Timmins

 The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

NDP backs down on ‘regional issue’ to avoid election

The fate of Ontario Northland is not worth triggering a provincial election. This was the message from MPP Gilles Bisson (NDP — Timmins-James Bay) minutes before stepping into the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to push the much-criticized Liberal budget forward.

“We will allow the budget motion to pass by not voting against it,” said Bisson. “We are essentially choosing to abstain from the issue. We aren’t voting for it because this is still a Liberal budget and there are still things in this budget that we don’t like.”

The provincial NDP are choosing to sit this one out, said Bisson, taking what they can from the budget for the province and hoping that the ONTC doesn’t fall through the cracks. A leap of faith, some might say.

“At this point, people don’t want an election, so we made some amendments to the budget and we are allowing it to move forward,” he said. “If the budget motion was to fail today, we would be in an election by this afternoon.”

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The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper and Wayne Snider is the city editor.

Don’t expect NDP MPPs to save Ontario Northland

Is it possible that one of the reasons the provincial government wants to scrap the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission is that it’s too helpful to Northeastern Ontario? The ONTC has a long history of being progressive in terms of economic development for the region.

In recent history, it was the ONTC that stepped up to the plate to help establish a phosphate mine near Kapuskasing by creating a new spur directly to the site.

And it was the ONTC that recently joined Timmins officials during discussions for a chromite processing facility from the Ring of Fire Project — the biggest mineral discovery in Ontario in the last 100 years. Ontario Northland isn’t just a key component to development in the North, it is part of the North.

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The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Unionized workers organize campaign to save Ontario Northland

“Ontario Northland is the glue that holds the North together!”  This is the message and platform on which critics of the privatization of the ONTC are launching their campaign upon to save what has been called the 100-year-old staple of Ontario’s North.

The McGuinty government announced their intent to dismantle and privatize most of the crown corporation’s holdings last week during the provincial budget. The news was met with an immediate outcry of anger and confusion.

Brian Kelly and his fellow members of the Ontario Northland General Chairperson’s Association (ONGCA) mustered their strength and are ready to fight the Liberal government for every railroad tie and every metre of track.

“The government likes to comment a lot on how much money they spend, but they don’t like talking about how much money gets put back into the economy,” Kelly said.

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The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

If selling off the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission will hinder economic opportunities for this region as badly as we’re being told by local politicians, then our provincial representatives in the North need to do what they can to stop it.

That includes bringing down the Liberal government. Interestingly, that opportunity appeared just one day after Ontario Northern Development Minister Rick Bartolucci announced the province would be divesting itself of the ONTC.

It was that following day, Dalton McGuintry’s Liberal minority government presented its spring budget. Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives have already indicated they are going to vote against it. If Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats follow suit, the Liberal government falls and the ONTC gains a reprieve.

Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson told The Daily Press Friday his party’s preference would be to avoid forcing a provincial election just six months after the last one was held.

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Provincial Liberals need some intellectual Viagra

It is almost beyond comprehension how the Queen’s Park Liberals can consistently make decisions that are so clearly against the interests of Northern Ontario.

Over the years, Northerners have become accustomed to being ignored by southern politicians. As bad as that was, at least when the North was ignored, it meant we were being left alone.

It’s much worse now. Queen’s Park is imposing policies and changes on the North that defy reason. Things such as the changes to The Mining Act, The Far North Act and the Endangered Species Act fly in the face of reality. Some of it borders on junk science.

The decision announced last Friday that Queen’s Park is selling off Ontario Northland assets is another example of how that government is out of touch.

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Northern leaders have little good to say about the provincial budget

Still stinging from the announcement that Ontario Northland will be axed, political leaders were hoping to hear some good news for the North in Tuesday’s provincial government. They didn’t get it. Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren wasn’t impressed with the latest budget.

“Personally, I’m very disappointed,” Laughren said. “There doesn’t appear to be anything in there to have an affect on the municipalities, but I look at it from a Northern Ontario perspective. “There is so much opportunity for growth and mining, yet the provincial government can’t get their act together to make that happen.”

Laughren expressed frustration. He doesn’t believe the government is taking advantage of opportunities available with resource-based industries. Plus, the North is still in shock with the recent decision to divest the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission.

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City council lashes out in response to decision to sell Ontario Northland

Mayor Tom Laughren and several Timmins city councilors expressed dismay and disappointment Monday night with Premier Dalton McGuinty and senior ministers at Queen’s Park in light of the announcement last Friday that the Ontario Government plans to sell off the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC).

Their anger comes in view of the fact that the mayor and several councilors were in Toronto just a few weeks ago to meet with the premier and several cabinet ministers at the annual meeting of the Ontario Good Roads Association.

That is one of the few times in the year when municipal councilors get face time with the Premier and the cabinet to discuss vital issues for the North.

“There was no hint at anytime in our meeting with Minister Bartolucci, or formerly Minister Gravelle, that anything like this was being considered,” Laughren told council Monday night.

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 The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Drummond Report calls for privatization

Since 1902, the Ontario Northland Railway has been providing transportation, supplies and a life link to the countless communities that dot the Northern reaches of the province.

Recently, the government commissioned a report to assess the provincial deficit, make suggestions for cost cutting and provide a five-year fiscal plan. The result was the Drummond Report.

The report raises a number of issues for Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson, the most prominent being the future of Ontario Northland.

“The problem is that when the government commissioned Drummond to make his report, they essentially said to him, ‘you can only look at the expenditures side of the budget sheet, you cannot look at the revenue side,’” he said. “How do you balance a budget a if you don’t look at the revenue side?”

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The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

First step in giving a voice to Northern Ontario

Thursday marked the turning point in history for Northern Ontario that was promised by MPP Gilles Bisson (NDP — Timmins-James Bay) earlier this week.

The motion to create a Northern Committee was passed readily at Queen’s Park via voice vote despite concerns over snags and party politics voiced by NDP House Leader Bisson.

“We’re really happy that it passed,” he said. “There was some concern that The Conservatives would be voting against the motion. “I don’t think that anyone wanted to be seen on the record as voting against it, so they allowed it to pass through voice vote.”

The voice vote allowed MPPs to vote freely on the motion without being held to task by their respective political parities.

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The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Minister to alter Abitibi River Forest restrictions

A three-day lobby effort is proving worthwhile for Timmins and Northeastern Ontario.

Mayor Tom Laughren wrapped up his trip to the Ontario Good Roads Association convention in Toronto on Tuesday. He had an opportunity to meet with two more cabinet ministers and their representatives prior to returning North.

“Timmins issues have been very well received,” Laughren reported in a phone interview from the OGRA meetings.

Earlier in the week, Laughren had a session with Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Kathleen Wynne. He followed that up on Tuesday by meeting with MPP Mario Sergio (Liberal — York West), the parliamentary assistant to Wynne.

One Timmins-specific topic the mayor brought to the attention of the ministry was the city’s housing shortage.

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