Shore Report
February 2025
A pair of river otters take advantage of the last few openings in the Thessalon River ice. Image © John Degen
Shore Report acknowledges the North Shore of Lake Huron is the traditional land of the Anishinabek and the Métis Nation. This is Treaty 61 (Robinson-Huron) territory. Anishinabek have lived in the Great Lakes region for thousands of years. Shore Report is very grateful to live and work here.
All written content in this issue is © Shore Report 2025
A busy winter has been made even busier with Doug Ford’s calling of a snap provincial election for February 27th, catching election workers, voters and even some candidates off guard. Particularly worried are voters with travel plans already set for this month. We are assured those determined to vote can request a special advance ballot from their local election office, but since not every race has a complete slate of declared candidates yet, it seems likely some will be voting with incomplete information. That’s a shame, considering the declining voter turnout numbers we’ve seen in recent contests.
Shore Report has reached out to every single candidate declared for all four North Shore Ridings, and we will publish interviews as we gather them. The information we have so far is compiled in this issue, but keep an eye on the site for the rest of the month as we bring out more.
Local candidates declared so far.
Editorial
Is Ontario’s North Worth Only 2.2% Investment?
In this month’s issue, a Ministry of Transportation representative confirms that traffic will not be unduly disrupted during work to upgrade Hwy 17 on the eastern approach to Sault Ste. Marie. In doing so, they also dropped an interesting bit of budgetary information. “…we are investing over $616 million in highways in the north to improve road safety and unlock economic opportunities,” the Ministry says.
Sounds good.
Or does it?
Anyone who’s driven south lately has probably seen the prominent signs on Hwy 400 announcing the provincial government’s intended investment of $28 billion on highways. $616 million looks pretty measly in the context of that total investment. It is, in fact, a mere 2.2% of the Ford government’s announced highway spending.
Considering the decades residents of the North Shore have been waiting for Highway 69 to be upgraded to four lanes, and the many, many improvements to roads and highways that would increase the safety and benefit the lives of northern Ontarians, one questions the priories of this government.
We’re still waiting for four lanes south of the French River. Image courtesy Bing Maps.
Sudbury NDP MPP, Jamie West — in an interview with Shore Report — says “I’ve gone to funerals of people who have died in crashes where those sixty-eight kilometers [of 69] have not been completed. Every election, they promise they’re going to do it. In 2018, when I was first elected, they promised they were going to do it. Not an inch.”
Why is Ontario building brand new highways to save mere minutes on southern commutes, when essential northern highway projects have not even been completed?
Thessalon Legion Packed for Health Services Meeting
Ontario Health Coalition urges locals to challenge canvassing provincial candidates
CUPE/OCHU President Michael Hurley addresses the crowd in Thessalon.
Representatives from the Algoma Health Coalition (AHC) held an open meeting at the Thessalon Legion Hall on a snowy Saturday evening (February 8), and pulled out more than a hundred residents to talk about local health services across the North Shore. The meeting was also open virtually, with another substantial contingent who couldn’t get out to the Legion attending by Zoom.
AHC co-chair Al Dupuis kicked off the meeting with a reminder that the provincial government has previously promised to end “hallway medicine” for Ontarians, but that our provincial spending on health services lags far behind all other areas of the country.
“To catch up on per capita, Ontario would have to put another $12 billion into the system,” he noted.
Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) executive director Natalie Mehra, CUPE/OCHU President Michael Hurley, and Thessalon’s local healthcare advocate Mary Jane Thompson also took to the microphone, urging locals to keep access to healthcare top of the list for campaigning candidates in the provincial election.
Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) executive director Natalie Mehra. Image courtesy OHC.
With over 100,000 followers across social media, the broader OHC, led by Mehra, has had success putting local service decline into the spotlight, and making it something politicians can’t ignore.
“There should be a standard for what a hospital is,” she said to the crowd, “and that includes in-patient beds, palliative beds, a lab, etc.”
Thessalon’s emergency hospital, part of the North Shore Health Network, lost its four in-patient beds early in the pandemic, and they have not been recovered to date. At the Legion hall, Iron Bridge resident Cathy Marshall shared her story about how Thessalon hospital likely saved her life, and her fear that declining services will result in deaths.
North Shore candidates take note. There’s likely no other provincial issue that would bring this many people out into the snow and ice in these kinds of numbers.
New Huron Shores Mayor Appointed
Resignations in early January left a rudderless Council looking for a quick solution
Councillor (now Mayor) Jane Armstrong (far right) at a January Council meeting.
A sitting member of Council, Ward 3 & 4 Councillor Jane Armstrong, was unanimously appointed as the new Mayor of the Municipality of Huron Shores at a special meeting called for that purpose. Armstrong will be sworn in to her new position on February 12th.
Both Ward 1 Councillor, Roger Mulligan, and Mayor Matthew Seabrook left their elected positions in early January. While the reason for Mulligan’s decision is unclear, Seabrook granted an extensive interview with the North Shore Sentinel in which he explained he felt a conflict between his position as spokesman for Council and his perceived mandate for change. With his own Council vote regularly in the minority, Seabrook apparently felt he was not meeting the mandate given to him by voters.
The various options for filling the vacant Mayor’s seat were explained to Council by Municipality CAO and Clerk, Natashia Roberts, at a January 22 Special Meeting.
Given the option of passing a bylaw in order to call a by-election to allow voters to fill the vacancy and a quicker appointment, Council voted to make appointments for both the position of Mayor and two vacant Council seats as well. According to information presented at Council on January 22, a by-election would mean the seats remain vacant until “mid-May or June,” whereas appointments would see all seats filled by early March.
Council decided not to approach unsuccessful candidates from the 2022 election without making an open call for all vacancies. A by-election would also be expected to cost the municipality significant budget. Given a municipal election is slated for October 2026, appointments seemed the best, most efficient route to getting Council back on track for the remaining term.
Councillor (now Mayor) Armstrong put her name forward for the executive position. Declarations of interest for taking over the Ward 1 seat vacated by Roger Mulligan and the now vacant Ward 3 & 4 seat will be brought to another Council meeting on March 5th, with onboarding of the candidate appointments to follow immediately.
Serpent River FN Makes Positive Advancement on Admin Backlog
Several years of recovery and improvement detailed in report
Image courtesy Serpent River First Nation.
The pandemic years of 2020 forward appear to have been hard on the administration of Serpent River First Nation, but all that may be behind the community now.
The Director of Operations for SRFN, Tracey Seabrook, delivered an extremely positive report to the membership at this past year’s Annual General Meeting, indicating near half a decade of financial and administrative backlog has been successfully dealt with, with systems updated and professionalized.
Annual audits for the fiscal years 2019/20 forward to 2022 are now complete and work continues on ’23 and ’24. The Band has doubled its finance and accounting staff from three positions to six, and introduced streamlined processes such as e-transfer capability and online payment through banks for rents and other services. As well, reports back to funders (outstanding all the way to 2017) have now been brought up to date.
Perhaps most importantly, the community’s water treatment facility has been completely refurbished, along with upgrades and improvements to various town services; and, a new school building has been purchased as part of a proposed Land Based School Initiative.
Image courtesy University of Toronto Press.
The story of Serpent River First Nation’s long road to recovery from colonial environmental destruction is detailed in a recent book from University of Toronto Press, Serpent River Resurgence: Confronting Uranium Mining at Elliot Lake
by Lianne C. Leddy.
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Read Northern Ontario… at Latitude 46
No Detour Required for Garden River Highway Project
Ministry confirms traffic will flow during construction
An osprey rises from its nest along Hwy 17 in Garden River First Nation.
Following Shore Report’s article about Garden River First Nation’s request for proposal on Highway 17 rehabilitation and enhancement, and a query to GRFN for more detail, we were contacted by the provincial Ministry of Transportation (MTO).
The MTO is planning to enhance the eastern approach to Sault Ste Marie without significant disruption to highway traffic. They assure than a lane in each direction will remain open at all times, and that no detour through the communities along Hwy 17B will be required.
Further to our query, the MTO states:
“Our government understands how important northern highways, roads, and bridges are to the people and businesses of northern Ontario -- which is why, we are investing over $616 million in highways in the north to improve road safety and unlock economic opportunities. We are building a safer and more reliable transportation system to keep goods moving, and better connect communities across the province.”
Late December, 2024, saw Garden River First Nation Director of Capital, Andrew Mallette, issue a Request for Proposal concerning significant repair and rehabilitation on the section of Highway 17A that runs through the community. The section, between the Highway 17A/17B/Trunk Road Intersection to 0.7 km west of Ontario Highway 638, is a significant approach artery for Sault Ste. Marie and surrounding area.
Image from the GRFN request for proposal, showing scope of project.
According to the RFP, planned work includes “rehabilitation of the Highway 17 pavement structure, remediation of 33 Pavement Distress Areas (PDA), replacement of 26 culverts, electrical upgrades, new overhead signs, and the removal of invasive Phragmites along the highway corridor.”
Phragmites, also known as European Common Reed, are a fast-spreading and aggressively competing invasive plant causing serious wetland degradation along Ontario’s highways.
Special Reports
Over the past month, Shore Report published a number of special editions for subscribers. We republish them here. Make sure you don’t miss a report from now on. Become a paid subscriber today.
Sault Ste Marie to Get New CBC Bureau
Revenue from Google agreement spurs local investment
Data from the Local News Research Project showing massive decline in local news since 2008.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has announced its intention to open new local bureaus and/or hire travelling journalists in twenty-two underserved areas of the country, with a particular focus on Western Canada. As the sole northern Ontarian addition, a new CBC Bureau is to open in Sault Ste Marie “to cover the city and surrounding area, working in collaboration with [the CBC] station in Sudbury.”
Local journalism in Canada has been in decline as private media companies consolidate in larger centers and cut their budgets for news gathering, hobbled by the wholesale loss of advertising dollars to online platforms. According to the crowd-sourced Local News Research Project (LNRP), the recession caused by the financial crisis of 2008 was “a turning point for many previously profitable local news organizations.” The LNRP reports that “between 2008 and December 3, 2024, 526 local news outlets closed in 347 communities across Canada.”
The CBC budget has been mostly static for decades (and so, declining in real dollar value), with recent relatively small increases notably not going to expanded local service. But an injection of new money from Google’s agreed regulation under the Online News Act has the national broadcaster reinvesting. The Government of Canada and Google came to an agreement last fall that will see at least $100 million paid by the American search giant to support the Canadian media it displays in in its search results. That usage was previously made for free, even as Google siphoned advertising revenue away for media and onto search. CBC expects a 7% share of the Google payment, to be split equally between French and English services.
As noted on CBC’s Editor’s Blog “there are more than 30 towns and cities in Canada with populations greater than 50,000 that have no CBC presence.” CBC’s investment of the Google money will address much, though by no means all, of that deficit.
Shore Report will continue to follow this story, and looks forward to new colleagues on the North Shore.
Huron Shores Residents Speak Out About Bridge Closure
Public Council meeting hears from resident delegation – a Shore Report video extra
It’s been quite the beginning of the new year in the Municipality of Huron Shores. This past month saw the resignations of Ward 1 Councillor, Roger Mulligan, and Mayor Matthew Seabrook. Reasons for the resignations have not been formally released, but both elected officials have been thanked by municipal staff.
The North Shore Sentinel has reported that Mayor Seabrook felt a conflict between his position as spokesman for Council, and his perceived mandate for change. With his own Council vote regularly in the minority, Seabrook apparently felt he was not meeting the mandate given to him by voters.
These sudden changes on Municipal Council follow the surprise closing of the 117-year-old Dean Lake Road bridge, which spans the Mississagi River east of Iron Bridge, and provides convenient highway access for approximately 130 local residents south of the river.
A regular and special meeting of Huron Shores Council was held in Iron Bridge the evening of Wednesday, January 15, 2025, and that meeting drew approximately 70 local residents wanting to hear more about the bridge closure. In the Mayor’s absence, Ward 2 Councillor , Peter Falk, chaired the meeting. Shore Report attended the meeting, and took in the presentations from two local residents, BreighAnn Fairburn and Mary Johnson.
North Shore Succeeds in HART Hub Lottery
Two drug and homelessness recovery centers to open as soon as possible
Sault Ste Marie Mayor, Matthew Shoemaker at HART Hub announcement — image courtesy the mayor’s Facebook page.
December’s Shore Report covered Sault Ste Marie Mayor, Matthew Shoemaker’s campaign to land one of 18 new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs following on the provincial government’s announced closure of certain supervised drug consumption sites designed to mitigate the dangers of the opioid and street drugs crisis.
Sault MPP Ross Romano announced Monday, January 27th that recovery Hubs would be coming to downtown Sault Ste Marie and a series of satellite locations serving North Shore First Nation communities.
Upwards of $6 million has been earmarked to create Sault Ste Marie’s Hub from existing facilities. The Community Resource Centre will operate in the city, while Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Services will cover the shore, utilizing and linking existing facilities and creating new ones where required. The Hart Hubs initiative is part of the province’s larger Roadmap to Wellness Addictions Recovery Fund that plans to spend hundreds of millions in coming years to address the ongoing addictions crisis.
Ontario opioid mortality stats courtesy Public Health Ontario.
As noted in our earlier report, Sault Ste Marie currently has the province’s highest mortality rate for opioid toxicity. And while news of the HART Hubs is being welcomed by the municipal governments receiving them, not everyone agrees with the change in approach to the drug addiction crisis.
A Toronto social services agency, The Neighbourhood Group, has launched a legal challenge to the Ford government’s legislation (introduced last year) banning supervised drug consumption sites located near schools and daycare centers in communities throughout the province. Hart Hubs will not provide safe consumption services for addicts, a fact many believe will cause an increase in public exposure to drug consumption.
The closing of these existing sites has been heavily criticized by those on the frontlines. A recent Canadian Press story quotes Toronto doctor Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi, lead author for a study by St. Michael’s Hospital’s MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions.
“It'll likely mean more unsupervised drug use, so more overdoses," said Dr. Bayoumi.
According to coroner statistics gathered by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN), there were 254 “suspect drug-related deaths” in the province in September 2024 alone, and 850 in the three months prior. These numbers represent “a 91% increase from the same time period five years ago (June 2019 – September 2019).”
Recent media reports indicate the Ford government has hired private investigators to gather evidence concerning the consumption sites in order to prepare their defence in the Neighbourhood Group lawsuit. In a current television commercial, Premier Doug Ford appears to be doing some early election campaigning on the promise of closing safe consumption sites, and switching to the treatment model exemplified by HART Hubs.
The Candidates Speak
Jamie West, NDP, Sudbury
Sudbury candidate, Jamie West. image courtesy Jamie West’s Facebook.
One senses that Sudbury MPP Jamie West is perfectly happy to do a bit of door knocking early on a Saturday, even in sub-zero temperatures, especially if it means he gets a chance to chat with constituents and hear what they’re looking for.
First elected to his post in 2018, West sits in the provincial legislature for the official opposition New Democratic Party as the Critic for Labour, Training and Skills Development. Given his work background in mining, construction and workplace safety, and his education from both Cambrian College and Laurentian University, he seems well-placed for the job.
Shore Report borrowed Jamie West away from his canvassing for a few minutes this weekend, as he warmed up in his car with a coffee.
Sudbury riding image courtesy Elections Ontario.
Shore Report:
What do you see as the most important issue right now for your constituents in Sudbury, and in Northern Ontario more broadly?
Jamie West:
I would say number one — and this was the same in 2022 — is affordability. People are just feeling like they can’t afford to make ends meet. For the last eight years, in fact, more people who are working are going to food banks. And even people who are a bit more affluent, they’ll talk to me and say it’s tight for them but they don’t know how their neighbours do it.
Shore Report:
Is housing a part of the problem?
Jamie West:
Yeah, the top things I hear from people… number one is making ends meet, and the second one is housing. Basically, people feel like the majority of their income goes toward paying rent. And younger people don’t see owning a house as even a possibility in the future. That idea of being able to rent, and save towards a down payment for a house, is simply impossible now. There’s no such thing as a starter house anymore.
Shore Report:
Is this election even necessary? How do you feel about the election call itself?
Jamie West:
I’ll be honest; I’m frustrated.
Doug Ford has a massive majority from 2022. He keeps saying he needs a mandate to deal with Donald Trump. But the reality is all parties — Liberals, Greens, New Democrats — we’ve all said let’s work together; let’s get back to work right now to figure out how we can protect Ontario’s jobs. Even if the parties didn’t agree, Ford could just force through legislation.
If you’ve been following the news politically, Ford’s been fishing for a reason to call an election since last spring. He’s desperate to have his election before Trudeau, because he’s been blaming Justin Trudeau for our issues with health care and our issues with schools. Everything that’s actually a provincial responsibility has now become a federal problem. Finally, he decided to hitch his pony to Donald Trump.
But I don’t think Donald Trump knows who Doug Ford is, and I don’t think he cares who he is.
He talks about needing a mandate. Look, there’s that luxury spa they’re building at Ontario Place that’s going to cost every household four-hundred bucks. Nobody asked for that. There was no mandate for that in the last election. It’s just his pet project.
I’ve been hearing this at the doors from people. They say, you know, we’re spending almost $200 million for an election we don’t need, at a time when we should be sitting around the table figuring out how to protect people’s jobs. Doug Ford has essentially resigned from his job for the thirty days of the election, and that means we can’t do any work until the election ends. Trump has talked about imposing tariffs on Tuesday? We’re going to be sitting on our hands for a month, instead of working together on this.
The silver lining is hopefully Doug Ford loses, and we form the new government.
Shore Report:
Speaking of pet projects… how do you feel about the massive disparity between spending on highways in Southern Ontario compared to the north?
Jamie West:
It’s a very frustrating experience. An independent report says the Bradford Bypass is going to save about seven minutes, but it’s going to cost a tonne of money. I don’t represent that area; I’m not arguing against or for it. But I do drive up and down Hwy 69. I’ve gone to funerals of people who have died in crashes where those sixty-eight kilometers have not been completed.
Every election, they promise they’re going to do it. In 2018, when I was first elected, they promised they were going to do it. Not an inch. If you saw any construction, that was just the end of the contracts that were in place before the Conservatives were elected.
In 2022, we’re gonna get it done again. Not an inch!
And then coincidentally just before this election there was some sort of an announcement. I’ve told the Premier, you know, I know a guy with a bulldozer; I’ll take the photo myself if you get it done. But this idea of dangling a carrot in front of people during an election, and making no movement, is really frustrating.
Shore Report:
You’re a Laurentian grad. How do you feel about the way the government is handling that financial crisis?
Jamie West:
It’s been a mess from day one.
I grew up in the Donovan — if you know Sudbury, it’s like a working-class area — and so I know I wouldn’t have been able to go to post-secondary if it wasn’t in Sudbury. So, I try to do everything I can to make sure Laurentian is successful.
I have to say, the Conservatives were asleep at the switch when the CCAA (Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act) process started. And, you know, we’re down to the wire. People don’t know what the future is for Laurentian University.
I don’t know if they don’t understand specifically how important and how different post-secondary education is in Northern Ontario, and the access it provides to people in the north, but if you want to ensure that people are able to get those jobs in the future, you really have to incubate and protect these universities.
Ontario has the lowest provincial funding of all the provinces and territories. We rely heavily on international students to subsidize what the province fails to pay for. And all of these institutions are on the brink. If you want our kids to be successful, you have to fund these properly.
Shore Report:
What issues have we missed?
Jamie West:
Elementary and secondary education funding. Depending on where you live, funding (if you tie it to inflation) has been cut by about $1,000 to $1,500 per student. Which is outrageous. We should be making record investments so we can ensure the success of our students.
And the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) — they would like to double the number of students they have. You know how difficult it is to get doctors in Northern Ontario, and NOSM’s been excellent at that. But they can’t get the province to commit to long-term funding.
If you want to attract somebody who’s in family medicine to come to Northern Ontario and teach people to become family medicine doctors, and you say we can only really commit to three years of funding… that person’s not going to move their family to Northern Ontario. They need to know it’s going to be a long-term commitment.
I don’t see that Doug Ford sees that as a priority. The priority for this government has always been whatever is best for Doug Ford and his wealthy investors. Regular folks are left behind.
Serving Nickel Belt… One Way or Another
Greater Sudbury Councillor Natalie Labbee Gets Liberal Tap on the Shoulder
At nine-years old, Natalie Labbee sang door-to-door to raise money for a new arena in Blind River, which eventually resulted in an invitation to visit the Town Council chamber. She was immediately impressed by the feeling of important business emanating from the room, but one detail was slightly off.
“What I noticed,” she says, pointedly “… ONE woman around the table.”
The experience sparked a career in community service that has seen Labbee work all over Northern Ontario, from helping a northern arts festival off the ground, making sure the highway through Manitouwadge was properly repaired, more fundraising and grant-writing than she can fully recall, and eventually landing in her current seat as Ward 7 Councillor at Greater Sudbury City Council. Labbee has now been tapped by Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie to run for Nickel Belt.
In addition to her public service, Labbee has a background as an educator in the school system, and currently works as Assistant Manager at a Seniors Active Living Centre. Her affinity for taking care of people shows in the committee and board work she does through Council, with seats on the Community & Emergency Services Committee, the Older Adult Advisory Panel, the Youth Advisory Panel, and the Board of Health for Public Health. She is also the Chair of the Greater Sudbury Housing Corporation.
Nickel Belt riding image courtesy Elections Ontario.
Shore Report caught up with Labbee late one evening after what must be her standard very-busy day. Given her packed schedule and clear dedication to her Ward, we wondered why she would add to her workload by jumping into the provincial election at this time. Turns out it was as much a case of being pulled into it as jumping.
Ward residents will likely recall that Labbee won Ward 7 in a contest against local Progressive Conservative Randy Hazlett (running again this election). Hazlett entered that municipal election directly after a strong campaign running second to the NDP in the provincial election of 2022, pushing Liberal candidate Gilles Proulx into a distant third. The Liberal Party took note that Labbee rather handily defeated the man who had just defeated their man, and perhaps penciled her in for the expected 2026 provincial vote.
“It’s funny,” Labbee says, “because I told the folks who contacted me if someone like Bonnie Crombie would throw their name in as leader… and I had no idea at the time she was even considering it.”
After her successful leadership bid, Bonnie Crombie travelled up to Greater Sudbury and Labbee drove her around, highlighting local issues. As a former municipal executive (Crombie was previously Mayor of Mississauga), the Liberal leader was impressed by Labbee’s local experience and knowledge. It helped as well that Greater Sudbury and Mississauga had similar experiences during the Mike Harris amalgamations a quarter century ago, picking up a heavy tally of roads on their levies and struggling to answer sudden new demand on the budgets. Labbee and Crombie spoke the same language of municipal challenge.
“I said to Bonnie Crombie,” Labbee reveals, “if you get in as Premier, let’s work together to find a middle area [on de-amalgamation]… and at that point I wasn’t even considering moving on from Council.”
Labbee is, in fact, not moving on — at the moment. Given the tight timeline on this election, and her ongoing dedication to Greater Sudbury, Labbee will continue to work for Ward 7 even as she campaigns to take the Nickel Belt seat in Queen’s Park.
“You know, if the voters decide on February 27th that they’d rather keep me as their Councillor, I’m not going to be disappointed. I’m winning either way, and so are the people of Nickel Belt.”
The Nickel Belt riding is held by longtime NDP MPP France Gélinas, who is again running for re-election. Labbee is quick to note that while she intends to win the riding, she has nothing but respect for Gélinas herself.
“It’s important to say, the current MPP is a phenomenal woman,” Labbee insists. “I can’t say anything bad about her; but voting NDP for 47 years has not served Nickel Belt well. She has, but the party hasn’t.”
Natalie Labbee, image courtesy Greater Sudbury City Council.
Given Labbee’s work in senior care, it is perhaps not surprising the priority items for her campaign include improving the well-being of the riding’s seniors. She would like to see Old Age Security payments increased, stop the privatization of long-term care ramped up under the Ford government, and introduce a rent subsidy program for elders.
“I work with seniors. I know there are a lot of folks right now forced to choose between keeping a roof over their head and having only one meal a day.”
The current crisis in Northern Ontario health services pre-occupies her as well, as does falling real-dollar investment in education, and the rise of renovictions in northern communities.
Sixth Time's the Charm
Nickel Belt's NDP MPP looks to add to her 17-year run
Nickel Belt MPP, and NDP candidate, France Gélinas. Image courtesy the Gélinas campaign.
The sitting MPP for Nickel Belt, France Gélinas, is actually standing when she arrives on the Zoom screen for our interview. In fact, she’s walking. The five-time winner of the North Shore’s most populous riding clearly knows how to multi-task, especially during a surprise election campaign.
Gélinas was first elected to Queen’s Park in 2007, wrestling the riding from the Liberals, who held power at the time under Premier Dalton McGuinty. She is used to being on the opposition benches, fighting for her constituents, and focusing on what is doable for the people of Nickel Belt. When asked what she is most proud of over her 17 years, she begins immediately talking about people and not politics.
“During the Covid years, we had husbands and wives separated in long term-care lockdowns”, she says. “The pandemic was such a crisis for long-term care, and we have had to do so much work to repair that damage. I’m proud we were able to reunite many who were separated.”
Senior care, and healthcare services in general, are top of mind for Gélinas in this campaign. She is frustrated and clearly angry with the priorities of the Ford government on these issues which, in her opinion, boil down to a relentless drive toward privatizing medical service. The strategy of privatizers, she outlines, is to intentionally underfund a system that would otherwise function very well. Starved of funds, the public system degrades to a point where people see only a service that is not working for them, and they are then much more amenable to private service delivery.
“There is a lot of money to be made off the backs of sick people. This government knows that, and their priority is to deliver for investors, not the people of Ontario.”
For northerners, the issues of healthcare access and roads are inextricably linked. Gélinas points to Hwy 144 between Lively and Timmins, which bisects the riding and is almost entirely contained by Nickel Belt. That isolated two-laner is an absolutely essential corridor for rural residents trying to access healthcare services and appointments in either Sudbury or Timmins. Any disruption or shutdown to traffic on 144 means missed treatments. In cases of dialysis or chemotherapy, such delays can be life-threatening.
Hwy 144 (in yellow) bisects most of the Nickel Belt riding. Image courtesy Elections Ontario.
“Again, we’re talking about privatization,” Gélinas says.
With privatized snow clearing there is now often a distinct demarcation line on 144 where one contractor has cleared the road, but the next contractor along has decided there is not enough coverage to start clearing.
“I have sent photos to every Minister of Transportation I’ve worked with, saying look… one way clear, the other way covered. We need to go back to a public system where the priority is clean and safe roads at all times, not profiting from a contract.”
A roadway in the southernmost part of the riding is also on voters’ minds these days. Gélinas says she’s been hearing a lot on the doorstep about the province’s plans for transporting 34,000 tonnes of radioactive niobium waste along Hwy 17 to the Agnew Lake Tailings Management Area (ALTMA) northwest of Nairn Center. Residents are upset at the lack of consultation and information from government, and they don’t trust that the project is well and truly being reassessed. The radioactive waste product is intended partially to act as a cap on the degraded ALTMA tailings cap, which has apparently sprung a few hotspots in recent years. Gélinas attended a public meeting about the project back in September with several other regional politicians.
Agnew Lake, northwest of Nairn Centre. Image courtesy Tom Tom Earthstar Graphics, 2024
“We had experienced mining people speak out about the plan,” she says. “It’s a very dangerous idea that could see radioactivity leak into the ground water. The lack of transparency is frightening, and I’m afraid the government is just waiting for people to take their eyes off the project, and then they will start it up again.”
More than anything else, though, Gélinas is hearing from voters that they just don’t want to be voting right now.
“This election is absolutely not necessary. Voters are very frustrated. They want to know what we’re going to do about the threat of tariffs and the effect on the economy, and instead the Premier is off the job while he campaigns. Why are we spending nearly $200 million on an election at this time?”
Fixing the Present. Looking to the Future.
Former Grand Chief, Reg Niganobe, wants Algoma-Manitoulin on the front bench at Queen's Park
Reg Niganobe talks with Shore Report about infrastructure investment.
Minutes before sitting down to chat with Algoma-Manitoulin Liberal candidate, Reg Niganobe, came the announcement that the Manitoulin Island all-candidates meeting was cancelled due to a storm watch. Welcome to politics on the North Shore.
Reg Niganobe was the Algoma-Manitoulin candidate since before there was even an election call. Image courtesy Ontario Liberals.
But, in fact, no introduction to local conditions is necessary for Niganobe, as his experience in public office is long and at the highest of levels. Niganobe has previously served as both Chief of Mississauga First Nation and Grand Chief of the Anishinabek Nation. It’s a history he feels prepares him well for the challenges of representing this huge riding at Queen’s Park.
“My educational background, too,” he says. “Public policy and governance. So, I have a good understanding of what it takes to not only create legislation, but to pass it.”
And Niganobe is unhesitant to predict he and the Bonnie Crombie Liberals will be doing just that.
“I don’t intend to be sitting on the back bench or in the shadows for the government I’ll help form. I intend to be right up front, making sure Algoma-Manitoulin is right there front and centre.”
As a lifetime resident of Algoma-Manitoulin, Niganobe sees this election through a complex of issues, though one concern certainly rises to the top of the list. As we’ve heard from a number of candidates, access to healthcare services is the subject that comes up most often on the doorstep.
“Over 40,000 people in Algoma-Manitoulin without a family doctor?” Niganobe shakes his head. “That’s absolutely insane. Not only that, but emergency rooms closing… whole hospitals closing? That can’t be the norm. That can’t be allowed.”
The Liberals are focused on the family doctor issue.
Provincial prioritizing of highway and infrastructure maintenance and repair has also found a place in Niganobe’s platform, as it has for his party leader.
“Bonnie Crombie has committed to making the highways here in Northern Ontario Class One, where after a certain amount of time they’re taken care of right away instead of the long delay.”
But Niganobe also wants voters to think about the future of the north. What’s the potential for Algoma-Manitoulin in the coming years? He’s excited for what we can build here on the North Shore.
“As you know, we have a lot of resources here in the north,” he says. “We have a lot of beautiful country. Manitoulin has taken up a lot of tourism, and done very well at it, by the way. They’ve grown that industry quite a bit over the past couple of years, and it would be good to be able to continue to support them in that way. There is a general need for that support but, unfortunately, we have a current government right now that is very oppositional and stand-offish.”
No doubt, Niganobe will be campaigning with Bonnie Crombie when she’s back in the north for the Northern Leaders Debate (February 14 in North Bay), and hopefully the voters of Algoma-Manitoulin will be given another opportunity for an all-candidate meeting.