The Speech from the Throne delivered in Ontario’s legislature last year announced the creation of a Premier’s Council charged with a mandate to “steer Ontario into the forefront of economic leadership and technological innovation.” No idle words, the statement came backed with a commitment to spend an impressive $1 billion over a 10-year period; a portion of which will back several Centres of Excellence. Such centres will be established as world-class research bases designed to develop and transfer new technology to industry. This year, five to six such centres will be funded at a rate of $3-$5 million each for an initial 5-year period.
A Centre of Excellence then, devoted to the province’s mining indu stry would be most timely and logical. Such a proposal for the establishment of a centre is being prepared by a consortium of Ontario universities with established mining and geology departments. Queen’s University, the University of Western Ontario, McMaster University and the University of Toronto have formed the Ontario Mineral Exploration Research Consortium. Their arguments for creating a mineral exploration centre are impressive.
More than 20% of Ontario’s gross provincial product can be attribute d to mining and its downstream industries. More than 200,000 people are employed in mining, generating in excess of a billion dollars in wages and salaries — wages which are a healthy source of income tax.
This principal industry in Ontario’s economic engine must be a beneficiary of the new technology fund. With financial support for research, the provincial government will not only be making a vital investment in Ontario, but will also be ensuring the long- term viability of a key and dynamic Canadian industry.
The Ontario Mineral Exploration Research Consortium represents some of the finest research scientists in the world. Working together with the mining industry, this consortium should be supported by the provincial government’s proposed technology program.
The benefits of their future research will accrue not only to Ontari o, but to the nation as well.
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