Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant and columnist who blogs at: www.republicofmining.com He can be reached at stan.sudol@republicofmining.com
There are many reasons that contributed to Premier McGuinty’s minority government in the recent Ontario election. However, one of the most contentious issues contributing to his decline in the vast regions of the North – an area that is seldom on the Toronto media’s agenda – was the much detested Far North Act. Praised by the south’s many well-funded and powerful environmental groups, this legislation cuts off half of the Far North – 225,000 square kilometers – to resource development, roughly 21 per cent of the province’s landmass and turns it into natural parks.
As they often say, “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” The horrific downside to this green ideology is that mineral exploration and potential mines – the only form of economic development that could reduce the impoverished, third-world living conditions in First Nation communities – is being reduced or stopped in the affected territory.
A generation ago the destruction of the fur industry in northern Aboriginal communities by an aggressive, media-savvy environmental movement caused enormous economic hardships and contributed many social ills. Are McGuinty and his environmental thugs doing the same with their parks agenda? Is the Far North Act inherently “Anti-Aboriginal”?