...when the political posturing will end and the real plan will be introduced to solve people's economical woes .

Province should get an F: Bisson

By CAROL MULLIGAN, THE SUDBURY STAR

Posted 1 hour ago

The release Friday of the Growth Plan for Northern Ontario 2011 was a red-letter day for Sudbury, said Liberal MPP Rick Bartolucci.

But Gilles Bisson said the plan will earn a red letter -- an F for failure-- with citizens of the North who recognize it does nothing to address the economic issues affecting their daily lives.

Bartolucci promised the plan would pave the way for solid, sustainable economic development in the North.

But Bisson insisted there's nothing new in the 60-page document and said its timing was more about political expediency than economic planning.

"This is a Liberal government who's down in the polls, who know they've got big trouble in Northern Ontario and are trying to make this a great day," said the Timmins-James Bay MPP at the launch of the Northern Growth Plan on Friday at Cambrian College.

"I think most northerners take it for what it is," said Bisson, the New Democrats' critic for Northern Development and Mines, Transportation and Native Affairs.

"It's a red-letter day all right. It's a letter F."

There is nothing wrong with a policy discussion about northern issues, said Bisson, but that has been going on in the North for 30 years.

"You need the specific policies tied to it. That's what the issue is, the specific initiatives."

Bisson speculated on the reaction of the average person to the plan.

"They're going to say, 'OK, here I am, I'm without a job,' or 'Here I am, I'm worried about my job. What are you going to do for me?'

"'Here I am, I'm paying too much for gas, I'm paying too much for electricity. What are you doing for me?' They don't see anything on those things."

If Premier Dalton McGuinty really wanted to help the North, the plan would have dealt with high rates that are killing industries that rely heavy on electricity, he said.

Nor does the plan contain any real commitment to infrastructure development, Bisson said. Those two issues are key to development of the Ring of Fire chromite deposits north of Thunder Bay.

"What are we going to do with the Ring of Fire? If we don't develop that infrastructure, if we don't do something over the next couple of years, that mine may not just happen.

"If we don't deal with the price of electricity, it won't happen," he said.

Gerry Labelle, Progressive Conservative candidate in Sudbury riding, chuckled more than once when discussing his reaction to the plan.

He said he had to smile at the description of the plan as by northerners, for northerners.

"It's being done to us," said Labelle.

He doesn't know a single person who was involved in the consultation process, he said, and he certainly was not.

The forest industry and some mining operations have been hammered by high hydro rates and northern Liberal MPPs aren't "jumping up and down" to help companies such as Cliffs Natural Resources build a smelter in the North.

That is despite the fact the North's economy has had the second lowest rate of growth in Canada recently.

"This is just another headline- stealing ploy to convince us that Dalton McGuinty really cares," said Labelle.

Nor is he impressed with the establishment of the Northern Policy Institute, which he called "another think tank," or plans to hold an economic conference for northern leaders in the spring.

cmulligan@thesudburystar.com