Provincial politics: a new deck of cards for the North.

• Author: Atkins, Michael
• Position: PRESIDENT'S NOTE

Actually, there is a new deck of cards for the whole province. Ontario is on the cusp of a recession. Times are going to get extremely tough. The car industry is in chaotic decline, and in a couple of years the construction industry is going to start winding down and things are going to look grim and of course we know about the forestry industry.

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In political terms, we go from being ignored because things are so robust elsewhere, to being ignored because we are only one problem among hundreds.

That said, on the face of it, Northern Ontario has nothing to complain about in terms of its representation at the Cabinet table. McGuinty's decisions for the North were tough and deliberate.

He took a Minister of Northern Development and Mines who loved his job, and who was immensely popular in his riding and who brought with him supporters who raised large amounts of money for the provincial Liberal party and moved him to Safety something. He won't be heard from again outside of his riding.

Then he turfed a long time northern cabinet Minister, David Ramsay, the Minister of Natural Resources who struggled to cope with the crisis in the forestry industry and gave him early retirement without warning or political cover.

Next, he gave the Ministry of Patronage, (Northern Development and Mines) to Michael Gravelle, from Thunder Bay riding where the government is in need of some good news. Thunder Bay is ground zero in the collapse of the forestry industry and Michael is well known and well loved in Thunder Bay and the Northwest. My guess is he will be in Sudbury about as often as Rick Bartolucci was in Thunder Bay the last four years. Like Rick, Michael is a constituency man and a formidable campaigner.

Happily the Premier has matched David Orazietti from the Sault as Michael's parliamentary assistant. David is interested in policy and long term vision. Michael and David could be a good combination.

The next chip he played was brilliant. Natural Resources is a disaster area. It is a battered Ministry, and has failed miserably to be a catalyst for strategic planning for our resources and deserves a shake up. Enter Donna Cansfield from Etobicoke with no experience in Northern Ontario at all. She can afford to look at problems as they...