During Question Period this morning, Gilles Bisson called on the Liberals to show the same interest in the mining industry as the government did with the auto industry. Bisson says Dalton McGuinty was right to act quickly with auto sector communities but the same must happen with resource-based communities.

“Why is it that the Premier, yourself and your government are not equally as interested in what is happening with the closure of the refinery in Timmins by Xstrata?”

Bisson says the Liberals are only focusing on what to do after the refinery closes. “We don’t want to get into that debate. That is a refinery that is important to the economy of Ontario, and what we’re asking from you, in the north, is that you treat northern Ontario no differently than we treated Windsor, Oshawa and other communities that were in peril about a year-and-a-half ago.”

Bisson told the government that they need to put as much importance on saving resource-based communities as they did with manufacturing in the south.

“So I ask you again: What is your Premier and what are you prepared to do as the government of Ontario to engage in discussions with Xstrata to make sure that the facility does not close down?”