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Originally Posted by Razor

I'm willing to bet that if the Ontario Government could create some sort of Utopian province or have a do over, all resource towns like Timmins and Kirkland Lake would be two weeks in two weeks out fly ins like the trend we've been seeing. Everybody would live in the cities, and most of these resource towns would be camps. or an extension of cottage country/recreation.

Of course it's too late now.

All the new mining companies do that. Musselwhite has around 500 employees, none of them live in the area permanently. They all fly in, some from as far away as Toronto. The days of building a whole town just to support a sawmill or mine are over.

Anyway, this:

https://www.tbnewswatch.com/local-ne...mocracy-582303

Northern Ontario Party promises direct democracy
The Northern Ontario Party membership has voted to accept a platform that includes direct democracy on all legislative votes.

Oh goodie!!

Ninety-seven per cent of 37 NOP members voted to remove the party whip position on principle to ensure elected MPPs always vote with the wishes of their constituents.

Well I guess it will be 36 members tomorrow... "If I can't be party whip I don't wanna play!"

The policy was passed among 24 formal positions including eliminating Ontario Power Generation

OK, but wait until you find out what they propose to take over it's responsibilities!

[eliminate] the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation

A populist move, not a practical one. Thunder Bay has had to pay back millions in taxes due to industrial properties being either devalued or switched to commercial.

reducing and forgiving municipal industrial taxation

Which is literally the problem MPAC is causing. "MPAC is forcing cities to make home owners pay all the taxes! I know: Let's have homeowners pay all the taxes!!"

Like they don't realize that property taxes are nowhere near the biggest issue when a company decides to locate somewhere. No one is saying "Gee, I'd like to build my factory in Sudbury, but the taxes are just so high! I'll go to Barrie instead where they're $250 cheaper!"

introducing legislation that would require at least half of mining and forestry resources to undergo value-added manufacturing in Northern Ontario

I'm sure Greenpeace will love this as that's essentially a guarantee that much of them will remain in the ground.

"abolishing" the positions of public servants earning over $500,000 per year

Abolishing the positions? Why not just lower the salaries?

and putting an immediate start to the proposed Ring of Fire mining development.

How?

"Dear Noront Resources,

Build the Ring of Fire RIGHT NOW of you'll never eat a Persian again!

Sincerely,

NOP"

The platform proposes Thunder Bay Hydro take over energy production and distribution for all of Northern Ontario, with an increased focus on hydroelectric generation.

Why not just create a new corporation to do that? Why does Thunder Bay's municipal electricity distributor have to take responsibility for operating the region's entire power grid? The number of power plants TBHydro current operates is approximately no power plants.

It suggests mandating future solar installations be put on roofs rather than "unsightly solar farms using up valuable farmland" and repealing the Green Energy Act.

Thunder Bay's two solar farms are located on the airport ground (not farmland) and in a swamp on the reserve (not farmland). But OK.

"Why is it, in the same province that Thunder Bay Hydro is able to produce a cheaper price than the province itself? A better model needs to be set up," Holliday said.

Literally doesn't understand how the local distribution of electricity works in Ontario. TBHydro charges less for distribution because they don't have to spend as much maintaining a distribution network. If they suddenly were made responsible for all of the rural distribution lines, that pricing would go up pretty quick.

"We keep looking at Quebec Hydro saying, 'look at their rates' and it falls back to which model is best. It's showing green energy isn't necessarily the best way to go, financially."

Just because the Liberals created an absolutely terrible programme that pays companies for electricity whether they actually produce it or not doesn't mean that green energy is a failure. Thunder Bay's main power plant has produced, like, 1MW in the past two years but its staff of over 100 (with average salaries of about $75,000/year) show up to work every day to have "safety meetings" and "talk about the energy system". With each other.

The document makes no mention of Indigenous Peoples or First Nations communities

Oh for fuck sake. :

Holliday said he considers the interests of Indigenous people and communities to be addressed similarly to municipalities in terms of legislating increased resource royalties and infrastructure.

Federal responsibility, not provincial.

- Lower electricity costs for Northern Ontario by having Thunder Bay Power take over power distribution (and production) for all of Northern Ontario, perhaps under a new name like "Northern Ontario Power". Thunder Bay Power rates are more reasonable. Eliminate OPG

The fuck is "Thunder Bay Power"?

Have any future solar installations be on rooftops rather than unsightly solar farms using up valuable farmland

THE FUCK IS OUR VALUABLE FARMLAND??

Eliminate Green Energy Act and revert back to dams etc. More efficient, cheaper and it works. (ie utilize Quebec Hydro as a model).

Does that model come with their topography?

Fuck this is the stupidest thing I have read in a long time and it's still going!

A program paid for by the province to eliminate municipal taxes for ten years for all new manufacturing plants that complete at least 80 per cent of finished form in Northern Ontario.

How does this help cities? lol

Immediately start the Ring of Fire and keeping everything local and not outsourcing the work. Utilizing new policies and laws to benefit the communities.

Everything local? Not outsourcing the work? I don't think they realize how little we produce or how few tradespeople are left. We can't even find enough people to do basic trades like plumbing how the fuck are we going to build the world's largest mine? Is it 1902 again?

[QUOTE]- Grow our two university hospitals in Sudbury and Thunder Bay and attract the much needed specialized talent to these hubs.[/QUOTE

Great plan! Much detail! Wow!

An elected NOP MPP will be required to vote on issues in parliament how the majority of his/her constituents wishes him/her to vote. There will be no party whip.

Tyranny of the majority! Hooray! Good bye arts and heritage funding, hello no-more-potholes-on-Isabel-Street!

We will develop a standard polling method that we commit to using prior to all votes in provincial legislature.

- Abolish online voting

Umm.

Public servants present and future will have a salary cap of $500,000. If currently over that then positions may be abolished and reviewed.

That's very generous, the highest paid civil servants in Northern Ontario do not make that much.

Eliminate Cap & Trade/Carbon Tax and only have a Carbon Tax placed on imports from excessive carbon producing contries of 10%

So basically, a 10% tax on everything coming from China, the US, and the Middle East? I'm sure consumers will love that!

Scrap MPAC in favour of a property valuation system based more closely on the local market.

MPAC literally raises people's assessed values because they painted their hallway last year and devalued our largest factory because "industry in Northern Ontario is worthless". I don't know how much more local it can get.

Review of the government programs for persons in need to ensure they meet cost of living etc. Review their enrollment, eligability and also the way payment is provided to ensure the best options and uniformity is provided.

Eligability.

Tax breaks for any new company that establishes itself in Northern Ontario and employs 50 or more people.

No you chucklefucks! The purpose of attracting new business is to bring in revenue so we can implement shit like "have branch hospitals... expand the child health facilities..."

- Stop the closing of Northern schools then needing to bus students to larger schools. Transfer more power from the province to the school boards who currently have minimal control over budget.

- When building a new school, consider building a multi-use facility which could include the community library, municipal office, and other community needs. This would save on energy costs and long-term building maintenance etc.

These kind of contradict each other. Should we have tiny six room schools with 32 students sprinkled all over the region, or multi-purpose K-12 schools in strategic locations? You can't have both! Unless you want to spend money...

Promote the use of a cost-effective, efficient, modern rail system that could travel on the rail lines as an economical alternative to big diesel locomotives pulling passenger cars. This would help reinstate passenger rail service across Northern Ontario.

Promote the use? How about start with "encourage the existence" because you can incentivize passenger rail all you want but until we actually have some it won't change anything.

Create and maximize transportation to the majority of Northern Ontario communities and mines.

MAXIMIZE transportation!

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