A new method of funding northern development and mining has been put forward by Brian Pallister and the Progressive Conservative (PC) party.
In a visit to Flin Flon and a speech to the Flin Flon Rotary Club August 22, the leader of the PCs said if elected, the party would institute a new proposal currently called the Manitoba Mineral Development Fund, promising $20 million of investment into the fund if elected.
Pallister said the new fund would replace the existing Mining Community Reserve Fund (MCRF), and have similar goals.
“As it has been in the past, it's to assist communities in the struggle to adjust as there is a problem with the mine in the area, that type of thing,” he said.
“There will be no need for it to exist, once we revamp it and move it into a better operation where it’s sustainable. That’s the key, to make sure that it’s sustainable.”
Under current rules for the MCRF, funding can only be dispersed if the overall balance for the fund is over $10 million. According to the Manitoba NDP, a freedom of information request earlier this year showed that the fund is over that mark, but dispersals through the fund have not been approved.
“The fund was allowed to deplete below the allowable levels for doing dispersals. This is to beef it back up so that it can be used.”
When asked where the $20 million in funding for the new program would come from, Pallister said the model for funding would come from party leaders and the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce (MCC). Money through the proposed fund would be distributed similarly to the principles of the existing MCRF, for communities and community projects as well as northern mining and exploration.
“We’re committed to injecting a $20 million base to ensure there are funds there. I’m not sure, dollars and cents, exactly where the base was. I know it went below $10 million, and that was why, by law, it couldn’t be dispersed. You couldn’t disperse money from it, because you would deplete it.”
Pallister said the MCC would be involved in coordinating the release of funds to successful applicants, arguing funding priorities would be better determined by business than provincial politicians.
“We get the politicians’ hands off it, which I think is a better way to do it,” he said.
“It’s exciting. We’ve got high unemployment in the north and in many areas and having opportunities for new jobs, new work here. This is really my focus.”
Pallister also voiced support for the party’s ongoing tourism initiatives, while arguing the opposition NDP would increase taxes and follow through with federally mandated carbon taxation.
With Hudbay’s 777 mine, mill and zinc plant currently slated to go into care and maintenance in 2022, Pallister said his party had a plan to assist the province’s flagging mining industry.
“If you’ve covered the mining industry for any length of time, you knew that was coming a decade ago. It’s not a new thing. What is new about our strategy is that there’s a strategy. There hasn’t been. There is good news in other parts of the region, we’ve got intentions expressed already. I won’t get into that, I’ll let the companies do that, but let’s say there are opportunities that are emerging here already.”
