Only Doug Ford Will Protect Ontario by Unlocking the Ring of Fire

A re-elected PC government will make Ontario the most competitive place in the G7 to invest, create better jobs with bigger paycheques and do business, including in the north

The Voice of Canada:

 Doug Ford outlined the PC plan to speed up approvals, cut red tape and invest in infrastructure to unlock the enormous economic potential of Ontario’s critical minerals in the Ring of Fire and protect northern Ontario’s economy and workers.

“Over the past seven years working with First Nations, we’ve made significant progress building the roads to the Ring of Fire,” said Doug Ford. “As we face down the threat of President Trump’s tariffs, we need to do more and we need to do it faster. To protect Ontario, we have to get our critical minerals out of the ground, processed and shipped to factory floors. We have to double down on working with First Nations to speed up approvals and get shovels in the ground on critical mineral projects.”

President Trump is on a mission to suck up every dollar of investment he can for America’s economy. He’s promising major reforms to streamline regulations and speed up approvals. If Ontario wants to compete, attract investment and create better jobs with bigger paycheques, the province has to be bold. A re-elected PC government will make Ontario the most competitive place in the G7 to invest, do business and create jobs. That includes significantly speeding up the time it takes to get shovels in the ground on major projects.

To do so, Ford is urging the Trudeau government to remove unnecessary federal barriers and red tape from major projects under provincial jurisdiction, including by scrapping redundant and wrongheaded impact assessment requirements that duplicate provincial processes, unnecessarily raise costs and slow down approvals for critical mineral projects in the Ring of Fire.

With the federal government out of the way, a re-elected PC government will unleash the economic potential of the Ring of Fire and Ontario’s critical minerals by:

• Designating regions where multiple critical mineral deposits are present or likely to be present, including the Ring of Fire, as regions of strategic importance for Ontario’s economy and security to support the needs of North American supply chains (including in the defence, automotive and energy sectors), triggering accelerated and parallel permitting, streamlined requirements, certainty around consultation timelines, and financial and other resources to support economic participation for First Nations partners. Within these regions of strategic importance, pre-approved project proponents that meet high operating, safety and environmental standards will be granted automatic approval to proceed with early works once they’ve met duty to consult obligations with ongoing oversight and inspection by relevant provincial ministries, agencies and authorities.
• Investing $70 million to expand the Aboriginal Participation Fund, which enables meaningful consultation with Indigenous communities in support of key projects, including mining exploration and development. The fund will also now be used to train First Nations workers so that they are able to directly benefit from critical mineral development.
• Launching a new $3 billion First Nations Opportunities Financing Program that would triple the province’s existing $1 billion Aboriginal Loan Guarantee Program to support First Nations equity participation in an expanded set of sectors, including electricity, critical minerals, resource development and related infrastructure components, offering generational economic opportunities for First Nations in Ontario.

• Creating new scholarship opportunities for First Nations students interested in pursuing careers in resource development in collaboration with our world class post-secondary institutions.    
• Legislating a One-Project, One-Process approach for all mining development to improve efficiency, streamline permitting, provide greater certainty and speed up approvals with service standards timeline guarantees for provincial regulatory approvals including the rigorous enforcement of permit and approval timelines enshrined within Ontario’s Mining Act to give operators and investors the certainty they need to hire and build. This includes having a dedicated project manager assigned to major projects to help proponents navigate the system and ensure accountability. 

Only Doug Ford has a plan to protect Ontario:

• Building Ontario’s economy by investing more than $200 billion in our plan to build roads, highways, transit and other infrastructure projects while investing $2.5 billion to train more than one million people for better jobs and bigger paycheques in the skilled trades. 
• Protecting workers in the face of President Trump’s tariffs by doing whatever is necessary to protect people’s livelihoods, including by investing tens of billions of dollars to keep people working.
• Keeping us competitive by fighting the job-killing Liberal carbon tax and urging the federal government to cut red tape and streamline approvals to get big things built.
• Cleaning up our streets by protecting families and children by banning drug injection sites near schools and daycares and clearing out encampments from public parks with new investments in shelters. 
• Delivering better care, including by investing $1.8 billion more to connect everyone in Ontario to a family doctor and primary care.

Doug Ford will never stop working to protect Ontario.