes the government made.

In fact, the premier said she was sorry 11 times during her interview with host Steve Paikin. “The people of Ontario need to hear that I’m sorry because I am, I am sorry,” she said.

“I’m sorry that we didn’t have a better process up front. I’m sorry that we didn’t site those gas plants better and that’s why a new protocol needs to be in place.”

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