The following opinion is written by Marly Hill of South River, Ontario.
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Many northern Canadians believe that we should separate and become our own province different than that of southern Ontario.
The reasons are obvious, the money which is spent mostly on the GTA and voting districts is mostly down south, and those in northern Ontario feel the disconnect. Many of northern Ontario's population feel that this is a great idea, we would have more money for northern schools, healthcare and more.
On the surface, who would disagree? It would benefit us, right? When we delve deeper, however, it becomes clear that this would be a detrimental move. The population of northern Ontario is much less dense than that of southern Ontario. If we were to divide northern Ontario would receive less traffic and could easily fall apart.
In the 1970s' the Northern Ontario Heritage Party began to fabricate this idea, and now other northern Ontario separatist movements feel the same and are following suit. We should “divide the province in two and treat Northern and southern Ontario as separate entities.”
Logically it makes sense, but if every province did this it would be difficult to recreate the relationships with others as a new northern province. Northern Ontario would have a larger population than other provinces, like P.E.I or Newfoundland. Politically, this would be such tedious work, separation and then reintegration with the rest of Canada.
Southern Ontario is thought of immediately when speaking about Ontario as a whole. This makes sense as both Toronto and Ottawa have large populations. Ontario has the capital of Canada, already making other provinces begrudgingly happy for us. If northern Ontario were to separate would they get either of these two important parts of Ontario? Likely not. Leaving us to fend for ourselves in a new separation.
Although separation may have positives for northern Ontario, the benefits for southern Ontario are extreme. Not only would it be one of the smaller provinces size-wise, it would likely still have one of the highest populations. It would have both Toronto as well as Ottawa and would have immense power being a province of Canada. The new province would need new provincial and municipal laws would need to be made. The new province would need to be included in all federal legislature and taxes would need to be thought through.
With so many other important issues that need to be addressed, this would not be of most benefit for people or Canada as a whole. This is not an issue of immense priority, as of now northern Ontario, being such a beautiful place to live is now receiving tourists and people realizing moving up north is a good idea for their future. Separating and creating a new province would be costly, why waste millions of dollars on separating, when the money could be used by the north for what they need?
This separation would not only limit northern Ontario but since it has been dependent on Southern Ontario and its medical care as well as density in population it would likely stay in very close contact with that province. There are obviously issues present in northern Ontario, such as limited health care, school funding and even access to clean water for some northern Aboriginal communities. Rather than dividing the north and the south we should as a whole province address and resolve the predicaments that already exist.
Marly Hill
South River, Ontario
