Page 47 Ontario s Province looks to put Northern Ontario at forefront of Ontarios Plan cial Mining W orking Group to in its words reduce red tape and attract major new investments to Northern Ontario Even the federal government s car bon tax is weaved into the govern ment s position on mining On April 1 2019 the federal government be gan imposing its job killing carbon tax on the people of Ontario and three other Canadian provinces The federal government has done so despite the overwhelming evi dence that a carbon tax is one of the most regressive tax increases in the history of Canada and one which is expected to increase the typical Ontario household s cost of living by 258 in 2019 rising to 648 per year by 2022 Amongst the hardest hit people will be se niors and lower and middle income families who will be least able to absorb skyrocketing gas prices and home heating costs A carbon tax will also make automotive manu facturing transportation mining and forestry activities increasingly unafordable in Ontario and put thousands of jobs at risk states the budget The Mining W orking Group will fo cus on reducing red tape and at tracting major new investments The group is chaired by Greg Rick ford the Minister of Energy North ern Development and Mines and includes members from mining and exploration companies prospec tors and Indigenous business orga nizations Rickford is the MPP from KenoraRainy River Members of the group will provide the Province with input on important issues af fecting the minerals sector while identifying opportunities to ensure future growth competitiveness and prosperity Notwithstanding critics who feared otherwise the Ford government is pushing ahead with provincial rev enuesharing agreements with at least three First Nations groups Ontario is one of the most attrac tive jurisdictions for mineral explo ration in the world and accounts for about 25 per cent of Canada s total exploration expenditures There are opportunities to increase economic activity from resource exploration and development while ensuring Indigenous communities beneft from the resource sector said Finance Minister Fedeli T o support opportunities for em ployment and the fnancial success of Indigenous communities the Province will move forward with the agreements signed with the Grand Council T reaty 3 the W abun T rib al Council and the Mushkegowuk Council to share resource revenues from mining and forestry At the same time the Province will continue to explore options to advance resource revenue sharing opportunities with other Indigenous partners and Northern communi ties including in the mining forest ry and aggregates sectors states the budget On the allimportant topic of en ergy and its broad impact across the province the ministry has de veloped a new vision statement Energy Northern Development and Mines V ision Statement The Province continues to fx expensive and confusing electricity programs and is creating an energy system that works for Ontario s families farms and small businesses The Province is committed to making electricity bills more transparent and to lowering electricity costs for residential farm and small busi ness customers by 12 per cent As a result of this transparency the full fscal costs of rate mitigation are re fected in the government s books The Province will view all decisions on electricity through the lens of re ducing costs For example the gov ernment plans to refocus and cen tralize the delivery of conservation programs to save electricity cus tomers and taxpayers up to 442 million over the next three years The Province will continue to put Northern Ontario at the forefront of Ontario s Plan for the People and help ensure these communities can improve their competitiveness and attract new mining investments On the issue of consultation with First Nations groups Ford told Min ing Life and Exploration News that he and his government are commit ted to a twoway dialogue Ontario has a duty to consult impacted First Nations on major projects W e take this duty seriously and will continue to engage our First Nations part ners he said