Feeling a potential change in tone for the next federal government while US President Donald Trump strikes the prices in Canada, the Ford government Hang his efforts to build a road to the fire ring.
Creating a way to exploit the area rich in minerals in northern Ontario has been on the list of tasks of Prime Minister Doug Ford since he was elected for the first time in 2018, but little progress has been made.
Now, with a booming federal election, Ontario sees a potential opportunity to advance its longtime ambitions.
Prime Minister and Liberal leader Mark Carney said he wanted to create a process for the federal government to support national construction projects if elected, the Ring of Fire being an option.
The conservative leader Pierre Hairy has specifically promised to accelerate work on the project. The leader of the NPD, Jagmeet Singh, has not yet announced a policy.
While the federal race continues, Ontario positions itself to make its argument for the possible winner – and moves to try to obtain local First Nations communities on board.
A road to the Ring of Fire would be a massive technical company that requires the adhesion of local communities. The province is trying to frame the project as an opportunity not only for mining companies, but also to transform the economic fortune of all those who live in the region.
“The communities of this region are the only ones that remain in northern Ontario operating exclusively on diesel, and they have no access on the road,” said Aboriginal Affairs Minister Greg Rickford, who is responsible for work on the fire ring, in an interview on survival on an interview on To focus Ontario.
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“It is therefore a real opportunity to build these partnerships so that these communities can have road access, a better economy, better access to health and different services and be an important part of the development of the Ring of Fire.”
While some local leaders have appeared with provincial politicians to approve certain projects related to the road, others organized demonstrations and condemned the way the government has managed consultations.
Ontario’s NPD deputy Sol Mamakwa said he didn’t believe that the Ford government came to the table with a real desire to solve problems in the necessary region before a collaborative approach could be agreed in the Ring of Fire.
“They want to access the resources that are there (but) they have no interest in dealing with housing, they do not intend to contact nursing stations or in high schools in the North and infrastructure,” he said in a separate interview with Focus Ontario.
“Mental health problems, dependencies, they don’t want to solve them.”
Rickford said that he had “never spoke to an First Nations chief” in the fire ring area that was against development. However, he admitted that their “expectations on how it could happen” are different according to what their community needs.
However, Rickford presents the economic boon which would come from a massive provincial effort – and potentially federal – in the region.
“The inherited infrastructure required to support this type of world class site is as important an economic experience as a mine itself,” he said.
“You are building a highway mainly between Toronto and Montreal in these terms. You have to think, it’s a lot of work. There are a lot of employment possibilities before we are really in the extraction activity.”
Mamkwa stressed that the way the government is about to provide that is essential – and that if it is not a complete partnership, the province will be faced with a serious decline.
“I think that being rights holders, members of the First Nations, community members, they begin to realize that governments adopt this approach,” he said.
“And I think that the more oppressed they are, the more colonial the government, the more the nations will be held together, the more they will get up. And I think that is what will happen and I tried to warn them but they do not listen.”
Focus Ontario is broadcast at 5.30 p.m. on Saturday March 29 on Focus Ontario.
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