Page 10 Liberals to the far left of the politi cal spectrum has left Ontarians with a distinct voting decision another 45 years of Liberal rule or a return to Conservative governance In their 2017 ofcial party platform the NDP despite having veteran members from northern Ontario like Gilles Bisson mentions the word mining once And we can have a gov ernment that listens to all regions of our province including northern and rural Ontario W e can t lose sight of our regional strengths that built On tario such as mining forestry and agriculture Our vision of regional growth also ensures there is a place for everything from innovation to arts and culture Our vision for Ontario is where economic developmen t works for everyone where small towns can thrive and citi es are vibrant and liv able In August 2017 at the height of a debate about the Ring of Fire inac tion NDP Leader Horwath issued a statement condemning the Liberal s impotence This is a oneinalife time opportunity I want to build the infrastructure that is needed to spark the Ring of Fire I want to unlock the thousands of jobs and billion s of dol lars in economic activity this project promises And I want to do it right ensuring we respect Indigenous na tions in the region as partners Unlike W ynne and the Conservative s I un derstand the ur gency There are peo ple hurting because of the shortage of good jobs in their home community jobs they can raise a family on It doesn t have to be this way W ith a new governme nt one willing to take the Ring of Fire of the backburner and make it a priority we will see action quickly Noront Resources meanwhile the lar gest claim holder in the region announced in April it had reached an agreement with at least one First Nations community that gives band members a stake in the company In the interim the company is patiently waiting for permitting approvals so it can proceed with longawaited road construction into the region In August of last year Premie r W ynne announced the government had struck agreements with W ebequie Marten Falls and Nibinamik First Nations to construct an eastwest and a north south road into the mineral explora tion camp As Ontario Mining Association presi dent Chris Hodgson has state d The mining sector has exceptional poten tial to contribu te to the economic de velopment of Ontario provided good policy and governance frameworks are in place That s a fne line to navigate and min ing ofcials here at this event are hopeful that the balance will fnally tilt in the other more favourable di rection By Kevin V incent W ill Highway 400 commuters soon see a familiar face behind the wheel of a bulldozer trudging its way up to northern Ontario The premier per haps Broadly regarded as one of the most challenging jurisdictions in the world in which to conduct mining due al most entirely to government over reach and the high cost of electricity delegates to this year s 2018 version of the Big Event will be keeping a close eye on the outcome of the On tario provincial election Of particular concern is the decade and a half of Liberal inaction on the Ring of Fire While the McGuinty and W ynne governments have made untold promises to get the massive chromite deposit into production the project is still in limbo Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford raised eyebrows early in the election cam paign on his frst visit to northern On tario when he said he would jump on a bulldozer himself if he had to in order to get the project in motion While Ford s comments were lar gely symbolic they underlined an indus try s frustration with both the Liberal and NDP parties which have been in a ferce competition for extreme envi ronmentalist votes The blurred lines between the ultra left NDP and the shifted Ontario