Wow Norm Miller gave quite the speech and a good deserved spanking to the libs.  Went on so long they ran out of time to get an answer.... stay tuned for tomorrow.

Seems like things are ramping up with Essar coming to a conclusion soon.....gobble gobble at .22

GLTA

Ringer

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http://www.ontla.on.ca/house-proceedings/transcripts/files_pdf/11-APR-2017_L067.pdf

Mr Norm Miller

When I was at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference last month, it was great to see
so many businesses based in northern Ontario that
support the mining sector. I had a chance to chat with a
number of business people, like Kevin McDowell  of
McDowell equipment in Sudbury. Kevin is the second
generation of his family to run this business. And while
business is good, it would be even better if this
government would start to live up to its promises about
developing the Ring of Fire. There are 900 mining
service and supply companies like McDowell equipment

or the Bucket Shop, which hosted one of the episodes of
The Agenda last week. The majority of these companies
are in the north.
The mining sector accounts for more than 100,000
jobs in Ontario: 77,000 jobs directly and indirectly in the
fabrication and processing of minerals, and another
25,000 jobs in mining services and equipment. Mining is
the largest private sector employer of indigenous Canadians.
Just last week, in a meeting with John Mullally, the
director of government relations for Goldcorp, he told me
that at the Musselwhite mine roughly 250 of the 800
employees are indigenous—250 out of 800. He also
talked about how many indigenous individuals participate in Goldcorp’s apprenticeship program, which gives
them experience in a variety of trades and a chance at a
long-term job.
Mr. Speaker, mining is hope for those Far North indigenous communities, and that’s why mining is the
biggest employer of indigenous people.
And these are well-paying jobs. The average weekly
wage in mining is 60% higher than the average industrial
wage in Ontario—60% higher.
Finally, these are safe jobs. Ontario is one of the safest
mining jurisdictions in the world. Ontario started to
legislate safety in mines shortly after the 1890 Charlton
Commission report. Shortly after that, the Mines  Act
established provisions for ventilation, blasting, lifting
devices, shafts, signals, brakes, machinery, boilers and
the investigation of all mining accidents. Of course, this
legislation has been updated many times since then, as
our knowledge has increased and technology has improved. But, Mr. Speaker, I’m going to make a recommendation for an improvement that needs to be done
now.
As I mentioned earlier, Goldcorp is about to open an
all-electric gold mine in Chapleau. The current
regulations basically just state the amount of air that has
to be moved and all kinds of very prescriptive ventilation
requirements. Well, this all-electric mine doesn’t have
the same sort of diesel fumes in it etc., so what Goldcorp
is recommending—and I think it makes all the sense in
the world—is regulations that just state an air quality
objective that you have to meet.
I think that’s something that should be implemented
across many of the regulations in Ontario: regulations
that state a goal but let the business figure out how to
meet the goal rather than being so prescriptive and
creating all kinds of red tape. The current regulations will
require Goldcorp to put in all kinds of ventilation when
they don’t need it, at great expense, and great energy
costs to run this ventilation as well. We all know how
expensive electricity is in the province of Ontario.
There are currently 300 active mineral exploration
projects under way in Ontario. In 2015, $393 million was
invested in mineral exploration and deposit appraisal in
Ontario. I raise this because staking a claim is really the
first step in this whole process, and a traditional
prospector physically staking that claim is really doing
part of that exploration. The government is going to have

to work with mining companies to find new roles and
new income for those traditional prospectors.
In 2007, the University of Toronto Institute for Policy
Analysis did a study on behalf of the Ontario Mining
Association called Ontario Mining: A Partner in
Prosperity Building—The Economic Impacts of a
“Representative Mine” in Ontario. The title really tells
the story: Mining can be a partner for prosperity. I want
to read just the first paragraph of the report:
“The combined direct, indirect and induced economic
impacts of a representative mine are extremely large. In
its ‘opening’ or construction phase the mine adds about
$140 million to Ontario GDP and generates almost 2,000
jobs annually. In its production phase, for each year of
operation, the mine adds approximately $280 million to
Ontario GDP and increases Ontario’s employment by
almost 2,300 at a rate of compensation per employee well
above the provincial average.”
The report goes on to say, “We find that a large proportion of the economic impacts of a representative mine
that stay in Ontario also stay in the local area. In the
building phase approximately 1,300 of the total of 2,000
jobs annually generated are local. In the production phase
there are 1,500 jobs created annually at the local level out
of approximately 2,300 for the province as a whole.”
This government should do everything they can to
reduce red tape and help those 300 mineral exploration
projects become mines. We heard from the third party
before I was speaking. The member from Algoma–
Manitoulin was talking about some of the challenges that
you hear when you meet with mining companies. I agree
with him, because I meet with the same mining companies and hear the same comments.
The fact that there’s no established consultation
framework for mining companies—there’s uncertainty in
Ontario, and you hear that. You meet with just about any
mining company without bringing it up, and they will
bring it up and tell you that there is uncertainty. There’s
not an established framework for what consultation is
required with indigenous people in the province of
Ontario. And compared to other jurisdictions, there’s not
the same sort of certainty around revenue resource
sharing.
We’ve also heard about energy costs being a huge
consideration. We saw just a few years ago Xstrata
Nickel move out of the province of Ontario. They moved
across the border to Quebec where they have a dirtier
plant, a dirtier smelter, but far cheaper electricity, and we
lost 700 jobs in Ontario when that happened.
1750
That brings me to the Ring of Fire. We cannot talk
about mining modernization without asking when this
government will stop making promises and start making
real progress on developing the Ring of Fire. Let’s
review the government’s promises about the Ring of Fire.
The Ring of Fire has been mentioned in every speech
from the throne since 2010, and in most budgets. Promises, such as:
“Your government is fully committed to working with
northerners, aboriginal communities and mining partners

to fully realize the Ring of Fire’s potential.” That was
from the speech from the throne, March 8, 2010.
“Your government remains fully committed to turning
the vast, untapped potential of the Ring of Fire into good,
leading-edge northern jobs.” That was from the speech
from the throne, November 22, 2011.
“A commitment of $1 billion to develop strategic
transportation infrastructure in the Ring of Fire and
unlock the north’s economic growth and jobs potential.”
That was the budget from July 14, 2014.
I still remember the press conference  with Cliffs
Natural Resources, that when you read it, the title of it
was thousands of jobs coming to northern Ontario. It was
a number of years ago now, but when you read the press
release, I mean it sounded like within six months you
were going to see these thousands of jobs, and things
were just going to be booming. Well, that was years ago,
and nothing has happened. I mean that all sounds great if
only some of it had happened.

Why is it important that the government live up to its
commitments around the Ring of Fire? According the
Ontario Chamber of Commerce, “The Ring of Fire is the
most promising mineral discovery in a generation. Ontario cannot afford to miss this economic development
opportunity.” I couldn’t say it better myself, except to
point out that the Ring of Fire will benefit northern
Ontario, a region that desperately needs jobs and an
economic boost.
Again I turn to the chamber of commerce for statistics.
Over the first 10 years of development, the Ring of Fire
will generate up to $9.4 billion in gross domestic product,
sustain up to 5,500 jobs annually and generate $2 billion
in government revenue. As  he prepares this year’s
budget, I’m quite sure the Minister of Finance could find
some useful purpose for the provincial share of $2
billion.
Unfortunately, for all the announcements, we’ve seen
very little development of the Ring of Fire, and don’t
take it from me. Let’s see what the Ontario Chamber of
Commerce has to say now about the government’s
performance in Where Are We Now? A Report Card on
the Ring of Fire

The first grade was for accelerating development in
the Ring of Fire. What grade did this government get?
They got an F. The second grade was for following
through on the regional framework agreement between
the Chiefs of the Matawa-member First Nations and the
government of Ontario. What grade did this government
get? They got a C. The next grade was for addressing the
physical infrastructure deficit in the Ring of Fire. What
did they get? They got a C-. On drawing as much as
possible from the local labour force in order to maximize
the benefits of the Ring of Fire, this government got a B-.
That’s their best grade. On capturing more value-added
processes in Ontario, a D. On making the Ring of Fire a
national priority, another F. Finally, on addressing the
barriers that impede the development of the Ring of Fire
and, more broadly, the competitiveness of the mining
sector, another C.

I don’t know about the ministers of this government,
but I think if my kids came home with a report card like
that—my kids are all out of school now. I’m sure if the
pages came home with a report card where the best grade
was a B, and they had a couple Fs and Cs, I don’t think
their parents would be too happy with that report card.
But that’s the report card that this government got
from the chamber of commerce of the province of
Ontario on what seemed to be a huge legacy development, what could be a hundred-year mine—a hundredyear mine—and that’s the report card of this government.
That’s the priority that this government is showing for
the Ring of Fire.
Let’s look at another report card, and that’s from the
Fraser Institute, because they do an annual report on
mining activity, a worldwide survey of mining around the
world. Since this government came to power in 2003,
Ontario has dropped from being the seventh most
attractive place to invest in mining to 18th, according to
this year’s Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining
Companies.
Mr. Speaker, I do recall that back at a time when there
was a PC government, we were actually number one at
one point, number one in mining. We had members like
Mr. Wilson, who was the Minister of Northern Development and Mines, the member for Simcoe–Grey. At that
point, there were policies in place, and we were number
one in the world. Unfortunately, this year’s report shows
us at 18th.
By comparison, Saskatchewan ranks first, Manitoba
ranks second, Quebec ranks sixth, Yukon ranks 15th, and
Newfoundland and Labrador ranks 16th.
Let’s look at Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Why are
they on top? This is from the report: “Competitive tax
regimes, efficient permitting procedures and certainty
surrounding environmental regulations and land claims
have vaulted Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the top in
the eyes of miners looking to invest.” That is a quote
from Kenneth Green, senior director of the Fraser
Institute’s energy and natural resource studies.
One of the things they talked about here was permitting. Last year, I and some of my colleagues travelled up
to northeastern Ontario and we toured Detour Gold. We

drove down about an 80-kilometre road that was built by
a PC government to get that mine happening, back in the
1980s. That road is still in use, and the mine is still
operating.
What was their main complaint? Permitting. They said
that it just takes so long to get a permit in. With the Ring
of Fire, what was supposed to take six weeks was over
two years, just to get the terms of reference for permits.
That’s why Ontario is looking so unattractive for mining
in this province.
Why is Ontario so far down the list? One respondent
to the survey said this: “Building a road or rail to the
Ring of Fire would help to encourage investment in the
province.” The government has made lots of announcements about funding infrastructure to the Ring of Fire,
but nothing has happened yet.

I want to point out that this survey is weighted 40% by
policy and 60% by mineral potential. We all know that
Ontario’s known mineral potential went up with the
discovery of the Ring of Fire in 2007, so the government
policy must be pretty bad to drag our investment
attractiveness ranking down 11 spots. On the policy side
of this survey, we ranked 26th in the world.
Ontario is home to a huge number of mining companies, and the world’s largest annual mining conference, the
Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference, which takes place every March.
I’m running out of time, Mr. Speaker. In closing, I
want to say that I agree with the idea of modernizing the
process of staking a claim, but like so many things this
government does, I am concerned about how they’re
going to go about implementing that policy. I hope it’s
not another mess-up like eHealth or various other things
that they’ve managed to mess up, like the various electronic things they have been involved in. I don’t think too
many of them have gone too well. I hope they’ve learned
from past mistakes.
Mr. Speaker, thank you.

Third reading debate deemed adjourned.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Since it is
now close to 6 o’clock, this House stands adjourned until
tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock.
The House adjourned at 1759.