The creation in 2005 of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) — and the positive economic impacts that came with it — made northern Ontario more able to withstand the recent recession, according to a Laurentian University economics professor.

The traditional, resource-based industries in northern Ontario are dependent on a boom-bust cycle, said David Robinson. The addition of highly-paid jobs at the medical school makes the north less susceptible to the boom-bust cycle, he said.

“One of the reasons that southern Ontario is somewhat more stable than northern Ontario is that they had all of these (stable) jobs in the past. We only had the (jobs) that flapped. Well now we're getting some of the (jobs) that don't flap.”

Robinson was among the researchers who contributed to a 65-page report about the economic and social impact the medical school.

The report was launched Feb. 9 at a dual, videoconference-linked press conference at NOSM's Sudbury and Thunder Bay sites.

It was funded by a $120,000 grant from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, and put out by the Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research, a research centre based at Laurentian University and Lakehead University.

According to the report, in the 2007-2008 fiscal year, NOSM directly spent $36 million, and medical students attending the school spent another $1 million.

In total, NOSM's activities are estimated to contribute $67 to $82 million per year to the economy in northern Ontario through direct, indirect and induced economic effects.

In the 2007-2008 fiscal year, NOSM funded 232.5 full-time equivalent positions, located mostly in Sudbury and Thunder Bay. It is estimated that NOSM supports a total of 420 to 510 full-time equivalent positions in northern Ontario through economic effects.

Bruce Minore, research director at the Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research at Lakehead, spoke extensively at the press conference about the report's findings about the various social impacts of NOSM.

Fifty-nine people from across the north who have some involvement with NOSM were interviewed about their experiences with the medical school.

Minore said one of the messages that came across was the reputation of Laurentian and Lakehead has been enhanced by the addition of a medical school.

“There has also been increased interest in particular programs, especially programs linked to health, at the universities. For example, the public health program here at Lakehead, and the biomolecular sciences and rural health programs at Laurentian,” Minore said.