Trudeau in Thunder Bay Friday for major announcement

THE CHRONICLE-JOURNAL

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in Thunder Bay Friday to make a major announcement that is believed to involve infrastructure funding.

Informed sources tell The Chronicle-Journal that Trudeau and Mayor Keith Hobbs will appear at an event together.

Sources say that Trudeau will also meet the Nishnawbe Aski Nation leadership Friday afternoon. No details of that meeting were available but the recent federal budget contained major expenditures around a range of pressing First Nations issues.

Trudeau visited Sudbury today and was to meet with that city’s council which has been seeking a federal share of funding for an $80 million road project that has already received an Ontario allocation of $26 million.

Trudeau was also to visit Sault Ste. Marie Friday morning to make an announcement, though no details of that have emerged.

Thunder Bay has long been seeking equal shares of funding from each of the federal and provincial governments toward construction of a proposed $114-million event and convention centre. The city has already set aside more than $20 million in a reserve fund in hopes the project will proceed.

Hobbs reiterated in an interview with The Chronicle-Journal Wednesday that the project will not happen without senior government funding but that the project could be scaled back to eliminate the convention centre if a privatized Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation proposed building a hotel and conference centre in Thunder Bay to go along with its casino.