There’s no question the mayor of Fort Frances is a big booster of Northwestern Ontario. He just wishes others who share his enthusiasm could recognize the flaws and problems as well.
Glenn Witherspoon, who chairs the regional “Smart Growth” panel, told delegates attending the Rainy River District Municipal Association’s annual meeting Saturday in Stratton that the area’s great potential could be left unrealized unless the province and federal government move quickly to help it prepare for the challenges and opportunities the next few decades will present.
“There are currently 13 million people in Ontario and by the year 2020, there will be another five million here,” said Mayor Witherspoon. “A lot of them will be coming from other countries and if we wish to tap this resource, we must be ready.”
The key, he said, is to identify the areas in which the region is strong and develop them further—“clustering,” he called it. These he identified as mining, agriculture, tourism, and lumber.
According to Mayor Witherspoon’s figures, 11.7 million people visit the area every year while agriculture generates $170 million a year and employs 6,200 people.
The pulp and paper and mining industries are spread out over half-a-million square kilometres and account for 57 percent of the province’s area. And the Red Lake area, he noted, has the highest-paying gold mine in the world.
“We have to move forward with our strengths. We have to go high-tech,” he stressed.
Mayor Witherspoon identified two areas of concern regarding the district’s future: a shrinking population and poor highways.
According to his research, there currently are 235,000 people in the area from Wawa to the Manitoba border, including 40,000 First Nations people.
The problem, he said, is too many young people are leaving the area to seek employment opportunities elsewhere. He believes the solution may lie in reinstating apprenticeship programs so local young people can work in the skilled trades.
Otherwise, such people will have to be imported from outside.
He noted the significant drop in apprenticeships over the last 20 years was due mostly to resistance from trade unions.
As for highways, Mayor Witherspoon said this should be an area of embarrassment to all concerned.
“When you come up from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan to our area, you come off state-of-the-art highways to a donkey trail,” he remarked.
To address that, Mayor Witherspoon recommends the Trans-Canada Highway should be increased to four lanes all the way from Nipigon to Manitoba.
Furthermore, he suggested the major north-south routes (the 600 series) should be widened with at least a one metre of paved shoulder, rumble strips, and passing lanes every 10 km.
“What a slap in the face it is when a single [truck] rollover can shut the country down for three days,” he said.
Once these issues are addressed, the future for the north will be as bright as anywhere in the country, the mayor said.
“I honestly believe that when these recommendations are finally acted upon, Northwestern Ontario will be the big winner,” he enthused.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
