Michael Atkins

It was a little more than a year ago that I first floated the idea of a new regional government for Northern Ontario. The occasion was the spring 2005 meeting of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities.

We revel in our independence. Northern Ontario Business is one of the last independent regional business newspapers in the country. Actually, we were also one of the first. We are celebrating our 25th anniversary.

I like the looks of Mick Davis, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Xstrata, the new owner of Falconbridge.

As I write this column the plan for Inco to buy Falconbridge and bring synergy to Nickel mining in Sudbury is in ruins.

We held a conference the other day in Toronto that got me thinking about the limits of policy making. It was put together by Northern Ontario Businesses’ sister company, ITWorldCanada.

The only thing worse than a petulant childlike control freak in your book club, sports team, classroom, scout troop or volunteer organization is a really smart one who grows up and becomes Prime Minister. Stephen Harper is scary smart.

It was a quarter century ago when I first started thinking about community energy. Actually it was my friend Narasim Katary who had the idea.

The conventional wisdom up here is that Northern Ontario needs to be tuned into the telecommunications revolution (read bandwidth) that is enabling the rest of the world to acquire Attention Deficit Disorder.

I’ve been a little grumpy lately, actually more than grumpy. I’ve been really grumpy, which is about as dangerous as I get. This election has been a little wearing. ATKINS I should say, more accurately, the idea of the election has been wearing.

I have been in the award business for at least a quarter century.