Big Announcement - No Substance

[Bones]

The Ontario government has announced it will protect an area of Northern Ontario boreal forest from all development except for tourism and traditional native use. This area has yet to be defined. It then goes on to say that areas of greatest resource potential will have to be considered. what a joke !!!

Province acts to preserve boreal forest;

Posted By JONATHAN JENKINS, SUN MEDIA

Posted 6 hours ago

Ontario declared an area the size of Great Britain off limits to all development except tourism and traditional native use Monday.

Where that area is, though, no one exactly knows.

Half of the massive northern boreal forest that covers Ontario from the northern limit of the Great Lakes to Hudson Bay -43 per cent of the province -will be protected during the next 10 to 15 years, Premier Dalton McGuinty said.

"It is in a word immense; it's also unique and precious," the premier said.

"It's unspoiled and undisturbed and if there's one thing we know for sure, it's not going to stay that way forever unless we do something," added McGuinty. "We're going to strike the right balance between conservation and development."

But the process of mapping out where the boundaries of the 225,000 square kilometres of protected zone will be will take years and require extensive talks with the 24,000 people who live in the area, may of them members of the Nishnawbi Aski Nation.

"It's a complicated process," McGuinty said.

"We need to map out endangered species habitat, carbon absorption areas and areas of greatest resource potential."

Part of the plan to preserve the northern boreal includes a long-awaited revamp of the province's archaic Mining Act, which has led to several bitter and high profile disputes -especially between native bands and mining companies.

McGuinty said his government firmly believes native communities have an effective veto over development on their land and the new mining act will reflect that. Legislation will be introduced in the next session and hopefully passed by the spring, he said.

Until then -and until the protected area is defined -no one will really know what the ground rules are in Ontario's north, critics charged.

[FishyWishy]

Wow that is great!!! (Sarcasm)

Ok I believe in protecting land, but really the land that he is protecting will probably be land that is not in danger of development anyways. He will choose land that is politically savvy for him to protect. Not actually land that is in need of protection or land that has special concerns.

What ever happened to protection of green belts/habitat etc in the south and central parts of the province? You know areas that are endangered, in danger of development and require protection.

This statement is just like Miller banning guns in Toronto.

[bigugli]

The premier is quite right! The land of Shangri-La is under the threat of urban and industrial rape. All means possible must be used to protect this utopian environment. To that end all taxpayers will soon receive their rose coloured glasses. The wearing of, which will be mandatory.

What a joke. More tax $$ going "flush". I can see the province using the proposed area as a way of stopping mines from using lakes as tailing pits.

Sorry, more wishful thinking.

[Dan Andrews]

2 things ran through my mind when I read this.

1: Are they actually trying to protect 2/3rds or are they trying to encourage development of the other third because up till now there hasn't been a whole lot of trying. Perhaps they're jealouse of Alberta profiting off the destruction of their province for oil.

2: If they're really interesting in protecting our environment in the North, why don't they scrap all their plans to dam up every river and stream for hydro.

Slick talking polititians and you know the ignorant who know nothing but the concrete jungle, "but have good intentions for the environment", will eat it up!