Northern mayors double-team Chris Bentley

Northern community leaders used the Ontario Good Roads conference in Toronto as an opportunity to do some arm-twisting with provincial cabinet ministers.

Two Northern mayors, Kapuskasing's Al Spacek and Timmins' Tom Laughren, cornered Energy Minister Chris Bentley for a “very positive, if short, meeting” on the issue of energy rates and power transmission upgrades.

In a Feb. 28 release by the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM), Spacek said he came away impressed with Bentley's “candour and grasp of the challenges we face in Northern Ontario.”

Bentley assured them that “the province is committed” to being competitive on rates and is “examining ways to make them simpler for industrial users to apply in their operations.”

Laughren added: “The minister seems to understand that we need to get electrical transmission capacity up and running sooner than later in the North to generate the prosperity our whole province needs at this time.”

Both mayors delivered a presentation on mining tax revenue sharing, something FONOM officials say “needs work over time” and will be discussed again later when the provincial deficit is under control.

Spacek said that Minister of Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci “indicated that the (mining) slurry trucks that beat up roadways within municipalities may be something for which the government would consider finding ways to compensate.”

Ron Nelson, president of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA), said his group used the event to press the government to make good on its policy promises for the North.

The mayor of O'Connor Township said the NOMA board met with government and Opposition members to bring attention to infrastructure development in the Ring of Fire, the lack of energy capacity to power Northern First Nations, and the high cost of policing in these communities.

“We also stressed the importance of pushing forward with the Growth Plan for Northern Ontario and we encouraged the minister (Bartolucci) to expedite the announcement of the details for the Northern Policy.”