Wayne Snider is the city editor for The Daily Press, the city of Timmins newspaper. Contact the writer at news@thedailypress.ca.
“That’s why southern-based environmental groups have more say in legislation that
shapes the North’s future than Northerners. That’s why the voices of our Northern
leaders are ignored when we are outraged by the decisions being made in Queen’s
Park. That’s why we are not overly surprised when a contract to refurbish GO trains
in the GTA is given to an out-of-province firm when the job can be done in the North.”
(Wayne Snider – Timmins Daily Press)
Northern Ontario is becoming a living paradox. While there are great amounts of wealth being created, or waiting to be created, the full potential of the benefits are not being realized by the region.
We have areas — such as Attawapiskat — where local residents have been waiting for the basic need of a decent school for more than 20 years. Yet a stone’s throw away, some of the world’s best quality diamonds are being mined.
We have entire communities which are in the process of dying slow painful deaths, where a key industry such as a sawmill or a pulp and paper mill has shut down, while the raw resources continue to be taken from the area for processing out of province.
We have seen legislation out of southern Ontario designed to “protect” the North — such as the Endangered Species Act and the Far North Act — actually tear away at the socio-economic fabric of Northern society.