My next question is also to the Premier. Earlier this year, Timmins residents were shocked to learn that their community would be losing hundreds of good-paying jobs. Despite being profitable, Xstrata announced it would close its Kidd Creek copper and zinc smelter and refinery. The smelter is the most modern in Canada, but next month Xstrata is going to be moving production, and those good jobs, to Quebec. What does this say about the Premier’s plan to create jobs and prosperity in the north?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: This is a very unfortunate development for Timmins. I’ve had the opportunity, together with a representative of my honourable colleague’s caucus, to meet on two occasions on this particular issue, including one where we brought the two sides together to see if there might be any basis for a change of heart on the part of the investor here. There was not.

We are now working with the city of Timmins. I am pleased to report that just recently, we provided $225,000 to pay for a feasibility study of the smelter site located there, to explore ways to continue to support jobs and activity and see if there’s anything at all that is possible in terms of what we might use that particular facility for. So we will continue to find ways to work with the people of Timmins, notwithstanding this difficult circumstance.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: We’re joined today by some of the workers affected by Xstrata’s closure. They’re part of a broad coalition that includes municipal leaders, small business owners and organized labour. The coalition wants the Premier to intervene and ensure that resources extracted from Ontario are used to create jobs and prosperity in Ontario. Will the Premier join the fight to save these good northern jobs, or will he shrug his shoulders and effectively say, “Too bad, so sad,” to the people of Timmins and the surrounding region?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: I want to assure my honourable colleague and the folks from Timmins who are here today that we have, in fact, given this particular option serious consideration. I’ll tell you why we can’t do it. There is no province in Canada that has a law banning the export of raw ore, and I’ll give you an example of why. Three quarters of the iron ore used in Ontario steel mills comes from outside Ontario. It comes from Labrador, Quebec, Michigan and Minnesota. There are 6,400 Dofasco jobs in Hamilton and 3,500 Essar jobs in Sault Ste Marie that rely on imported ore. There’s a tremendous amount of trade going back and forth when it comes to ore, and we cannot afford simply to pass a law saying we are not going to accept it.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Final supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: The Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador certainly has some lessons that he could probably teach this Premier, because you know what? Alarm bells have been going off for years and years in Ontario. When trees are cut down, too many of the logs—and the value-added jobs—are shipped out of Ontario, and now Xstrata says that it will gladly extract our resources while handing out pink slips to hundreds of our workers.

The Premier can sit idly as Ontario’s natural resources are shipped elsewhere for processing or he can stand up and ensure they are used here to create good local jobs and long-term prosperity in northern Ontario. Which is it going to be?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: We currently process in Ontario minerals mined in Quebec, BC, Manitoba, Newfoundland, the US, Peru, Chile and Australia. I want to quote CAW Local 599 President Dennis Couvrette. He said, “Mining companies in Ontario have always exchanged mineral resources between neighbouring provinces, in fact we continue to import metal concentrates from around the globe and transform them into pure metal in our smelter and refinery in Timmins.”

We cannot cut ourselves off from the rest of the world. To do so would be to compromise our economic strength and to eliminate so many jobs—thousands of jobs in other parts of the province. We cannot pursue the particular solution put forward by my honourable colleague