Premier Kathleen Wynne has emerged from a meeting with Stephen Harper satisfied that she has the prime minister's ear on the Ring of Fire, a mineral development project in northern Ontario worth up to $60 billion.
"I'm more optimistic than I was before I went in to the meeting that we'll be able to work together," Wynne told The Canadian Press in a brief interview late Thursday.
Wynne is hoping to convince the prime minister to split 50 – 50 the costs associated with developing the project, which has been in limbo since Cliffs Natural Resources, a major U.S. mining company, decided to suspend its operations in the area last month.
The Ontario government has estimated the total capital investment for infrastructure in the range of $800 million to $1 billion, with the estimated costs of connecting the Ring of Fire communities to all-season access roads at $1.25 billion.
Following her meeting with Harper, Wynne suggested the two made progress saying "definitely, we have each other's ear on this."
"He and I agree that this is a very important project. He and I also agree that infrastructure is critical, and infrastructure that will be directly associated with the development of the Ring of Fire but also infrastructure that will serve the needs of First Nations and other communities in the north."
"This is a project of national interest in the same way that there have been projects in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador that are projects of national interest," Wynne told reporters just prior to her meeting with the prime minister.
"We're looking for engagement," she said.
Greg Rickford, the northern Ontario Conservative MP Harper has tagged with shepherding the Ring of Fire, complained Thursday that Wynne's letter was the first the federal government had heard of a proposed development corporation to build infrastructure.
"I'm confident that today's meeting will reflect a willingness to be more collaborative," Rickford said before the premier's tête-à-tête with Harper.
Wynne appeared satisfied Thursday after meeting Harper that Ottawa is prepared to come to the table.
"He's open to considering the notion of a development corporation and that was the engagement I was looking for," said the Ontario premier.
"No dollar numbers thrown around, none at all."
NDP motion on Ring of Fire
Wynne met with Harper, a day after the Conservative majority on a House of Commons committee shot down an NDP proposal to have Ontario provincial officials appear to testify about the Ring of Fire resource development.
NDP MP Claude Gravelle introduced a motion on Wednesday calling on the House of Commons natural resources committee to "invite the government of Ontario on its Ring of Fire initiative with a view to understanding their specific policy concerns and to determine federal policy actions that would help move this multibillion-dollar project forward."
The committee went behind closed doors to assess Gravelle's motion on hearing from Ontario officials about federal help in developing the Ring of Fire, but sources tell the Canadian Press the government majority voted down the motion.
The Opposition New Democrats have been pushing to end what they describe as the government's "abuse" of secrecy in committee meetings.
MPs are not allowed to disclose publicly what unfolds once the meeting goes in-camera or behind closed doors.
Members of the committee that were present on Wednesday were:
- Conservatives Mike Allen, Leon Benoit, Kelly Block, Joan Crockatt, Ryan Leef, Brad Trost, and Bob Zimmer.
- New Democrats Linda Duncan, Peter Julian and Gravelle.
- Liberal Geoff Regan.
Wynne told reporters prior to her meeting with Harper she also wanted to raise the "fairly urgent" issue of pension reform, another topic that has caused considerable tension between the province and Ottawa.
Ontario has said it will create a provincial retirement income plan if it can't convince Ottawa and the other provinces to enhance the Canada Pension Plan.
Provincial finance ministers will be meeting with federal finance minister Jim Flaherty to discuss the issue of pension reform at Meech Lake on Dec. 15 and 16.