"He conceded the feds "have provided significant support for a number of the building blocks" for Ring of Fire development, including skills training, but solving the access issue is PARAMOUNT."

My capital letters.
So why are Feds spending money for education on jobs that do not exist and will not for years. I say it is a delay tactic until federal election is called. Then they will play an appropriate tune for the votes.
Your translation Redgreen has to be slightly off, it has to be in 2015 or never.

Another reason I say that it has to be the E/W road is because the Billion $s from Ontario is not enough alone for the railway and that billion has to cover transportation and hydro line. Rail or road alone is not enough. Power has to be in place to facilitate local operations. Diesel power is not likely to suffice and unnecessary expense that many companies would balk and voters irated.