Liberals eye Ontario's northern chromite resource riches

Mar. 25, 2010
The Liberals bet tapping into northern Ontario's virtually untouched ore-rich land will lead to big pay-offs and to promote development they are offering $150 million in industry electricity breaks and $45 million for aboriginal job training.
But political opposition leaders say the incentives are "too little too late" for northern Ontario, where nearly 60 mills have closed and thousands of jobs lost.
Yet the government hopes development of the recent discovery of a massive deposit of chromite in the Ring of Fire area, 500 kms northeast of Thunder Bay, will help drive down the $21.3 billion deficit.
"For the 21st century, the discovery of chromite in the Ring of Fire could be as big as the discovery of nickel was in Sudbury in the 19th century," Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said in his budget speech.
The ring's development will be managed by a new co-ordinators office, which will bring together the competing interests wanting a piece of the Ring of Fire from First Nations to mining companies, the government and environmentalists to encourage "responsible development."
"This is the only chromite find in North America and it is potentially the largest in the world," Duncan said. Chromite is a key ingredient in stainless steel.
The Liberals promise they can marry development with an earlier promise to safeguard a large part of the northern boreal forest.
Impoverished First Nations, who live on the ore-rich area, want guarantees of training and jobs in exchange for access to their traditional lands. Environmental groups fear unchecked development in this area could cause an ecological disaster in a part of the province they say acts as a major carbon storehouse.
The budget does provide $45 million for a three-year skills training program to ready them for the Ring of Fire development.
The recession has hit northern Ontario particularly hard a combined effect from the collapse of the forestry industry, the international market dive and the strength of the Canadian dollar.
Premier Dalton McGuinty has said the province has a special responsibility to help lift the northern economy. There are also political reasons for encouraging northern resource development. In the upcoming fall 2011 provincial election, the Liberals could be in danger of losing six northern seats from Thunder Bay to Timiskaming.
To boost industrial development an area hit hard by large-scale layoffs in Sudbury and Timmins the budget creates a 3-year $150 million northern industrial electricity rate program.
Industry has complained high electricity costs in northern Ontario have hurt their businesses. The plan reduces prices by 25 per cent for industrial users. However, to get it, companies need to commit to "protect and create jobs".
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak said McGuinty has failed the north. "We've lost 60 mills in northern Ontario and some 45,000 well-paying manufacturing and resource jobs from Dalton McGuinty's tax hikes and increasing red tapes in energy policy," Hudak said.
Sky-high hydro rates have devastated the north, said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. She added McGuinty only became interested in job creation in the north when his own job appeared imperiled.
"Most of the jobs are gone already. You go to these towns and they are hollowed out," she said. "There is no plan around how we make sure the forestry resources we have are actually providing value added jobs in northern communities."
McGuinty's green energy act schemes the promise to create 50,000 new green jobs actually serve to drive energy prices up, he said.
"Too little, too late and it'll continue to drive well paying jobs out of communities like Timmins and Thunder Bay," he said.
The budget also provides relief to northern families struggling with high home heating costs. An energy credit of $35 million will be introduced for nearly half a million people. The credit is for low and middle income families - $130 for a single person with a net income between $35,000 to $48,000 and up to $200 for a family with a net income between $45,000 to $65,000.
The credit is for residents in Algoma, Cochrane, Kenora, Manitoulin, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Rainy Rifer, Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Timiskaming.