Timmins in shock over inaction of province — COLUMN

Posted By CHRISTINA BLIZZARD

Posted 8 hours ago

No city demonstrates the great north-south divide more than this one.

Its name is synonymous with mining -- gold in particular, but other ores are also important.

Right now, though, the city is shellshocked.

Xstrata, a Swiss-based multinational mining company announced recently it would close its Kidd Creek metallurgical site, and move its mineral processing to Quebec.

The smelter is the most modern in Canada. Many fear this is a preliminary step to eliminating ore processing in this country altogether.

Local politicians are shocked by the total inaction of the provincial government. Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren says the city will lose $4 million in taxes when Xstrata pulls out.

It will be devastating for the resource-based economy in the north. Forestry is almost dead. Now mining is threatened.

"We in northern Ontario have never once complained about our tax dollars being used to bail out the auto industry, because we saw it as an add-on to the minerals and processing we do here," Laughren said in a recent interview.

Now the provincial government needs to save vital industries in the north, he says. Instead, some of their new legislation is hurting them even more. The Far North Act will take 42% of northern Ontario out of production. They're also wary of changes to the Mining Act.

Northerners say the government has shut them out of consultations.

As well, high electricity prices here are killing businesses that rely on cheap power. Xstrata's annual hydro bill for the smelter is $70 million. In Quebec, the price is 40%-50% lower.

Worse, Laughren says the Green Energy Act will force up the price of electricity, making it even harder to compete. What's so frustrating is that northern Ontario is rich in hydro-electric power potential that could develop cheap, clean energy. Yet the government recently signed a controversial $7-billion deal with Korean giant Samsung that will force electricity prices even higher.

Laughren has a challenge for Premier Dalton McGuinty: "He needs to come to Timmins. He needs to come and put out his vision for northern Ontario. Maybe at the end of the day we will agree with him, but right now it seems like it's being shoved down our throats."

Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson is calling on the government to introduce legislation that would require ore mined in this province to be processed here.

"The natural resources that are extracted from underground here in Timmins and in Sudbury and other places in Ontario should not be processed outside the province of Ontario," he said.

When the Legislature returns, he will move a private member's bill on it.

Mining is still strong in Timmins. Goldcorp is expanding its mine. The Detour Lake project is another ray of hope. But the loss of the smelter is devastating. Mining and processing jobs are not interchangeable.

Northern Development and Mines Minister Mike Gravelle says companies spent $600 million on exploration in 2009, and that's a positive sign.

"It's not to say there aren't new challenges," he said. "The clearest sense one gets in terms of maintaining our jurisdiction as a positive jurisdiction for mining is exploration -- and the modernized Mining Act."

Still, Laughren points out the road to Quebec runs through Timmins. So Timmins will pay for the upkeep of a highway that's taking local jobs out of province.

"What's Premier McGuinty's plan for creating jobs in Timmins like the ones we've just lost?" he asks.

From Queen's Park, the answer is a deafening silence.

christina.blizzard@sunmedia.ca