Principled anti-colonialism or more piñata politics?

This piece on the Northern Ontario Heritage Party is from Northern Ontario Business.

Is it back to the future with Heritage II

"Northern Ontario is a resource economy. It is different. It is not being managed well. Northern Ontario needs influence over taxation, energy, education, trade, economic policy (tourism, forestry, mining, the environment, foreign ownership). That influence will not be granted unless you demand it.

One way to do it is to have a regional political party. Another is to have a regional government with enhanced responsibility. Another is to have the kind of enlightened governance we find in the Nordic countries. Another is to demand a separate province.

What isn’t acceptable is the status quo."

Michael Atkins is the president of Laurentian Media Group

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It's worth a read, but at the moment, the NOHP is audibly silent on the constitutional question of the place of First Nations in resource decision-making. Until we build a principled alliance among all the Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal and Metis people who share the north, we'll just be blindly playing piñata politics.

F.P.