Mayors L to R Vic Fedeli of North Bay, John Rowswell of Sault Ste. Marie, Vic Power of Timmins and Lynn Peterson of Thunder Bay
Fair energy pricing for Northern Ontario was the big item on the angenda as the five Northern Ontario Large Urban Mayors (NOLUM) met in the Bay today.
Mayor John Rowswell from Sault Ste. Marie speaking for the cities of North Bay, Sudbury, Timmins and Thunder Bay, identified two large issues that are plaguing the success of Northern Ontario businesses when it comes to energy.
“The first issue is that our industries in Northern Ontario aren’t being charged the same price let’s say if they were in Manitoba and Quebec. What happens there is that the price of power is a lot less, energy is a lot less and our industries are being disadvantaged in Northern Ontario,” he explains.
“And because Northern Ontario industries represent 80% of those using power, and resource based industries use a lot of power, it’s just devastating all our resource based industries in Northern Ontario.”
Rowswell says this is not a new story and that they have requested time and again that the Ontario government look at regionalised pricing for Northern Ontario at about a price that it is produce for.
“We believe that price to be around four and half cents and if we produce it for that we’d like to have that, we don’t want Southern Ontario pricing in Northern Ontario.”
The Sault Ste. Marie mayor also identified that Ontario was actually looking at developing and buying power in Manitoba, Quebec and Newfoundland.
“We are staunchly opposed to that, because Northern Ontario can actually produce another nine-ten thousand mega-watts of new renewable power and we have been successful with the province because they’re now looking at Northern Ontario for Hydro power for bio-mass power and wind power and the Northern Mayors have a real success on that point.”
Rowswell says that although the second issue is gaining ground at Queen’s Park that NOLUM needs to continue pressing government to recognise the differences and introduce regional power costs.
“Northern Ontario is different than Southern Ontario, our density of population to theirs, we’re basically a resource-based economy although we are trying to change that and we have to be competitive against the provinces of Manitoba and Quebec that have similar economies to Northern Ontario. And when you are sandwiched between those two provinces your have to put the same tools for your business to work, and if we’re not as competitive in the same way as the other provinces we will lose our industries, and that’s what’s happening now.”
“It’s the four and a half cents that’s absolutely necessary for us to have our businesses succeed and be stable in Northern Ontario, and there’s paper mills and forest companies dropping off like flies because of the price of power.”
Mayor Lynn Peterson of Thunder Bay echoed Rowswell’s concerns stating that with plant closures and five thousand job losses in Northern Ontario energy costs are crippling northern communities.
“2000 in Thunder Bay, so we’ve taken a huge hit in North Western Ontario. Because in so many communities it’s the only industry in town like Smooth Rock Falls and the likes of that, when that industry goes the community is left without an employer, so its massive,” she says.
Peterson says the Ontario Forestry Coalition asked the province last May to address the crisis looming in Northern Ontario.
“We had promises that something’s coming, but the urgency of this issue is one that they haven’t acted on. I know it’s a complex issue, but there’s a whole range of options in terms of tools that they could access,” states Peterson.
“The delays are causing further closures, further instability, and families are looking to other parts of this country to feed their families and to find jobs. We can’t impress any stronger than we have over and over again about the urgency of this issue. We need answers and we need 45 dollars (equivalent to Rowswell’s 4.5 cents) and nothing less.”
Rowswell went on further stating Northern Ontario is the most expensive place to do business brought on because of the price of power.
“We have to right this otherwise Northern Ontario will disintegrate and not exist in the way we know it to be.”
“That’s why you see the five NOLUM mayors essentially saying ‘we’ve got to put our foot down, we’ve got to request that we have power at four and half cents’, because generally that’s what it costs us to produce it and that will make us cost competitive with the adjacent provinces of Quebec and Manitoba.”
