Northern [Ontario] debate the day’s priority – (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal editorial – September 16, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

THE LIBERALS had to know this was coming. Yet they went ahead in spite of the downside, apparently preferring it to having party leaders debate Northern Ontario issues in Thunder Bay where the Liberals hold both seats. The political blowback is coming hard and fast, and with seven days to go it can only get worse.

Last month, three key regional organizations formally confirmed an invitation to provincial party leaders to debate northern issues at a conference here Sept. 23, in the midst of the provincial election campaign.

The Northwestern Ontario Regional Conference is hosted by the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA), the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce (NOACC) and the Northwestern Ontario Development Network (NODN). It brings together municipal, business and economic development leaders from across the Northwest.

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Two of three will be here [Northern Ontario leadership debate] – (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal editorial – September 15, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

FROM time to time, politicians find themselves in no-win situations. Such was the case for Ontario’s three leading political party leaders when they were invited to participate in an election debate in Thunder Bay on northern issues. Attend and set a precedent that other regions will notice. Refuse and face a backlash from northern voters.

Handlers for Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty, Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak and NDP leader Andrea Horwath did neither of these things at the outset. For weeks following an invitation from the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association, the three camps bobbed and weaved, trying to figure out what the others would do while keeping NOMA and northerners waiting.

In the end, it was Horwath who forced the issue. In a letter to NOMA on Tuesday, the NDP leader accepted the invitation. In fact, Horwath had been after her competitors from the start of talks for the televised province-wide leaders debate to have two others outside Toronto, one here in the North. Parties deferred to the TV network consortium which did not offer more than the Toronto forum.

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Placer Dome Incorporated History: 1910-2002 – by International Directory of Company Histories

For a large selection of corporate histories click: International Directory of Company Histories

Company History: (Please Note that Placer Dome was taken over by Barrick Gold in 2006)

Placer Dome Inc., the fifth largest gold mining company in the world, produces approximately 3.5 million ounces of gold annually. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, the company also mines silver and copper and has interests in 18 mines, many outside of Canada, in countries including South Africa, Australia, the United States, and Papua New Guinea. A leader in mine exploration, Placer Dome spent about $60 million in 2003 on exploration.

The Creation of a New Company

Placer Dome Inc. was formed in 1987 by the amalgamation of three Canadian mining companies, creating the largest gold producer in North America with an annual output of more than 800,000 ounces of gold. Dome Mines Limited, the oldest of the three predecessors and one of Canada’s most venerable gold producers, was incorporated in 1910, following the discovery of the Dome Mine, a hard-rock mine in northern Ontario, which was still producing gold in 1997. The mine and the company got their name from the shape of the gold-studded rock structure a band of prospectors literally stumbled over in 1909.

Placer Development Limited was incorporated in British Columbia in 1926 and made its first earnings during the 1930s, dredging gold from the gravel of a river in Papua New Guinea, then under Australian mandate. “Placer,” which was Spanish for shoal, referred to water-borne deposits of sand or gravel containing particles of gold or silver. Mining that deposit was no easy task.

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