The Greater Sudbury area isn’t meeting its potential as a leader in the green mining economy, and the Ontario Green Party’s leader said their platform will focus on improving things.
Mike Schreiner was in Sudbury on Wednesday to promote city candidate David Robinson and the party’s prioritization of a green economy in advance of the June 2 election.
“Sudbury is essential to the green economy,” Schreiner told Sudbury.com at the Knowhere Public House café between meetings with mining industry leaders.
“Sudbury is a sustainable mining capital in the world, and we want to promote Sudbury as a green mining hub that is vital to the green economy.”
Nickel and copper are essential ingredients for batteries used in things such as electric vehicles, and production needs to “significantly ramp up” to meet what needs to be a growing demand to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, which places the region in a prime spot.
“If you want access to critical minerals that support the value of the consumers who are buying electric vehicles, Sudbury’s the place to do it,” Schreiner said.
“We are committed to Sudbury being the essential hub to the new climate economy as it relates to our new Critical Minerals Strategy.”
Greater Sudburians have the technology and know-how to fill this natural resource gap, but have fallen short in scaling up production and commercializing their products, he said.
“Canada in general, and Ontario in particular, we’re pretty good at research and development and we’ve struggled a bit with commercialization and scaling it.”
On this topic, he said Sudbury candidate David Robinson is an ideal choice for an MPP because he has experience as an economist who has dug deep into the green sustainable mining potentials of Greater Sudbury for years.
This was Schreiner’s first visit to the Greater Sudbury area since the pandemic started, and Robinson said he was glad it was to tackle a topic so close to his heart and will remain a pillar of his own campaign.
“We have no leadership at all right now,” he said of local political representation when it comes to promoting green technology.
“They have to go to the province and say we need an electrical engineering school, you need to close down the mining engineering schools at Queen’s in Toronto and transfer them up here,” he said. “You need to start putting a hell of a lot more money into research on clean, green mining, so we can develop all of that ore up here, because we’ve got huge resources, we’ve got huge talent but we’re not putting them together.”
Decarbonizing the world will require five to seven times as much mineral production, which Robinson classifies as a “global emergency” the region could play a pivotal role in resolving.
“It will not happen without Sudbury,” Schreiner said. “Without the mining expertise in Sudbury, there’s no way Ontario can be a global leader in the climate economy.”
The Ontario Green Party has also released a pledge to offer people cash incentives of up to $10,000 for buying a fully-electric vehicle and to expand charging infrastructure in both public and private settings, if elected.
“Our goal and our commitment is to make electric vehicles cheaper to buy than non-electric vehicles,” Schreiner said.
The party would also boost municipal funding for public transit by covering 50 per cent of costs and help municipalities purchase electric buses.
Although Nickel Belt doesn’t yet have a Green candidate, Schreiner said they will have one lined up in time for the June 2 provincial election.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
