As we celebrate our community’s 125th anniversary, it is an appropriate time to recognize the enormous contributions of working people to the success of Greater Sudbury.

From the first rough-necked navvies who laid down the tracks of the Canadian Pacific Railway around Ramsey Lake … to the Franco-Ontarien lumberjacks who wintered along the Spanish, the Vermilion and the Wahnapitae rivers and lakes … to the hardworking miners who came from all points of the globe to pull the nickel and copper from beneath our feet, this city has been built on the wealth created by hardworking men and women who were proud to call Sudbury home.

As these workers organized, their unions became active in addressing conditions, both in the workplace and across the community.

Greater Sudbury is seen as a world leader in industrial health and safety and in environmental restoration and organized labour has played a role in both of these important areas.

Joint health and safety committees have become a standard part of operations in local companies and we have seen dramatic declines in the rate and the severity of industrial injuries and diseases in this city.

The success in this area has made us a model for industrial health and creating a centre of excellence in occupational health and safety.

Working men and women continue to play a major role in enhancing our community. Support for the United Way, the Food Bank and dozens of other worthy community initiatives demonstrates the labour community’s commitment to helping those in need.

Contributions to education and health institutions ensure these facilities continue to provide the best opportunities and care for our citizens.

This Labour Day, take a moment to think of those whose sweat has provided us with the life we have today.

Take a moment also to think of how much working people contribute to our city each and every day.

Madame Chairperson, fellow Councillors, Ladies and Gentlemen.
 
I want to thank you all for coming this afternoon and I want to thank the Chamber for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today.  I want to also express my appreciation to George Revie and his team at Persona Communications, who are here today to tape this event for broadcast this Thursday evening.  As you know, Persona also broadcasts City Council meetings, and their efforts make it easier for citizens to understand our city and how it operates.
 
As I stand here today, I am mindful of the fact that I am blessed to be Mayor of this wonderful city, and doubly blessed to be Mayor at such an exciting time in the history of our community, our country, and our world.
  
Ten days ago, we celebrated a birthday to mark the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the community we now know as Greater Sudbury.  It was a tremendous event!

I reflected that day upon how far we have come as a community and what a debt we owe to our forbearers.  In our community’s history, thirty-three men – and one woman – have served as Mayor of Sudbury or Greater Sudbury, and many, many more have served as mayor or reeve of our constituent municipalities.  

Our 125 year relationship with this land is but a blip in the history of our aboriginal cousins.  It is important that we acknowledge the strong relationships we have with our aboriginal community and the strong ties we all share with the land we live on.  Aboriginal peoples are the fastest growing segment of our community and it is fitting that one of the signature events in this anniversary year was the first ever Northern Aboriginal Festival.  I congratulate the organizers and our partners at Laurentian University and Cambrian College.

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The trillion-dollar Sudbury Basin is the richest mining district in North America and among the top ten most strategically important in the world. Sudbury is located in the Canadian province of Ontario, whose annual 10.5 billion dollar mineral sector is the largest in the country. About half of Ontario’s mining activity takes place in the Sudbury Basin.

In 2008, Sudbury is celebrating its 125th anniversary. For over a hundred years, the courageous and innovative men and women of this community have successfully produced the nickel, copper, PGMs and other metals that the modern industrialized world needed. Most industry experts will feel there is at least another 100 years of production in this amazing mining camp.

Mayor John Rodriguez considers himself to be a man of the people. 

John was born in Guyana, South America, where he received his elementary and high school education.  John emigrated to Canada in 1956 and attended Teachers’ College in Toronto and began his teaching career in St. Catharines, Ontario.  He and his wife, Bertilla, moved to Coniston in 1962 where John was appointed Principal of St. Paul School.   John graduated from Laurentian University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Spanish Literature.  During this time, he was also active with the Provincial Catholic Teachers’ Union having served as its President in 1968, and was a member of the Board of Governors of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation.

John was elected to the House of Commons as NDP MP for Nickel Belt in October of  1972 and was re-elected in 1974, 1979, 1984 and 1988.  John was an active MP both in and out of the House of Commons where he served on many committees over his 18 year career.

John entered the realm of municipal politics when he was elected to the Coniston Town Council in 1971 before it became part of Nickel Centre.  John’s second foray into local politics came in November 2006 when he was elected Mayor of Greater Sudbury.  He came into office with the belief that our municipal staff are our city’s greatest asset.  Now, after spending time with hundreds of employees at their workplaces, his belief has become a conviction.   To acknowledge the importance of our staff’s contribution, Council has designated 2007 as the ‘Year of the Employee”.

As part of Mayor Rodriguez’s Inaugural Address, he committed to and has established four advisory panels in his first 100 days of office.  These panels include:  Municipal Mining Revenues, Performing Arts Centre, Health Cluster and Multi-Sport Recreational Complex.
       
John and his wife, Bertilla, have five sons and five grand children.  In his leisure time he enjoys reading, gardening and horses and is a patron of the local arts.

John feels privileged to represent the citizens of Greater Sudbury as their Mayor.  He is proud of this community and looks forward to an unprecedented period of growth and vitality.

Last month, we celebrated Mining Week in Greater Sudbury, an annual event designed to promote the importance of the mining and processing industry to the community at large.  This event is useful and appropriate but we need to remind ourselves every week about the role that mining and processing plays in our local economy and the role that our city plays in this vital global industry.

The people of this community can take great pride in the successes of the economic diversification strategies that were launched a quarter century ago.  The dreams of the 1970s and 1980s are now reality and we are a significant government services centre, an award-winning tourism destination, a centre for education and health, and the leading service and retail centre in Northern Ontario.

At the same time, however, our mining, processing and mining supply and services sectors are driving the city’s economy to new heights and creating significant wealth for our province and for Canada as a whole.  As a city, it is critical that we understand and support this vital industry and that we develop strategies to ensure that we remain competitive on a global basis, well into the future.

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