EDITORIAL: Ring of Fire ball dropped

There are a lot of people hoping they don’t have to wash egg off their face in the wake of the latest Ring of Fire developments.

Late last month Cliffs Natural Resources decided they were pulling out of the project, at least temporarily, stating they have no plans for further investment in the foreseeable future.

While some see it as political posturing, a move aimed at forcing the government’s hand to build a roadway to the riches buried on traditional lands in the North, others believe that as time marched on, the company decided the payoff simply wasn’t worth the investment.

Opposition parties are lambasting Premier Kathleen Wynne – and by default Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle – for bungling the project from the get go.

Wynne in turn says the federal government needs to step to the plate and become a partner in the exercse.
The province should have seen this coming and should have stepped in much sooner.

It may be too little, too late for the Ring of Fire. Touted almost universally as the saviour of the North, if not the province, Wynne and company appear to have taken the development for granted, and now must scramble to avoid losing a potential cash cow and thousands of jobs. And that would be a crying shame.