From the outset, Northern Ontario has existed as an exploited natural resource region, vulnerable to the vicissitudes of a "boom and bust" verity. This has had profound effects on its ensuing political patterns and political processes. This thesis describes how and why the politics of Northern Ontario are different. This thesis demonstrates that the politics of Northern Ontario, unlike Southern Ontario, are distinguished by disaffection, dependency, domination, pragmatism, and parochialism. This thesis also argues that the North's divergent development and natural resource based economy, as well as pernicious provincial government policies and extensive interventions, provoked the differences apparent in its politics. These differences are evinced in the North's disparate political culture, political priorities, and political structure. Furthermore, this thesis confirms that Northern Ontario politics feature a low level of political efficacy which is primarily the result of its "centre-periphery" connection with Southern Ontario.

The move toward establishing regional government in Ontario reflects the recognition by both local and provincial governments of the inadequacies of the present governmental structure to deal with development issues of a regional nature. The requirements of a rapidly urbanizing and growing population are those whose discussion and provision is most efficiently made by a form of government larger than the existing municipality and smaller than the provincial government. The hypothesis states that altering the provincial departmental organization is a necessary prerequisite to successful establishment of the planning function within the regional government. It is based on the argument that with the creation of regional government throughout the province, the existing operational framework of the departmental organization of the provincial government is not sufficiently coordinated to deal with planning issues for regional development. To defend the argument, documentation and analysis is made of the development of both local and provincial government. This gives a back ground upon which to establish how and why there may be problems in coordinating the implementation of planning policy for regional development and to make suggestions of possible changes. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

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The Ontario Tories' 42-year hegemony in government (1943-1985) was wrought through clever policies which often utilized Crown institutions to promote prosperity or to oblige or mollify vying interests. Ousted in 1985, though, they used their time in opposition to revise the Tory doctrine. In the 1995 election, the Tories emerged a tougher, more truculent group quite unlike their predecessors. Campaigning on their Common Sense Revolution (CSR) platform, they promised to eliminate red tape and vowed to obliterate all ostensible economic barriers which were impeding commerce in the province. In the CSR, the Tories identified Ontario Hydro (OH), the province's lauded publicly-owned power monopoly, as a troublesome and inefficient Crown entity which required fundamental reform. Portions of OH, they hinted, would likely be sold. Once elected, the Tories worked hurriedly to demolish OH and destroy public power in Ontario. For nearly 100 years, OH proved a pivotal component within the province's political economy for its provision of affordable, reliable power and its function as a policy tool to incite and direct development. A Tory government fought to instigate public power in the early 1900s and, in the late 1900s, a Tory government was fighting vigorously to rescind it. Why would they now renounce Crown power? It is the intent of this thesis to elucidate the Tory government's involvement in the transformation of Ontario's electricity industry from 1995 to 2003. Distinguishing electricity as a special, strategic staple, this thesis uses a pro-state, pro-staples industry political economy approach to discern how and why the Tory government sought to restructure the electricity sector. Essentially, it posits that the onslaught of neoliberalism, the emergence of novel generating technology, and the faltering of OH's nuclear wing all had a huge part to play in provoking the Tory government to initiate its reforms. Their reforms, though, proved too hasty, haughty, and fraught with ambiguity to work properly. While their open, competitive power market and attempts to privatize Hydro One failed horribly, the Tories' energy re-regulation strategy did hold promise to allow the state to retain a prominent role in the power industry. / Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2007-08-27 23:05:37.549

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No description available.