City-centric Development

One of the questionable decisions of the current Liberal government is the one to divest itself of Ontario Northland Transportation Commission.  On Mar 23rd of this year, Minister of Northern Development and Mines, Rick Bartolucci, announced that he had decided to get rid of the 110 year old agency due to an unsustainable business model.  One cannot argue that the funds required to keep the organization afloat had risen over the past decade, although not to the actual annual level stated by the government, but no one addressed the systemic decline caused by years of capital funding starvation and external decisions which reduced revenues.  Instead, the Liberal government threw in the towel and quit trying to rebuild the company, after some promising starts, like the Ontera capital infusion to build a fibre optic ring and the establishment of a rail refurbishment division.  The company suffered from a lack of marketing, both in rail opportunities and the provision of Rail Passenger service, and political interference inhibited the development of new products in both.
The intent is to breakup the infrastructure operated and maintained by this public agency, since it has been clearly stated the business will not be sold, just the assets.  That leads one to believe there is an underlying motive for this divestiture.  The North, both East and West, has been united in calling for a reversal of this decision,with industry, municipal governments, First Nations and unions joining in.  Yet Rick Bartolucci, having given no open consultation process, ignores every reasonable call to reconsider.  The government is basing their argument on the fact that Don Drummond supported the sale in a one line recommendation in his omnibus study of government spending.  Based on the time frame of that study and the scope of the recommendations, it is clear there was not an in-depth review of the economic benefit derived from the expenditure of those funds.  The study was a masquerade perpetrated on the Ontario taxpayer to justify huge cuts.  Only those ones deemed politically expedient though, as the one to abandon full-day kindergarten was ignored.
The political expediency of the ONTC decision was clear since it operated primarily in opposition held ridings and fit in to the overall direction of the government, as expressed in this report.

http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/investing/reports/rogenglish.pdf

Although this report contains some very good ideas, it's overall direction is to consolidate new development and provide incentives to bring the population into cities.  It is good policy in the GTA, where cities have already sprawled onto valuable farmland, but in the North and in rural areas, it places more stress on small communities already feeling the stress of outbound migration.  What is needed in the North and rural Ontario is effective economic development which can provide sustainable jobs so the youth of the region is not forced out in order to make a living.  Economic development requires a co-ordinated plan and effective public infrastructure.  This government is curtailing both, by design.