MPPs look forward to a new year at Queen’s Park

An area MPP thinks Northwestern Ontario’s economy started to snowball this year and shows no sign of stopping in 2011.

But Michael Gravelle (Lib., Thunder Bay-Superior North) is quick to point out that there are still many obstacles along the way. Despite those challenges though, Gravelle said advancements in forestry and mining, now a $6 billion industry for the province, are signs that the region’s economy is improving.

Reopened mines such as Lac des Iles, new mines looking to start up and exploration in the Ring of Fire area are all good news for the region, he said.

"I think 2010 was a year when I think we saw things turning around," Gravelle said. "We’re seeing exploration dollars being spent at a level I think we’ve never seen before… I think that will lead to many, many more jobs."

Gravelle admits there have been numerous challenges in the region’s forest industry but reopening Terrace Bay Pulp and AbitibiBowater coming out of creditor protection are reasons for Northwestern Ontario to be optimistic.

The MP who also serves as the province’s minister of northern development, forestry and mines also admits that Ontario’s new allocation process hasn’t always run smoothly. Once wood is being harvested he said people will be working.

"There’s no question there’s a sense of real frustration amongst many of the applicants," Gravelle said.

In terms of personal political achievement over the past year, Gravelle said he’s excited to see work on a four-lane highway between Thunder Bay and Nipigon begin. The project is something he has been working on since heading to Queen’s Park in 1995.

As for 2011, Gravelle wants to see all of those things continue and grow.

"There’s lots going to happen in the year 2011 and I’m excited about it," Gravelle said.
On the other side of the city, MP Bill Mauro (Lib., Thunder Bay – Atikokan) said he takes great pride in the conversion of the region’s two coal plants, and hopes he will be able to feel the same about the multi-million dollar Bombardier deal in 2011.

Mauro said he expects the region to continue to be a bright spot in Ontario. In August, the province announced it was directing the Ontario Power Authority to negotiate an agreement with Ontario Power Generation, the plant’s owners, to buy the power produced at the Atikokan plant.

Over the last six years, converting the plant to bio-mass and keeping the plant open was not a "foregone conclusion," Mauro said at the time.

“Relatively speaking in Ontario, we’re doing well," Mauro said. "For me personally, I take a great deal of pride in the conversion of the two coal plants. Those were long fights, especially the Atikokan one."

But there are more bright spots in Thunder Bay’s future, he added.

Mauro said while there are some bumps, the $1.3 billion light rail Bombardier contact would also become a bit positive in the north.

He said he didn’t have regrets but he did wish that the talks about establishing a law school in Thunder Bay would move more quickly.

"The impact of a law school in Thunder Bay would be similar to what we have seen from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine," he said.