Northern Ontario Politics – Page 32

North [Ontario] being ravaged to buy Southern Ontario votes – by Robert Lillie (Timmins Daily Press – August 10, 2012)

August 10, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – The true nature of McGimpy, his gimp advisors and the political action committees enslaving them in this matter of selling the ONTC is clear.

On top of their insane, devastating mismanagement of the lumber industry, their disastrous electricity rates, unscientific submission to mindless animal protection groups (not true conservationists) in cancelling the Spring Bear Hunt (a PC misstep they haven’t corrected) and the protection of woodland caribou in areas my father and grandfather, experienced hunters, knew have not existed in for more than 60 years, this Liberal nature is clearest when we focus on the fact that the freight service is included in the package sale.

If they can’t make even the freight service pay, who can, without increasing fees to the detriment of the resource economy in the North and the entire province? The lions ‘s share of all natural resources resides in the North. Police and espionage novels, TV shows and films all say in solving crimes, “Follow the money.” A better, more inclusive and precise mantra is “Follow the benefit.”

I’m fine with calling the ONTC a subsidy, if our current political masters are too dumb, lazy, corrupt or truly unable to make it pay, as long as the $3 billion going to Toronto’s public transportation system is also acknowledged as a subsidy. To get important things done, your tax dollars are working to the overall public and economic benefit.

Northern Ontario residents feel they’ve been forgotten in plan to sell off train service – by Jim Coyle (Toronto Star – July 12, 2012)

July 12, 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.

John Vanthof was on the road home Tuesday from Iroquois Falls to Englehart. And if people in southern Ontario can’t quite place those communities — or Latchford, Haileybury, Earlton — well, the rookie New Democratic MPP for Timiskaming—Cochrane would hardly be surprised.

To live in northern Ontario, especially in the wake of the province’s decision to sell off the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, is sometimes to feel you live not just in Ontario’s second solitude, but on another planet.

Vanthof was about 600 kilometres north of Toronto, fresh from a public meeting the night before in Timmins, where he and other local political leaders called for a grassroots uprising against a Liberal plan he fears would devastate the far-flung communities of Ontario’s northeast. “They really don’t have a clue, whoever made this decision,” he said over his car’s speaker phone.

This “is way more than the train. This is the whole system. This is our Internet system. . . It’s our freight system. There’s a rail-care refurbishment division in North Bay.”

North must call out McGuinty on ONTC – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – July 10, 2012)

July 10, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

MPP says grassroots uprising only way to save Ontario Northland

If Northerners want to prevent the sale of Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, they need to make their voices heard at Queen’s Park. That was the key message conveyed by local politicians to a crowd of about 70 people who attended a public meeting held at Centennial Hall in Timmins Monday night.

Residents were urged to express their opposition to the sale of the ONTC by phoning or sending letters or emails to Premier Dalton McGuinty and Northern Development Minister Rick Bartolucci.

Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren said the only way they were going to be successful was through a “grassroots movement” in which the “people bring the fight to Queen’s Park.”

MPP Gilles Bisson (NDP — Timmins-James Bay) said if the McGuinty government “starts to sense there is a groundswell, that’s when they will start to respond… All I know is, if we don’t try, they’re just going to go ahead and do it.”

Ontario Regional Chief Beardy – His way is quiet, but solid steady and forward – by James Murray (Netnewsledger.com – June 27, 2012)

July 6, 2012

http://netnewsledger.com/

THUNDER BAY – His way is quiet, but solid steady and forward. Once again, Stan Beardy has likely surprised many with his election to the position of Ontario Chief for the Assembly of First Nations. Likely many people thought that the (now) former Grand Chief at the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN) would have a tough time being selected as the Ontario Chief. Likely many of those were also the people who thought that Stan Beardy would not win a fourth term as Grand Chief of NAN.

However, Chief Beardy has steel behind his sometimes quiet ways. However his goal is bringing a louder voice from the North to Queen’s Park and Ottawa. In seeking to run for Ontario Chief, Beardy stated that “As a leader, I have been shaped by the direction of the Chiefs, the advice of the Elders, conversations with women and youth in our communities; and by the wisdom of leaders of First nations and indigenous people, in Ontario, across Canada and as far away as New Zealand”.

“As Regional Chief, I will fight for each First Nation and for all First Nations while respecting their autonomy and assisting them to build the protocols that will make their joint streghth greater”.

Chief Beardy was born and raised on a trap line at Bearskin Lake First Nation. He attended high school and college in Thunder Bay where he also worked as a welder-fitter for several years.

NEWS RELEASE: Tim Hudak: Time to Break a New Frontier with the Ring of Fire

July 4, 2012

Tuesday, June 26th, 2012

QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario can change course from its slide to rust-belt status, but only with the courage to seize opportunities that lie dormant all around us, PC Leader Tim Hudak said today.

Hudak, a former Minister of Northern Development and Mines, made the comments after returning from the Ring of Fire – a vast, untapped deposit of chromite, nickel, copper, zinc and iron ore in the James Bay Lowlands. Chromite is now especially valuable because it is essential for making stainless steel, in huge demand worldwide because of rapid growth in developing countries. Ontario stands to gain 50,000 direct and indirect jobs, and potential economic activity of hundreds of billions of dollars, by moving the project forward, Hudak added.

“In 2001, Ontario was the world’s Number One in mining,” Hudak said. “By last year we had slipped to twenty-third, thanks to years of high taxes and electricity costs and over-regulation – and a government that seems to think mining is a dirty ‘sunset industry’. That’s wrong. This is a once-in-a-century opportunity for Ontario – but only if the Premier takes the lead in selling it.”

Open minds, open mines [Ring of Fire] – by Russell Noble (Canadian Mining Journal – June/July 2012)

July 4, 2012

Russell Noble is the editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication.

“Behind-closed-doors” meetings are usually far less important than those on the private side of the door think they are; but when Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty recently slammed the door on the pestering media to talk about Ontario’s Ring of Fire and its vast chromium deposits, something worthwhile was actually up for discussion.

In fact, I applaud the two leaders for meeting (almost) secretly to talk about one of the hottest issues in Canada’s mining history. Ontario’s chromium is of world-scale proportions and, if and when developed, would put Ontario (and Canada) in the same league as Alberta and its oil sands when it comes to a national resource.

Both Prime Minister Harper and Premier McGuinty know this, and now it’s just a matter of developing a plan to develop this resource without upsetting those who think that mining is bad.

It’s not an easy task, and that’s why I think the recent “closed-door” meeting was tactically correct, because it gave both men a chance to roll up their sleeves and throw the whole matter on the table with¬out fear of their every word being quoted.

Ministry of Natural Resources job cuts, office closures coming, province says – by Rob Ferguson (Toronto Star – June 29, 2012)

June 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.

Job cuts and office closures are coming to Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources as it chops $70 million or 10 per cent of its spending over three years, Minister Michael Gravelle confirmed Thursday.

“These are tough decisions,” he acknowledged at a news conference, overshadowing the release of a plan to protect woodland caribou in a huge chunk of wilderness between Timmins and James Bay.

The deal, reached after negotiations with forestry firms and First Nations that signed the 2010 Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement, would also allow logging companies to cut down 20 per cent more spruce trees over the next 30 years.

The proposal — which covers an area five times the size of Toronto — would protect 800,000 hectares of caribou habitat while leaving 2.2 million hectares further south open to forestry. “In the southern zone we haven’t seen caribou for some time,” said Janet Sumner, executive director of the conservation group CPAWS-Wildlands League, which supports the plan.

Transportation for the North – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (June 26, 2012)

June 27, 2012

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

A WAR of words among MPPs about the government’s planned sale of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission is missing something. The Liberal government sprang the sale on the public in its last budget, claiming it will save money. ONTC serves a series of communities in Northeastern Ontario with train and bus service, much of which the government says the private sector can provide.

The NDP has been critical of the proposal. Timiskaming—Cochrane MPP John Vanthof said in March there had been a “massive public outcry from affected communities” and he called on Premier Dalton McGuinty to halt plans to privatize the passenger and freight service that “employs nearly 1,000 people across the North.”

Vanthof reminded McGuinty he had earlier promised not to privatize the ONTC, adding that, “All across the North municipal councils are up in arms . . . .”

Vanthof acquired documents showing the Liberals were considering the idea as early as March 2009 after which time Northern Development Minister Rick Bartolucci was on hand in Sudbury to cut the ribbon on a new Ontario Northland bus terminal.

Amid disaster in Elliot Lake, an inexcusable lack of action – by Rosie Dimanno (Toronto Star- June 27, 2012)

June 27, 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.

People buried alive — apparently, hopefully, still alive — you’d think heaven and earth would be moved to save them.

But moving a heap of wreckage from a collapsed building was inexplicably, outrageously, deemed too risky for rescue workers in Elliot Lake, who were ordered to abandon the mission a mere 48 hours after the Algo Centre Mall caved in.

Only the intervention of Premier Dalton McGuinty rebooted rescue efforts following howls of indignation from local citizens whose loved ones are still trapped under the rubble. “Nobody left behind!” shouted one furious resident when word filtered through that crews were standing down. In a mining town like Elliot Lake, this gospel is well understood: Searches are never suspended, whether proof of life exists or not.

Yet by late Tuesday afternoon, those workers had not yet been cleared by officials to resume the job. In a crisis where minutes literally matter, this is simply insupportable. It is the antithesis of rapid response.

Tim Hudak: Ontario should develop Ring of Fire like oilsands – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – June 27, 2012)

June 27, 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.

The mineral rich Ring of Fire is Ontario’s “oilsands” and the province should take a page out of Alberta’s playbook by developing it quickly, says Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.

The Tory leader visited the remote Ring of Fire area, located nearly 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, on Monday with other Tory MPPs to survey the swampy earth said to hold more than a $30 billion haul of chromite — the key material used to make stainless steel.

“In many ways, the Ring of Fire is Ontario’s oilsands — an enormous wealth beneath the earth that can break open a new frontier for job creation and investment in our province. Sometimes we look (with) wonder and awe at what Alberta can do; we can do that in Ontario and we can do that with the Ring of Fire,” said Hudak.

However, the Toronto Star reported on Tuesday Environment Canada has raised a number of red flags concerning the development of the area, which calls for an open pit mine and a transportation corridor to be built through one of the last intact boreal forests.

A glimmer of hope [Ontario Northland] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – June 25, 2012)

June 25, 2012

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

Premier Dalton McGuinty commended 200 protesters for staging a rally called Ontario Northland is Not For Sale on the campus of Laurentian University on Saturday where he was attending the Ontario Liberal Party Provincial Council.

McGuinty wouldn’t meet with protesters outside the Great Hall where he spoke to party faithful. But he did make a promise indoors to Liberals and to reporters that every town in Northern Ontario that now has ONTC bus service will continue to have it after the province sells off the Crown agency.

McGuinty credited people attending the rally for being respectful of the proceedings indoors, where he said his government can no longer afford to subsidize the rail and bus transportation service. McGuinty said the Liberals have spent more than three times as much on the agency as the last two governments did.

His government will work with communities to ensure “as smooth a transition as possible” of the operation from government to whoever purchases it.

Queen’s Park continues to disappoint – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – June 20, 2012)

June 20, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Northerners can’t seem to get any satisfaction from Queen’s Park. When we want our provincial politicians to do something for us, they don’t it.

Even when they finally look like they’re doing something right, they screw it up. This has been no more evident than since the Ontario Liberals presented their budget. This, of course, came on the heels of the government’s announcement that it was going to privatize the Ontario Northerland Transportation Commission.

Naturally, we thought, great timing. Here we have the New Democrats in a position to force the Liberals hands by using the budget vote as leverage in preventing the sale of the ONTC.

As we know, the NDP made some demands and the Liberals made some concessions but the issue Northerners were particularly keen on — preventing the sale of the ONTC — was not part of that package.

Trouble for [Ontario] human-bear relations – by Michael Commito (Toronto Star – June 15, 2012)

June 15, 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.

Michael Commito is a PhD candidate in the history department at McMaster University. His dissertation focuses on the history of big-game management, notably bears, deer and wolves, in Ontario and New York state.

The number of negative interactions between humans and black bears in Ontario has risen sharply this season, raising concerns about the management and welfare of the species across the province. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) recently shifted its emphasis from an active bear management model to one focused on personal responsibility on the part of citizens.

These cuts most notably affect Bear Wise, the provincial body established in 2004 to oversee human-bear interaction in the province. These include a significant reduction in the number of bear technicians, cancelling the trapping and relocation of nuisance bears and on-site visits to landowners experiencing conflicts with bears. Recent incidents highlight the problem associated with trimming the province’s bear monitoring services while still trying to care for the animals’ welfare.

[Northern Ontario] Mayors get some answers on ONTC – by Gord Young (North Bay Nugget – June 15, 2012)

June 15, 2012

http://www.nugget.ca/

Bartolucci alleviates concerns, but FONOM will be diligent on divestment

It looks like Rick Bartolucci and the Northern mayors group may have finally found some common ground. The mayors emerged from another meeting this week with the Northern development minister, reporting that some of their concerns regarding the sell off of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission have been alleviated.

Kapuskasing Mayor Alan Spacek, president of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM), said the group was relieved to hear that there isn’t a deadline for divestment and that the process will “take as long as it takes.”

And although there wasn’t a firm commitment from Bartolucci, Spacek said the mayors also received some level of assurance they will be a part of the process moving forward. “We need to be there at the table,” he said, stressing the importance that Northern stakeholders be involved in the decision-making.

NEWS RELEASE: Ontario and Webequie First Nation Sign Memorandum of Co-operation

June 15, 2012

June 14, 2012 4:15 PM

McGuinty Government Will Develop Ring of Fire in Strong Partnership with Far North First Nation

Ontario has signed an updated Memorandum of Co-operation with Webequie First Nation to work together to realize the many benefits from mineral development in the Ring of Fire.

The Memorandum of Co-operation, signed during a visit to Webequie by Minister Bartolucci, commits the province to work with Webequie to advance discussions with the federal government to ensure communities are prepared to fully participate in Ring of Fire developments. Ontario is also committed to providing Webequie with social, community and economic development supports and resource revenue sharing associated with Ring of Fire developments. Ontario and Webequie First Nation will also work together on regional environmental monitoring and regional infrastructure planning.

The Memorandum of Co-operation the need to develop a strong working relationship between the First Nations and the Ontario government on the potential impact of proposed development on their traditional territories. It also builds on a previous Memorandum of Co-operation signed in 2004 committing to help strengthen community foundations and bring prosperity to Ontario’s Far North.