Northern voices can indeed be heard.

• Author: Cirtwill, Charles
• Position: Think Tank

The Mowat Centre, a research institute associated with the University of Toronto, released a "Federal Economic Agenda for Ontario". The document asks, and answers, two questions: What are the primary challenges facing Ontario? And, what does the evidence tell us about the best possible responses to those challenges?

For Northerners, the importance of this document isn't just in the policy recommendations provided within it (policy recommendations free for the taking by any political party or candidate, regardless of their geographic location or philosophical bent). The real significance for the North is demonstrated in the difference between the Mowat Centre's original discussion paper, released last fall, and the final document, released this spring.

In the original paper, there was very little about First Nations and Aboriginal peoples. In the original paper, there were mentions of the differences between regions, but little sense of how vast those differences really are. Particularly as they relate to infrastructure, mass transit, housing, investment attraction, and labour. In the original paper, there was no mention of FedNor whatsoever. A program so central to Ottawa's presence and activities in the North that the mere public mention of it raises hackles on all sides.

In the original paper, there was mention of the Ring of Fire and a call for Ottawa to match the provincial commitment of spending a billion dollars to kickstart development. But there was no discussion of what to spend the money on.

No consideration of who should guide the spending. No exploration of how (or indeed even if) the affected communities should be involved in making those decisions. All of those points are covered in the final document.

These Northern issues and perspectives are included in a document written by experts living in the "Greater Toronto Area" because the people of the North took the time to inform those experts.

Between November and March, students, academics, entrepreneurs, activists, business people, elected and non-elected officials, First Nations, Metis, young and old alike shared their ideas about the issues holding us back and how to solve them.

Not just offering opinion, but evidence. Providing real-life examples about how they or others had faced similar challenges and overcome them. Or, attempted to overcome them and failed.

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