HIGH-GRADE NI-CU-PT-PD-ZN-CR-AU-V-TI DISCOVERIES IN THE "RING OF FIRE"
NI 43-101 Update (September 2012): 11.1 Mt @ 1.68% Ni, 0.87% Cu, 0.89 gpt Pt and 3.09 gpt Pd and 0.18 gpt Au (Proven & Probable Reserves) / 8.9 Mt @ 1.10% Ni, 1.14% Cu, 1.16 gpt Pt and 3.49 gpt Pd and 0.30 gpt Au (Inferred Resource)
Message: Ontario election all about jobs, jobs, jobs: Hepburn
Tick tock....time is running out. Time to jumpstart the economy by opening up the ring.
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https://www.thestar.com/opinion/2017/04/19/ontario-election-all-about-jobs-jobs-jobs-hepburn.html
Ontario election all about jobs, jobs, jobs: Hepburn
Focus on employment could help Wynne improve election prospects
By Bob HepburnPolitics
Wed., April 19, 2017
As she tries to fight the impression that her Ontario Liberals are heading for a major defeat in the 2018 election, Premier Kathleen Wynne is working diligently on a stream of policy priorities.
Indeed, she’s heavily involved in almost every policy initiative being undertaken by the Liberal government, from health care to education, infrastructure projects, housing prices, hydro rates, the environment, diversity initiatives, social welfare programs, trade, pension reform and much more.
It’s a laudable set of priorities, but do you know what Wynne’s top priority is as premier? Or her top three?
I’m not sure she even knows herself.
Wynne’s wide array of “priorities” has left her vulnerable to charges that she lacks focus on the key issues that truly matter for the vast middle class of Ontarians who decide every provincial election.
Those interests can be summed in three words: Jobs, jobs, jobs.
Jobs are a concern, even an obsession, for many voters. Finding a job, keeping a job, unpaid intern jobs, low-paid jobs, part-time-only jobs, no jobs for young workers, jobs with no pay raises, jobs with pay cuts.
They all add up to deep fears about the future for workers and their families, especially for young people leaving school.
Back in 1992, Bill Clinton ran successfully for U.S. president with the slogan “The economy, stupid!” hanging in his Little Rock campaign headquarters. The same focus could help the Liberals in 2018.
Wynne, as well as Conservative leader Patrick Brown and NDP leader Andrea Horwath, would be smart to hang a sign with the words “Jobs, jobs, jobs” on walls on campaign headquarters in every riding in Ontario.
While Ontario residents have legitimate concerns about future jobs, Ontario is actually starting to ride a wave of economic prosperity that has created tens of thousands of jobs in recent years and more are predicted through at least 2020.
Robert Hogue, senior economist at RBC Economics, wrote in a March forecast that most sectors of the provincial economy “firmly remain in expansion mode.” He noted that household confidence is rising, more than 100,000 jobs have been created in the six months ending in January and the jobless rate is at an eight-year low of 6.2 per cent and trending lower.
At the same time, BuildForce Canada, a construction industry organization, said in January that “over the next three years labour demand in Ontario will intensify” as major infrastructure and transportation project ramp up. “These projects will sustain employment over the next 10 years,” the group added.
Similarly, the province has enjoyed double-digit job growth in technology services, finance, insurance, real estate and other sectors over the past five years.
Despite these positive reports, both the Conservatives and NDP are expected to attack Wynne repeatedly leading up to the June 7, 2018 election over her handling of the economy and jobs.
Brown talks often about his four pillars of economic development. First is investing in infrastructure to get products to marketplace; second is removing bureaucratic and regulatory red tape; third is setting affordable energy prices that allow manufacturers, especially in Northern Ontario, to operate more economically; and fourth is better co-ordinating education to employment.
All of Brown’s “pillars” are laudatory, but like almost every other policy area touched by the Tory leader there are no specifics attached to them.
Meanwhile, the NDP is calling for “good, stable jobs” and “more opportunities for young people,” a $15-an-hour minimum wage and pulling together academics, employers and workers to develop “pathways from learning to employment.” Like Brown’s “pillars” all of these are worthy, but all lack details.
For Wynne, one of her big problems politically is that the Liberals have lost blue-collar voters. They were a huge part of the coalitions that resulted in electoral successes for her predecessor Dalton McGuinty. His team put a lot of work into building personal relationships with blue-collar unions. Under Wynne those relations have atrophied, according to Liberal insiders.
The good news for Wynne, though, is that the huge infrastructure spending in recent years provides an avenue to win back some of that support.
If that happens, then it may be foolish to completely write off Wynne as unelectable.
With the Ontario budget on April 27 Wynne has one last chance to set out her top priorities — and to act on them. Jobs should be at the top of that list.
And she needs to be bold when it comes to job creation. When you’re down as far as Wynne is, what’s the point of playing it safe?
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