Ministry of Northern Development and Mines Press Release 

March 20, 2008

Rosehart Report Tackles Regional Economic Challenges

Province Studying Recommendations On Growth Opportunities in Northwestern Ontario

Click here to download the report (6.1 MB PDF)

A much-anticipated report from the province’s Northwestern Ontario Economic Facilitator is now in the hands of the Minister of Northern Development and Mines.

In the 2007 Ontario Budget, the Province asked Dr. Robert Rosehart to work with northwestern residents and businesses on ways to generate growth for the future.  The former Lakehead University president met with about 120 groups, representatives of 16 municipalities and more than 20 Aboriginal leaders, including Grand Chiefs of two major Treaty organizations.  The government expects to have an initial response in the near future.     

While the report’s recommendations include actions to assist the current economy, they also identify opportunities to build for the new economy in the northwest.  This includes opportunities in areas such as education, skills training, research and innovation.

QUOTES

“This thoughtful and wide-ranging report will help us build a strong foundation for a new generation of growth in northwestern Ontario and across the North,” said Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle. 

“In communities across the region, I heard from northerners who are ready and willing to engage with the realities of economic transition,” said Dr. Robert Rosehart, Northwestern Ontario Economic Facilitator.  

QUICK FACTS

• Since October 2003, the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation has approved over $92 million toward more than 430 projects, which will help create or sustain more than 3,342 jobs in northwestern Ontario.
• Ontario has invested $14.7-million into the development of a Molecular Medicine Research Centre that will generate more than 200 jobs and position Thunder Bay at the cutting edge of health sciences research.
• Northwestern Ontario represents 58 per cent of the land mass of the province of Ontario. 
• Aboriginal people make up more than 15 per cent of the population of northwestern Ontario.
• Northwestern Ontario’s population density is less than half a person per square kilometre.  That compares with more than 100 people per square kilometre in southern Ontario.

LEARN MORE

In January 2007, the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association released a paper on Enhancing the Economy of Northwestern Ontario

Read more about the development of regional growth plans through Ontario’s Places to Grow Act and the ongoing Growth Plan for Northern Ontario initiative.

Anne-Marie Flanagan, Minister’s Office, 416-327-0655
Dale Ashbee, NW Ontario Facilitator Initiative, 807-475-1518 

ontario.ca/north-news

Backgrounder

Report Points Way To More Prosperous Future

In spring 2007, the government appointed former Lakehead University president Dr. Robert G. Rosehart as a Northwestern Ontario Economic Facilitator to work with local people and businesses to help inspire a new generation of growth in the northwest.

In June 2007, Dr. Rosehart began extensive discussions.  He spoke with First Nation chiefs, community leaders, groups and individuals across the northwest about solutions that would build on initiatives already under way, such as the recent Northern Development Council recommendations on Growing and Strengthening Northern Business, various sectoral studies, the Forest Sector Prosperity Fund and home-grown initiatives such as the Northern Ontario Municipal Association’s Forging the Future.
 
Dr. Rosehart considered both the short term of the next two to five years and the region’s long-term transition toward new economic opportunities.  His recommendations address three main areas of concern:

▪ Actions to help stabilize the current economy
▪ Assistance to help build capacity for the new economy, and
▪ Investments that will build the foundation of a prosperous northwest economy for the future.

Recommendations are arranged in twelve broad categories: 
▪ Vision and Governance
▪ Aesthetics and the Environment
▪ Region-Province-Nation Building
▪ Forestry Sector
▪ Mining Sector
▪ Tourism Sector
▪ Energy Delivery and Regulation
▪ Agriculture Sector
▪ Aboriginal Economy
▪ Municipalities and Business
▪ Education Sector
▪ Research and Innovation

Dr. Rosehart’s long association with northwestern Ontario began in the 1970s when he joined Lakehead University as a professor of chemical engineering.  He served as president of the university for 13 years.  During the mid-1980s, he chaired Ontario’s Advisory Committee on Resource Dependent Communities in Northern Ontario.  The committee’s 1986 report resulted in significant changes for the North, such as relocation of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines head office to Sudbury, the formation of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation and Northern Development Councils.

For further information on Dr. Rosehart or his report, please visit the Northwestern Ontario Economic Facilitator website at http://www.mndm.gov.on.ca/MNDM/nordev/noef/noef_e.asp

Anne-Marie Flanagan, Minister’s Office, 416-327-0655
Dale Ashbee, NW Ontario Facilitator Initiative, 807-475-1518