New voices for the north.

David Ramsay knows Northern Ontario. As the Timiskaming MPP for more than 18 years, Ramsay has represented his riding at Queen's Park as both a member of the party in government, as the opposition, and now, after the Oct. 10 election and subsequent selection of cabinet, as minister of natural resources.

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During his time as an elected representative, Ramsay says he has had ample opportunity to learn about issues that affect northeastern Ontario. However, he has taken trips to northwestern Ontario and has other trips planned for the near future to get a global view on the issues affecting all of this part of the province.

They include resource and economy issues such as the spring bear hunt, fishing opportunities and resource management of Ontario's forests, he says. An important first task for Ramsay was the release of a report on the spring bear hunt commissioned by the provincial Progressive Conservatives.

"It was the taxpayers that paid for (the report)," he says. "I think they should have the right to see it and make their decision on what they want to do from there."

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An issue that must be dealt with, and one that is a priority, is to work with industry in dealing with available resources within the forestry sector, says Ramsay. At issue is the concern over wood allocation. It is a legacy left over from the decades-ago practice of harvesting lumber without consideration for renewing the resource.

Also on the agenda is the Adams Mine project. As a member of the opposition, Ramsay has been a vocal opponent of using the Adams Mine as a landfill site for garbage from Toronto.

Sudbury MPP and Minister of Northern Development and Mines Rick Bartolucci says his mandate is to listen and respond to the concerns and views of northerners.

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"We want their views to be paramount in government decision making," he says. "And I want to try, with the second part of that portfolio, to enhance our mineral sector's competitiveness. I want to profile and highlight the enormous opportunities we have in the mines section of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines portfolio."

He says there are some "unique" challenges that need to be addressed immediately, such as Northern Ontario's continued out-migration of youth.

Growth opportunities also include changes to the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. (NOHFC). Currently, the NOHFC provides funding for private/public partnerships, federal government and other government-related agencies acting together, municipalities, First Nations, Local Service Boards and not-for-profit corporations. Projects proposed by an individual business are not eligible.

Bartolucci would like to change that.

"Government's role is never to fix a problem in isolation of everything else," says Bartolucci. "The role of government is to be a facilitator to help to ensure that an environment is present for businesses that want to develop a long-term strategy to ensure jobs are available on a long-term basis ... government's role is to foster that kind of positive, encouraging environment to attract business."

On the mining side, he says there has been a large amount of international interest in Sudbury as a centre of excellence for mining techniques, restoration and reclamation.

"What we want to do is ensure there is a facilitation process in place that enhances people's desire and opportunity to invest, so I as a minister am going to be pursuing that rather aggressively," says Bartolucci. "I've been briefed by MNDM staff about the process of restoration and reclamation, and from what I've seen of the expertise of ministry staff is unbelievable. We want to tap into that as much as possible and showcase the opportunity we have in our mines and minerals portfolio."

Another goal for Bartolucci is increasing the staff at the Sudbury office of the ministry that the he says will serve as an active office where people will be able to address concerns and meet with the minister directly.

Michael Gravelle is the MPP for Thunder Bay-Superior North and is also the Parliamentary Assistant (PA) to Minister of Labour Chris Bentley.

"My first priority is as the representative for Thunder Bay-Superior North and I'm looking forward to working with Mr. Ramsay and Mr. Bartolucci," Gravelle says. Among the issues is the need to improve the highways.

"I've always maintained that we have not received our fair share of available funds for our roads in northwestern Ontario," he says. "The commitments we made in our policy document leading up to the campaign was to develop a Northern Ontario highway strategy, so I'm looking forward to working with Ministers Ramsay and Bartolucci on that."

By ANDREW WAREING

Northern Ontario Business