Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford made a stop at Rector Machine Works this morning to announce several road-building and infrastructure projects in Northern Ontario.
Local MPP Ross Romano and several Rector Machine Works representatives were in attendance to welcome Ford’s announcement.
“In 2021 alone, we put 641 million dollars into expanding and repairing northern highways,” he says. “These are desperately needed investments that will mean better roads and almost 4500 jobs here in the north.”
Ford also announced his intentions to build a road to the Ring of Fire, a campaign promise made in 2018, and again this morning.
“We’re working side by side with Indigenous communities in true partnership and investing a billion dollars to build an all-season road to the Ring of Fire,” he says. “It will be a corridor to prosperity that will connect communities, families and businesses throughout the north. It will help create thousands of new mining jobs, and bring countless benefits and opportunities for Indigenous communities, including easier access to everyday goods that most of us take for granted.”
Located approximately 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ontario’s Ring of Fire region is regarded as a promising mineral development opportunity for the province. Ford believes the Progressive Conservatives are the only party that can get this road built.
“Kathleen Wynne and Steven Del Duca had their chance,” he says. “They started talking about building this road in 2011. They talked, they reviewed, they debated, they delayed – nothing got built, nothing got done. Andrea Horwath is opposed to building anything. The NDP are happier protesting a road than building one.”
Ford says they’re also working towards Ontario being the North American leaders in electric vehicle production, and he wants Algoma to play a role in this endeavour.
“I want the minerals extracted here in the north, the clean steel produced here at Algoma, to be a critical part of the EV supply chain we’re building right here in Ontario,” he says. “We can only do this by working together.”
With just 26 days until the provincial election, Ford is confident his party can deliver on these promises.
“Northern Ontario’s best days are still ahead,” he says. “But it’s up to each and every one of us to roll up our sleeves, get to work, and get it done. We have the team, we have the vision, and we have the plan,” he says. “So, on June 2nd, let’s do it, and let’s get it done.”
Ford will also be spending some time at Sault College today.