THUNDER BAY -- Ontario Liberal leader candidate Glen Murray promises he’ll be the North’s champion by establishing a regional government.
The former Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities and MPP of Toronto Centre visited the city Thursday as part of his Northern tour. Murray will make his way through Marathon, White River, Timmins, Sudbury and North Bay before this tour concludes.
Murray admits the North has been frustrated with the way the government appears to make decisions in the south, and hopes he can help change that.
Murray said he’s been working with the regions mayors in forming a plan. One of those plans is to create a regional government.
The situation with the Thunder Bay Hydro Generation Station possibly shutting down is an example of how important a regional-based government for the North is. The idea is that with that kind of government in place, the North can make decisions for itself.
“The North is very important to me,” Murray said. “I’m probably more familiar with it than the other candidates. The provincial government would divulge some of its authority on energy, infrastructure, and transportation and give a regional government the ability to plan and develop the northern economy and give northerners a stronger voice.”
The province recently established Northern Policy Institute that will lobby policies for the North, but Murray said it’s time to go even further by giving the North a stronger voice.
Murray added he’s the only candidate to have led a government as mayor of Winnipeg and he’s the only one to have a platform ready.
“One of the reason I’m running is because I think Northern Ontario has often, by all governments, not gotten the attention it deserves," he said.
“I think the south is over governed. I may be an unexpected source for a voice for the north as MPP of Toronto Centre but I have a lot of history in the North and I think I can affect that change.”
