The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.
The Progressive Conservative Party will push to open 10 new mines in five years if it wins the next election, Paula Peroni, the party’s Sudbury candidate, said during a campaign platform announcement Wednesday.
Peroni said Ontario had the world’s top mining sector when Mike Harris was premier, but now sits in the 13th position worldwide.
“Northerners must govern the north, not the special inter-e sts in southern Ontario,” Peroni said. “We will determine our own path and Northern Ontario will once again be the fuel that drives the economic engine of this province.”
Peroni made the announcement at Henninger’s Diesel Ltd., a local mining supply company that refurbishes used diesel engines for heavy equipment. Diana Henninger, the company’s president and owner, said she was proud to host a female candidate who would support the mining sector.
“Hearing that the north will be a priority, and the enormous resources we have will be a priority for a Conservative government, is hugely important to everybody in the mining supply and service sector,” Henninger said. “I’ve always felt Northern Ontario has been forgotten and certainly under-appreciated.”
Peroni said if the Conservatives win the next election they will appoint a minister responsible for the Ring of Fire, a mineral- rich area located in northwestern Ontario. She said an all-season transportation link to the massive chromite deposit will also be a priority.
The Progressive Conservatives would also repeal the Far North Act if it forms a government.
The act protects around 225,000 square kilometres — or around 21% of Ontario’s land mass — of boreal forest from development. The Liberal government passed the Far North Act in 2010, but the Conservatives have said it has been a road block to development.
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