I have lived in Ontario all of my life, and Hudak just won in my riding. ( I know a little more than you think my friend.)

You will find that the resources in Northern Ontario, will remain there where large government spending is required to get them out .

However, those mining companies that are situated near existing infrastructure ( eg. Hydro corrridors) will be developed while other exploration plays will remain just that.

What I am saying is that in Ontario ,the population that votes hardly even knows where food comes from (according to my farmer son in law ) in Tory blue Perth county.Forget about them caring the north country.

Is that clear ? We are talking about a vast vast geography in N. Ontario.

Not Fort McMurray just up the highway from Edmonton. And not Quebec, which is an entirely different culture with massive federal funding from the rest of Canada.

We are not talking about potash and coal development in easy to find Saskatchewan. Near highways, near the US border ....And we are certainly not talking massive numbers of jobs for N. Ontario.

I know that from direct conversations with one of the most important suppliers to the nickel mines in the Sudbury area ( a customer of mine). They are nearly shut down in Sudbury, sir.

What you wax eloquent about is unfortunately unlikely to happen in Ontario.

What we must do in Ontario, Quebec, BC , Alberta, is to quit selling off our existing resource based assets cheaply,

and

Canada must quit shipping unprocessed materials out of the country or province cheaply.

We must realize as you point out, that the rest of the world desparately needs our resources and will be willing to pay for them, after they are processed.

That is how we can find the money to pay for resource development and create real, good, long term jobs in Canada. We are basically giving away our birth right at pennies and letting our customers over the borders employ their citizens to do what Canadians could/should be doing.

Is this old fashioned out of touch dreaming ?

Are you going to bow to the naive fear that we would not have customers if we refused to give our resources away at the raw stage ?

Maybe it is time to realize that we hold the cards and can improve the terms of our negotiations with German mills, Chinese buyers, and Indians who now are poised to outgrow the Asians. When will we finally learn ?

We must learn to bargain better as Canadians, because we do have the resources that other desparately needed. They exist in our ground, often in the middle of no where. How can anyone dispute that?

My belief is one day we will mature in confidence enough to do just that. Until then, do not count on large job growth opps coming to N. Ontario.

Toronto voters and Brampton voters don't care. Unless it involves their garbage. Then that is another story.

Have a good afternoon Sum..... wherever you are.

Kobe from Niagara