ONTC divestment drives forward

Northern NDP MPPs are condemning the province for “ignoring the needs of the north” and speeding up the divestment of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission.

As of Sept. 28, the Northlander train from Cochrane to Toronto will stop running. Regular train service will continue until that date. Every community served by the Northlander train is also served by ONTC bus service that will continue to run as usual.

Meanwhile, the Polar Bear Express train service will not be affected and will continue to provide the same service to rural and remote communities between Cochrane and Moosonee. The Niska I ferry, which sails between Moosonee and Moose Factory Island, is being transferred to the Owen Sound Transportation Company, with no changes to service.

Ontera, a telecommunications system operating in northeastern Ontario, will be the first ONTC business line put up for sale. Infrastructure Ontario will be inviting interested buyers to submit their qualifications to purchase Ontera.

The province said in a news release that this is all part of “moving forward with a new era of transportation and telecommunications services for the Highway 11 corridor in northeastern Ontario.” The divestment of the provincially owned ONTC was announced in March 2012.

The province maintains that funds used to operate the ONTC are better spent in helping tackle the deficit, protecting the province's gains in health care and education and in valuable northern Ontario job-creation and infrastructure programs such as the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation and the Northern Highways Program.

Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson and Timiskaming-Cochrane MPP John Vanthof are accusing the province of trying to “silence community critics” by speeding up the divestment.

“People across northeastern Ontario have been fighting the privatization and divestment of the ONTC for months,” Bisson said. “Instead of addressing the legitimate concerns of these communities, the Liberals have sped up the privatization process.”

“This government is ignoring the needs of the north,” Vanthof said. “The Northland rail is an essential transportation link for northern communities and businesses. Bus service alone cannot adequately replace this service.”

Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci, Minister of Northern Development and Mines, said in a time of fiscal belt-tightening, “we cannot afford an inefficient and expensive government-owned transportation and telecommunications system.”

He called the divestment an “historic opportunity to deliver innovative and sustainable solutions that meet the needs of northerners now and in the future, and help foster private-sector investment and economic growth across the northeast.”

Since 2003, Ontario has invested more than $430 million in the ONTC, increasing the subsidy provided to the ONTC by 256 per cent. Based on current trends, supporting the ONTC today would require annual support of approximately $100 million, compared to $27.6 million in support in 2003, the province said in the news release.