- Oil is big big business (whale size) compared to Ni and chromite (meow size, no pun intended Ms Kitty). Alberta's oil sand reserve is the 3rd largest in the world after Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. The reserve is estimated to be about 168 B barrels of oil (multiply this by price of oil per barrel to have an idea). Business investment in oil sands (hundreds of $B) is expected to generate some $80 B of revenues (taxes, etc) for the Prov. and Feds (compared to the worth of some $60B for chromite. Nope, can't compare RoF with Athabasca. Bad example.
- Perhaps, it would be difficult for Hudak to wrestle any additional seats from the Lib or the NDP. North Bay Nispissing is his stronghold with Vic Fedeli who seems to be in very good term with the folks in North Bay, especially the ONTC employees and their families, if Hudak comes out endorsing KWG proposed legislation with respect to creating a Development Corporation /Port Authority from the ONTC (actually, this is extending the mandate of ONTC so it could include the RR short line to the RoF, airport and deep-water port, e.g. Moosonee, if required).
goldhunter