The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce is at work on a report, grading the Government of Ontario on its performance on 13 steps it recommended in February the province take to develop the Ring of Fire.
The goal of the first report, Beneath the Surface: Uncovering the Potential of Ontario’s Ring of Fire, was to raise awareness about the impact mining the Ring of Fire would have on the economies of Ontario and Canada.
Josh Hjartarson, vice-president of policy and government relations for the Ontario chamber, said governments’ priorities are determined by the pressure people put on them, so his group is trying to “generate some virtuous pressure on all levels of government.”
Hjartarson compares the Ontario chamber’s public awareness campaign to what Canadian petroleum producers did to promote the Alberta oil sands. Many observers have compared the importance of the Ring of Fire on a national scale to the oil sands and Churchill Falls generating station.
Petroleum producers successfully turned the “this is just an Alberta play to this is of national importance,” said Hjartarson, “and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce is trying to do that.”
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce is keeping pressure on government and anyone else involved in developing the Ring to make sure they’re doing their job.
In “Beneath the Surface,” the Ontario chamber called on the province to address the physical infrastructure deficit with a long-term plan for the Far North; capture more value-added processes by conducting a cost-benefit analysis on electricity incentives; reach agreements with First Nations; address labour market needs by expanding training partnerships to build skills in First Nations and “leverage” schools to turn out a new generation of miners; ensure safe environmental and regulatory safeguards and make the Ring of Fire a national priority.
The province’s global economy has fundamentally changed in the last few years, said Hjartarson.
Every industrial economy is doing an evaluation of where they are globally competitive, and the mining sector is an area where Ontario can compete internationally.
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