Amid push for growth, federal budget garners mixed reactions in northwestern Ontario

Sarah Law · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 05, 2025 1:03 PM EST | Last Updated: November 5

Affordability, captious minerals and the trades are apical of caput successful this year’s national fund for leaders crossed northwestern Ontario.

The budget, released connected Tuesday, is the archetypal nether Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government. It projects a shortage of $78 billion.

There’s a large absorption connected paring backmost connected operational spending, portion putting much wealth into gathering caller homes and infrastructure and creating a much competitory system amid the commercialized warfare with the U.S., arsenic the authorities says it’s “supercharging growth.”

“To me, this is simply a truly focused effect to the needs of agrarian communities successful bluish Ontario,” Thunder Bay—Superior North Liberal MP Patty Hajdu told CBC’s Superior Morning connected Wednesday.

LISTEN | Patty Hajdu: Federal Budget Reaction:

Hajdu serves arsenic curate of jobs and families and curate liable for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor).

Of enactment for the northwest, location of the lucrative Ring of Fire mineral deposit successful the James Bay lowlands, is the government’s plans to walk $2 cardinal implicit 5 years, starting successful 2026, connected a captious minerals sovereign fund.

According to Hajdu, this money volition “make investments successful captious mineral projects and companies truthful that they tin really make further equity. It volition supply indebtedness guarantees.”

“It volition let for agreements that volition much rapidly and rapidly guarantee that our mining assemblage tin not lone enactment and prolong itself, but tin grow."

LISTEN | Eric Melillo: Federal Budget Reaction:

However, Kenora’s Conservative MP Eric Melillo criticized the fund — which calls for astir $141 cardinal successful caller spending implicit the adjacent 5 years — for straying from the $42-billion shortage the erstwhile Liberal authorities had promised. 

“Overall, this is conscionable making the outgo of surviving situation worse, which I deliberation is 1 of the astir acute challenges we're facing successful bluish Ontario,” Melillo told CBC’s Superior Morning connected Wednesday.

“Housing costs that person doubled, market prices rising. A batch of young Canadians I've spoken to [are] giving up connected the imagination of location ownership altogether.”

Industry, infrastructure concerns

One of the astir pressing concerns successful northwestern Ontario amid the U.S. commercialized warfare is the effect of ongoing tariffs connected the lumber industry, astir precocious with the announced shutdown of the Ear Falls sawmill.

“At the extremity of the day, for the workers successful Ear Falls, what they request is simply a deal. The premier curate promised that helium would negociate a triumph for Canada. That was months ago, and present we're inactive feeling the effects of U.S. tariffs,” said Melillo.

He described the sawmill shutdown arsenic “devastating quality for the full town, not conscionable the workers astatine the mill, but it's truly the lifeblood of the community.”

Eric Melillo, MP for Kenora, says the Liberal government's fund does not code the rising outgo of surviving successful bluish Ontario. (CBC News)

“I fearfulness we'll spot much of those closures crossed our portion and crossed the state successful lack of a woody [with the U.S.],” Melillo said.

Meanwhile, the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) “commends the committedness to put successful infrastructure, cleanable energy, captious minerals, and housing,” it said successful a quality merchandise issued Tuesday.

“However, these nationalist goals indispensable beryllium achieved successful concern with regions similar northwestern Ontario — the instauration of Canada’s assets and proscription economy.”

Something NOMA has been calling for is accelerated tracking upgrades connected Highway 11/17 and treating this enactment arsenic “a nationalist priority.”

“Our highways are our lifelines. When the Trans-Canada closes successful bluish Ontario, Canada closes,” said Rick Dumas, president of NOMA and politician of Marathon, successful Tuesday’s quality release.

“If we are superior astir gathering a stronger, much resilient nation, we indispensable dainty Highway 11/17 arsenic a nation-building task — adjacent successful value to our vigor grids, ports and railways.”

Cuts to Indigenous services, programs

Meanwhile, respective First Nation leaders person criticized the authorities for its planned $2 cardinal successful cuts to Indigenous programs done Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.

“You don't chopped from the astir marginalized radical successful this country,” Anishinabek Nation’s Grand Council Chief Linda Debassige told CBC News. “Canada has a fiduciary work to our First Nations crossed this country.”

Anishinabek Nation's Grand Council Chief Linda Debassige, seen astatine Parliament Hill successful Ottawa successful this June 2025 record photo, says the national fund does not conscionable the government's fiduciary work to First Nations. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

Her fearfulness is what these cutbacks whitethorn mean for existing gaps successful infrastructure and housing. She said she is besides acrophobic astir a deficiency of attraction fixed to First Nations policing, wellness attraction and ongoing boil h2o advisories.

She besides wants to spot much investments successful Indigenous connection revitalization, which she said pales successful examination to “investments in, of course, English and French languages.”

As Canada forges up with plans to physique a much resilient economy, Debassige said opportunities for economical reconciliation shouldn’t beryllium dismissed.

“Strengthening the First Nations information successful economical opportunities is precise constricted successful scope and successful fact, are fundamentally little than breadstuff crumbs,” Debassige said.

“Canada has nary occupation coming to america erstwhile they privation to instrumentality the resources retired of our pact territories, oregon spell done our pact territories to beforehand the economical forecast for this country, without acknowledging that they person been the architects of our poverty.”