Comments by the mines minister about the agency that oversees the Ring of Fire don`t surprise Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli. The Ontario Chamber of Commerce wants Michael Gravelle to expand the mandate of the Ring of Fire Development Corporation.
Gravelle won`t do it because he claims it muddies the waters. Fedeli isn`t surprised by the response. He says if the corporation’s role was expanded, it means it would have to do something.
The corporation has been around for more than a year and employs four bureaucrats who Fedeli says do nothing to advance the Ring of Fire. The inaction reminds him of when he was mayor during the 2006 term and the mines minister was in North Bay announcing that the Ring of Fire would be operational by 2015.
Fedeli says the minister came back the following year and again announced the Ring of Fire becoming operational but this time the date was 2016. Fedeli says we`re only weeks away from 2016, and nearly 10 years later not a single ounce of ore has been mined from the Ring of Fire.
