Battle for Northern Ontario raging 9 months before provincial election

Even though only 13 of the 124 seats up for grabs in the expanded Legislature are in the north, the PCs, Liberals and the NDP are making a push for votes there.

From left to right: Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown, Premier Kathleen Wynne and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. All three parties are making a push for votes in the north.  (Star wire services)  

The next provincial election is more than nine months away, but the battle for Northern Ontario is already raging.

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown, making his 27th trip to the region since taking his party’s helm in May 2015, gathered his caucus in Timmins this week to underscore that “the North matters.”

Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne spent most of the week visiting remote parts of northern Ontario, including First Nations, to tout her government’s latest efforts to kick-start the stalled Ring of Fire chromite mining project.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, whose party holds most of the seats there, has also kept the north on the front-burner in this final summer before the June 7, 2018 election.

“Let’s face it: Northern Ontario has been ignored by the Wynne Liberals for far too long,” Brown, whose party leads the Liberals in most public-opinion surveys, told his caucus mates Friday.

“They have left hardworking Northern Ontario families paying more and getting less,” he said, speaking from a podium emblazoned with a sign reading “A Voice for the North.”

Even though only 13 of the 124 seats up for grabs in the expanded Legislature are in the north, all three major parties are making a push for votes there.

On Monday, Wynne announced agreements had finally been reached with the Webequie, Marten Falls, and Nibinamik First Nations to begin construction of a vital road to the Ring of Fire.

It’s estimated there could be $60 billion in chromite — an essential part of making stainless steel — as well as nickel, gold, platinum, copper, vanadium, and zinc in the region.

But Brown said the Liberals simply have not made the Ring of Fire a priority since its discovery in 2007.

“The Ring of Fire road project should have been underway 10 years ago. Now, in the lead-up to an election, the Wynne Liberals decide to show up?” he said.

“Northern Ontario deserves regular update reports on getting shovels in the ground on this road. Regular doesn’t mean every few years. I am calling for the government to provide public updates every quarter, starting this fall.”

While Wynne said construction would begin in 2019 after the completion of environmental assessments, Horwath — who was in Kenora this week to discuss hospital staffing problems there — said northerners are “tired of waiting” for action from Queen’s Park.

“This is a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I want to build the infrastructure that is needed to spark the Ring of Fire. I want to unlock the thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity this project promises,” said the NDP leader, who was also visited Thunder Bay during her northern swing.

“And I want is to do it right, ensuring we respect Indigenous nations in the region as partners. Unlike Wynne and the Conservatives, I understand the urgency. There are people hurting because of the shortage of good jobs in their home community,” she said.

The premier conceded the plan will take years to complete.

“This is geography that is not straightforward in terms of building a road. (There) will be many, many bridges and causeways and so on because of the amount of water. So it will be a couple of years at least. But we want to get going as quickly as we can.”

Aside from natural resources extraction, Brown believes the Liberals are vulnerable on the opioid addiction crisis.

“Our Ontario PC caucus will table legislation which requires the Liberal government to invest at least 10 per cent of their government advertising budget this fiscal year to an opioid and fentanyl awareness campaign,” he said.

“It’s time they make this a priority,” the Tory leader said, noting the government spends almost $60 million annually on advertising so some of that should be earmarked for the opioid problem.

In June, Health Minister Eric Hoskins announced the Liberals would devote an additional $15 million for front-line efforts to reduce fentanyl overdoses with extra staff and 80,000 more kits for naloxone, an easily administered antidote.