Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business  provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.  

Dave Robinson is an economist with the Institute for Northern Ontario Research and Development at Laurentian University. drobinson@laurentian.ca 

Premier Brad Wall is proud of Saskatchewan. The province is booming. Migration from other provinces is up 40 per cent —people are streaming in from places like Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta. The province is even planning a jobs mission to Ireland to recruit workers.

But here is a question. Is our premier proud of Northern Ontario? Is anyone proud? In fact, is there anyone to be proud?

Saskatchewan, with about 33 per cent more people than Northern Ontario, and with only 80 per cent of the area of Northern Ontario, is managed by 58 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). In efficient Northern Ontario, we make do with 10 MPPs. And 10 per cent of a premier.

But if Ontario is so efficient, why is Saskatchewan doing so well by comparison? Read the rest of this entry »

This column is from the Troy Media website: http://www.troymedia.com/

David Zylberberg is a PhD Candidate in Environmental History at York University

TORONTO, ON, Sept. 16, 2011/Troy Media/ – Industry needs energy, historically cheap energy.

In fact, during the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, manufacturing became concentrated around the coalfields of northern England and southern Belgium, where energy cost between a fifth and a 10th what it did in southern England or the Netherlands.

Currently, industry in Quebec and Manitoba benefit from some of the lowest energy prices in the world, thanks to the large hydroelectric dams in the northern parts of both provinces. Each province’s manufacturers pay under 3¢/kWh plus distribution costs, while in Ontario they pay a spot market rate that is frequently double that.

An economic advantage

Like the English and Belgian textile and metal manufacturers of the 19th century, industry in Quebec and Manitoba derive a major advantage over competitors in other regions. While northern Ontario also generates substantial hydroelectric power, it is not sufficient to meet all the needs of Ontario’s larger population, so more expensive sources are needed to supplement carbon-free hydroelectricity. Read the rest of this entry »

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper

NDP seeks support from Liberals

The New Democrats are suggesting the province use a carrot instead of a stick to convince chromite mining companies operating in the Ring of Fire to do all their processing in Ontario.

The NDP will ask the government to cover infrastructure costs as an incentive. “The Ontario government has got to respond by providing infrastructure to the site, namely hydro and transportation, which are critical to making it work,” said MPP Gilles Bisson (NDP — Timmins-James Bay).

Bisson is working with other member of the NDP caucus to put together an incentive package which they intend to pitch to the governing Liberal Party within the next couple of weeks.

The package would include an offer to develop transportation to the site in the form of railway or roads, as well as offer an industrial energy rate in the form of about four cents or less per kilowatt hour. Read the rest of this entry »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 25, 2012

TIMMINS – The North faces unique economic challenges and pressures, but this region has extraordinary and exciting potential, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak said today during a speech to the Timmins Chamber of Commerce.

“Today, Northern Ontario has a jobs crisis,” Hudak said. “This region’s unemployment rate is nearly twelve per cent – well above the provincial average at nearly eight per cent,” Hudak said.

“Big mills and small businesses are plagued by alarming energy costs. Some have even closed their doors permanently,” Hudak added. 

“The McGuinty Liberals won’t listen. They think they know what’s best for the North. They don’t understand that the North’s success can’t be driven from the special interests’ office in Toronto.”  Read the rest of this entry »

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/

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent comment that he does not want the future of the Northern Gateway pipeline to be decided by “certain” people in the United States who would like Canada to be one giant national park was remarkable in its parallels to the economic development situation in Northern Ontario. 

In the case of the Northern Gateway, along with opposition from environmental groups and some First Nations in Alberta and British Columbia, a number of U.S. based environmental groups accompanied by some Hollywood celebrities have voiced opposition to the plan.  In Northern Ontario, there have been complaints that the Far North Act and the Endangered Species Act will hinder northern development because of the wish of environmental groups in southern Ontario to turn the north into a vast provincial park.

The parallels are intriguing.  The relationship between Northern Ontario and the south is remarkably similar to that between Canada and the United Canada.  Relative to the United States, Canada is natural resource intensive and sparsely populated. 

Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

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/

In the art of politics, timing is everything.  My curiosity was certainly piqued earlier in the week when a story in the Ottawa Citizen reported that Ontario’s premier Dalton McGuinty was hinting that he was ready for a major policy reversal regarding the practice of provincial government grants and subsidies for business.  According to the story, he was listening “to all the arguments” on these grants which have been referred to as corporate welfare.

In many respects, this would be a remarkable turn around given the Ontario Liberals campaigned on the strength of their economic strategy – a strategy of government investment in green energy in particular as a job creation program.  There have been enormous subsidies to producers of wind and solar energy in the form of generous prices for the electricity generated.  As well, there is the money in the regional development funds such as the Eastern Ontario Development Fund and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.

Why the sudden shift?  It turns out the Ottawa Citizen has apparently been investigating stories that the Eastern Ontario Development Fund has been favouring businesses in Liberal ridings since the fund was established.  Read the rest of this entry »

North Bay Mayor Al McDonald made this speech to Greater Sudbury City Council, Sept. 28, about mapping out a united vision for Northerners:

Bon soir. Good evening.

Your Worship and Members of Council:

On behalf of the citizens of North Bay, it is my pleasure to bring greetings and, in the spirit of friendship, thank you for this opportunity to address you this evening. I would also like to thank you for hosting the Northern Ontario Business Awards last night. Your city was a welcoming host and your community was showcased in a positive light.

On a personal note, I would like to thank all of you for your time, energy, and commitment for your dedication to public service. It is never easy and it is always tougher on our families as we have to give up a lot of family time with the demands of the job. So, I would like to thank your family members as well. It is interesting that we as elected officials get more credit than we deserve at times but get much more blame as well. I have the greatest respect for those individuals successful or not, for putting their names on a ballot. Thank you for serving.

Here in Northern Ontario, we enjoy a quality of life unparalleled to other places in the world. We have parks, green spaces, wildlife, colleges and universities, festivals, arts, culture, theatre, safe communities, and focus on families. Read the rest of this entry »

This column was originally published in the Late Summer, 2011 issue of Highgrader Magazine which is committed to serve the interests of northerners by bringing the issues, concerns and culture of the north to the world through the writings and art of award-winning journalists as well as talented freelance artists, writers and photographers.

When northerners are not talking about the weather, they complain about the sorry state of many of the highways in Northern Ontario. They look with envy at the first-class highways and byways in the south and talk bitterly about Highway 17 being a death trap and think Highway 144 between Sudbury and Timmins should have a sign saying: “Drive at your own risk and only in daylight. Large trucks, moose and bears have the right of way.”

Still, the North does have a few highways that are no longer part way between cow paths and obstacle courses and residents do manage to get about.

It was not always so and the story of the Yonge Street extension that became today’s Highway 11 could be the history of any major traffic route in the North. While the money for highways came from the south, northerners built their own roads, prisoners, farmers and bush workers between seasons, the poor and those on the welfare rolls. Read the rest of this entry »

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

State of emergency declared

With a housing shortage forcing residents to live in tents and cold November winds beginning to blow off James Bay, communities on the coast have collectively declared a state of emergency.

“There is definitely something terribly wrong” when billions of dollars in revenue is being generated from mining while “the citizens of this rich land continue to face daily hardships with decent housing, education, health care and a high rate of suicide,” said Mushkegowuk Deputy Grand Chief Leo Friday.

“This is not right and something has to be done.” There are families, he added, living in “tent-frame structures, wooden storage sheds, hazardous and condemned homes.” Friday said he is aware of five families in Attawapiskat that have been living in a tent for more than a year now while three families in Kashechewan and another two in Fort Albany have been living in sheds. Read the rest of this entry »

The Daily Press, the city of Timmins newspaper. Contact the writer at news@thedailypress.ca.

Re-elected MPP warns Liberals not to ‘govern like Harper did’

Ontario’s minority Parliament won’t be steamrolled like the opposition parties were in the House of Commons under Stephen Harper, said Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson at a press conference Friday. Bisson, recently appointed NDP house leader, held the conference to send a message to Premier Dalton McGuinty.

“Mr. McGuinty’s trying to pretend this is isn’t a minority Parliament,” said Bisson. “He’s saying he has a major-minority and that he’ll govern like Harper did. But Ontario is not Canada.”

Bisson noted that with only two parties in opposition, the Liberals won’t be able to divide and conquer the way the federal Conservatives did in Ottawa. Moreover, he said there’s a long tradition of non-partisan co-operation by the opposing parties at Queen’s Park that McGuinty must take into account.

Like it or not, McGuinty will have to court votes from opposition members in order to pass legislation. Read the rest of this entry »

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/

One of the most interesting results of the October 6th provincial election is the urban rural divide in Ontario – a divide that also characterizes the North.  The GTA is mainly Liberal red with a few NDP exceptions and the Ottawa area is largely Liberal. A glance at the Toronto Star’s election map paints the North as a sea of orange with islands of red in Sudbury and the Sault – and somewhat larger swaths in Thunder Bay-Superior North and Thunder Bay Atikokan. 

Those two ridings, however are dominated by Thunder Bay which makes them mainly urban. As for the Near North, Muskoka-Parry Sound and Nipissing, they are both Progressive Conservative but are more traditional rural areas that have been long-time areas of conservative support.

What might this mean?  For the two major Ontario political parties, their leaderships will need to get to work devising strategies to bring in their respective alienated voters.  For the Liberals, whose policies in Green Energy and knowledge and health sector economy investments are seen as primarily urban policies, they will need to craft policies that appeal to rural voters.  Read the rest of this entry »

For the web’s largest database of articles on the Ring of Fire mining camp, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Friday October 7, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THUNDER BAY, ON: Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Stan Beardy congratulates Premier Dalton McGuinty and will continue to strive for a positive working relationship with the returning official government of Ontario and bring forward the issues affecting the people of Nishnawbe Aski.

“NAN is mandated to work with all political parties and all levels and therefore we will continue to push for meaningful dialogue with the elected officials of Ontario,” said NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy.

Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals managed to secure a third straight mandate, but fell just shy of a third straight majority. The Liberals had won 53 ridings, one short of the 54 needed for a majority. The Liberals had captured 37.6 per cent of the popular vote, with the Progressive Conservatives close behind at 35.4 per cent. NDP support was at 22.7 per cent. Read the rest of this entry »

 The Daily Press, the city of Timmins newspaper. Contact the writer at news@thedailypress.ca.

A minority Parliament might just be what it takes for the North to be heard in Queen’s Park, said Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren following Thursday’s provincial election which saw the Liberals win government for a third time.

“In a perfect world I would love to see the three parties roll up their sleeves and work together on the issues facing the North,” Laughren said. “That’s why people elect minority Parliaments, not because we want another election in 18 months time.”

While Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals were short only one seat from achieving an historic third-consecutive majority, Laughren is pinning his hopes that on issues facing the North, that the deciding vote incorporates a Northern voice.

“In many cases, Northern leaders have been going to all kinds of different sessions related to mining, endangered species and land use, and talking about the challenges and in many instances it does not appear that we’re being listened to,” Laughren told The Daily Press. Read the rest of this entry »

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

“I started (my campaign) in the North and I’m finishing it in the North.”

NDP leader Andrea Horwath greeted supporters with these words Tuesday, as she returned to Sudbury to drum up more support for NDP Northern Ontario candidates.

Horwath, along with Sudbury candidate Paul Loewenberg, Nickel Belt candidate France Gelinas, Sault Ste. Marie candidate Celia Ross, Timiskaming- Cochrane candidate John Vanthof, Nipissing candidate Henri Giroux and Algoma-Manitoulin candidate Michael Mantha, gathered at Loewenberg’s campaign office.

Throughout her speech, she stressed that the NDP will respect people living in the North. “For me, respect isn’t just about nice words. It’s listening and it’s action. People across the North have been telling me they’re fed up with being taken for granted and having no voice. Read the rest of this entry »