Industry outlook: leaders share perspectives.

ROB WILLIAMS 

NORTH Network

Like spokes of a giant wheel emanating outward from Timmins across Northern Ontario, the NORTH Network proves its worth by providing northerners with access to specialty care.

Dr. Rob Williams, medical director and one of the pioneers of the NORTH (Northern Ontario Remote Telecommunication Health) Network has spent the last five years promoting the virtues of telehealth consultations.

Few people know that Timmins is the centre of telehealth in Ontario, allowing specialists to conduct online examinations of patients in northern and rural commu-

The good news, Williams says, is that they have outgrown their first phase that began with expansion into Chapleau, Sudbury, North Bay and the Highway 11 communities, and are now going into 59 sites across the North involving 33 different partnership organizations.

Williams is particularly excited about delivering telehealth to nursing stations in remote northwest communities and is now negotiating with the James Bay First Nation.

Using basic video workstations with a camera mounted above a television, physicians perform about 100 online consultations a month using handheld cameras and electronic diagnostic equipment.

The network was born out of necessity, due to the lack of physicians in the North, higher hospitalization rates and escalating travel costs for patients to go out of town for specialized care.

To date, about 2,500 consultations in about 30 specialties have been done, ranging from live virtual examinations to time-delayed applications sent to specialists in Toronto.

Williams says there have been many barriers to overcome, some of which include equipment costs, network extension, complex scheduling, the need to raise money through private sources and senior tiers of government and overcoming people's resistance to change.

The network is also working with researchers studying experimental drugs for stroke victims and diabetics and plans to partner with the proposed northern medial school to deliver distance education through some virtual applications.

"Our goal has been to integrate this into everyday practice, and I think we've got there now."

MAGGIE MATEAR

NEOnet Inc.

Timmins sits in an "enviable position" to take advantage of the global knowledge-based economy, but work still remains to get more people to embrace technology and understand its applications.

"Why can't we sell mining machines to South Africa?" says Maggie Matear, director of operations, NEOnet Inc., in urging business leaders to explore global opportunities through the fast-growing ICT (information, communication and technology) sector.

NEOnet Inc. was initially rolled out three years ago for a single heritage fund-backed project. It has now expanded into wide-area networks.

It is focusing on raising awareness in the ICT sector in the Timmins area.

The non-profit group works with the private sector to determine their technological needs and brokers partnerships among businesses and agencies to share the costs of extending broadband, cellphone coverage and other services into outlying areas.

Matear says Timmins has a tremendous infrastructure and enjoys good competition with three ICT providers, 300 kilometres of fibre optic line, two digital cellphone providers and about 90 per cent of households having access to high-speed Internet.

However, on the latter point, Matear says only 40 per cent of Timmins residents actually take advantage of the Internet, compared to the national average of 58 per cent

Matear says few federal politicians understand the need to spend $4 billion to deliver high-speed Internet access to people in the rural parts of Canada.

It is not about surfing the Internet and downloading MP3s, she says.

"It's about servicing an 82-year-old lady in Kirkland Lake who doesn't want to have to travel for a 10-minute consultation on her knee replacement."

Among the city's technological achievements is joining the roster of cities involved in the Connect Ontario program to deliver online municipal services.

In the past year-and-a-half, Matear estimates about $43 million in private-sector investment has been committed to the ICT sector through various information technology and global information systems initiatives, not including any government leverage money. That growth has helped develop an extensive ICT cluster revolving around the mining industry; connecting mines, suppliers and manufacturers.

DAN GIGNAC

Falconbridge Ltd.

Economic diversification is the key to Timmins' long-term future with less reliance on natural resources, says Dan Gignac, general manager of Falconbridge's Kidd mining division.

With a multitude of pressures and issues affecting the mining industry, the "outlook doesn't look good" for one of the most prominent mining communities in Canada.

Gignac is also chairman of the Discover Abitibi Project, a community-led approach to applying geoscience technologies in support of the mineral exploration and development industry in the Timmins-Kirkland Lake region.

The search is taking place within the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, a "geological wonder" stretching across northeastern Ontario and into Quebec that includes mining communities such as Wawa, Elliot Lake, Sudbury, Timmins, Haileybury, Cobalt among others, says Gignac.

Gignac admits the odds of finding a major new discovery are "very, very low" and the days of building "mega-mine" infrastructures employing hundreds of workers in the realm of world-class mines, such as the McIntyre, Dome, Kidd and Hollinger, are likely over.

Pointing to Falconbridge's Montcalm operation now under development north of Timmins, Gignac says the future of local mining will likely revolve around smaller operations with shorter mining life cycles, providing about 60 jobs to the local economy.

"If mining has a future in this area, it'll be on the backs of little operations like this."

To Timmins, the mining sector represents the area's largest employer with more than 3,500 people employed earning an average annual salary of $75,000 to $80,000. As well, there are numerous spinoffs for hundreds of local businesses in communications, transportation, services, supply, health care and other sectors.

"But mines do not last forever," Gignac says. There still exists the reality of a declining resource base due to a lack of reinvestment for exploration and the poor financial performance of the sector, which has been hurt by the popularity of the dot.com and biopharmaceutical industry.

New private investment is needed to hunt for trendy minerals such as diamonds and platinum- group metals in the region.

Leadership is needed at all levels to promote industry awareness and the industry itself has to provide wealthy, creative tax regimes to reward those who invest in mining, says Gignac.

CHARLES GAGNON

Tembec

As an industry leader in the fight against damaging U.S. tariffs on Canadian lumber, Tembec is prepared to take a beating until the trade dispute is resolved, says Charles Gagnon, vice-president of corporate relations of Canada's third-largest forest products company.

Gagnon expects export duties stemming from the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber dispute will take their toll on the financial results of the industry. While other wood exporting countries such as New Zealand and Chile avoid American tariffs, the U.S. Commerce Department will place acrippling 29- percent duty on Canadian lumber exports starting May 23.

Gagnon says Canada is basically paying the price for the inefficiencies at American mills and the demand for northern black spruce by U.S. retailers and consumers.

"We're going to win it...but there's going to be some pains in the meantime."

Gagnon also says steps must be taken to ensure an unfettered inter-provincial flow of wood between Ontario and Quebec to maximize efficiencies at every one of Tembec's mills.

"We sell products in 52 countries (and) boundaries business."

But it is far from a bleak picture, he says.

"Threats bring about opportunities," Gagnon notes.

As part of a five-year modernization strategy, Tembec invested $14 million in upgrades at their Cochrane mill and intends on spending $12 million this summer at their Timmins plant. Tembec is also committing research and development dollars on new value-added products and is launching a major program across North America to promote the use of wood in construction.

Gagnon says these expenditures, which lead to new products, produce secondary and tertiary spinoffs that may provide opportunities for entrepreneurs and small 30-employee startup companies. "That's the future of the forest product industry. I guarantee you that's an opportunity for growth."