Opposition targeting Far North Act

News — 01 November 2011

By Ally Dunham

MPP for Nipissing, Vic Fedeli renewed the Ontario PCs call for Dalton McGuinty to undo his legislation and repeal Bill 191, which received Royal Assent on October 25, 2010.

“We want it to be repealed, so when the legislature sits, we will be calling for them (Liberal party) to repeal Bill 191. Had this bill been in place any earlier, we would never have discovered the Ring of Fire which is one of the largest mining finds in Ontario’s history,” said Fedeli. “That’s a pretty compelling reason in itself that we should be repealing Bill 191. So we can get on with exploration in northern Ontario and put people back to work. It’s all about the jobs.”

With MPP Michael Gravelle now sitting in the position of Minister of Natural Resources, Fedeli says it will take all of the members from all of the parties to have a review of the bill.

“No matter which Minister is in which position, it’s the same government that passed this, that promised northern consultation, then reneged on the consultation,” said Fedeli. “They backtracked on the promise of northern consultation and went ahead and forced this through. Now you’ve got not one First Nation chief, not one northern Ontario mayor, that’s in favour of this. It’s like drawing a curtain over half of Ontario and making a museum out of it.”

Gravelle said, “What we’re (Liberal party) saying is that this is an important, perhaps unprecedented land use planning process that very much engages First Nations.”

“We’ve had five First Nations communities that have completed community-based land use plans which means they have determined and signed off on agreements in terms of what parts of their traditional lands they want protected, and what parts of their traditional lands they want opened for economic development opportunities,” said Gravelle.

“Premier McGuinty made it very clear, certainly when we were successful in our re-election, and when he put the cabinet together, that our priority as a government is jobs and economic development,” said Gravelle.

Kenora-Rainy River District MPP, Sarah Campbell says, “I do agree with the Progressive Conservatives in that the Far North Act as it stands now is not adequate. I think that it’s not going to be anything that will help us move forward in the region in terms of development and jobs. I do agree that the Far North Act as it stands now needs to be scrapped, but I strongly differ that it shouldn’t be replaced.”

Campbell sees the lack of a replacement of the Far North Act as a free-for-all for the mining companies if there is no legislation in place that the First Nations don’t support and agree with.

“I certainly want to sit down with the opposition members and engage them in discussions related to how they think we can potentially work towards some mutual goals in terms of economic development in Ontario and I look forward to having that opportunity to do so,” said Gravelle.

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