Ontario is better off unified and together, with differences between regions, like North-Eastern, North-Western, Southern and South-Western Ontario being no reason to divide the Province, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne communicated during her interview with BayToday.ca Wednesday night.
“I think that’s a terrible idea,” she said about the proposed political divisiveness of Northern Ontario Party (NOP) leader Trevor Holliday. “The reality is the tax base in southern Ontario supports health care and education services all over the North and that’s as it should be. The money that comes from resource industry in the North gets redistributed in all the services that the Province provides.”
Earlier this month, Holliday announced the NOP would be setting up a riding constituency for the first time ever in North Bay. This was done at the North Bay Power Plant, which announced it would be shutting down and laying off staff. Something he blames the Premier for—claiming neglect for the Northern region.
However, Wynne said she believes her visits to the North, as well as her close colleagues in the North, like MPP Glenn Thibeault, Michael Gravelle, and Bill Moreau, provide members in the South with constant information and feedback to ensure the North is taken care of.
“Every time I come North it reinforces my commitment that we do consider the issues that are Northern issues that are different that Southern issues, in the same way that when I go to southwestern Ontario, it reinforces those issues,” she told BayToday.ca. “I’m always glad to be here and I’ll always come back because not only do I believe the North is better off as one Ontario, but the South is better off with the North in one Ontario.”
Wynne said she wasn’t entirely surprised of the resurgence of the NOP and said it wouldn’t serve the best interest of Northern Ontarians.
“This happens periodically and I understand during tough economic times there are tensions that arise, but we’re one Ontario and we’re way better off as one Ontario,” she said.
But her visit to North Bay was to talk to students and in her tour around the campus, many students expressed uncertainty on whether they wanted to stay in North Bay or even in the Province, saying the job market for recent graduates can be a challenge.
Wynne told BayToday.ca the Province was working on a number of fronts, establishing medical, architectural and law schools in the North.
“We’re making sure we have those programs in the North and what I actually hear from students today are many that have come from other places in the Province are thinking about staying here because they love it,” she said. “But beyond that we need to make sure we’re working with communities in the North on their economic opportunities.”
Wynne pointed to the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, which has been making continuous investments in the North, most often heard of in North Bay in relation to the film and Television industry.
“There are hundreds of millions of dollars that have been put into businesses in the north to help them start or expand and become sustainable,” she told BayToday.ca. “The other thing is investment in infrastructure. Not just hospitals and schools and roads, but community infrastructure to make sure they have the supports they need so they can draw businesses to them to make sure communities in the North can thrive.”
“Are we done with that? No. we still have more to do and some of it is in the mining industry, some of it is in forestry, but it goes beyond that. There are health innovations going on in the North for example and we need to make sure we continue to support those.”
However, the Province has continuously received criticism about the cost of energy for businesses, particularly in the North. She said costs across the Province was an interesting topic, saying residence in different regions of Ontario might speak about the different challenges in expenses, such as housing prices in the GTA.
“One of the things we’re looking seriously at is how to deal with those delivery charges people are finding, which can be half or more than half of their electricity bills,” she told BayToday.ca. “We will bring forward proposals before the budget to make it clear to people how we’re going to further take costs out of the system and help people with their bills, because it’s unacceptable for me that people would have to choose between paying their rent and their electricity bill so we’re going to take further action.”
And despite many questions from worried students in the health care programs, wondering if they’ll even be able to get a job when they graduate, Wynne continued to say the Province has been investing and will continue to invest funds into the health care and educational system.
“The reality is we continue to put more money into health care,” she told BayToday.ca. “Education and health care are the two largest items in the Ontario budget and we will continue to put more money into health care. We recognise hospitals require more support and we will continue to put those supports in place.”
With a very limited time for questions, Wynne finished by saying there were still issues in Northern Ontario to be solved, but Ontario was better off being united, with each region supporting each other in development.
