Premier repeats Ring of Fire optimism in Timmins 
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said in Timmins today her government is working to get some sort of expedited reaction from the Matawa First Nations for a plan of action on the Ring of Fire mining area. The premiere said the time to act on the huge chromite and nickel prospect is now and that her government is ready to invest a billion dollars in infrastructure to get a road link into area, located some 600 kilometres northwest of Timmins. Wynne was in Timmins as part of a tour of Northern Ontario communities this week.LEN GILLIS / Postmedia Network
“Very soon.”
That’s the best answer Premier Kathleen Wynne gave while commenting on when Ontario might see some progress on the Ring of Fire mining development, located in the James Bay Lowlands.
Wynne made the comment in Timmins on Thursday, where she was speaking at the Timmins Family YMCA and meeting with community leaders.
While the premier was promoting her government’s Children and Youth Pharmacare Program, she also met with reporters to talk about her tour across Northern Ontario.
In responding to a question about the fact that Timmins is a mining supply community, as well as being a mining town, the premier was asked when the government might be expected to be more proactive in helping the Ring of Fire project to move forward.
“I know that Timmins is a real launching pad, isn’t it, for the mining industry and an important part of the supply chain,” said Wynne, who added her government is in active talks with the Matawa First Nations to get a road established into the Ring of Fire area. It is located in the McFauld’s Lake area, roughly 600 kilometres northwest of Timmins and is the site of the huge chromite and nickel deposit, which is valued in the tens of billions of dollars.
Wynne repeated what she has been telling Sudbury and other Northern Ontario communities this week; that the First Nations need to come to some sort of agreement because Ontario is willing now to spend infrastructure money.
(Read The Sudbury Star's story at https://www.thesudburystar.com/2017/05/23/premier-expects-ring-of-fire-progress-within-weeks).
“We have a billion dollars on the table that we want to invest in infrastructure that is necessary in order to be able to open up that development in the Ring of Fire,” said Wynne. She added that her government has been working for the past few years to get the First Nations to try to reach a consensus. But if that cannot be done, she said Ontario would push ahead.
“I said now is the time to make a decision. So we are working again to come to a consensus with the Matawa First Nations on the route and how we would invest.
If we can’t come to a consensus within the regional framework, then we are going to move very soon to begin to work with individual communities that want to work with us and get started,” Wynne said.
“We need to get shovels in the ground. We need to be investing in that infrastructure, because the companies want some certainty that that infrastructure is going to happen. And we’re going to move ahead with that,” she continued.
The Daily Press asked the premier if she could pin down a date for when this would happen.
“I wish I could give you a date, but I have said earlier this week that we’re talking about weeks, not months, you know. We need to move ahead and at least get to the point where we can say, yeah, we are going ahead with a consensus or we are going to work with individual communities. That’s what I’d like to be able to say in the very near future,” said Wynne.
Wynne also addressed a question about municipal infrastructure and the connecting link program, which is a provincial funding program to help municipalities upgrade key roads in their communities; specifically roads that connect provincial highways.
Wynne was asked if her government would consider adding more money to the program, which serves communities across Ontario. Timmins was given $3-million in funding in 2016, but missed out entirely on connecting link money in 2017.
Wynne said there is a backlog of communities across Ontario trying to get money to fix their roads. She said the funding had been uncertain for years, but at least now her government has agreed to make it a permanent funding program.
“I hope because it is permanent and because it will be there, we’ll see that backlog get addressed,” said Wynne.
“The other thing we put in place is OCIF funding (Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund). I know that it is not for exactly the same thing, but the community infrastructure fund can be used for other infrastructure in the community and that eases the burden for municipalities too,” Wynne continued.
She added that while the province has programs to help the municipalities, the province also expects the municipalities to carry their share of the load.
“We have put a number of programs in place including the connecting link. We’ve made them permanent because that backlog of infrastructure building, it cannot all be addressed by the province,” she said. “Some of it has to be addressed by the municipality making local decisions about what they need to invest in.”
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