Finance Minister Charles Sousa stressed Tuesday the importance of developing natural resources in Ontario to help balance the deficit and tackle the debt.
He spoke to a lunch-hour crowd at the Toronto Board of Trade in a sweeping talk that resembled his budget speech and many recent engagements. From a focus on tax cuts to plans to tackle the deficit, Sousa was adamant that the government simply can’t do it without business. And one way industry can boost revenues is through resource development.
But his comments came on the heels of an announcement from Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. that it’s pausing its development of the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario. Work on the $3.3-billion project has paused, but Sousa is still hopeful that new sources of minerals and other resources will eventually flow south.
“It is something that we should always pursue,” Sousa said of resource development, adding that “we need to ensure that we find ways to develop it (the Ring of Fire.)”
But first he cautioned that roads, rails, transmissions and other infrastructure need to be in place. The proposed development, even if paused, was not about to open tomorrow.
“I’m saying that we still want to see the Ring of Fire developed and we recognize that it’s a long-term project,” Sousa said, echoing <a href="http://www.qpbriefing.com/2013/06/13/wynne-on-ring-of-fire-hotseat-with-northern-media/">comments from Premier Kathleen Wynne on a northern media call last week</a>.
***
The proposed federal Canada Jobs Grant will top the agenda when the country’s premiers descend on Niagara-on-the-Lake this summer.
It’s Ontario turn to host Council of Federation this year, and Premier Kathleen Wynne will chair the meeting of first ministers in late July (exact dates are still up in the air), a post she’ll hold until the next meeting. On a recent conference call, Canada’s premiers discussed their mutual discontent with the proposed federal training program, which many have argued undercuts province’s ability to meet their specific labour and training needs.
“The federal government is proposing a one-size-fits-all approach,” Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter, the current chair of the council, said in a statement Tuesday. “We need to have flexibility to respond to the different labour market needs in each part of the country.”
***
<div id="attachment_15353" style="width: 262px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://www.qpbriefing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Bisson.jpg"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-15353" class="size-medium wp-image-15353" alt="Toronto Star file photo" src="http://www.qpbriefing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Bisson-252x300.jpg" width="252" height="300" /></a>Toronto Star file photo</div>
Gilles Bisson wins Quote of the Day, from the proceedings of the Standing Committee on Justice policy (a.k.a all gas plants, all the time committee). On the newfangled computers and how it's possible to delete important emails in the Premier's office, Bisson said “I’m just a little ol’ MPP from northern Ontario, right? So I don’t pretend to be very cultured and understand this stuff greatly," before explaining that he understand modern email servers passably well.

Seen, heard, happening

Read this for free.