FONOM conference hears from PC leader

The first of three provincial party leaders to speak at the FONOM conference in North Bay made his pitch to the delegates on Wednesday.

PC leader Patrick Brown says the Liberal government continues to ignore the north.

He says in the recent budget there was no mention of the Ring of Fire development and $70 million was cut from the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines budget, although the province says that’s not the case.

Brown, meantime, says there are additional negative impacts with the Liberal government.

“We’ve lost 50 percent of the forestry jobs, we’ve gone from number one in mining to number 16. They set northern policy without setting foot in northern Ontario,” he says.

Brown says if elected next year his government focus on job creation.

“Whether that’s by cutting red tape, affordable energy rates, linking education to employment, we’re going to make sure we give our municipalities, our businesses the ability to succeed,” he added.

Brown also says his party will stop closing schools.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath will speak to the delegates Thursday morning and Premier Kathleen Wynne will have her say Thursday afternoon.

The conference wraps up Friday.