At a press conference this morning in Sudbury, NDP candidates from across the North gathered in Sudbury with a single message: Only they have a plan to kickstart the northern economy.
“Under Stephen Harper, we lost 13,000 jobs in Northern Ontario over the past year alone,” said Timmins-James Bay candidate Charlie Angus. “An NDP government will invest in strengthening our northern economy and creating good sustainable jobs in our communities. A strong NDP Team will make sure northern concerns are heard in Ottawa.”
NorthernLife.ca is working on a followup to this story with additional details, but here are some highlights of the NDP’s promises:
- Upgrade FedNor to a full standalone regional economic agency and increase its funding by $12.6 million
- Unlock the potential of the “Ring of Fire” deposits by investing $1 billion in strategic infrastructure over the next 20 years;
- Support the growing agriculture sector in the north by investing in rural economies;
- Fix the Nutrition North food subsidy program by immediately including the 25 fly-in communities in Northern Ontario that have been unfairly excluded; and
- Improve critical First Nations infrastructure such as schools, drinking water facilities, roads and other essential services, starting with new investments of $447 million over four years.
Check by with NorthernLife.ca for more on this story shortly.
