Video producers, airlines object to ONTC expansions.

• Position: Ontario Northland Transportation Commission

Two business decisions made recently by the North Bay-based Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) have touched off a debate concerning the role of the government agency in Northern Ontario's economy.

Last month the province announced that norOntair, the airline arm of the commission, will be initiating twice-daily Dash-8 service between Thunder Bay and Kenora in the new year.

Earlier this fall, the commission unveiled Ontario Northland (ON) Productions - its new video production house.

"They're two symptoms of the same problem," says Doug Reynolds, president of Corona Communications, a Sudbury video production house. "We have a provincial government that is strapped for cash and suddenly willing to follow the entrepreneurial bent of people within Ontario Northland."

However, ONTC board chairman M.D. Sinclair of Sudbury insists that both activities are consistent with the mandate of the commission.

The commission's stated mandate is "the efficient operation of passenger, freight and telecommunications services in Northern Ontario." Its diverse operational divisions include rail, air travel, bus charters, truck transport, marine, telecommunications, tourism, consulting and land development.

JOB LOSSES

To date Canadian Partner and Bearskin Airlines of Sioux Look-out have given the ONTC its most vocal opposition.

Canadian Partner spokesman Peter Grobaeur claims that up to 50 of the airline's employees, including 25 pilots, will lose their jobs as a result of norOntair's decision to fly the 37-seat Dash-8s into Kenora.

"It (the move) has serious implications for us. It's going to be devastating," Grobaeur predicts.

However, Sinclair charges that Canadian Partner is using the norOntair expansion as a scapegoat for layoffs it had already announced.

Harvey Friesen, president of Sioux Lookout-based Bearskin Airlines, estimates that between 20 and 25 of his employees will lose their jobs because of the increased competition.

However, during Question Period in the provincial Legislature on Nov. 20, Northern Development Minister Shelley Martel said Bearskin had failed to meet her challenge to prove the claim.

Martel, whose ministry is responsible for Ontario Northland, said the addition of Dash-8 service was requested by the residents of Kenora.

The minister was challenged by Progressive Conservative leader Mike Harris to explain why the government would use tax dollars to compete with other airlines while some communities such as Parry...