A brutal report card for the Ring of Fire

Michael Allan McCrae | March 12, 2015 | 9:56 am

ring of fire report card ontario chamber of commerce

Supporters of the Ring of Fire project claim it would generate up to $9.4 billion in GDP, sustain up to 5,500 jobs annually


The Ontario Chamber of Commerce graded the Ring of Fire and the results were not pretty.

The northern Ontario infrastructure project was graded in seven category areas. There were two F’s, one for time to develop and the other for federal government commitment. The highest grade was a B- for drawing as much as possible from the local labour force and build up the skills of Ontario’s northern First Nations communities.

“Despite its significant potential, we are no closer today than we were a year ago to realizing the benefits of the Ring of Fire,” writes the reports authors.

“After a year of delays, public and expert perception on the viability of the Ring of Fire as a sound economic investment has soured.”

The authors tout the project saying the Ring of Fire would generate up to $9.4 billion in GDP, sustain up to 5,500 jobs annually, and generate $2 billion in government revenue, divided between the federal, provincial, and municipal governments.

The Ring of Fire project was dealt a major set back when Cliffs Natural Resources withdrew from Ontario operations in 2014.

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