By consolidating Ontario's university mining engineering and geology programs at Laurentian University, the McGuinty Government could turn that institution into an international "Harvard of the mining sector." Centralizing these programs in Sudbury would also further the community's global reputation for mining research.
This would be an unprecedented display of vision and foresight
- something the premier has shown in downtown Toronto by
investing about $50 million in MaRS, a pharmaceutical and
biotechnology research centre. 
Sudbury is the richest mining district in North America and
among the top ten most significant globally. According to the
Ontario Mining Association, half of the province's mining
activity and revenue are generated from the geologically rich
ore deposits beneath our feet. With the explosion of metal
prices and enormous demand from China and other developing
countries this community will be making a disproportionate
contribution to provincial tax revenues for decades to
come.
In addition, Sudbury's growing mining supply and services
cluster employs about 10,000 people - more than the four local
mining companies combined - and exports their products and
expertise around the world.
A large engineering school with well-funded research programs
anchors every internationally successful cluster. 
These connections support cluster businesses that create and apply new technologies and successfully compete globally.  In most technology clusters, many of the start-up firms are spun-off from university research activities.
The best example of this is California's Silicon Valley and its
strong connection with Stanford University's renowned
engineering faculty. The technology-related sectors of science,
math and engineering are the value-added wealth creators of any
society or country. It is the engineering schools of the world
that have produced innovative business people like Bill Gates
of Microsoft and Steve Jobs of Apple Computer. 
According to a comprehensive study by the Mining Industry
Training and Adjustment Council (MITAC), the mining industry
needs to fill 81,000 high-paying, highly skilled new positions
in the next 10 years due to our aging workforce and lack of
interest among Canadians in a mining career.
In the past 25 years, post-secondary institutions have
witnessed declining enrolments in mining engineering, geology
and other technical programs. Many programs throughout North
America have been eliminated due to the prolonged slump in
global mining.
Currently, the three mining engineering programs in the
province of Ontario - University of Toronto, Queens and
Laurentian - are all small, under-subscribed in the south and
require high costs to run. Funding is enrolment-driven and it
becomes difficult to maintain the curriculum required to
produce effective mining engineering graduates with a small
number of students.
Some institutions "hide" or integrate these mining programs
into other more generic fields such as geological, civil and
mechanical engineering departments. As a result, universities
are at risk of losing relevancy to the industry.
Between 1995 and 2002, mining engineering programs in all of
Canada produced on average only 109 undergraduates per
year.
There are approximately eight geology departments in Ontario,
none of which have achieved the critical scale or mass that can
attract significant industry participation.
Southern Ontario's urbanized students have no exposure to the
mining sector. How are we going to convince these students who
have probably never seen a mine and are comfortable living in
large cities that mining is an industry with a bright future?
The distant view from the top floor of Laurentian's
administrative tower is filled with the many mine shafts that
dot our rugged landscape. Northern Ontario students live in
resource communities and better understand the benefits of a
mining engineering or geology degree.
It is the kids from Sudbury, Timmins, Kirkland Lake, and Red
Lake who will be the primary source of our future mining
engineers and geologists.
Many new mine developments in Northern Ontario will be on
traditional Aboriginal territories and it is imperative that
the next generation of Aboriginal students fully participate in
their development. Outreach programs to Aboriginal youth would
be an essential component of centralizing the province's mining
engineering and geology programs in Sudbury. A similar outreach
program exists with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in
Sudbury and Thunder Bay.
When the mining programs at Cambrian College and College Boreal
are combined with Laurentian, Sudbury probably has the largest
concentration of post-secondary mining programs in the country.
With the appropriate provincial initiatives and vision, Sudbury
could easily be transformed into a global centre for mining
education. We could be training the next generation of
Brazilian, New Caledonians, Chileans and Chinese mining
professionals.
There will be intense opposition to the idea of letting
Laurentian evolve into a mining technology powerhouse from
southern universities that stand to lose out.
However northerners must remember all the southern medical
schools were opposed to the creation of the new medical school
in Sudbury and Thunder Bay, preferring to just increase their
own enrollments instead.
Southern universities must put aside their parochial concerns
for the greater good of the province. A potentially strategic
investment like this will not only create the necessary synergy
that all successful clusters thrive on, but become an integral
engine of the entire northeast's economic development.
One of the most important dates in the history of Sudbury was
July 30, 1986. That is when former Liberal Premier David
Peterson announced the relocation of the Ontario Geological
Survey and the mineral resources branch to Sudbury, together
with the head office functions of the MNDM. Until that
announcement most people thought this initiative was impossible
and there was intense southern opposition to the plan.
Premier Peterson stated in a speech that, "… Sudbury was chosen
as the site for this conference because of its growing
reputation as a centre of mining experience and know-how. This
government wants to build on that reputation and put Sudbury on
the road to being an internationally recognized centre of
excellence in the earth sciences, mining and mineral
research."
That extraordinary vision of the past Liberal government in
Ontario was one of the main reasons I voted for McGuinty in
2003. Needless to say, I have been very disappointed.
The small amount of funding that the current Liberal government
has committed to mines research is simply not good enough to
establish a legacy comparable to the previous Peterson
administration.
The McGuinty Government has failed to recognize the global
mining expertise in the Sudbury Basin. This lack of vision is
holding back the community and its potential high-tech
contributions to the entire province.
Stan Sudol is a Toronto based communications consultant and policy analyst who writes extensively on mining issues.[email protected].