Energetic talks

Mayor Keith Hobbs has told the province to back off on its plans to ensure Sudbury has enough energy to attract a 500-job ferrochrome processing facility to the Nickel City.

Hobbs on Monday met with Energy Minister Brad Duguid to discuss concerns over transmission, distribution and pricing, which he said is making the region uncompetitive with other provinces.

He did not like everything he heard.

“I just had a bit of a concern on one issue. The minister did say they’re going to try to bring 300 megawatts of power to Sudbury for Cliffs. That was a real concern for me. I told the minister the government can’t be favouring one municipality over another,” Hobbs said.
 
“We all have to be on a level playing field. And if we’re not, then one municipality is going to win over another. And we want to be competitive with other municipalities as well. Whatever they do on the energy piece it has to be consistent for not only the North, but the Northeast and the Northwest.”

Hobbs said his message was heard loud and clear.

And it didn’t just come from him. He was backed by the Northern Ontario Chamber of Commerce, First Nations representatives and the Northwestern Ontario Muncipal Association.

“We went with a united voice to these meetings and the message is loud and clear that you have to start paying attention to not only the North, but the Northwest and First Nations.”

Cleveland-based Cliffs Natural Resources in January picked Sudbury as the base-case that all other communities in the province would be compared when it came to building the highly coveted FPF.

But the company added a caveat, saying that as things stand in terms of energy pricing no Ontario city is likely to get the plant and the jobs that come with it. The Ring of Fire is expected to create as many as 1,300 jobs by 2015, when Cliffs is hoping to be up and running.

Hobbs said without the changes, trouble could lie ahead.

“We want to attract business and industry, but we spoke loud and clear that the pricing that we have right now, we’re not going to be competitive with Quebec and Manitoba,” Hobbs said, reached by phone Monday afternoon.

Hobbs, who met with Conservative Leader Tim Hudak, also plans to speak on Wednesday with his Toronto counterpart, Rob Ford, or Ford’s brother, Coun. Doug Ford, on the transportation question.

Ford, during his election campaign, threatened to cancel a multi-million light-rail car contract with Thunder Bay’s Bombardier plant, preferring to extend Toronto’s subway system instead.