Randall Denley: Ontario ends the Ring of Fire 'consultation' quagmire to finally get it done
Ontario Premier Doug Ford wants to break up the status quo of process, endless consultation and delay that has bogged down major infrastructure project approvals in the province. It's about time.
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Ford's Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, aims to speed things up by creating 'special economic zones' that would exempt big projects from many municipal and provincial rules. The bill would allow cabinet to designate those zones and decide what rules apply.
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It can take a big club to break up the status quo. Bill 5 is certainly such a club, and no one swings one quite like Ford. This is his 'Get It Done' mantra in action.
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Ford aims to use the new rules to get development started in the Ring of Fire, a promising mining area in the Hudson's Bay lowlands that occupies about 5,000 square kilometres and is rich in nickel, chromite, platinum, palladium and copper. The land is a combination of federal and provincial Crown land and Indigenous reserve land.
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Naturally, the idea of government approving anything expeditiously is strange and shocking to some Ontarians. Ford's plan to develop the area without years of additional study and consultation has enraged environmental and certain Indigenous groups, who fundamentally oppose anything that would alter the natural world. The provincial NDP and Liberal parties are also furious.
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Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation is predicting 'conflict on the ground' with actions that will land protesters in jail. The Chiefs of Ontario, representing the province's 133 First Nations, says the bill should be killed and the process should start with consultation with Indigenous Peoples.
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New Democrat MPP Sol Mamakwa, who represents the mining area, anticipates blockages of mines and roads. NDP Leader Marit Stiles wants the whole bill scrapped, and Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie calls it a 'power grab.'
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To these groups, Bill 5 is another Doug Ford outrage, and yet Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he will introduce federal legislation that is remarkably similar to Ford's. It will offer fast-tracked approval in two years and reduced regulations for major infrastructure projects like Ontario's Ring of Fire, which Ford has identified as his top priority for the new federal approach.
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The issue in Ontario, if there is one, is that the first version of the bill did not explicitly cite Indigenous People's constitutional right to consultation, a shortcoming that has since been remedied.
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