Ontario Blew Chance for Natural Resource Control

Ontario Blew Chance for Natural Resource Control

I've been following Premier Mike Harris' tirade against Newfoundland Premier Brian Tobin in the newspapers and on the radio regarding Inco's threat not to smelt nickel in Newfoundland.

Let's not pull Newfoundland down to Ontario's level. If the people of Newfoundland would like to have greater control over their natural resources, let's give them our best wishes and pray they don't make the mistakes that the Progressive Conservative party in Ontario intends to continue to make.

Alberta uses a small part of that province's oil revenue for a Heritage Fund. Contrast Alberta's foresight with the lack of foresight of the Progressive Conservative misrule in Ontario.

Consider how much better off the people of Ontario would be if we'd levied some nominal fee per cord of wood for all the billions of cords of wood that have been removed from our forests.

Think how much money would be available if we'd levied 5 cents for every ton of iron ore removed. Or a dime per ounce of gold. Or 5 cents for every ton of nickel.

If we'd reserved some small part of the wealth flowing out of Ontario's natural resources for future needs, there would be no plan to cut back on health care and education. We'd pay off our $37 billion Tory-created Ontario Hydro burden.

Instead, we let our premiers become the mouthpieces for natural resource extraction schemes, the nuclear industry or any other scam that creates profits for corporations and promises jobs as a by-product.