Twitter

Northern Ontario Politics

Time for power action, mayor insists – (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – May 14, 2013)

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

Ontario’s energy minister is “being irresponsible” by not stepping in and ordering the conversion of the Thunder Bay Generating Station to natural gas, the city’s mayor said Monday.

Northwest leaders are trying to convince the government that the coal-fired plant must be converted to burn natural gas if the region’s energy needs are to be met.

The government put a hold on the project last fall after the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) said there are cheaper ways to meet power needs, including expanding the east-west tieline, which moves power between Northern and southern Ontario.
The province has prohibited the burning of coal for energy in Ontario after Dec. 31, 2014.

However, Mayor Keith Hobbs said, the city’s Energy Task Force (ETF) has done its homework and proven that the OPA and Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) are “out to lunch” with their estimations of the region’s power requirements.

“I believe this is stalling at its best,” Hobbs said of the government’s handling of the generating station matter. “We need to get political and we need to send a message to (Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli) that that plant needs to be kept open and converted, plain and simple.

Read more

Wynne is listening [to northern Ontario issues]: Matichuk – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – May 11, 2013)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

After two back-to-back meetings with other Northern municipalities and policy makers, Mayor Marianne Matichuk walked away feeling cautiously optimistic.

“I was very impressed that the premier came, (and) quite a few ministers, and they were really listening to our concerns in the North. So that’s a really good sign. And people were very pleased,” she said Friday.

Matichuk was speaking after attending the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) conference this past week in Parry Sound. Prior to that, on May 3, Matichuk was in North Bay for a meeting with the mayors from North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and Timmins.

The three-day FONOM”con-f erence featured talks with provincial and federal ministers, as well as outside experts. Premier Kathleen Wynne was also there.

“Kathleen Wynne was very open about wanting to work with people in the North. She wanted to hear our concerns. She also committed to working with not just municipalities. She’s stated specifically that she wanted to work with the federal government to resolve problems, because she feels that we all need to work together,” said Matichuk.

Read more

Gravelle: divestment not the only option – by Gord Young (North Bay Nugget- May 11, 2013)

http://www.nugget.ca/

Divestment should not be the only option for the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, says Northern Development Minister Michael Gravelle.

Reflecting a major change in the province’s approach to the ONTC, Gravelle told municipal politicians Friday during a Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) conference in Parry Sound that he’s come to the conclusion other avenues need to be explored when it comes to the future of the Crown agency.

“We need to be open to options other than divestment,” said Gravelle, noting the shift is a result of feedback he’s received since taking on the Northern Development and Mines portfolio earlier this year.

Gravelle said that includes feedback from an ONTC advisory committee he established consisting of Northern stakeholders, including North Bay Mayor Al McDonald. He said the committee is slated to meet in Toronto on Thursday and will discuss what some of those other possible options for the ONTC may include.

“It will be an important meeting,” said Gravelle. While in North Bay in March for the advisory committee’s inaugural meeting, Gravelle told the media that clearly the decision has been made and that province is moving forward with divestment.

Read more

Gravelle signals possible shift in direction – by Bruce Cowan (North Bay Nugget- May 11, 2013)

http://www.nugget.ca/

What a difference two months can make, especially if the Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne is prepared to do everything it can to retain power now and following the next provincial election.

In February, newly minted Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle told The Nugget that divestment of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission would continue and there would be no dramatic shift in direction.

He did leave the door open to “significant community input into that process” and formed a minister’s advisory committee, which included Mayor Al McDonald and other northern mayors who have a stake in the divestment outcome. Gravelle even came to North Bay to sit down with the committee and hear their concerns.

Today, there has indeed been a shift in direction, or at least in what’s said publicly. At the Federation of Northern Ontario Muncipalities’ conference in Parry Sound, Gravelle hinted that divestment may not be the only option. That was not lost on McDonald, who tweeted the news immediately.

Premier Wynne, speaking at the same conference, went further. She said ONTC and Metrolinx need to work together, echoing talk prior to the divestment announcement that a strategic alliance between the two agencies might make sense and provide ongoing refurbishment work for Ontario Northland shops.

Read more

Ontario’s finances in a mess thanks to Liberals’ make-believe budgets – by Christina Blizzard (Toronto Sun – May 3, 2013)

http://www.torontosun.com/home

“Let’s point the finger directly at the two real culprits — former premier Dalton McGuinty
and former finance minister Dwight Duncan…. The damage they did to the economy of this
once-great province will live in infamy. Your grandchildren and your grandchildren’s
grandchildren will still be paying for their massive incompetence.” (Christina Blizzard)

TORONTO – Cost of cancelling two gas-fired power plants? $585 million. Cost of sucking up to the NDP?  Billions. Price of keeping this arrogant, incompetent, deceitful, wasteful Liberal government in power? Endless — and pointless.

Trouble is MasterCard expects you to pay your bills. Being a Liberal means never saying you’re sorry — and never paying your debts.

These Liberals just keep racking up more debt and driving this province into an abyss that will make Greece look like a well-managed paradise.

Make no mistake. Thursday’s budget wasn’t about fiscal responsibility or a prosperous Ontario. It was about keeping a shamelessly inept government in power.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s first budget was a total capitulation to outrageous NDP demands to meddle dangerously in the auto insurance industry — by forcing private companies to reduce premiums 15%. Liberals also pledged to hike welfare rates and to throw more money at home care.

Read more

Northern Ontario mayors frustrated with Growth Plan (Sault Star – May 3, 2013)

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

The mayors of Northern Ontario’s largest cities say they are frustrated by the slow pace of the province’s regional growth plan and intend to come up with their own strategy paper.

“We want to quit talking about it and we want to look at the strengths of our respective areas and get plans in place that develop us,” said Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Debbie Amaroso on Thursday.

Mayors from Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, North Bay, Thunder Bay and Timmins met in the Sault over two days this week to discuss the province’s progress in rolling out the Northern Growth Plan it launched in 2011.

Amaroso said the Growth Plan offers a good foundation but implementation has been “frustratingly slow” and the mayors have agreed to come up with a strategy paper to be presented to provincial ministers in August at this year’s Association of Municipalities Ontario meeting in Ottawa.

“As municipalities, we are prepared to do the required work and take the lead on this,” she said. North Bay Mayor Al McDonald said the five cities know what needs to be done to help development in Northern Ontario, and are bringing forward a united front from the region the province has so far been unable to do.

Read more

Ring of Fire missing [from Ontario budget speech]? – by Jeff Labine (tbnewswatch.com – May 3, 2013)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

The Ring of Fire was missing from this year’s provincial budget when it was presented to Queen’s Park, but Ontario’s mining minister says it hasn’t been forgotten.

The minority-led Liberal government revealed its $127-billion budget in Toronto Thursday. It’s the first budget to be tabled under the leadership of premier Kathleen Wynne. Having six main themes, Finance Minister Charles Sousa said the government sought to create a fair and prosperous Ontario.

But Sousa never mentioned the massive chromite deposit in the lower James Bay area, which is expected to bring further prosperity to the province’s North. MPP Michael Gravelle (Lib. Thunder Bay – Superior North) said the Ring of Fire is in the budget.

“We’re providing $5 million in enhanced funding to those First Nation communities closest to the Ring of Fire,” he said. “There’s no question that our commitment to the Ring of Fire is very strong. I’m pleased to see that there will be significant investments going towards related to the Ring of Fire. For many people, the future of the province’s economy will benefit with the North succeeding.”

Gravelle pointed out that the Ring of Fire has been repeatedly mentioned in previous budgets and in the throne speech. He called the budget fair and strong and said he was pleased to see the number of investments being made in the North.

Read more

Northern Ontario is the next frontier [Ontario PC Policy for the North] – by Tim Hudak

Northern Ontario is the next frontier.

It is the expanding edge of Ontario’s economy, an area whose rich forest and mineral resources can fuel a reviving North American economy.Its colleges and universities provide leading research and technology training, and its aboriginal peoples are the cornerstone of Ontario’s history and a critical part of its culture. It’s a place where people know how to
work hard and make their own way.

And yet, northern Ontario is falling far short of its potential today. The Ring of Fire is the greatest mining discovery of a lifetime, but the project has gone nowhere. Our once-burgeoning forest industry has shrunk and mills have closed.

The entrepreneurial spirit that built the north has been crushed under the weight of government regulations and environmental rules that seem designed to stop development and keep industry away.

Northern Ontario is a unique part of our province, with greater distances, smaller communities, a harsher climate and a rugged land. Its people have a strong streak of independence, self-reliance and personal responsibility.

These Ontarians share a different kind of connection with the land, but increasingly their fate is being thrust upon them by a government that wants to impose a fantasy view of northern life. Politicians, bureaucrats and special-interest groups from the south have tried to turn this dynamic, natural area into a museum without jobs, hope or a future for the people who live there.

Read more

Igniting Northern Ontario’s Economy – by Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak (April 26, 2013)

This speech was given at the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) on April 26, 2013 in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

I want to start with a simple statement: Northern Ontario can do better. I’ve done about 100 town halls now, including several in the North.

And as I travel the province, people tell me things are tough. They ask: “Is this really the best Ontario can do?” I say to them, we can do better.

Ontario has everything we need to succeed. We have a hard-working and skilled workforce. Dedicated and driven entrepreneurs. Vast and valuable resources and fertile farmland the envy of the world over. We border the great North American markets – natural trading partners with millions of consumers.

We have all it takes to make our province the best place to find a good job, raise a family, start a business and see it grow. But to get started on the path to a revitalized Northern Ontario, we need to be honest about the depths of the problems we face across the entire province.

More than half a million people woke up this morning with no job to go to.We’ve lost 300,000 good manufacturing jobs – while at the same time adding 300,000 government workers to the bloated public sector payroll in Ontario.

Read more

Little for [Ontario] north, MPPs – by PJ Wilson (North Bay Nugget – May 3, 2013)

http://www.nugget.ca/

Northern Ontario got short shrift in Thursday’s provincial budget, according to opposition MPPs in the region.

“Northern Ontario was only mentioned twice, and that was in passing,” Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli said after the minority Liberal government unveiled its $127.6-billion spending plan for the next fiscal year.

Fedeli said even the much-heralded Ring of Fire mining project in Northwestern Ontario, prominently mentioned in the last provincial budget, has totally fallen out of sight. “That means, to us, that it is no longer a priority for the government.”

Fedeli said also absent from the budget was any mention of Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, which the province announced it was divesting in March, 2012. “That really surprised me because it leaves a $500-million hole in the budget,” Fedeli said.

Among provisions in the budget are a $260-million boost for home care health services, a $295-million plan to fight youth unemployment, a 15% auto insurance rate cut and assistance for people on welfare and disability.

The budget projects an $11.7-billion deficit.

Read more

[Mining] Inquiry ‘the right thing’ – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – May 2, 2013)

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

Ontario’s NDP leader repeated her call for a public inquiry into mine safety during Question Period on Wednesday.

“Nearly two years ago, Jordan Fram and Jason Chenier were buried in a run-of-muck accident at the Sudbury Stobie mine,” Andrea Horwath told the provincial legislature. “Their families are still waiting for answers about why they died in a preventable accident.

“When will the premier do the right thing and call a public inquiry into this tragedy so that no more lives are lost on the job?”

In response, Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi stopped short of calling an inquiry. He told the legislature that he and Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle met last week with Fram’s mother, Wendy.

He said he and Gravelle committed to working with Wendy Fram “to ensure that we are taking steps that no other sons or daughter are lost in a mining accident in our province.” Chenier, 35, and Fram, 26, died June 8, 2011, when they were struck by tons of rock and water. Vale and a super visor have been charged in connection with their deaths.

Since the deaths, the union representing Vale miners in Sudbury, the Steelworkers, and family members have pushed for a public inquiry into mine safety in the province.

Read more

[Ontario] PCs plan to open 10 mines – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Star – May 2, 2013)

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

The Progressive Conservative Party will push to open 10 new mines in five years if it wins the next election, Paula Peroni, the party’s Sudbury candidate, said during a campaign platform announcement Wednesday.

Peroni said Ontario had the world’s top mining sector when Mike Harris was premier, but now sits in the 13th position worldwide.

“Northerners must govern the north, not the special inter-e sts in southern Ontario,” Peroni said. “We will determine our own path and Northern Ontario will once again be the fuel that drives the economic engine of this province.”

Peroni made the announcement at Henninger’s Diesel Ltd., a local mining supply company that refurbishes used diesel engines for heavy equipment. Diana Henninger, the company’s president and owner, said she was proud to host a female candidate who would support the mining sector.

“Hearing that the north will be a priority, and the enormous resources we have will be a priority for a Conservative government, is hugely important to everybody in the mining supply and service sector,” Henninger said. “I’ve always felt Northern Ontario has been forgotten and certainly under-appreciated.”

Read more

ONTC sale could cost $500M, MPP says – by Maria Calabrese (North Bay Nugget – April 27, 2013)

http://www.nugget.ca/

NORTH BAY – Severance, pensions and other liabilities could cost the province more than $500 million if the Liberal government goes ahead with the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission sale, says Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli.

“I think they have provided a false scenario to Northern Ontario, a false scenario in their budget, and I intend to prove it,” Fedeli said during an announcement Friday to introduce the PC party’s Northern plan ahead of the provincial budget May 2.

Fedeli repeated calls to stop ONTC divestment, review the Crown corporation’s assets and guarantee rail freight will not be privatized.

He has brought in Ontario’s auditor general to review ONTC financial statements and believes pensions, benefits and workers’ compensation would wipe out the $265 million the province estimates it will save in the sale, and doubles that cost when it comes to offering severances to the hundreds of workers who could lose their jobs.

Boosting economic development was the underlying message in the Conservative Northern plan, released simultaneously by leader Tim Hudak in Thunder Bay and by Fedeli in North Bay.

Read more

Hudak wants less bureaucracy – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Star – April 27, 2013)

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

Reductions in government red tape and bureaucracy are amongst the keys to prosperity for Northern Ontario, said Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak during a recent visit to Sudbury.

Hudak said there 300,000 rules and regulations in Ontario that make it more difficult for the private sector to prosper. His party has proposed to cut those regulations by at least a third if he is elected premier.

Hudak offered his prescription for the province’s ills, and Northern Ontario’s in particular, during a town hall meeting with Conservative supporters at College Boreal on Saturday, April 27.

He said he wants to remove barriers to development in the north and singled out the Far North Act as a prime target to be abolished. “The Far North Act is nothing but a massive regulatory wall that it is going to bring development in the far north to a screeching halt,” Hudak said.

The act protects around 225,000 square kilometres – or around 21% of Ontario’s land mass – of boreal forest from development. The Liberal government passed the Far North Act in 2010, and Hudak said it has impeded the mining and forestry sectors.

Read more

Province rescues ELA – by Bryan Meadows (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – April 25, 2013)

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

The province is stepping up to the plate to save the Experimental Lakes Area. The Liberal government announced Wednesday that it will provide funding to keep the ELA running this year, and work with the federal and Manitoba governments, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and other partners on an agreement to ensure the future of the world-renowned freshwater research facility east of Kenora.

“What is special about the ELA is that it takes research out of the lab and right into the environment — so the ELA presents a rare opportunity for research, perhaps unique in the world,” said IISD president and CEO Scott Vaughan.

Kenora MP Greg Rickford, who has taken heat over the federal funding cuts for the ELA, said Wednesday that “we have been waiting for Ontario, as the owner of the lands, to play an active role in the transfer of the ELA (to a new operator).
“That’s great news.

“In the meantime, we have been involved in leading negotiations with the prospective operators, and we’re hopeful an agreement can be reached and welcome Ontario taking an active role,” Rickford said. Ottawa cut funding to the ELA research facility on March 31 and blocked researchers, even those with funding from other parties, to work there.

Read more