[Quebec Plan Nord] Is More Talk the Right Prescription for Northern Ontario? – by Livio Di Matteo (Northern Economist Blog – January 19, 2012)

Livio Di Matteo is Professor of Economics at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Visit his new Economics Blog “Northern Economist” at http://ldimatte.shawwebspace.ca/

Media reports on the visit yesterday by Quebec based consultants who worked on Quebec’s Plan Nord appear to have emphasized their prescription for more planning and discussion.  The Plan Nord is the Quebec government’s parallel to our own Northern Growth Plan and their plan to develop their own north with anticipated investments of 80 billion dollars and the creation of as many as 20,000 jobs. 

The Mayor of Greenstone was quoted as saying the time for talk had passed and some direct action was needed by the province in getting things going.  On the other hand, according to a report on TBNewswatch:

A pair of Quebec-based consultants, however, have suggested what’s needed is more talk.  It’s worked in Quebec, said Yvan Loubier, a senior consultant for National Public Relations in Quebec City, who has worked with both governments and communities in Northern Quebec to help facilitate a 25-year plan for economic salvation in an area hard hit by many of the same concerns afflicting Northern Ontario, particularly First Nations communities. It didn’t come easily, at least not at first.

“More than 450 people discussed together for more than one year, with 60 meetings. At the beginning it was very hard. Some people put it on the table that they had their rights and they had their vision and ‘this is not mine,’” Loubier said.

“But after one year of discussion we reached a very interesting consensus. And this consensus proved to build the measure for the next 25 years.”

Joint Task Force Chairman Iain Angus was quoted as saying that  Northern Ontario is still in the planning process, and has not turned to Queen’s Park or the private sector with a cost just yet.

So, do we need more consultation, more discussion and more planning?  If the discussion is with respect to further negotiations with First Nations to bring them onside with respect to northern resource development and negotiate mutually beneficial development and access agreements to get development underway, well certainly.  Yet we are still talking about what the plan is supposed to be and what the province is supposed to be doing.  Why is the province not devising comprehensive agreements for resource access and revenue sharing with First Nations?

What seems to be lost here despite the comments made by either Iain Angus or the Quebec consultants is that we have been planning and talking about planning for almost a decade now and all we are doing is still planning. Quebec in a much shorter time span – apparently one year – has developed a plan and set out the costing.  They seem to be much more efficient at planning and consultation than we are.  No wonder Iain Angus is worried that:

“Is Plan Nord going to attract investment that otherwise might come here, or are there things we could learn around what they’ve done and apply them to our pilot projects,” Angus said. “That’s the crucial part of this session today.”

By the time we are finished planning with the province, Quebec will likely have finished its twenty-five year Plan Nord.  As we all know but seemingly forget, here in the Northwest, in particular since 2003, we have done planning based on the Regional Recovery Initiative, the consultations and information gathering of the Common Voice Initiative, the consultation and recommendations involving the Rosehart Report, followed by the consultations and planning of the Northern Growth Plan which in turn has spawned the Northwestern Regional Economic Zone Planning Initiative of the Joint Task Force. 

After almost a decade, we are still planning and planning to plan and consulting on the next steps for our plan and yet are no closer to costing out and devising the infrastructure to access the Ring of Fire or the institutional mechanisms required to deal with the concerns of and make joint decisions with the First Nations.  Apparently, that will come in time.  It would appear that time is considered an abundant and unlimited resource here in Northwestern Ontario and affords us the luxury of planning to the ends of time. Why does this make me nervous?