"A statement released through the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM) said the province seeks to intervene solely on “questions of law and takes no position” between the appellant and respondent."

The trivial question is why did the Province's Attorney General NOT intervene in the first place? There is absolutely no logical answer to this. Unless the AG's principal (the Government) had a good reason to tame the watching-dog and asked him to play dead...

And it has to be a very good one, because the red-light called 'Public Interest' automatically calls for an immediate intervention in any important administrative process - especially when the seeked easement is for a road to a project that " is expected to generate employment for 5000 people a year in Ontario" (Mr Gravelle - Nov 2013)! The government had probably some rope around their hands at the time the application was filed... (Didn't we hear of a secret agreement with Cliffs?)

The Commissoner shout an "Hello, Minister, Hello! Wake-up sir!" in her decision. The AG did have no choice then but to catching up and rush in to fulfill its public interest guardian job!

GLTA.