A new province called Mantario?

JOHN IBBITSON has published an article in the Globe which harkens back to dreams of some North Western Ontarions that we might have our own province.

He asks: “has the time come to reverse the verdict of the Battle of Rat Portage?” He refers to the most recent issue of Canadian Public Policy magazine which contains an article by Livio Di Matteo and two other academics that explores the possibility of Northwestern Ontario [NWOnt} leaving Ontario.

The question was supposedly settled in the 1880s and the “ northwest has never been happy since” .See the articles on the Manitoba-Ontario Boundary Wars on my WEB PAGE, above.

In the article authors view economics, population, land mass and how to finance a new Province loom large as problems.

With 60 per cent of Ontario's land, a Great Lakes port and forest and mineral wealth, NWOnt is, in theory, a valuable catch. But a mere 235,000 people live there; the region accounts for only 2 per cent of the provincial population.

In his opinion, [shared by me] Ontario has always regarded its north as a colony, good for resource extraction and not much else. The people of the northwest (who refer to southern Ontario as "down east") rightly believe they have little influence at Queen's Park.

What are the possibilities? The first scenario involves switching provinces. NWOnt could join Manitoba, creating a new province that the authors christen "Mantario." This would be good for Manitoba, which would gain a population boost (with an average income higher than the current Manitoba average), lumber and mineral resources, and a major port. Northwesterners, in exchange, would enjoy much greater representation in the Manitoba legislature (11 out of 68 seats) than they currently claim at Queen's Park (three out of 103), with the capital closer both in real terms and in outlook. The irony of this is noted in that economically, it would be a wash. NWOnt would lose the extensive subsidies provided by the Ontario government, but it would be joining a have-not province, which would lead to an increase in federal equalization payments -- largely paid for, of course, by those southern Ontario taxpayers. The article authors contemplate the possibility of turning NWOnt Ontario into its own province. Such a province would be small, poor and utterly dependent on federal grants.

Mr Ibbitson suggests the most practical scenario would see Queen's Park devolving partial authority to an elected regional council. From my point of view this is not really practical.Toronto would still hold the economic hammer and would have NWOnt on a short leash. Besides, if there is one thing we don’t need is another batch of bureaucrats; we’d soon look like the EURO community!

The biggest obstacle to reform might be simple apathy. The authors note: the “choice may be analogous to one between remaining in Ontario's attic, becoming Manitoba's basement or simply moving out into your own place. In the absence of any motivating regional ambition, the choice may simply be to remain in the attic."

I share Mr. Ibbitson’s view that,so far, it is a case of “Straw man raised, straw man knocked down”. Except for one thing. NWont, the B.C. Interior, Manitoba outside Winnipeg, Quebec outside Montreal and Quebec City, and almost all of Atlantic Canada are on the outside, watching a modern, urban, multiethnic Canada recede ever further from their experience. Their populations dwindle, their influence dissipates, their legislatures increasingly ignore them.

He suggests that “in the coming decades, accommodating the hinterlands to the reality of urban Canada will test the bonds of the federation. Some day, Mantario may not sound so foolish after all.”

Liberally extracted from the original article by jibbitson@globeandmail.com

Russ Merredew