Platform revealed

The provincial NDP leader says natural resources taken from Ontario need to be processed in Ontario.

Andrea Horwath, who was in Thunder Bay Tuesday, announced two elements of her party’s northern platform. Having resources processed in Ontario is key to revitalizing the northern economy, she said.

"We cannot simply allow natural resources … to be pulled up by a company and be processed somewhere else," Horwath said during a news conference at Hillcrest Park Tuesday afternoon.

The other key element is repealing the Liberal government’s Forest Tenure Modernization Act. Horwath said the act doesn’t give enough preference to northern communities with regard to wood allocation. Under the NDP, if a mill was closed down the owner would lose its wood allocation immediately and go through a request for proposals system that would allow northerners to have a say.

"We really need to be listening to the voices of local northern communities," she said.
But Northern Development, Mines and Forestry Minister Michael Gravelle said the act does just that. A pilot local forest management corporation includes members from five First Nations communities and four northern municipalities, Gravelle said.

And Bill 151 was created with input and support from opposition including the NDP, he added.

"The New Democrats were supportive of many of the measures that were put in that legislation," The Minister, who also represents Thunder Bay – Superior North, said following the news conference.

"They’re tinkering around the edges on a piece of legislation that will revitalize the forestry sector."

As for the NDP’s plan to have minerals mined in the province stay in the province, Gravelle said that plan could cost thousands of jobs in Ontario. Provinces like British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec currently ship minerals to Ontario to be processed. That would change if the plan was put in place.

"If we close our doors, I can tell you I think there’s a pretty good chance that the jurisdictions that are sending their minerals to be processed here will certainly do the same thing," the minister said. "That is a policy commitment that is indeed potentially very dangerous.”

Horwath said the policy announcements made Tuesday are just two pieces of a larger NDP northern platform that will be released in the coming weeks. But she refused to elaborate on what other initiatives would be included. She also wouldn’t comment on the possibility of a Northern Ontario-specific industry hydro rate, which currently is an initiative no party has committed to.  

"You’ll have to wait until the rest of the platform comes out," she said.