By Carol Mulligan, Sudbury Star

Monday, July 21, 2014 9:27:45 EDT PM

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Sudbury's Steve May attended the convention and was surprised to learn every person attending had heard about the rich chromite deposits 540 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay -- whether they were from British Columbia or New Brunswick.

May has been thinking of the Ring of Fire as a regional issue, "but had I lived in Alberta in the early '80s, I might have thought the development of the tar sands was a regional issue.

"We know it's not," he said of the Ring of Fire. "It's a national project."

Before delegates to the convention met, they agreed to put a motion on the weekend agenda calling for a five-pillar policy to develop the area.

It addresses community benefits, energy, transportation, value-added industry and lifecycle planning for extracted resources.

To maximize the Ring of Fire's economic potential for Canada, the Greens' policy is calling for the creation of a working group to assess the feasibility of a value-added stainless steel industry as a requirement of development.

May said he hasn't heard other political parties talk much about minimum standards to develop the Ring of Fire, but he has heard a lot of talk about "the minutiae of specific development projects" such as the best location for a road, the road versus rail debate and the location of a ferrochrome smelter.

"There needs to be a much broader regional planning exercise that's undertaken," said May, "and we believe that needs to be the starting point."

Because the Ring of Fire is such a massive project, members felt it couldn't be overlooked by the party and wanted to give candidates running in the 2015 federal election "something of substance from which to work."

The party's membership will vote on the motion within 90 days.

The Green Party isn't against mining, said May, but it does believe in a "go slow" or "go right" approach to developing a massive project like the Ring of Fire.

Without the proper groundwork, "we really run the risk of not just creating circumstances for environmental pollution, but creating infrastructure that won't meet the needs of what we expect tomorrow to be like. We really need to do the planning up front."

Some parties are gung-ho to get shovels in the ground as quickly as possible.

"We did that in Alberta and we created a lot of wealth, but we also created a lot of issues," he said.

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has estimated the Ring of Fire contains mineral wealth worth more than $25 billion, with a 32-year economic impact.

Other organizations have estimated the Ring of Fire could generate as much as $60 billion in mineral wealth for as long as a century.

That wealth isn't going anywhere, said May. "It's only going to become more valuable as time goes on."

The Green Party wants to mine it, but it wants to do it in a way that's ecologically sound and sustainable for local communities.

When it looks at the impact on communities, social justice and education both fall under benefit as well as the economy.

"We know mining operations will come and go, but they need to leave behind assets that will provide tangible benefits to communities," said May.

The two Green MPs sitting in this session of Parliament aren't likely to change the majority Conservative government's mind on Ring of Fire issues, including investing in infrastructure, said May.

The Conservatives have said Ontario can apply through the federal infrastructure fund for matching dollars for infrastructure projects, "but that's not anywhere near the approach we're suggesting."

He and other Green members are hoping the motion, if ratified (and motions passed at biennial meetings have never failed), will make other parties realize Greens have good ideas they might want to consider.

After this motion was submitted at the convention, Ecojustice, a national charitable organization dedicated to defending Canadians' right to a healthy environment, submitted a report on regional planning saying the same thing the Green Party is saying, making a case for sustainable development, said May.

"These conversations, they're already happening around the province."

carol.mulligan@sunmedia.ca