Some fear Far North Act could limit development

Saying he’d rather focus on jobs than creating park land, Ontario’s official opposition leader Tim Hudak says he will repeal the Liberal's proposed Far North Act should it pass and the Conservatives then go on to win the 2011 provincial election.

However, the province’s minister of natural resources says Bill 191, which will protect 50 per cent of Treaty 9 lands in Northern Ontario, recognizes the strengths of a new north, that because of mineral finds like the multi-billion dollar Ring of Fire, is being looked at in a much different light these days.

"There are deposits from a mineral point of view, as well as from an energy point of view, that people didn’t know about," Linda Jeffery (Lib., Brampton-Springdale) said during a whirlwind visit to Thunder Bay on Thursday.

"We want to make sure that we put protections in place to protect the lands and give autonomy to the First Nations to decide where that extrication will happen and where (and when) projects will happen."

Jeffrey said it’s time to turn the page and develop positive relations between her ministry and the province’s First Nations communities, adding she believes the Far North Act is a giant step toward meeting that goal.

Jeffrey spent part of the day meeting with First Nation leaders, and said she was hopeful about the progress of the bill, which is being finalized and will be presented at Queen’s Park on Sept. 13 and 15.

"Certainly I’ve heard from First Nations chiefs that development is important and they’re not against it. They see this bill as a way to make sure that economic development comes to the Far North," Jeffrey said.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy, who plans to meet with media on Friday to discuss the bill, is on record saying it’s his belief the Far North Act is less about protecting land and more about control of it from outside sources.

Calling for public hearings, Beardy last month told the Toronto Star that with only two MPPs representing the region their needs are often ignored to serve the interest of outsiders.

"As a result, a tyranny of the majority exists," Beardy said, adding his people have kept their traditional lands pristine and will continue to enact stewardship over their territories.

Hudak said all the proposed legislation does is show that Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty has written off Northern Ontario’s chances of economic renewal by ignoring the challenges and needs of families, businesses and First Nations to bring forward policies that appease southern Ontario special interest groups.

"The so-called Far North Act … will put a permanent straight jacket on Northern Ontario jobs and growth," Hudak said Thursday, after a half-hour meeting at the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce.

"The act will freeze Northern Ontario in time to create one giant park. The Ontario PC’s have a very different view. Our priority is on jobs and investment in Northern Ontario. Bill 191, by taking away future job creation, will make a very difficult situation even worse for Northern Ontario families."

Jeffrey said that simply isn’t so, adding First Nations communities will have the right to amend the act and make changes to what land is protected, should they discover mineral deposits on the protected land and decide they want to allow a mining operation to set up shop.

It’s the uncertainty that has Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president Harold Wilson up in arms. Wilson said businesses can’t afford to wait years to decide where they’re going to seek new developments, and that companies already working Ontario’s north won’t take kindly if the land they’re looking at is suddenly made an island in the wilderness. Existing jobs could start to disappear, along with prospective new ones, he said.

"If we take an area like that and remove it from the game, remove it from an opportunity, a lot of those businesses, a lot of those people who are already employed, what are they going to be able to do? If you take 50 per cent off, and you don’t say which 50 per cent, then it’s almost a moratorium on all of it. How are you going to raise funds, how are you going to get out there on those job we currently have?"

Garry Clark, head of the Ontario Prospectors Association, said the Liberal plan will create access problems for development and exploration on lands not under Far North Act protection, and will ultimately force companies and their investors make tough decisions that may not work in Ontario’s favour.

"Our worry is it’s a global community that invests in the province, especially in the exploration and mining business," Clark said. "It’s easy to go to other jurisdictions. If it’s not a friendly jurisdiction, then the people leave. It’s really hard to keep people from leaving … and to get them back."