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Northern Ontario Politics

Bartolucci should fend off calls for his resignation – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – September 5, 2012)

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

Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci is right to reject calls for his resignation or retirement in favour of a byelection. He is facing a storm of controversy over the privatization of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, but Bartolucci’s track record more than compensates for the difficulties he’s facing on behalf of a government trying to deal with a $15 billion deficit.
 
Bartolucci has had a productive career — at least, productive for his riding. It is understandable that people in North Bay, Timmins and Kapuskasing are upset. They’re losing their train service in favour of expanded bus service. In North Bay, hundreds of jobs may be lost if whoever buys the ONTC closes the rail service centre.
 
But the North was never going to escape the austerity provisions of a Liberal government. And this was indeed a government decision, not just a decision by Bartolucci in his capacity as minister of Northern Development and Mines. Look at who is affected the most, and look at the McGuinty government’s track record in such decisions. When the Liberals cancelled six major hospital projects in the last budget, five of them were in Progressive Conservative ridings, including one in Tory leader Tim Hudak’s home riding.

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Agency to advise on Northern policy – by Star Staff – (Sudbury Star – September 1, 2012)

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

Northerners got what they asked for in an institute to provide advice and ideas to the government of Ontario about how to improve the lives of people who live in Northern Ontario, says Rick Bartolucci.
 
Bartolucci announced Friday the launch of the Northern Policy Institute, an independent, not-for-profit organization to monitor how recommendations in the Growth Plan for Northern Ontario are implemented and to advise government on policies tailored to the special needs of the North.
 
The Northern Policy Institute’s two advisers — Laurentian University president Dominic Giroux and Brian Stevenson, president of Thunder Bay’s Lakehead University — will set out to appoint 10 members to serve as directors of the new think tank by October.
 
Bartolucci, who is also minister of Northern Development and Mines, said several organizations — including the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities and the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association — called for the institute to be independent of government.

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[Ontario] Nuclear waste seeks a home – by John Spears (Toronto Star – September 1, 2012)

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.

Picture this: you’ve lived in the same house for more than half a century, and never taken out the garbage. Instead, you’ve sorted it carefully into the easy stuff like scrap paper, and the not-so-easy stuff, like the pot of left-over clam chowder you made in 1994.
 
Then you sealed it all in boxes, labeled them, and locked the stuff in the basement, promising some day to find a better place for it.
Now, picture Canada’s nuclear industry.
 
Since the 1960s, nuclear power plants have generated more than two million bundles of highly radioactive used fuel. And they’re all still stored on the sites of the plants that produced them.  But the pace of finding a site to store Canada’s most potent radioactive waste permanently is about to pick up.
 
Twenty Canadian communities have said they’ll consider volunteering to host the storage site. That list is about to close. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization, whose job it is to find and build the site, will stop taking new names on Sept. 30.

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We Love the [Ontario Northlander] Train, But Really … by Steve Paikin (The Inside Agenda Blog – August 29, 2012)

http://theagenda.tvo.org/blog

Ron Brown’s op-ed piece in the August 29 Toronto Star about how much the Northlander would be missed gave me pause. Ron describes in eloquent detail that seeing Northern Ontario through the windows of The Northlander is one of life’s wondrous experiences.
 
But do you know what we’re paying for that experience? Apparently too much for the McGuinty government’s liking, particularly as it tries to bite into a $15 billion deficit.
 
It’s true that all forms of transportation are subsidized. Taxpayers foot the bill for the roads our buses travel on. And the rails our subways and streetcars and GO Trains ride on. Come to think of it, taxpayers pay for those subway and surface trains, and streetcars too. And once upon a time, they paid to build all of the country’s airports.
 
But the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), while an enriching experience, is being subsidized to the tune of $400 per rider. The GO Train gets less than a $2 subsidy per rider.

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Hurricane makes tracks for minister [Bartolucci] – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – August 30, 2012)

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

Health Minister Deb Matthews isn’t the only Ontario Liberal cabinet minster under siege. Flying under that radar is a storm of pressure on Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci.
 
The Liberals’ decision in March to sell off the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission has put him in the eye of Hurricane North. The ONTC supplies bus and rail service to northeastern Ontario, and it runs a communications company that provides phone and Internet service.
 
The century-old agency was founded to facilitate the boom in mining and forestry, but times have changed, and Bartolucci says the $100-million annual subsidy, which means each passenger ride on the Northlander train is subsidized by $400, is no longer feasible when the government faces a $15-billion deficit.
 
Bus service will be contracted out so transportation to Toronto remains available, which is important for those who need access to health-care facilities in southern Ontario.

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[Ontario] North clearly not united – by John R. Hunt (Sudbury Star – August 22, 2012)

http://www.nugget.ca/

“When I think about it, strapping Bartolucci to the cow catcher might
be more fun than a flogging or getting him to resign. Can anyone help
arrange it?” (John R. Hunt – August 22, 2012)

A distinguished member of the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce has advocated the immediate resignation of Rick Bartolucci. No doubt you have heard of this politician who enjoys a special place in the hearts of all North Bay citizens.
 
I would cheerfully advocate a public flogging knowing full well that it might make my readers chuckle, but it will never happen. 
Throwing verbal mud at Dalton McGuinty and his favourite Northern boy is great fun, but does not accomplish much.
 
This provincial government is amazing. It allowed the refinery at Timmins to close and send ore from the Kidd Creek mine to Quebec. Allowed is the wrong word. Ontario’s energy prices are so ridiculous the mining company had to do something.
 
Now the government is going to sell Ontera, which is the communications branch of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission. It used to be the most profitable part of the Crown corporation.

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Ontario’s History from a train seat: my last nostalgic trip on the fabled northlander – by Ron Brown (Toronto Star – August 29, 2012)

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.

Ron Brown is a Toronto-based freelance travel writer and author of several books including “The Top 115 Unusual Things to See in Ontario” recently featured on the Star’s “Summer Reading” page.

When the province’s Minister of Northern Development, Rick Bartolucci, shocked northeastern Ontario with the news that he was cancelling the fabled Northlander train, as a travel writer I realized that I needed to embark on one last ride. For the Northlander is to Ontario what VIA Rail’s popular Canadian is to the country. Both offer an unobstructed cross section of the geography and the history of our land.

And so it was on a sunny day in late August day that I lined up at Union Station’s Gate 19 to board a legend. That the line extended the entire length of the departure room gave lie to Premier McGuinty’s assertion that the Northlander is poorly used. Ahead of me were two senior ladies en route to Cochrane, the end of the line, who would never consider a cramped 12 hour bus ride, Mr. McGuinty’s alternative. Behind me stood two Mennonite couples, their religion eschewing the car.

Gliding out of the station’s dark train shed, the history and geography lessons begin. We pass Toronto’s rapidly changing inner industrial area, the revitalized Distillery District followed by the West Don Lands reclamation project.

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[Northwestern Ontario] Leaders want action on mining infrastructure – by Bryan Meadows (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – August 22, 2012)

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

Northwestern Ontario municipal leaders are outlining their priorities this week during the Association of Municipalities of Ontario annual conference in Ottawa. One of those priorities, being touted by the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association, is that the province lead plans for mining infrastructure in the region.

“Northwestern Ontario is on the cusp of a mining explosion, and we need to ensure that both government and opposition members recognize the full impact of these developments for the province,” NOMA president Ron Nelson said Tuesday.

“This is not just a northern project as it has the potential to drive the economy of Ontario for decades to come,” he said, adding that “the province needs to take the lead by planning, developing and owning the roads and energy infrastructure that is needed to support mining developments in the Northwest.”

“It will be expensive, however,” Nelson said, “the return on that investment through provincial tax revenues over the next 100 years will be immense.”

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ONTC sell-off sparks fighting words – by By Wayne Snider (Timmins Daily Press – August 22, 2012)

 The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Municipal leaders across Northeastern Ontario are taking the gloves off to fight plans to derail Ontario Northland in September.
 
Kapuskasing Mayor Alan Spacek, president of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) expressed “frustration and bitter disappointment” with the government’s handling of its divestiture plan for the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission. He is pointing the finger squarely at Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci (Liberal — Sudbury).
 
“I received correspondence from the minister updating me on the divestment process that was to have been ‘transparent and done in a consultative manner with those affected,’” Spacek said. “As it turns out, we get called to a meeting to hear that something we thought we were to be consulted on is now a done deal.
 
“It’s become another late-in-the-week, trying-to-fly-below-radar announcement that otherwise wouldn’t stand up to either the smell test or to public scrutiny.” Spacek, who ran as a Progressive Conservative candidate in Timmins-James Bay in the October 2011 provincial election, said the ruling Liberals broke their promise of transparency with ONTC privatization.

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Retire Rick, urges union – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – August 21, 2012)

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

The association of unions whose 800 members work for Ontario Northland Transportation Commission has asked for Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci’s resignation in the past, but the General Chairperson’s Association is changing its tune.
 
It is now asking the longtime Sudbury MPP to “do the right thing” and retire from politics over his government’s decision to divest itself of the ONTC. GCA spokesman Brian Kelly said Monday that Bartolucci has represented Northern Ontario well in the last 17 years.
 
But Kelly said it’s time for Bartolucci to leave politics, a move that might prompt his boss, Premier Dalton McGuinty, to take action to save the ONTC. Kelly charged that McGuinty throws money at the riding of Kitchener-Waterloo, where a Sept. 6 byelection to replace Progressive Conservative MPP Elizabeth Witmer is shaping up to be a game-changer.
 
One seat short of a Liberal majority, all political eyes are on the riding, which could change the balance of power at Queen’s Park.

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Bartolucci dismisses call for resignation [over Ontario Northland] – by PJ Wilson (QMI Agency/Sudbury Star – August 18, 2012)

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

The president of the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce is calling for the resignation of the minister of Northern Development and Mines — something Rick Bartolucci says he isn’t even considering.
   
In a release issued Friday, John Strang said Bartolucci “has failed all Northerners” and should resign because of his belief “that the North does not matter.”  The provincial government, he said, should be “ashamed of turning their backs on Northern voters” over its decision to divest the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission.
   
Strang’s news release follows the announcement Thursday that Northlander passenger train service will end Sept. 28, and a request for qualifications would soon be issued for Ontera, the communications arm of the Crown corporation.
   
“It seems that the government may have been feeling the pressure and as such announced (Thursday) the demise of the Northlander and the request for qualifications for Ontera, yet the Ministry of Infrastructure can’t even provide the details of what the RFQ will look like,” Strang said.

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Liberals fast-tracked end of Northlander: Bisson – by Chris Ribau (Timmins Daily Press – August 16, 2012)

 The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – The Liberals are being accused of fast-tracking a shutdown of the Northlander in hopes of derailing public efforts to save the service. After decades of serving Ontario’s northern communities, the Northlander train from Toronto to Cochrane will stop running after Sept. 28, the provincial government announced Thursday.
 
Regular train service will continue until that date, and communities served by the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) train will still be served by the bus service.
 
“This is a real bullshit announcement — and you can use that word, I don’t care,” MPP Gilles Bisson (NDP — Timmins-James Bay) told The Daily Press “The minister (Rick Bartolucci) told me last spring, because going back we’ve been trying to stop this privatization and keep the train running.

In my conversation with Mr. Bartolucci I asked him point black when do you expect to shut down the train if everything happens, he said it won’t happen until spring 2013.

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ONTC Hiring freeze causing hardship: Union – by PJ Wilson (North Bay Nugget – August 14, 2012)

http://www.nugget.ca/

The provincial government is trying to cause the ONTC to malfunction as it continues with its divestment plan, according to the president of CAW Local 103.
 
“They are not allowing us to replace people who are leaving,” says Brian Kelly. “There’s a hiring freeze in place, so when someone retires or quits, we can’t replace them.”
 
The province announced in March its plan to divest the Crown corporation and, since then, Kelly said, has been putting roadblocks in place to its continued viability. The hiring freeze, he said, is causing difficulties in all sectors of the operation. Hiring, he said, is taking place on a case-by-case basis.
 
“What’s happening is the younger people are quite concerned about their future, the skilled trades people, so they are taking whatever comes their way,” Kelly said.He said particularly hard hit are Ontera and the shop areas. Operations in Cochrane are also feeling the pain, as employees there pull up stakes for jobs at the Detour Lake mining complex.

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The price of [power-plant] conversion – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (August 13, 2012)

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

ONTARIO’S plan to close all of its coal-fired power plants by 2014 has suffered another setback and a Thunder Bay city councillor wants to make sure it doesn’t last long. Larry Hebert, a former city hydro official, has revealed that conversion of the Thunder Bay Generating Station from coal to natural gas is on hold because two branches of Ontario’s energy kingdom can’t agree on price. Hebert worries that advancing climate changes could result in a combination of low winter snow and summer drought that stretches hydro dams’ ability to power the Northwest coinciding with the scheduled plant closure in just over two years.

Ontario has failed to meet earlier targets to shut down the dirty coal plants because it could not get alternate energy sources up and running. It is now trying to encourage wind and solar power projects while it converts the remaining coal plants to gas or, in the case of Atikokan, forest biomass. And it cancelled two gas plant projects in southern Ontario to save Liberal seats in the last election, the costs of which will be staggering.

These are all large-scale projects that need long lead times and jobs of this scale inevitably run into delays. That is why Hebert wants council to agree tonight to petition the Energy minister to force a price agreement to get the Thunder Bay plant conversion back on track.

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Tory MPPs probe the North [Timmins] – by Wayne Snider (Timmins Daily Press – August 10, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Two members of the provincial Tory caucus left Timmins with a better understanding of the issues impacting Northern Ontario.

Progressive Conservative MPPs Norm Miller (Parry Sound-Muskoka) and Laurie Scott (Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock) were in Timmins Friday on a fact-finding tour. The two politicians met with Mayor Tom Laughren, municipal and business leaders, toured Goldcorp’s operations and visited with local Ministry of Natural Resources staff. Miller is the Tory critic for Northern Development and Mines, while Scott is the critic for the MNR.

The duo also visited The Daily Press, where they discussed pressing issues for the North in an editorial board meeting.
Many Northerners feel they have lost their voice in Queen’s Park, as only 11 of 107 seats are based in Northern Ontario. While he doesn’t expect the region to ever gain more seats, Miller said it is the responsibility of government to consider the impact all legislation has on the North.

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