Ontario Chamber Vice President of Policy and Government Relations, Josh Hjartarson, leads a panel discussion about the Ring of Fire grading study.
Ontario Chamber Vice President of Policy and Government Relations, Josh Hjartarson, leads a panel discussion about the Ring of Fire grading study.

 

 

The marks are in…and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce is giving the development of the Ring of Fire over the last year a failing grade.

The Sudbury Chamber held a panel discussion last night to go over a mark system that saw some harsh criticism of the federal government giving them a “F” for not making the project a federal priority…the highest mark was a “B” minus.

One of the panelists, George Darling, who has managed a chromite deposit, says taking small steps is the only way to get the project going.

CEO of Noront Resources Paul Semple isn’t sure a grading system is needed at this point, saying nothing has been done, so there isn’t much to grade.

Ontario Chamber Vice President of Policy and Government Relations, Josh Hjartarson says they want to get people concerned the project has stalled.

The representatives from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce say the report card was to raise some awareness of the need to begin this project which if started now could bring the province 9.4 billion dollars in the first 10 years.

Long-term the Ring of Fire project could bring in over 25 billion dollars to the province, and create 55 hundred jobs annually.