The Thunder Bay research station is slated to close at the end of the month but the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce is committed to working with the province to keep it open and also preserve the one in Emo.
Delegates passed a resolution in support of the Thunder Bay research station at NOACC’s annual meeting in Dryden last weekend.
“It was the only one closed in the province of Ontario and it is not acceptable to the north and it is not acceptable to the industry stakeholders,” NOACC president Tannis Drysdale said Tuesday.
Since both the Thunder Bay and Emo research stations work so closely together, Drysdale said closing one threatens the other.
“They are both doing similar work on the forestry industry, on hybrid poplar trees, and value-added agriculture,” she noted. “By closing the Thunder Bay station, the Emo research station could be in jeopardy.”
As previously reported in the Times, the University of Guelph and the Ministry of Agriculture announced the decision to close the Thunder Bay research station at the end of August.
It is slated for closure Oct. 31.
Budget cuts were given as a reason for the decision, but Drysdale argued the research generated by the station far outweighed the cost.
“It takes $300,000 a year to keep it open,” she noted. “If for $300,000 a year for the next 10 years we end up growing poplar trees and are able to harvest them 10 years quicker, then I say that’s a pretty good investment in our future.”
Gordon Scheifele, research co-ordinator for Northwestern Ontario and crop technology advisor at the Thunder Bay research station, noted the $300,000 a year actually was the cost to run both the Thunder Bay and Emo facilities.
Annually, only $200,000 would be saved by closing one station.
“We have a very small budget and we have been very productive,” Scheifele said yesterday. “In addition to the $200,000 [cost], over five years we have raised over $400,000 in funding for research programs in Northwestern Ontario.”
Scheifele said he was pleased to hear of NOACC’s plan to speak with both the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Northern Development and Mines to keep the station open.
“The reaction from Northern Ontario economic development people, the community, and the Chambers of Commerce reassured us we need to put every effort forward in the remaining 30 days to try and develop some kind of program and partnerships to keep the research station going,” he remarked.
The station currently employees two research technicians for eight months a year and Scheifele year-round. The entire staff was said to be devastated by the news the station would close.
“We were informed about the decision Aug. 23. It was made in partnership between Guelph University and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture,” he noted.
“The reason was budget cuts. The university is facing a $6.8-million budget shortfall from the Ministry of Agriculture.”
Scheifele also said keeping the Emo research station open without Thunder Bay made no sense due to the different growing conditions in both areas.
“There is a question of the long-term viability of the Emo research station by itself,” he said. “The research information generated by Emo is totally inadequate. . . . Research data needs to be generated in both regions.”
Staff also are perplexed as to why the station is closing at the end of this month since they will be unable to compile data on this year’s crop by then.
“Unless a decision comes in the next couple of weeks, we are requesting they give us an extra month, until Nov. 30, and extend my work ’til Dec. 31 so that we can complete the work and compile the data so that at least this year’s research is of value,” Scheifele stressed.
And if the province proceeds with the closure, it’s not like they can come back in a year or so and resume the program.
“If we don’t have this year’s research, it will significantly impact some of the long-term projects that will be missing a whole year’s data,” Scheifele said.
Still, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“I’m very encouraged right now. The last couple of days, due to the Chamber of Commerce, seems to be an effort in talking to Confederation College and Lakehead University to see if one of those two will take over the program,” Scheifele said.
“There is no coming back,” he added. “The opportunity is right now in the next 30 days to bring about a new deal and new partnerships.”