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Northern Ontario Politics

Northern Chambers of Commerce challenge province’s Far North Act – by The Timmins Daily Press (September 10, 2011)

 The Daily Press, the city of Timmins newspaper. Contact the writer at news@thedailypress.ca.

For the web’s largest database of articles on the Ring of Fire mining camp, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

“The Far North Act affects us collectively and
individually, and we want to ensure that it is
carried out in a responsible and inclusive manner
that respects all northern groups – be they
businesses, municipalities or First Nations.”
(Julie Denomme, vice-chair of the Greater Sudbury
Chamber of Commerce)

The province should reconsider how development is handled in Ontario’s Far North if it is to properly serve the region’s communities, First Nations, and business, according to the Chambers of Commerce of Timmins, Sudbury, North Bay and Sault Ste. Marie.

In a joint statement issued Friday, the four chambers agreed that the Far North Act, as passed by the Ontario government in October 2010, fails to consider the needs of those who are most affected by it.

The province’s stated goal of protecting “at least” 50% of the 225,000 square kilometres that make up the Far North was reached without consultation with the region’s First Nations who, through this legislation, are being forced to set aside portions of their land for protection.

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Ontario’s Provincial Election and the North: What Is the Issue? – by Livio Di Matteo (September 9, 2011)

Livio Di Matteo is Professor of Economics at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Visit his new Economics Blog “Northern Economist” at http://ldimatte.shawwebspace.ca/

“Indeed, the most innovative set of Northern policies ever
proposed in my living memory was the Peterson government of
the 1980s which set forth three planks: the Northern Ontario
Heritage Fund, Northern Health Travel Grants and a program
of decentralization of provincial government offices to the
north.  Since then, there has really not been articulated
any similar set of innovative strategic and concrete
nitiatives for the North.” (Livio Di Matteo, Sept/9/2011)

As the provincial election campaign begins, undoubtedly the need to articulate northern issues will be an important one.  The conventional wisdom would probably argue that the most important issues are jobs and the economy, followed by health care.  A glance at the “northern platforms” of the three parties certainly would suggest that the economy is an important focus and there are indeed some similarities across the three main parties when it comes to the economy.

The New Democratic Party argues the North has been ignored by the provincial government and is pledging “respect for the North. ”  Its northern policy wants to hire more doctors for under-serviced communities, remove the HST from home heating and electric bills, cap gas prices, create a Northern Ontario legislative committee to address Northern issues and change laws so mining companies must process their raw materials in the province (incidentally, something similar was done a long time ago in Ontario for logs harvested on Crown lands under the rubric of the Manufacturing Condition). 

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Failing [Aboriginal] kids in our [Ontario] north – (Toronto Star Editorial – September 10, 2011)

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.

A coroner’s inquest into a suicide routinely results in recommendations for more accessible, comprehensive and better funded mental health services. Ontario’s examination of the suicides of 16 children on a northern First Nations reserve is no different on that score. It’s Ontario deputy chief coroner Dr. Bert Lauwers’ call for other things — things so basic that they shouldn’t need mentioning — that really make his report stand out.

Access to clean water. Indoor plumbing. A decent school. How can communities without such basic necessities still exist in Ontario? The level of poverty and deprivation in the fly-in community of Pikangikum First Nation, 100 kilometres east of the Manitoba border, is appalling. It helped to create such deep despair that children, like the 12-year-old boy who hanged himself from a poplar tree outside his grandmother’s home and a 16-year-old girl who hanged herself with a shoelace in the laundry room, could see no way forward.

The coroner’s 100 recommendations are not just a blueprint to stem the dramatically high suicide rate of First Nations children and youth in northern Ontario. They are an indictment of the conditions that Ottawa has allowed to persist for far too long.

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Northeastern Ontario Chambers Joint Policy Statement About Far North Act-Bill 191

A joint statement by the Timmins Chamber of Commerce, Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce, Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce and North Bay & District Chamber of Commerce on the Far North Act – Bill 191.

The provincial government introduced the Bill 191 for First Reading on June 2, 2009. The Act passed Third Reading on Sept. 23, 2010 and received Royal Assent on Oct. 25, 2010. Its purpose is to permanently protect at least half of Ontario’s Far North for the “sustainable development of natural resources” as well the preservation of biological diversity and ecological processes.

The legislation puts forward a process for community-based land-use planning that will ultimately set aside at least 21% of the province’s total landmass, or half of the Far North’s 450,000 square kilometers, in an interconnected network of protected areas. The region reaches from the Manitoba border in the west to James Bay and Quebec in the east and north along a line several hundred kilometers north of Red Lake, Sioux Lookout, Hearst and Cochrane.

This area contains 24,000 people spread across 34 communities (31 of which are First Nations). It is also host to the socalled “Ring of Fire,” an area of potential significant mineral wealth that includes a world-class deposit of chromite,deposits of nickel and other base and precious metals. It is expected that $1.5 billion will be spent over the next 10 years to develop this area in advance of mineral extraction.

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NDP promises respect for Northern Ontarians – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – September 9, 2011)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper. cmulligan@thesudburystar.com

If the New Democratic Party is elected in Ontario, it would ensure resources that could be processed here are, it would cut the HST from electricity and home heating bills and encourage 200 doctors to practise in underserviced areas of the province, at least 50 of them in the North.

Northeastern Ontario would also get the positron emission tomography scanner that thousands of northerners have been calling for, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath told a partisan crowd at Laurentian University on Thursday.

Those promises and more are contained in the Respect for the North plan Horwath unveiled in Sudbury at her first stop on a northern tour.

It is time Queen’s Park showed respect to the people and the communities of the North, said Horwath, and hers is the party to do it.

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Shoe on the other foot for Thunder Bay’s Gravelle – by Adam Radwanski (Globe and Mail – September 9, 2011)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

For the web’s largest database of articles on the Ring of Fire mining camp, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

THUNDER BAY – For most of his political career, Michael Gravelle has been seen as a fighter for his hometown of Thunder Bay – a little guy, literally and figuratively, standing up to those who would neglect Ontario’s Far North.

This fall, he’s fighting charges that he’s the one doing the neglecting.

Such is the mixed blessing of spending the past four years as Northern Development Minister for a government perceived not to have done enough to develop the region. So what was once one of the safest Liberal seats in the province is now up for grabs, with Mr. Gravelle one of several northern Liberal MPPs fighting for their political lives.

But who the real contenders are in Thunder Bay-Superior North, a sprawling riding that includes half of northwest Ontario’s largest city and some more far-flung communities, is less clear.

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Horwath plays to Northern [Ontario] discontent – Anna Mehler Paperny (Globe and Mail – September 9, 2011)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

THUNDER BAY – Over 19 hours and 3,300 kilometres, Andrea Horwath laid out her battle plan for Ontario’s north.

The region was home to some of the closest-fought races of the 2007 election. This year, the parties are going at it again. Their game plan? To duke it out over who is the best champion of a recession-hit region that tends to feel politically disenfranchised and far removed from Queen’s Park.

So Ms. Horwath, campaigning on a platform of average-Joe discontent, has a receptive ear to complaints of neglect.

“We can create a future for the North that creates good jobs. But it won’t happen by sticking with the made-in-Toronto status quo,” she said Thursday. “We are shipping away logs and we are buying back the sawdust. It makes no sense. And we can do better.”

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How Ontario provincial political parties seeking office on October 6th view mining

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

The election campaign in Ontario is now officially underway.  On October 6, 2011, Ontario voters will determine who forms the next government in this province.  In advance of this election day, let’s take a look at what the major parties are saying about the mining industry in their official campaign documents.

The Liberal Party has packaged its election platform in the paper titled Forward Together.  This document both presents what the government has done during its last two terms of office and outlines plans, if elected, for a third term. It contains a section on mining – Northern Opportunity: The Best Mining Industry in the World.

“One of the most promising opportunities Ontario has seen in generations is the Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario.  This massive mineral deposit is one of the most significant and exciting natural resources Ontario has, already attracting more than 50 companies who want to be part of the development.”

“We need to work together to seize its benefits just as we always have when supporting Ontario’s mining sector.  With our leadership, the entire province will be able to benefit economically from the Ring of Fire.  That is why we have made sure that the mining industry and the Ring of Fire are an important piece of our economic plan for Ontario,” said Forward Together.

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Hydro, HST will affect vote [in Northwestern Ontario] – by Christina Blizzard (Toronto Sun – August 30, 2011)

Christina Blizzard is the Queen’s Park columnist for the Toronto Sun, the city’s daily tabloid newspaper.  christina.blizzard@sunmedia.ca

Devastating downturn in forestry industry hurts Thunder Bay

THUNDER BAY — For Mary Kozorys, the soaring price of electricity isn’t just a wedge issue to be exploited in an election. She chokes up when she talks about how hydro rates have hurt people.

Kozorys, the NDP candidate in Thunder Bay-Atikokan, was door-knocking in a blue-collar part of town.

“We’ve had an unusually hot summer for the north,” Kozorys explained. “The door was open and the lady beckoned me into the living room. In front of her was a fan … She said, ‘I’m sitting here and I can’t afford to plug this fan in any longer. I have to make a choice whether or not I pay all of my utility bills, or I pay part of my utility bills and I eat.’”

Kozorys has known the family for years. They’d owned a small business. When the economy took a nosedive, they were forced to close.

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Mill closures will haunt Liberals – by Christina Blizzard (Toronto Sun – September 01, 2011)

Christina Blizzard is the Queen’s Park columnist for the Toronto Sun, the city’s daily tabloid newspaper.  christina.blizzard@sunmedia.ca

THUNDER BAY — The battle in Northern Ontario for the hearts and minds of voters in the Oct. 6 election is being waged on many fronts here.

It’s about forestry and wood allocations. About mining and resources. And the Far North Act, which critics say will strangle development and turn economically-productive forestry and mining areas into parkland.

Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Mike Gravelle is the Liberals’ Minister of Northern Development. He’s taking flak for making changes to the wood allocation system — the lifeblood of mills.

Like many others, the Buchanan Mill in Atikokan was idled following the housing downturn in the U.S. and was recently put into receivership.

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HISTORICAL: The stuff of dreams in Kirkland Lake – Bill Twatio (Toronto Star – January 16, 1998)

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

The Tech-Hughes ore conveyor used to pass over the road into town proudly bearing the slogan, “Welcome To Kirkland Lake – On The Mile of Gold.”

The conveyor and the mine are gone now, along with the Lake Shore Mine, Wright-Hargreaves, Sylvanite, Toburn, Tough-Oaks, and most of the gold. Hard times have come to this once-flourishing mining town 600 km north of Toronto. Recently, the town has been reduced to promoting a plan that would see millions of tones of Toronto garbage dumped into an abandoned mine pit. The old-timers would weep.

They were a feisty lot with a common contempt for things southern. Toronto-bashing was endemic. There was Harry Oaks, who arrived broke after prospecting around the world, struck gold, and brought in the Lake Shore Mine which made him the richest man in Canada. As Sir Harry, the most taxed, he moved on to the Bahamas, where he was spectacularly murdered in 1943.

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Hudak would ‘suspend’ $122M GO Transit deal going to Quebec – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – August 18, 2011)

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.

Tory Leader Tim Hudak would “suspend” a $122 million contract with a Quebec firm to refurbish GO Transit coaches if he becomes premier this October.

This is the latest big ticket contract Hudak is looking at nixing. The Tories also intend to get rid of the $7 billion green energy Samsung agreement, which his party has dubbed the “king of all secret, sweetheart deals”.

North Bay’s Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, a Crown corporation, lost the bid to refurbish the GO trains which are owned by Metrolinx, another Crown firm. As a result nearly 109 jobs will be lost, said Nipissing Progressive Conservative candidate Vic Fedeli.

“We would immediately suspend it, then review it to see what our options are,” Fedeli told the Toronto Star on Wednesday.

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Northern Ontario Heritage Party faces challenges – by Wayne Snider (The Timmins Daily Press – August 16, 2011)

 The Daily Press, the city of Timmins newspaper. Contact the writer at news@thedailypress.ca.

While the Northern Ontario Heritage Party continues to experience growing pains, plans are beginning to come together for the fledgling political party. NOHP Leader Ed Debeil, of North Bay, still hopes to field candidates in all 11 Northern Ontario ridings for the Oct. 6 provincial election.

Currently the party has two confirmed candidates — in the ridings of Timiskaming-Cochrane and Kenora-Rainy River. Official announcements will be made later this week to introduce these candidates. Previously, Debeil had hoped to have riding associations formed and candidates in place in all 11 ridings by Aug. 8.

The process has moved slower than he had originally hoped. “We’re working on a candidate for Timmins-James Bay,” he explained in a phone interview on Monday. “I’ve had two or three people express interest in the nomination.

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[NDP mining policy] Job saver or job killer? – by Rachel Punch (Sudbury Star – August 16, 2011)

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

NDP MPP France Gelinas is standing by her party’s plan to keep Ontario’s resources in the province for processing, despite the Liberal claim it would put hundreds of well-paying jobs at risk in Sudbury.

Ontario NDP Leader Andrew Horwath announced earlier this month that if her party is elected in October, it would amend the Mining Act so resources mined in Ontario cannot be exported if they can be processed in Ontario. ” The North’s natural resources should be creating jobs in the North,” Horwath stated.

“Instead of letting companies take our resources and run, we can keep good value-added jobs and industry in northern communities.” Sudbury’s Liberal MPP Rick Bartolucci, however, said Monday the policy would mean job losses for Sudburians.

” This is just a policy that would ensure that other countries would close their borders to Canada and … most immediately would result in the loss of jobs in Sudbury,” he said.

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[NDP] Changing the rules [for resourse development in northern Ontario] – (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial – August 10, 2011)

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

ONTARIO NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is courting northern votes by proposing to protect and create northern jobs. It’s a familiar pledge. Few northerners will argue with her value-added intentions, announced in Thunder Bay Tuesday. But forcing industry’s hand at a time when industry is fond of simply moving to the cheapest jurisdiction goes against all that free trade and globalization, such as they are, strive for. It’s a tide that will be hard to turn.

Horwath says that if an NDP government is elected in October, it will ensure that Ontario’s natural resources stay in Ontario to create value-added forestry and mining jobs and give northern communities and First Nations a chance to share in more of the prosperity the North creates.

Horwath unveiled plans to fix forestry tenure rules to give communities more control over wood allocations. And she would amend the Mining Act so resources mined in Ontario cannot be exported if they can be processed in Ontario.

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