Trudeau’s budget day is here

Federal watchers are hoping the governing Liberals won’t forget about Ring of Fire infrastructure when their first budget is delivered this afternoon.

Some say the best thing the new government can do is follow through with a plan to build roads into the remote mineral-rich region, finally connecting isolated First Nations to the rest of Ontario.

“We have been assured that this is in their plan — roads-to-reserves approach,” Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs said Monday.

Hobbs said that if roads and other infrastructure are funded by the feds, then mining companies like Noront would have an easier time moving ahead with job-creating projects.

“I would be shocked if there is no reference to (RoF infrastructure) in the budget,” said NDP MP Charlie Angus said.

“Governments can’t build mines, but they can build roads,” said Angus (Timmins-James Bay).

Officials with Toronto-based Noront, which is proposing to build a $700-million nickel mine about 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, weren’t available for comment Monday.

For its part, the Ontario government earlier earmarked $1 billion for RoF roads and energy-related infrastructure, with the expectation that the federal government would put up an equal amount.

“The Ring of Fire project needs the input of all levels of government to succeed, including First Nations, municipalities and certainly the federal government,” Ontario’s Nothern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle said Monday in an email.

The budget may also bode well for Thunder Bay’s proposed event centre, Hobbs said, allowing the city to take advantage of a greater share of federal funds for recreational projects.

The city is looking to replace its aging Fort William Gardens arena.