Pardon my language, but how many damn parks does northern Manitoba need?
In recent years, folks connected to mining and mineral exploration have spoken of the NDP government’s fanatical need to “protect” huge tracts of northern land from the scourge of mineral activity.
You know, the scourge that generates thousands of jobs in our region. That allows people to live in great places such as Flin Flon. That helps the provincial government fund all kinds of vote-grabbing goodies down south.
I have been across much of northern Manitoba in my time. If there’s one thing I noticed, it is the perpetual presence of undisturbed wilderness and lakes.
Indeed, such a miniscule portion of this region has been bothered by human activity that I’m confident in saying it amounts to pinheads on a football field.
But that isn’t good enough for the NDP, and that worries Stephen Masson, president of the Manitoba-Saskatchewan Prospectors and Devel-opers Association.
In a published statement, Masson says the province has already gone too far in barring exploration in the North.
He says the province now wants to restrict exploration and mining on 50 per cent of the land this region.
Mines Minister Dave Chomiak denies the figure will be 50 per cent and adds that even when land is declared a protected zone, it is not necessarily off limits to prospectors.
Still, Chomiak confirms the government is indeed looking to protect more land. One project on the books is the proposed Polar Bear Park.
Designed to safeguard polar bears in Churchill, this park appears to be a worthy goal with an important environmental rationale. If it is indeed necessary to shelter these animals, then I’m all for it.
But with a reported 25 per cent of northern Manitoba already “protected” – and again, Chomiak says not all of that land is necessarily exploration-free – there seems little rationale for further, more frivolous parkland expansion.
I’m willing to allow that his government has done a lot for mining over the years, from exploration subsidies to training initiatives.
The NDP even angered its own environmental and Aboriginal base by letting Hudbay operate the much-needed Reed Mine within Grass River Provincial Park.
Still, Masson is hardly the only person involved in exploration who is fearful of the province’s thirst for leaving big chunks of wilderness just the way they are.
And that makes me think that despite Chomiak’s reassuring words on the subject, things aren’t quite as mining-friendly in northern Manitoba as we are led to believe.
Most northern Manitobans are not the “mine at all costs” type of people. We want the environment suitably guarded and our wilderness-oriented lifestyle to flourish for generations to come.
But we’re also a region that needs more jobs. The only realistic way we’re going to create a lot of new jobs is through the resource sector. With apologies to arts, culture and tourism, those niche sectors are no match for the economic possibilities of mining.
Pardon my language, but how many damn parks does northern Manitoba need?
Local Angle is published on Fridays.
