Mr. Speaker, Timmins—James Bay is home to some of the richest gold, copper and diamond mines in the world, and now with the ring of fire, we are blessed with an enormous potential for chromite. Our hopes for the ring of fire are tempered with the long-term plans for how this resource will be developed.
We saw the Conservative government completely abandon mining communities when it gave the thumbs up to Vale and Xstrata. The result was the shutdown of the smelter in Timmins and wars waged against the communities of Voisey's Bay, Sudbury and Thompson.
On the ring of fire, northerners are speaking with one voice. We do not want the ore shipped to other jurisdictions or to China. We want the ring of fire processed in northern Ontario. We want the full benefit for our communities, for natives and non-natives. We want to see if the ring of fire can develop our rail lines and provide long-term economic stability.
We are calling on the government to develop a plan. The New Democrats say that northern Ontario should be able to benefit fully from the ring of fire.