Incumbent Flin Flon MLA Clarence Pettersen is sharing more of his re-election platform.
The Reminder invited Pettersen to identify a half-dozen campaign promises. Six pledges from each of the three major parties appeared in a piece published Wednesday.
If re-elected, Pettersen, an independent, says he would work to:
• Develop an all-weather road connecting Lynn Lake and Pukatawagan with Flin Flon. He says this would bring more commerce to Flin Flon and create easier access to potential new mines in the Greenstone Belt.
• Divide amongst all municipalities revenue from one percentage point of the PST. The municipalities could then use the money – $300 million a year in total – for their infrastructure needs.
• Implement two changes to the taxation system. Pettersen would remove the tax on mine concentrate that is shipped to Flin Flon to be refined. He would also remove the PST from major purchases by municipalities, such as trucks, backhoes, pipes and other new equipment, and expenses related to municipal infrastructure projects.
• Build more seniors’ housing throughout the constituency in addition to the new unit to be built at 4 Hemlock Drive
in Flin Flon.
• Use the province’s Mining Community Reserve Fund to extend the life of mining communities in the constituency. This could include projects such as arts and educational facilities, and investments related to business. Pettersen also gives the example of cleaning up the Flin Flon tailings pond now in order to create jobs and refine the tailings, extracting valuable metals within them.
• Establish educational facilities in Leaf Rapids that are similar to those in Cranberry Portage. Pettersen says this would allow more northern reserves and northerners to benefit from education and training. He would also take advantage of the long air strip at Lynn Lake to act as a northern hub from which people could fly in and out to mining camps and communities that lack road access.
