EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a new Village Media website devoted exclusively to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.
Premier Doug Ford said he'll have his people talk to Justin Trudeau's people about the Ring of Fire.
Ford's government has hyped the large mining project in Ontario's north as a key part of its electric vehicle manufacturing strategy — the first part of a closed-loop system from minerals to manufacturing. But the remote region will require lots of infrastructure to develop, including roads for mining equipment to reach it.
While some First Nations are working with the province to make it happen, others say they haven't been adequately consulted. A lawsuit to that effect was filed in April, though Ford said he's "not at all" worried about it.
And then there's Ottawa.
In May, Trudeau's government pledged $40 million toward the project. But on Tuesday, Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told the Toronto Star there were better, easier areas to focus on for mineral mining.
Ford said he might need to have a chat with the captain of Team Canada.
"Once you get a letter and say you're gonna put $40 million into it — we'll have to have our folks talk to the (Prime Minister's Office)," Ford said in Winnipeg on Wednesday, at the closing press conference of the Council of the Federation (CoF) meeting between Canada's premiers.
"This will bring prosperity and growth to communities right across the North," including "proper health care" and "proper energy," he said — adding that "global investment is watching."
The day before, Ford expressed frustration with Ottawa checking his government's homework on environmental assessments in the Ring of Fire.
Ford and Quebec Premier François Legault also pushed at CoF for the feds to open up the contract to replace military surveillance planes — instead of sole-sourcing it to Boeing, as Ottawa has suggested it will — so Bombardier can compete. The Quebec-based company has a large presence in both provinces.
"We need the Government of Canada to be a strong partner and champion, working with us to offer fair opportunities for Canadian companies to access federal procurement processes in sectors such as shipbuilding, aerospace, and defence equipment through public tender," they said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
On the day she was sworn in as Toronto Mayor, Ford weighed in on Olivia Chow's promise to take the province to court if it expropriates the land around Ontario Place, calling it "disappointing" but saying he can work with anyone.
He also said people care far less about his government's plans for the site compared to issues like affordability.
"On a level of one to 100, for people around our entire province, I'll tell you, they won't be talking about Ontario Place," he said. "They'll talk about affordability, how they can pay the bills, pay their mortgages. That's what's important to people."
To that end, Ford added that he isn't in favour of today's Bank of Canada rate hike, saying it isn't worth the economic stress on individuals.
"I understand what they're doing, trying to knock down inflation, but what's the ramification of this?" he said. "When these people have to renew their mortgages and they can't afford it, this isn't good for the country."
On Wednesday afternoon, the premiers released a list of action items they discussed. There was no One Big Ask of the feds since the Trudeau government took action on the last one by upping its health-care transfers.
The group did call on Trudeau to meet with them, saying more federal cash is needed to build infrastructure to improve competitiveness.
Premiers touted their plans for mining and called on the feds to streamline impact assessments without duplicating provincial work.
And the group said it wants more funding from Ottawa for climate change adaptation and disaster assistance.
On Tuesday, premiers started the day with a breakfast with nursing unions who gave them advice on how to attract and retain health-care workers.
The roughly seven-hour summit after that meeting focused on health care and affordability.
Premiers said they want to make it easier for internationally trained workers to get credentialed in Canada, and help workers move between provinces more smoothly — while addressing provinces poaching health-care workers from each other.
The group also decided to hold another meeting focused on health sometime later this year — separate from the health ministers' meeting, which one nursing union head said will be in October on Prince Edward Island.
Premiers said they wanted more control from Ottawa over immigration to their provinces, and speedier application processing from the feds.
The group presented a united front on bail reform, a favourite topic of Ford's. They urged the federal government to implement tougher bail restrictions for repeat and violent offenders, and to ban sexual assault offenders from serving their sentences at home or in the community.
On housing, provinces asked the feds to give them more money — specifically them — not municipalities. They also called for tax breaks and other incentives for building housing, especially purpose-built rentals, and quicker Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation approvals.
Lastly, the premiers said they want the feds to beef up Canada's control over the Arctic after "recent security-related incidents in Canada's North." One way to do that is spending more on "dual-use infrastructure" like telecoms, transportation and energy, which can be used by military and civilians.
After the summit, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston was named CoF chair. His province will host the next meeting from July 15–17, 2024.
