RoF: What came first? The chicken or the egg?



Sometimes you can get a good idea of a private governmental meeting by examining what the proponents are saying before the tête-à-tête. Let's examine the Councillor Aldo Ruberto interview of Michael Gravelle on Dec 19, 2014.

Mr. Gravelle says before the Rickford meeting that without Canada matching Ontario's $1B, the First Nations and miners will not invest into the Ring of Fire.

Gravelle wants access to the national component of the Canada Build Fund. The minister implied that Ontario's Development Corporation will need $2.5B to control and fund the mining ore transportation corridor, and to provide electrical transmission grids, communication, and road access to local communities.

Ontario is eligible for around $2.7 billion under the Canada Build fund. The province is choosing instead to try and access the $4 billion unallocated so far and set aside in the fund for national infrastructure, something Gravelle said the federal government needs to recognize. The Ring of Fire is a nationally significant project.

Ontario is hoping the federal government will sit as a member of it's corporation to provide training, and other social benefits, apart from matching contributions.

Would Councillor Ruberto have been allowed to have ask, if he understood the issues, whether his ministry would, once again, instruct the Attorney General of Ontario, to seek leave to 'intervene' on behalf of the Minister of Northern Development and Mines in the Cliffs easement appeal?