Ontario Northern Development, Mines and Forestry critic and Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak says the Ontario Liberals’ Northern Growth Plan will further isolate the north in a time when the region needs to open up to the world.
In late December, Hudak and fellow Conservative MPP Randy Hillier unveiled the PC Caucus’ Northern Ontario Jobs Plan, a response to regional job losses totaling 45,000 under the Liberals’ watch.
“Our focus is to spur private sector job creation across Northern Ontario and help keep talented young Northerners in their home communities,” said Hudak. “As developing countries like India and China grow and when the American economy does rebound there will be a huge appetite for minerals and wood products.”
The PC plan takes aim at the province’s Far North Act which will severely curtail development north of the 51st parallel – legislation Hudak says that seeks to appease Southern Ontario special interest groups at the cost of denying Northern residents of one of their last remaining sources of economic leverage – their land.
“We want to make significant investments in Northern Ontario infrastructure, including roads, bridges, cellular service and broadband to support families and help businesses thrive,” said Hudak. “We want to make better use of Crown land for development as well as look to revenue sharing from royalties that would be put back into Northern Ontario infrastructure to support further job creation. It’s only fair that these royalties be shared with host municipalities or First Nations.”
At the moment Northern Ontario’s unemployment rate stands at 12.9 per cent, 52 per cent higher than the national average.
The 2008-09 Fraser Institute’s annual survey of mining companies showed Ontario has fallen behind six other Canadian provinces – Quebec, Alberta, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan – as most attractive mining jurisdiction.
When Tim Hudak was Minister of Northern Development and Mines, Ontario was ranked as Canada’s best province for mining in the Fraser Institute’s annual survey of mining companies.
Hudak says the Northern Jobs Plan is a first step in a process that will lead up to the next provincial election in October of 2011.
“After Christmas Randy Hillier and I will be traveling through Northern Ontario communities, including Dryden,” he said. “We’ll use this plan as a basis for discussion with families, businesses and municipal leaders. We want to find out the best way to implement these ideas to help restore Northern Ontario as an engine of growth in our economy.”
- Chris Marchand
