Thunder Bay’s chamber of commerce is digging in its’ heel with its’ provincial counterpart, the Ontario chamber of commerce, to find ways of helping northern Ontario’s economy catch up to the south.
Local chamber president Charla Robinson tells us they have a report which focuses on building up area infrastructure.
“Things like the Ring of Fire road, support for forestry road funding, you know, those things that are specific to northern Ontario, that somewhere in southwestern Ontario it wouldn’t have the same relevance.”
The chamber president adds Queen’s Park needs to join regional conversation around topics such as infrastructure or education.
“What can the government do to address the issues for all of the different regions in Ontario, and then making sure they’re customizing their supports and their actions to address the specific needs of those regions.”
Discussion also revolves around better movement or transfer of labour around the province, and to ensure smaller regions are able to innovate and do things differently.
