https://www.ola.org/sites/default/files/node-files/hansard/document/pdf/2019/2019-06/06-JUN-2019_L117.pdf

RING OF FIRE
Mr. Michael Gravelle: My question is to the Premier. The Ring of Fire continues to be a project with enormous economic and social potential for all of northern Ontario, yet we have heard very little from the government over the past year about this project. We do know that two First Nations communities—Webequie and Marten Falls—are engaged in environmental assessments related to com-munity access roads in their communities.
In that the building up of infrastructure is so crucial to opening up the Ring of Fire, I’d like to ask the Premier where those environmental assessments are at, whether these roads will lead to the Ring of Fire and, finally, when will we see shovels in the ground?

Hon. Doug Ford: Minister of the Environment.
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Hon. Rod Phillips: Thank you to the member from Thunder Bay–Superior North for his question.
Mr. Speaker, the Ring of Fire, as we all know, presents enormous economic potential. As the member mentioned, my colleague the Minister of Energy, Northern Develop-ment and Mines and Indigenous Affairs is working with both the Webequie First Nation and the Marten Falls First Nation in terms of the road that’s required to make sure that we open up this fabulous resource.
It was just the other day that the Minister of Finance, who we also know is the member from Nipissing, was speaking to us about the critical importance of this re-source, not just in the north, but in the rest of the province—thousands of jobs, tens of billions of dollars of economic activity. Just one engineering firm working on this project—$4 million a month of work being done, not just in the north, but for all of Ontario.
So to the member: It is a high priority, and we are proceeding as you would to open up that opportunity.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary question.
Mr. Michael Gravelle: I think we do all understand how important infrastructure is to the key parts of opening up the Ring of Fire. It’s crucial. But of equal importance is that partnership that you referenced between the govern-ment, business and the affected First Nations. The Matawa First Nations are the communities most directly impacted by this major project.
What I would like to know is: Have the Premier or the ministers had the opportunity to sit down with all of the Matawa First Nations chiefs to discuss issues such as governance and ownership of the road infrastructure that will be needed to move the Ring of Fire forward?

Hon. Rod Phillips: Minister of Finance.
Hon. Victor Fedeli: Unlike the previous government, this government actually is sitting down with the First Nations and making great moves with respect to the Ring of Fire.
I find it such a surprise from that former Minister of Northern Development and Mines—we sat for 10 years. I recall the first time I flew to the Ring of Fire. There were 240 men and women working there delineating the ore body—tents everywhere, drill rods. One company had spent $700 million. On my fifth trip to the Ring of Fire—nothing; five, six people left just to keep it alive. They lost faith in the Liberal government, who made nothing but promises and never had any intention of ever developing one inch in that Ring of Fire.
We will deliver the $60 billion worth of ore that’s trapped in the ground, and we will deliver those jobs to the people of Ontario.