Strategist criticizes Ontario's management of ring of fire.

• Author: Ross, Ian

The Ontario's handling of the Ring of Fire has been a "mismanaged file," according to a Toronto lawyer, author and strategist specializing in mining and First Nations negotiations.

Bill Gallagher didn't come away impressed with the Wynne government's announcement in April to pledge $1 billion toward its fledgling Ring of Fire development corporation, calling the province largely "missing in action" for the last five years.

Political optics were obviously at play, said Gallagher, with the provincial budget release on the same week. It ultimately triggered a June 12 election.

"It comes very late in the day where the track record would point to a fairly inept political handling of the Ring of Fire," said Gallagher, a former federal negotiator at the director-general level in the resources sector.

The lack of a detailed government plan and overall guidance towards building transportation infrastructure into the remote mineral-rich region of the James Bay region was one of the huge obstacles in dealing with the mining companies.

It factored into last fall's stop-work decision by Cliffs Natural Resources to continue advancing exploration on its Big Daddy chromite project.

With the combination of the Cliffs pullout, various mining-related legal actions underway against the government, and uncertainty over how the entire mining camp will come together, Gallagher wasn't convinced that a billion-dollar promise will expedite any real development progress in the Far North, which he sees as being 10 years away.

"They have a funny way of saying they're open for business with the Ring of Fire Secretariat which has been missing in action throughout the entire saga. They have a newly minted development corporation, which was announced to head off the Cliffs departure, that's been rushed out the door without the terms of reference or a go-forward mandate."

Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle and two cabinet ministers openly challenged Ottawa to provide matching dollars, an approach that ultimately fell on deaf ears.

"I can tell you the feds, no matter what political stripe, do not cut cheques on major provincial infrastructure plays as long as matters are in the courts and Native issues are not settled."

Cliffs, the Ring of Fire's former marquee player, was scheduled to go to court in June to appeal a decision by a provincial lands tribunal that denied it access to the Black Thor chromite deposit atop the mining claims of a rival...