Ford highlights promise to speed up Ring of Fire approvals at stop in Thunder Bay

Ford pointed to the critical minerals mined in the Ring of Fire region as Ontario's "ace in the hole" in the face of possible tariffs from the U.S.

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford highlighted his promise to speed up project approvals in the mineral-rich Ring of Fire on Saturday as he visited northern Ontario on the last weekend of the provincial election campaign.

Speaking in Thunder Bay, Ford pointed to the critical minerals mined in the Ring of Fire region as Ontario’s “ace in the hole” in the face of possible tariffs from the U.S., an issue he has put front and centre throughout the snap campaign.

“To protect Ontario, to give us maximum leverage on the global stage, we have to get our critical minerals out of the ground, processed and shipped to the factory floors here in northern Ontario and across the province,” he said.

Ford has said that a re-elected Progressive Conservative government would push Ottawa to remove “unnecessary federal barriers and red tape” from major projects under provincial jurisdiction in order to “unlock the enormous economic potential” of the Ring of Fire.

He also promised Saturday to pour money into two programs aimed at boosting First Nations’ participation in projects in several sectors, including mining.

An additional $70 million will go to the Aboriginal Participation Fund, which would then be used to train First Nations workers so they can benefit directly from critical mineral development, he said.

The Progressive Conservative leader also announced $3 billion of new money toward a program meant to support First Nations equity participation, billed as a tripling of an existing loan guarantee program.

His government has made mining the Ring of Fire a key priority in an effort to build an end-to-end electric vehicle manufacturing chain in Ontario.