NDP critic knocks Liberals over Ring of Fire

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Re: Minister defends record on Ring of Fire

Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle’s letter to the editor criticizing NDP Leader Andrea Horwath on the Ring of Fire demonstrates the Liberal government’s failure to develop the project and Premier Wynne’s lack of leadership for Northern Ontario.

The minister claims his government is leading the way to drive development in the Ring of Fire and that significant progress has been made despite his government’s widely reported failures on the project.

Ask Northerners what they think about the Liberal record on Ring of Fire.

After lack of action on the Ring of Fire over the last seven years and a vague announcement of creating a development corporation, the Wynne government gave itself a deadline of 60 days to create that corporation that was to include partners in industry and First Nations. What the Wynne government produced, in order to meet its self-imposed deadline, was a board comprised of four government bureaucrats sitting at the table by themselves.

The Wynne government failed to bring industry together. Premier Wynne and Minister Gravelle failed to bring First Nations together.

The facts speak for themselves. Cliffs Resources, a significant property holder in the Ring of Fire, ceased all activity on the project and is now considering selling off its stakes. With Cliffs goes the promise of a smelter in Capreol that would have meant up to 1,000 jobs.

Instead of concerning herself with this considerable step backwards, Wynne shrugged it off saying there was nothing she could do.

When it comes to First Nations, the minister claims it reached “a historic agreement with the Chiefs of the Matawa Tribal Council that lays the groundwork for future discussions.”

Meanwhile, Matawa chiefs have publicly expressed concern the provincial government is violating this agreement when it excluded them from the development corporation board and is not consulting them on mining permits in the Ring of Fire.

Despite these facts, the minister says his government is proud of the work it has accomplished.

While the minister touts a “commitment” of $1 billion and claims the NDP refused to commit a single dollar to develop the Ring of Fire during the past election, the Wynne government hasn’t spent a dime because the project has failed to get started. That commitment remains an election-time promise.

New Democrats made it very clear this past election that it would move immediately to develop the Ring of Fire with access to a $29-billion infrastructure fund.

Finally, the minister said, “in any complex development process, it is important for the right steps to happen at the right time.” After seven years of lip service from the Liberal government, Northerners have waited long enough to see some of those right steps to develop the Ring of Fire.

Northerners need less rhetoric from Gravelle and Wynne and more action to get shovels in the ground in the Ring of Fire. Thousands of jobs for communities across the North depend on it.

Michael Mantha

MPP, Algoma-Manitoulin 
NDP Critic for Northern Development and Mines