GUEST COLUMN — Will the new senate use its natural resource

The natural resource sector — mining, forestry, energy, farming, fishing and trapping — has fuelled the Canadian economy from day one. These industries and the communities dependent on them have gradually watched their future disappear as political power diminished in favor of the industrialized southern Canadian economy. Virtually abandoned by the federal government, Northern Ontario, for example, lacks even a single federal cabinet minister.

Well, the mining industry should take note — the latest “Triple-E” Senate proposal, approved by all provinces in Ottawa recently, provides a real opportunity to reverse this alarming trend significantly.

Under the new proposal, each province gets six seats and each territory receives one seat. Most importantly, this new body will have an absolute veto with a 50%-plus-one majority in only one area — natural resource taxation. While the extent of the application of this veto is sketchy at present, think of how different this would be from the current situation. Instead of lobbying lame-duck mines ministers, mining-dependent regions would have a realistic shot at either modifying or killing detrimental legislation, if the Senators are answerable to the country’s natural resource regions. But that is a big if. There is one large stumbling block and it lies in the way Senators are elected. The current proposal allows provinces to decide the election process independently. Representation by population, as in the House of Commons, election by a vote in the provincial legislatures and representation by region have all been suggested by one party or another. If this is going to be effective for resource-dependent regions, regional representation must be the chosen alternative. The logic for this, in the case of Ontario, goes like this: if Prince Edward Island is entitled to equal representation with Ontario, then Northern Ontario should have equal representation to southern Ontario. Despite being part of the same province, we are at least as different from the south as the East Coast is to Central Canada. As a region equal in population or geographic size to four provinces/territories, the numbers game also suggests this is not unreasonable.

Simply put, three of Ontario’s seats should come from the North. The same applies to other provinces such as Quebec and British Columbia where there are significant regional differences based on natural resources. Is this really a significant opportunity? You bet. Imagine the result if the Save the Flow-Through campaign had been able to target locally elected Senators whose re-election was tied directly to their vote on this subject. Chances are we would have some form of workable tax-based program to encourage investment in place today, and a lot of our friends and associates would still be logging drill core instead of driving taxis. Moreover, the original flow through would probably have benefited from more thorough review by industry prior to implementation. Even on legislation outside the 50%-plus-one veto, the accountability of these northern Senators will significantly enhance our ability to influence lawmaking in Ottawa. If there was ever a time for the mining industry to become vocal, surely this must be it. Aimed at ensuring equal representation, the Save Our North campaign will be seeking support from communities across Northern Ontario. It is our hope similar efforts will be made by industry groups in other provinces as well.

Thirty-one Senate votes. That’s what we need to finally bring a little sanity to a legislative process that is out of control. If the mining industry really gets behind this, we could make it happen.

— S.E. Parry is the chairman of Save Our North campaign operating out of Timmins, Ont.