STRONG support for one-industry towns.

• Author: Groulx, Andre
• Position: NEWS - Saving The Region of Ontario North Group

STRONG -- an organization, fighting for one-industry towns in Northern Ontario hit hard by the slumping forest industry--says one of the biggest problems they face is government policies favoring multi-national corporations over community sustainability

STRONG (Saving The Region of Ontario North Group) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization fighting for the survival of forest dependent communities in Northern Ontario. The group was founded in 2005 by Al Simard, STRONG president and boasts nearly 6,000 members.

Canada's forest industry--and Ontario's for that matter--has been in a slow, steady decline over the last 10 years. The problem lies in a healthy Canadian dollar, the slumping U.S. housing market and shrinking demand for newsprint.

But Simard addresses another problem. He says the federal and provincial governments are allowing corporations to redirect the wood out of Ontario and Canada.

"The government just sits back and watches it happen."

"They (Canadian government) continue to sell us out," he says. "They're watching mills fall like dominoes all over Canada and their solution to the problem is ... we'll just sell more raw product."

That is stealing jobs from Canadians, he states.

Simard points to the new Softwood Lumber Agreement, which he says, is costing Canadians jobs because it encourages the export of round wood by exempting it from exports taxes.

"Multi-national corporations are in it for the money, they care nothing about community sustainability."

"We feel government policies should be put into place to discourage these corporations from giving profit priority over community sustainability."

Simard does applaud some steps the provincial and federal government have taken.

He pointed to provincial government's allocation of millions of dollars to fund a biomass research centre in Thunder Bay.

"They are...