HIGH-GRADE NI-CU-PT-PD-ZN-CR-AU-V-TI DISCOVERIES IN THE "RING OF FIRE"

NI 43-101 Update (September 2012): 11.1 Mt @ 1.68% Ni, 0.87% Cu, 0.89 gpt Pt and 3.09 gpt Pd and 0.18 gpt Au (Proven & Probable Reserves) / 8.9 Mt @ 1.10% Ni, 1.14% Cu, 1.16 gpt Pt and 3.49 gpt Pd and 0.30 gpt Au (Inferred Resource)

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Message: FedNor here to stay, improvements needed

FedNor here to stay, improvements needed

By Elaine Della-Mattia, Sault Star

Tuesday, October 18, 2016 4:20:46 EDT PM

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Sault MP Terry Sheehan agrees with Timmins MP Charlie Angus on one point.

FedNor, in its current form, is ineffective.

But that's where the common thread between the two elected officials – Sheehan a Liberal; Angus and New Democrat – end.

“FedNor is here to stay. Minister (Navdeep) Bains has repeatedly said that,” said Sheehan in a telephone interview from Ottawa.

Bains, the minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and minister responsible for FedNor was in Sault Ste. Marie last week making multi-million-dollar announcements under the federal government's infrastructure plan and meeting with stakeholders regarding the government's $1-billion Clean Tech program.

“He is responsible for regional economic development and national economic development,” Sheehan said. “It's good for our communities to have those ties.

Sheehan said the issue of FedNor – like the other regional economic development agencies across Canada – has been the focus of discussion at the Northern caucus meetings.

“The Northern Caucus is concerned about making FedNor more effective, because quite frankly, right now it's not,” Sheehan said.

“Our immediate priority was getting Northern Ontario back to work and we've done that with infrastructure spending that's creating immediate jobs and long-term investment in education and training,” he said. “That was our immediate focus.”

Sheehan vows that FedNor is here to stay and more announcements are expected in the near future for the riding.

At issue is the length of time it takes an application to move through the process and the sometimes-stringent regulations that bind the economic funding agency.

Sheehan said the government recognizes the application process needs to be shortened, more flexibility needs to be added to the program and a stronger focus needs to be put on diversification, he said.

Bains himself has said that despite proposed legislation to remove individual ministerial responsibility for the five regional economic development agencies, those organizations will continue to operate.

But NDP MP Charlie Angus, who serves as the party's FedNor critic, said last week in a press release that Bill C-24 was a move to “mute” Northern Ontario voices in Ottawa.

“We are tired of being the poor cousin to the country as the only region without an independent standalone agency and now we are losing our own minister. I don't understand why the Liberals don't get that growing our economy is a win not only for Northern Ontario but the entire country. We need to reverse these harmful decisions and instead make FedNor a standalone industry,” Angus said in the release.

Angus charges that the Liberals' are not committed to Northern Ontario and any move to remove the ministerial post contrasts election campaign promises.

Angus has received criticism from other Northern Ontario MPs for making the statement that suggests FedNor is no longer a tool for Northern Ontario communities.

“Mr. Angus keeps making those references but FedNor is here to stay and I am working with the minister to make economic development happen more effectively in Northern Ontario,” Sheehan said.

Angus has been vocal about inequities between FedNor and the other regional economic development agencies since the Liberal government was first formed, urging the Trudeau government to inject more funding into the program and ensuring the money is delivered to community projects.

Angus said “when I hear Minister Bains telling Northerners that FedNor is here to stay, I agree with him. Unfortunately, what the Minister doesn't say is that FedNor has lost 50%of its budget and 25% of its staff. Now he is telling us that removing the FedNor minister will be better for us since he is on the job,but the Minister doesn't seem to know that they are cancelling broadband funding. Tell me how this is good for Northern Ontario?”

Angus says the broadband issue is one example where the Liberal government's “one size fits all” plan for economic development isn't working in the north.

Sheehan said money is also being put into other programs like the $1 billion Clean Tech Fund which Bains himself said Sault Ste. Marie has the potential to access with its energy projects.

Sheehan rose in the House of Commons Monday and questioned Bains about the unique challenges in promoting economic development in the North.

Bains responded repeating the investments announced last week in education in Sault Ste. Marie and across Northern Ontario and added “there are many more investments yet to come” without providing specifics.

That announcement sees the education sector sharing $12.5 million.

Algoma University is receiving $2.5 million to replace lighting and install new exterior windows and doors at Singwauk Hall.

Sault College will get $5 million for its planned Institute of Environment, Education and Entrepreneurship and the Shingwauk Education Trust will use its $5 million to build the Anishinabek Discovery Centre.

“Our government has provided lots of support for Northern Ontario and our community is part of that,” Sheehan said. “I made promises that we would invest in infrastructure and this is another example of promises made and promises kept and we will be seeing more of that in the near future” on other projects.

http://www.saultstar.com/2016/10/18/fednor-here-to-stay-improvements-needed

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