Ontario’s mining industry got a good look at the province’s new mines minister during the first Ontario Mining Week and apparently liked what it saw. Gilles Pouliot charmed his audience at a reception sponsored by the Ontario Mining Association with his sense of humor and grasp of issues just two weeks after taking on his ministerial duties.
Pouliot said his background in the northern Ontario mining community of Manitouwadge made him well aware of mining’s contribution to Ontarians’ way of life. He also recognized the importance of the $8 billion mining contributes annually to the national economy.
“Sometimes I feel I am also carrying the duties of the revenue minister,” he said, referring to the $150 million the province collects directly through its mining tax. “In fact, when I see Treasurer Floyd Laughren and say `How are you, Floyd,’ he says to me `more important, Gilles, how are you?’ ”
Pouliot also tried to alleviate any fears that Ontario’s new “social democratic” government would nationalize mining operations in the province while poking fun at his party’s socialist traditions. The NDP government would never nationalize Sudbury’s nickel mines or the Hemlo goldfields because they make profits, he said, and no true socialist would willingly be associated with a profitable enterprise.
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