Look what I found:
Norm Miller, MPP for Parry Sound Muskoka, is challenging amendments to Ontario's Mining Act.
Miller is warning provincial officials that the new detailed plans required by the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines will create significant delays for Ontario mining companies, costing them millions of dollars, while drowning the province in red tape.
As of April 1, 2013, companies will need to submit details of almost every stage of their exploration plans and consult with affected First Nations.
By forcing prospectors to now file detailed plans for activities as simple as flipping stones and driving stakes, the regulatory burden is increasing on this critical first step in the mining process, said Miller, speaking at Queens Park. When these amendments were passed, the current government announced they would modernize the system and promised to bring the Mining Act into the 21st century. Judging by the response so far, it sounds more like a step back.
In the Ontario Legislature, Miller shared the story of Pioneer Coal owner John Chisholm, who says the new system is bound to cripple mining companies.
Miller is warning that juniors that operate by raising funds just in time to fund exploration work will be casualties under the new system.
This isn't just costing the developers money, says Miller. It is costing Ontario jobs jobs that could be created by new discoveries, by new mines opening and the prosperity that follows new developments into local communities.
Too bad no one is listening. Where are PDAC, OPA, OMA, Constitutional Scholars, Champion for rights and freedom or even advocates for free enterprize...