Hampton seeks support for forestry
By Brian Kelly
Monday, March 07, 2005 - 09:00
Local News - The provincial and federal governments should contribute more than $150 million per year to help the forestry sector in Northern Ontario, says Ontario NDP leader Howard Hampton.
If action is not taken soon, he warned, pulp and paper mills that are “close to the edge” in Kenora, Thunder Bay and Smooth Rock Falls could close and quash 2,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Hampton also called for a freeze on soaring electricity rates, which he said are crippling Northern industries that need vast amounts of power to run their operations.
“Major industries in Northern Ontario cannot afford to be paying five or six cents a kilowatt hour for their electricity and continue to remain in production,” Hampton said in an interview.
Speaking at a meeting in Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario NDP’s Northern Council, the Rainy River MPP said industrial electricity costs have risen 30 per cent in the past four years. That spells trouble for Northern industries such as mining, steelmaking and forestry, Hampton said in a 35-minute speech. He told 50 delegates that 6,000 jobs, most of them in the forestry sector in communities such as Chapleau, Opasatika and Sturgeon Falls, were lost in the North during Premier Dalton McGuinty’s first year in office. No other part of the province saw as many jobs disappear, he said.
Since December, the provincial government has invested more than $680 million in cash and tax credits to help Casino Windsor, General Motors and film and television production in Ontario. The federal government chipped in another $200 million to aid GM’s $2.5 billion investment in its Ontario operations.
“Where are each of them when it comes to an investment strategy for the forest sector in Northern Ontario?”
Government dollars could target energy efficiency improvements and co-generation plants, Hampton said.
Federal NDP leader Jack Layton, who spoke to about 40 delegates Sunday morning, said his party will push the Liberals for industrial strategies for steel, pulp and softwood, agriculture and tourism.
“The idea of the government investing in some of these sectors and assisting in the plant modernization allows us to achieve environmental goals at the same time as we achieve employment possibilities,” he told reporters.
Hampton plans to take his campaign to many Northern communities with forestry operations, including the Sault, Chapleau and Espanola, during the next three to four months.
The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada and United Steelworkers of America, the two largest forestry-sector unions, are assisting with the NDP’s campaign. (*)
