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Province cuts ONTC, set to sell MNDM building; Ontario Northland to operate for time being – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 24, 2012)

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

The axe has started to fall on Ontario services in advance of Tuesday’s spring budget. The Liberal government announced Friday it is divesting itself of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, a Crown agency offering rail and bus ser vice, and telecommunications in Northern Ontario.

The agency employs almost 1,000 employees, most unionized. The move will save the government $103 million in operating costs annually. Sales of buildings and equipment could net the province “hundreds of millions” more in assets, said Ted Hargreaves, chair of the ONTC board.

The announcement was made Friday in Sudbury by Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci on the seventh floor of his ministry’s building at 159 Cedar St. While reporters were being briefed about Ontario Northland, Infrastructure Ontario issued a news release that the building in which the news conference was being held was going on the auction block.

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RING OF FIRE: Federal Natural Resources minister wants approvals streamlined – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – March 24, 2012)

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

Changes to speed up the approvals process for major natural resource projects will be introduced in the coming months, the minister of Natural Resources says.

 “I can’t speak to the specific date, but the whole point (is) we want the regulatory process to move more quickly, and so we really have to get on with it ourselves. So we’re talking months, not years,” Joe Oliver said Friday.

 However, he was vague about what exactly those changes will be.  “I can’t talk about the detail as specifics, but we’re going to make sure that there’s an adequate and respectful constitutionally driven consultation process. In other words, we want to have an open dialogue with aboriginal communities.

 “We’re not going to be doing anything that is going to undermine the ability of the regulator to do a thorough environmental review. We don’t want projects to go ahead that aren’t safe for Canadians and safe for the environment.”

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Liberals, Bartolucci have betrayed the North – by John R. Hunt (Sudbury Star – March 24, 2012)

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

John R. Hunt is a columnist for the North Bay Nugget whose appears on occasion in The Sudbury Star.

Promises are made to be broken and northeastern Ontario has been betrayed.

Ontario’s debt-ridden and too often incompetent government intends to throw the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission into the political dumpster and sell its assets.

No one knows future of more than 950 jobs. The implications for North Bay and every town and village as far north as Moosonee are serious. But the real meaning may be tragic for all Ontario.

It is a victory for southern suburban thinking. There is no vision, no hope and no ambition to create a truly great Ontario.

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Viterra another example of Canadian short-sightedness – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – March 24, 2012)

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.

ROME— Canada’s Viterra Inc. (VT-T15.91—-%) attracted lavish takeover attention, to no one’s surprise. The company is one of North America’s premier grain handlers and marketers. It is a huge supplier of fertilizer, seed and other agri-products to Canadian farmers. It owns great chunks of the South Australian grain-handling network. Between Canada and Australia, Viterra is a key player in two of the world’s most important bread baskets.

In short, it was a global champion in the making. Not any more. Early this week, Viterra was blown away like a tumbleweed by Glencore International of Switzerland, the world’s biggest and most aggressive commodities trader. Glencore, which is paying $6.1-billion for its prize, is keeping most of Viterra’s grain elevators, ports and other bits of infrastructure, plus virtually all of the Australian goodies. The rest of the company, such as the fertilizer business, is to be divvied up between Agrium and Richardson International.
 
What a shame. Canada needs global corporate champions. It has, perhaps, three: Bombardier, the world’s third-largest aerospace company, Barrick, the top gold player, and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan. Potash Corp., the global fertilizer leader, would have disappeared too had the federal government not blocked its sale to Australian mining colossus BHP Billiton in 2010.

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[NDP Sarah Campbell] MPP calls for talks on changing Far North Act – by Bryan Meadows (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – March 24, 2012)

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

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Sarah Campbell is calling for more consultation on changes to the Far North Act, with a goal of replacing it with new legislation that is more acceptable to Northern Ontario residents.

“The Liberal government didn’t listen to northerners and First Nations in Northern Ontario when they introduced the Far North Act,” Campbell said, in introducing a motion, calling for consultations, to the provincial legislature this week.

“Getting this right will help create economic opportunities and job creation in Northern Ontario and make sure the benefits are shared with the people who live here,” she said.

Campbell’s motion also proposes additional funding for First Nations’ land use planning, a joint co-ordinating body between First Nations and government, a resource revenue-sharing model, and the end to the provision that allows the government to overrule land use plans completed by First Nations.

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Ontario Northland Transportation Corporation to be divested – by Liz Cowan (Northern Ontario Business – March 23, 2012)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

Ontario Northland Railway.

The provincial government has announced the divestment of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC).
 
At a press conference in Sudbury March 23, Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci announced the “extremely difficult decision” and said while the business is good, the business model is not.
 
“Stagnant ridership, along with the ONTC’s unsustainable financial path, are key factors in today’s announcement,” he said. “The government is committed to completing this process in a fair manner, and it will be business as usual while this divestment takes place.” ONTC Board Chairman Ted Hargreaves said the current business model is not sustainable “and not able to go forward in the future.”

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Stockhouse Movers & Shakers: Why [Stan Bharti] mine financier’s strategy includes Larry King – Peter Kennedy (Stockhouse.com – March 22, 2012)

http://www.stockhouse.com/index.aspx

As the global expansion of his Toronto resource group unfolds, Stan Bharti finds that it helps to be hanging out with someone as instantly recognizable as talk show host Larry King.

In an era when coveted resource assets are increasingly being found in far flung regions of the globe, it doesn’t hurt to have high profile help to open doors and make the right connections.
 
It is why Canadian mining financier Stan Bharti has been hanging out with Larry King (yes that Larry King), taking the celebrity interviewer on business trips to Russia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kazakhstan.

In an interview with Stockhouse, Bharti said government support is vital to anyone who is looking to gain access to mineral rights in so-called emerging nations in Africa and Asia. So it helps to be accompanied by someone as instantly recognizable as King, a man who spent 25 years at CNN and has interviewed everyone from Paul McCartney to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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Firms clash on rights to build railway in Quebec [for iron ore miners] – by Nicolas Van Praet (National Post – March 23, 2012)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

MONTREAL – A clash over infrastructure assets is shaping up in northern Quebec, pitting the interests of two corporate titans against a group of junior miners.

At stake is the transport of as much as 200 million tonnes of iron ore by rail, an annual moving bill that could top $1-billion, and the long-term ownership and usage rights of a key transportation link.

Canadian National Railway Co. and pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec confirmed this week they are working on an estimated $5billion project to build a new 800-kilometre railway stretching from Sept-Îles north past Shefferville into the Labrador Mining Trough. The partners need firm transport commitments from mining companies before they can proceed.

But miners active in the region have been sketching out their own plan for a railway for more than two years, with the objective of controlling their own transport costs. They are worried that paying CN to move their iron ore powder or pellets will prove too expensive.

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NEWS RELEASE: Vic Fedeli, Ontario MPP, Nipissing – FAR NORTH REPEAL ACT DEFEATED

March 22, 2012

QUEEN’S PARK – Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli is extremely disappointed at defeat of Bill 44, the Far North Repeal Act, in the Ontario Legislature today.

The Private Members’ Bill put forward by PC Northern Development and Mines Critic Norm Miller (Parry Sound-Muskoka) would have removed the severe restrictions previously placed on development and exploration by the McGuinty government. However, Liberal and NDP members joined to defeat the Bill by a vote of 50-36 on Second Reading.

“I’m most upset that the NDP members across the North, many of whom have previously spoken out against the Far North Act in the past, decided to toe the party line instead of standing up for their constituents and voted against this,” Fedeli said.

“You really have to wonder how much influence these Northern members actually have in driving their party’s agenda.”

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NEWS RELEASE ONTARIO GOVERNMENT: Ontario Northland Transportation Commission

March 23, 2012 10:00 AM

Ontario has chosen to take a new approach to regional transportation in northeastern Ontario by winding down the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC).

This decision will allow the government to protect investments in northerners’ health and education systems while balancing the budget by 2017-18.

Since 2003, the government has worked hard to make the ONTC viable by increasing funding by 274 per cent. However, demand for its services has stagnated. Also, the current subsidy on the Northlander train is $400 per passenger, and no longer affordable.   

■Government funding has increased from $28 million annually in 2003-04 to $103 million this year.
■Ridership has remained stagnant at about 320,000 rides a year.
■Sales revenues have declined from $140 million in 2005 to just over $100 million this year.
■Private buses serve most of the same communities.

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Canada’s North finally opens up – by Philip Cross (National Post – March 23, 2012)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Philip Cross is a research fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute and the former chief ­economic analyst at Statistics Canada.

Six of the 20 fastest-­growing areas are in ­northern regions

Recently, the CBC released a DVD set featuring all its televised work of Glenn Gould. One of the interesting non-musical items was his hour-long film called The Idea of North, a reminder of the recurring if intermittent Canadian infatuation with our Northern frontier. We seem to be in one of those moods these days, with annual photo-ops of Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the Arctic and an array of investments to increase our presence in the North. Will this latest spike of interest in the North fare better than past episodes?
 
History is littered with the wreckage of past plans to develop Canada’s North. Diefenbaker’s 1958 election platform envisioning a “Canada of the North” never amounted to much, and he was soon tossed out of office. Charles Hays ran a rail line to the northern tip of B.C.’s coast in 1905, earning Prince Rupert its derisive nickname of “Hays’ Orphan” for most of the 20th century (Hays did not have to endure these taunts, having gone down with the Titanic in 1912). The Mackenzie Valley pipeline has been stuck in the planning stages for decades.

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Pipeline ploy real gusher – by Kelly McParland (National Post – March 23, 2012)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Cynical as it may appear (and undoubtedly is), you can see why President Barack Obama’s decision to embrace the southern leg of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline project – suddenly announcing on Thursday that he would fast-track approvals – sounded like a great idea within the White House.

You can also understand why his environmental “supporters” are spitting bullets. (I put “supporters” in quotes because environmentalists, like unions, only support you as long as you do exactly what they want.) And why they’re being joined by their arch-rivals in Big Oil.

In a way, it’s a great bit of politics. You have to admire the architecture, even if you don’t like the result (which almost no one appears to). It gives Mr. Obama a comeback for accusations hurled at him from all the various camps. And it traps the critics in their own positions.

The background goes like this: TransCanada Corp. wants to build a pipeline from the oil sands in Alberta that will carry crude to the Gulf Coast.

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Jean Charest, prospector – by Paul Wells (Macleans’s Magazine – March 21, 2012)

http://www2.macleans.ca/

It was a tweet yesterday from Andrew McIntosh at QMI that finally got me thinking about what Jean Charest’s government is up to in Quebec’s north. I’ll cut to the chase: basically he’s turning it into Alberta.
 
What Andrew noticed was that, while most of the reporters in Quebec City were safely tucked away in the provincial budget lockup, Charest’s former chief of staff announced he will become an executive at Canada Lithium, which means he’ll be spending a lot of time in Abitibi setting up a mine that will provide 12% of the world’s lithium and, in return, make everybody rich as thieves.
 
There’s not a whiff of scandal to this. It’s good to see former government people getting honest work. (And the guy involved has been out of government for five years.) But Stéphane Bertrand’s new line of work reflects where things are going in Quebec these days. The whole province — or at least its teetering Liberal government and its investment community — is going resource-crazy.
 
I had heard, vaguely, about Charest’s “Plan Nord,” which he seems to spend a lot of time talking about, and which I mostly took to mean “don’t look at the construction-industry corruption scandal.”

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Solid Gold reports progress in [Wahgoshig First Nation] dispute – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – March 23, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Some headway is being made in efforts to resolve a conflict between Solid Gold Resources Corporation and Wahgoshig First Nation.

“The government has made certain offers, which I won’t go into at the moment, to accommodate the First Nation,” Darryl Stretch, president of Solid Gold, told The Daily Press Thursday. “The very fact that the government has made some offer of accommodation inspires me just a little, tiny bit. Because it’s always been our position that the government must stand between us and the (First Nation) government.”

Stretch said all along, regional First Nation leaders have been asserting their communities are led by an autonomous government.

If that is to be the case, Stretch added, “then I don’t quite understand why my government would be insisting I go and enter agreement with their government. It just doesn’t make sense.”

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Councillor pleads to keep biz in city [Sudbury industrial parks upgrades] – by Mike Whitehouse (Sudbury Star – March 23, 2012)

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

The city should borrow up to $60 million to carry out its industrial lands strategy, Ward 8 Coun. Fabio Belli says.

Addressing a group of irate businessmen in the Elisabella Street industrial area of New Sudbury, Belli said every possible solution should be on the table for the city to help local businesses expand and create jobs — including going into debt.

The group of a dozen irate property owners along Elisabella had gathered to mull a 50-50 cost-sharing proposal for improving services that would see many of them going into debt themselves.

The Elisabella and Lasalle Boulevard area is the first of seven industrial areas the city plans to upgrade, banking on growth in the construction and mining supply and service sectors. The area has more than 450 acres of land zoned M3, of which 250 acres are vacant.

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