Hopes for FedNor to become an independent economic development agency are still alive, but it may have to wait until there is a new Canadian government.
Bill C-309, which could turn FedNor into a stand-alone agency, without ties to Industry Canada, didn't receive royal recommendation in the House of Commons and therefore won't be voted on when Parliament reconvenes after summer break, despite passing second reading.
The NDP and Liberals supported the bill, however, the Conservatives voted against it, making the final count 144 for the bill and 142 against.
The private-members bill would have made FedNor work in a way closer to Canada's three other regional development agencies, which operate independently from the federal government. FedNor differs, since it is controlled 100 per cent by Industry Canada, with Minister Tony Clement at the helm. Its budget is also less than one quarter of the other three agencies.
The bill was introduced by Nipissing-Timiskaming Liberal MP Anthony Rota in the House last February, where it has been debated extensively ever since.
Sault Ste. Marie NDP MP Tony Martin originally drafted the bill in the previous parliament. He also criticized the Conservatives opposition to make FedNor independent after allocating $1 billion to creating an independent southern Ontario economic development agency.
“Other regions in Canada have their own, arm's length, independent agency with full accountability that serves local communities,” he said. “Why not Northern Ontario?”
Martin said that the passing of the bill in its second reading will serve as a place marker, proving Northern MPs want an independent economic development agency for Northern Ontario so the issue can be raised as a government bill when a new government is formed.
Clement stood by FedNor, saying it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars to create a new agency.
"This bill implies that FedNor is not supporting Northern Ontario,” Clement stated in a press release. “This could not be further from the truth. FedNor has been, and will continue to be, a vital economic delivery program for the North. Creating even more bureaucracy would not be beneficial to Northern Ontarians, would cost more money and would increase red tape."
"The previous Liberal government had 13 years to change FedNor and they didn’t. Now, in opposition, they are hoping to score cheap political points on an expensive and unproductive idea. That’s just not right; that’s not responsible government."
Along with Clement, Kenora's Conservative MP, Greg Rickford, came out against scrapping FedNor's federal ties in the House of Commons.
“Bill C-309 proposes to duplicate what FedNor, part of Industry Canada, is already doing and doing quite well,” Rickford told the House.
“We need only speak to mayors, community leaders and other stakeholders in Northern Ontario for confirmation.”
FedNor has come under criticism lately for handing out funds in southern Ontario, despite having a mandate to spur economic development in the North. This has caused critics to start calling the program “FedNot” or “FedOntario.”
In Kenora, Dennis Wallace, who chairs the Lake of the Woods Economic Development Commission, said he disagrees with Rickford's approach.
“Why wasn't it an agency in the first place,” said Wallace, who also served as the president of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, which is that region's independent agency. “Well, it's because it was one region within Ontario, rather than a full province or a region of several provinces – but times have changed – and if you're going to create an agency in southern Ontario, then it seems to me the shoe has dropped.”
“If a government has decided to create a regional agency, then what's the problem with looking at an agency that already exists that doesn't have the machinery or the authority it might need under the trying times to do its job.”
An independent agency that has its own minister and deputy minister for the region would be able to get the government's attention and spur more development than FedNor, since it's only one part of Clement's duties as industry minister, said Wallace.
“Its mandate must be drawn up at the local level by the people who live in the region, not by some faceless bureaucrat in Ottawa offices of Industry Canada,” said Nickel Belt MP Claude Gravelle, who serves as the NDP's FedNor critic. “It is time they stopped treating the people of Northern Ontario like second-class citizens.”
