The Northern Ontario Party wants the public to know it doesn’t just stand for separation. However party President Myles Clayton says that’s how the media tends to generalize the NOP. Clayton points out Northern Ontario is already a separate province. He says it has all the burdens but doesn’t see any of the benefits. As an example, he points to the surplus electricity Northern Ontario produces and yet it faces among the highest power rates in the country. Clayton also notes that Toronto politicians have picked the north as the dumping ground for nuclear waste yet it’s Southern Ontario that generates nuclear power. Clayton is referring to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, which although is headquartered in Toronto, was formed by the federal government in 2002. Several northern communities, including some in the Algoma District, have shown an interest in the proposal to bury the radioactive waste deep underground. Clayton also notes that even though there’s an abundance of mining and forestry in the north, the region has very few manufacturing or processing facilities to handle the raw resources. He says this is how politicians from the main stream parties have neglected the north. Clayton says if the June, 2018 election produces a minority government and the north elects all 11 NOP candidates running for office, the Northern Ontario Party would hold the balance of power. He adds regardless of what party forms the next government, if it supports Northern Ontario in a fair and just way, then the NOP will throw its support to that government.
