News Release
**********************
QUEEN’S PARK – This morning, PC critic for Northern Development and Mines and Aboriginal Affairs Norm Miller questioned the Minister of Economic Development, Employment, and Infrastructure on the specific projects that the Ontario government has prioritized ahead of the Ring of Fire for its application to the Building Canada Fund.
“There are 2.7 Billion dollars in infrastructure funding on the table, and I believe the government needs to explain why they feel that the Ring of Fire should not be included in the request for priority funding through this program”, stated Miller.
“I find it surprising that the government continues to attempt to shift the blame even when Cliffs Natural Resources specifically cited unfinished agreements with the Government of Ontario as a determining factor in the decision to idle their project in the Ring of Fire,” stated Miller.
Cliffs Natural Resources was the largest company operating in the Ring of Fire region. It is almost exactly one year ago that the decision was then made to suspend operations and to close Thunder Bay and Toronto offices.
“This is the same government that has overseen the entire life of the Ring of Fire project, and is still without a concrete plan for development of the region,” said Miller, “There is no timeline for production and no firm indication on the orientation of the transportation link - whether it will run East – West, North – South, or be primarily road or rail.”
