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From the February 24 issue of the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal - http://chroniclejournal.com/story.shtml?id=25938

FedNor budget skyrockets

By Carl Clutchey - The Chronicle-Journal
February 24, 2005

The federal agency that helps Northern Ontario feel less like Ontario’s poor cousin got a huge boost in Wednesday’s budget.

Liberal MP Joe Comuzzi, the minister who oversees FedNor, could barely contain himself as the agency’s annual allotment officially skyrocketed.

“We’re talking about a base budget of $20 million going up to $52 million,” Comuzzi (Thunder Bay-Superior North) enthused minutes after listening to Finance Minister Ralph Goodale present the budget speech.

FedNor is divided into two parts. The main Northern Ontario Development Program is the beneficiary of the enhanced $52-million budget.

The other part of FedNor is a collection of 61 Community Futures Development Corporations across Ontario.

That program received an increase of $14.2 million over five years. Prior to the budget, each CFDC had received $250,000 to cover operating costs and replenish loan funds.

CFDCs provide business loans up to $125,000 in rural parts of the province. Twenty-four of the 61 are in Northern Ontario.

High on FedNor’s agenda, Comuzzi said, is to spend about $10 million of its expanded base budget on new telecommunications infrastructure.

That will bring high-speed Internet capability to the approximately 30 per cent of Northwestern Ontario communities still without what’s now considered an essential service.

The money, to be spent over two years, will pay for high-speed equipment and modern telecommunication lines at First Nations and other remote communities that lack the customer base to convince Internet providers to make those investments on their own.

Comuzzi said the high-speed capability will be a boon to doctors and other medical professionals in remote areas who currently can’t access services such as digital images.

Meanwhile, Comuzzi and fellow Northwest Liberal MP Ken Boshcoff (Thunder Bay-Rainy River) noted the $300 million earmarked for the development of an east-west power grid to allow cheap, Manitoba-based electricity to flow into Ontario.

Comuzzi said that project will be significant for Northwestern Ontario wood mills and mines currently facing some of the highest electricity costs in North America.

Boshcoff, a former Thunder Bay mayor, said he was pleased to see Goodale retain the GST exemption for Canadian municipalities, which saves his home city about $1.5 million annually.

Boshcoff also noted the $85 million the budget allotted for the disabled.

Parts of the budget are to be put to a vote in the House of Commons over the next few weeks.

Comuzzi said he isn’t worried that the Liberals, currently heading a minority government, will lose their hold on power in a non-confidence vote linked to the budget.