THUNDER BAY -- Vic Fedeli sees the Ring of Fire as a once in a generation opportunity Ontario can’t afford to waste.
The Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership candidate made a stop in Thunder Bay on Saturday and said making substantial progress with the lucrative proposed mining development would be one of his top priorities.
“You can see the opportunity on the ground and in the ground. There are 40, 50, 60 and 80 years of minerals in there and no way to get them out,” he told Dougall Media in an interview.
“What you need to do is stop announcing the same announcements six times and actually do something about it. They talk about $1 billion but there hasn’t been one penny spent so far.”
The Nippissing MPP has made four trips up to the Ring of Fire since being elected and insists he understands the issues and challenges it faces as well as anybody at Queen's Park.
Fedeli said he would start by supporting Noront in their efforts to extract nickel and transport it in their east-west route. Then a road should be built from the Ring of Fire to Webequie, as well as transitioning the current winter road from Webequie to Pickle Lake into an all-year road.
That would provide development while analyses are conducted to determine how best to move forward with chromite mining. Fedeli said he advocates for rail transportation, utilizing the provincially-owned Ontario Northland Railway.
Instead, progress has been virtually non-existent as the industry loses confidence in the government and interest in the project as commodity prices plummet.
He has seen the difference from the hopeful times to where they currently stand.
“(One major company) had 125 people working up there when I was there in 2011 but now there are only four or five people there today in 2015,” Fedeli said.
Fedeli started his day off hosting a roundtable discussion at the Victoria Inn, continuing a series of talks he has held across the province.
Those roundtables allow him to meet with different people with a multitude of suggestions and ideas to improve Ontario. He has heard issues regarding the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation.
He said the current MPAC model is not doing anybody any favours.
“They are off by such a huge number and a huge percentage on a huge amount of their cases. It needs to be fully reformed,” Fedeli said.
“MPAC assessment needs to be completely reconfigured to understand the modern circumstances. When you have a province that lost 2,700 businesses last year, there’s an exodus of businesses in Ontario because we have the highest energy rates in North America and the highest payroll taxes in Canada. When you have these issues you have companies leaving, empty buildings and less taxes for the communities.”
He is one of five contenders vying to replace former leader Tim Hudak as the head of a party that has finished runner-up in four straight elections since the Liberals were first elected to power in 2003.
The other candiates are fellow MPPs Christine Elliott (Whitby-Oshawa), Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex) and Lisa MacLeod (Nepean-Carleton) as well as federal Conservative MP Patrick Brown (Barrie).
The former mayor of North Bay, Fedeli is currently the only PC MPP representing a Northern riding. There’s no way the party can form the next government without a stronger showing in those 11 ridings, he said.
Doing that will require work and a strong demonstration the region is a priority.
“I believe every riding is winnable. I think all 107 can be winnable,” he said.
“We’ve had PC representation in this neck of the woods in the past and we’ve had PC MPPs in Timmins, Sudbury and all throughout the North. I think a solid message from a Northerner is what Northern Ontario needs to hear.”
The party will select its next leader in May.
