Finance minister listens to northerners’ wish list

BY LAUREL MYERS

Ontario Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan was in Sudbury Tuesday to meet with community stakeholders and representatives for the 2008 pre-budget consultations.

The visit was part of a province-wide series, which started Monday in Thunder Bay.

In Sudbury, Duncan heard presentations from 35 community organizations, and though he admitted not all suggestions could be incorporated into the budget, he said many of them would be built in.

“Over the last four years, we have strengthened our province by improving health care, education, job skills training and infrastructure for Ontarians,” said Duncan. “I look forward to hearing from people across the province about how we can make Ontario even stronger.”

The consultations provide the opportunity for Ontarians to engage in a discussion with the minister on ways to strengthen Ontario’s economic prosperity, in advance of the 2008 budget.

“We try to hear from everybody and sometimes some great ideas work their way into the budget,” he said. “The consensus is that more needs to be done for the north.

“I heard some very thoughtful analysis today about the kinds of supports we need for the aboriginal and francophone communities that we could obviously do better on.”

With pre-budget consultations going on across the province, the minister said the issues being brought to the table are similar across the province.

“Certain things develop whether you’re in the north or the south,” Duncan said. “There were certain themes emerging today around community health centres, for instance.”

And though he said there were few surprises in the Sudbury consultations, he admitted there were a number of things he was happy to see, including the extension on the television production tax credits and the positive state of the mining sector.

“One thing that really struck me was the motion of innovation, and how we attract the next generation of jobs,” he said. “I can’t help but be more optimistic when you look at how small the world is now. With computers, you don’t have to be in the big southern centres anymore to access other markets.”

Stakeholders present for the Sudbury consultations included the post-secondary institutions in the city, the City of North Bay and the City of Sault Ste. Marie, the Sudbury and District Health Unit and the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra, among others. Also present were economic development officials from various municipalities across Northern Ontario.

“This is a very extensive outreach and I will follow up with some of the groups I heard from today,” Duncan said.
“Sometimes you’re flagged with things that don’t necessarily make it to the top of the agenda at Queen’s Park and that’s why we come here. It’s also a good opportunity for me, as the finance minister, to reacquaint myself with the communities like Sudbury.

“Overall, we will continue to work with all northern communities and look forward to helping them achieve a stronger economy.”

The province-wide tour will continue after the holidays in southern Ontario.