Peggy Revell
They may be vying for a seat in Parliament hundreds of kilometres away in Ottawa, but the four local candidates in the Oct. 14 federal election have their sights set on addressing local economic issues if elected.
Incumbent Liberal MP Ken Boshcoff stands by his record as for what he has done—and can do—to address the issues facing Northern Ontario’s economy.
Revitalizing forestry, tourism, and local retail are what he sees as the biggest economic issues Northwestern Ontario faces.
“I have been quite successful in getting forestry back on the front burner of the federal government,” Boshcoff said, also noting when the Liberal party was in power under Paul Martin, he worked on the forestry plan that would have put $1.5 billion into the industry.
“That billion-and-a-half [dollars] would have saved thousands of jobs in Northwestern Ontario,” he argued.
The forestry plan also addressed issues in the industry such as diversification and training programs, Boshcoff explained.
“[I] have received recognition from both labour and industry for the forestry report,” he stated, also pointing out it was passed unanimously through committee in Ottawa.
Unfortunately, that plan was lost when the opposition parties brought down the Martin government in late 2005.
Boshcoff also points to his time as part of the tourism caucus.
“I’ve been working with local tourism people to address their concerns,” he said, which includes addressing border concerns and pushing the federal government to take a more active role.
“So really, we have enough plans, we just need the federal government to deliver in marketing and that type of thing,” he stressed.
One goal Boshcoff wants to see is co-operation with the provincial government so that any dollars spent by the federal government reinforce what the province already is doing in terms of tourism. One example of this, said Boshcoff, is through the very successful branding of Sunset Country and pushing this profile internationally when advertising.
“My idea is to promote it as a region of festivals, and a series of circle tours so that we brand the whole area as a long-range destination, a co-operative destination,” he remarked.
When it comes to promoting local retail, Boshcoff said he puts his money where his mouth is.
“I think in many areas you’re starting to see the ‘buy local’ really take on a new dimension,” he said, and as an MP, he has supported the initiatives of the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce, local business, and local agriculture.
“I think that one of the strengths of the Rainy River District is in the quality of the food supply, that buying local also extends to agricultural products and supporting our own producers,” Boshcoff noted. “From jam to burgers, the Rainy River District can do it as well or better any one else.”
Focusing on the local certainly is something Green Party candidate Russ Aegard also believes in when it comes to the Northern Ontario economy.
“One of the things that the Green Party likes to do is focus on local economy and local stewardship, and we don’t encourage big companies to come in here and own our forests and buy up our land because the resources end up going elsewhere,” he argued.
This includes encouraging local business through changing regulations so that both local businesses and local farms have less red tape to go through than larger business, Aegard added.
When it comes to forestry, Aegard points to examples of mills in Northern Ontario that are owned by employees as models that can be followed.
“We’d also look at the value-added industry,” he pledged. “Let’s stop shipping our lumber everywhere when we could be coming up with some innovative industries here.
“I always use the furniture-making example . . . there’s 45,000 furniture-making jobs in Toronto. Why don’t we have something up here like that?”
While transportation for these type of products is an issue, Aegard said the Green Party would help alleviate costs by investing in rail and promoting other cleaner forms of transportation.
“One of the things that we’re bringing to light in this area is VIA Rail and trains,” he noted—an area that the Green Party would invest in heavily.
As for improving the competitiveness in the forestry industry, Aegard said the Green Party would “re-examine NAFTA to make it fair trade instead of free trade, and make it a level playing field for everybody on the global market.”
He also believes Northern Ontario has to get away from an economic dependency on resources. “We have to be innovative in the way that we can start generating new economic ideas.”
To Aegard, that means moving forward in the “green” economy, such as bringing factories that build electric cars to the region. Retraining programs for transitions in both forestry and other industries is something the party would support if needed, he added.
“That’s the ‘green’ economy. It’s going to be exploding, and we’re going to be left behind if we continue to do the same old thing over and over again,” he warned.
As for the local tourism industry, Aegard said eco-tourism is something the Green Party definitely would support, and that this area of the world should be in high demand. But the tightening of border security and regulations has caused a problem for this type of tourism, he conceded.
“When people commit non-violent crimes 20, 25 years ago, and they aren’t repeat offenders, at some point we need to look at that and consider that people change over 20 years,” he said.
“We need to take a look at some of the root causes of why [border crossing issues] are happening,” Aegard said, pointing to a knee-jerk reaction that occurred after 9/11 that he doesn’t think made a difference when it comes to border security.
“I know I live on Pigeon River myself and I could probably swim over and nobody would notice, so I’m not sure if toughening regulations and making it more restrictive for people to come over is in the best interest of both the economy of the United States and Canada,” he argued.
The federal government needs to remove the blocks that stop people from getting here, agreed Conservative candidate Richard Neumann.
“There seems to be, and I think there is some validity to the claim, that there’s an uneven application of border rules,” he said, because of the different type of border traffic this area sees compared to other places in Canada.
“I think we also need to examine those rules to find out where those rules are preventing people from crossing who are not a verifiable threat to our security,” Neumann added. “We want to have control at our border crossings, but we need to be realistic about what we’re trying to prevent here, and what we’re trying more importantly to encourage here.”
Part of the solution includes having border issues addressed for tourists before they even leave home, he said. This includes pushing for a far more integrated system that could include pre-screening, or finding out what possible concerns are going to be before they occur at the border.
Tourism itself needs to be promoted better, said Neumann, adding there is a window of opportunity to be taken advantage of for eco-tourism.
“I think we need to do a lot better to exploit that,” he remarked. “I think that we need to develop a regional tourism strategy that seeks to take advantage of the increased amount of folks [who care] about the nature of their vacation and the impact of those vacation on the environment.”
Where to go with Northwestern Ontario’s economy has been studied to death, said Neumann, and the government needs to finally move forward instead of generating even more reports. This means diversifying with the “new economy,” he said, such as high-tech industries, the medical industry, value-added business, and niche marketing for the forestry sector.
It doesn’t mean moving away from existing resource-driven industries, he stressed, but moving all of them forward.
Neumann also sees the federal government involved with securing the energy market once the Ontario government starts shutting down coal-plants across the province through investing in various alternative energy sources.
“Because when you’ve got major employers, giving consideration to investing in our region, and doing business in our region, they need to know that supply of electricity, our supply, is going to be available to them in the future, not just when they’re starting up,” he noted.
“We need to address the underlying factors behind the difficulties in the forestry sector,” he added. “Right now, those underlying factors have been mentioned again and again.
“We’re talking about a high Canadian dollar. That there’s not much we can do about. We’re talking about the situation in the markets in the United States, and again there’s not much we can do about that.
“We can certainly assist with respect in the promotion of our products there, make sure we have secured open markets, which is what the softwood lumber agreement did.”
In the long run, Neumann said what needs to happen is making sure Northern Ontario becomes a cost-effective place to do business.
“That means that policies, like the Conservative policy of reducing corporate tax rates, are a very important issue here . . . they lower costs of doing business in Canada and thereby lower the cost of doing business in Northwestern Ontario,” he argued.
But NDP candidate John Rafferty said one of the three things that can be done right away to help the forestry industry is to create a tax incentive so businesses will invest money back in their operations.
“Right now there’s really no incentive for businesses to really invest, and if we can provide the proper incentives for them to invest that will keep people working,” said Rafferty.
Paying for the real cost of electricity and implementing fluctuating stumpage fees are two other things that can be done right away, Rafferty added, pointing to mills in Manitoba which already have done similar things—and have not shut down.
The NDP also has proposed helping out the forestry industry by sending lumber to help rebuild Caribbean communities that have been hit with hurricanes this season.
“We need to fight to protect the jobs that we have,” said Rafferty. “We’re not just talking about creating jobs.”
Closing the income gap—one of the NDP’s priorities—can’t be done when the north has high unemployment rates and families have to move elsewhere for work.
“This is a very tough time for small businesses in terms of getting loans, and banks are very wary of small businesses,” noted Rafferty, which is why he also supports the creation of a system of loan guarantees for small businesses so they can expand and hire more people when needed.
When it comes to the tourism industry, Rafferty believes many people in the U.S. already know this area is a jewel, but much has to be done to make sure it thrives, including addressing issues of border crossing.
“Unless we have a government in Ottawa that is willing to deal with the United States on an equal basis, we’re not going to sort out the border issues we have,” he warned.
“The enforcement that has been going on at the border has always been on the books,” said Rafferty. “But for many, many years, it was discretionary in many ways and we can’t blame border guards for enforcing what is already there.
“But I believe it should be discretionary.”
When it comes to infrastructure, Rafferty said people also should be able to count on annual funding, not the “hodgepodge” deal that exists right now.
“We have to be proactive, we can’t just sit back and expect people to come year after year if we don’t make an effort to bring in new visitors,” he said. “We have to make it easier for tourist outfitters, lodge owners, and for communities to market their communities in the U.S.”
This could include skills training, money, and funds available that tourist organizations can tap into to market themselves, Rafferty said, and perhaps even a permanent kiosk in Minneapolis.
“I would certainly be willing to propose that in the summer season that we lower the price of gas for visitors, for people in Northern Ontario, to enjoy what this area has to offer because if the price of gas continues to rise, that is enough of a disincentive for those south of the border to visit, and for people in Northern Ontario to travel,” he reasoned.
