Ontario Green Party leader makes Sudbury stop to talk sustainable mining

It was a day full of networking for Ontario Green Party leader Mike Schreiner, who came to Sudbury on Wednesday to learn more about sustainable mining and innovation.

Nickel is in demand, with skyrocketing nickel prices this past week and Schreiner said cities like Sudbury are going to play a key role in the economic success of Ontario.

It's the key ingredient in most lithium-ion battery cells used in electric vehicles.

"We want the world to know that Sudbury is the green, sustainable mining capital of the world and will build a critical part of mining and manufacturing supply chain to produce electrical vehicles in this province," said the Guelph MPP.

Schreiner said Ontario can't have a green economy without the city and the minerals mined across northern Ontario.

"It's vital to the new climate economy in creating jobs, new prosperity and crushing climate pollution at the same time," he said. "We're proud of our $4-billion fund to help commercialize and scale innovation."

Among those he met with was Nadia Mykytczuk, the interim CEO and president of Laurentian University's Mirarco.

"It's been very hard for academics and scientists like myself to be able to engage with politicians and Mike was very approachable, listened and asked a lot of difficult questions on how can we move the needle in becoming more sustainable, while moving on critical minerals and making sure we do that while keeping the environment in mind," Mykytczuk said.

She said she is hopeful other party leaders will follow Schreiner's lead, as the province gets closer to the spring election.

Schreiner also met with the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI).

"The bottom line is we're not going to have a prosperous green economy in Ontario without Sudbury and without the mining expertise we have here in Sudbury, so we see this as a critical part of Ontario," he said.

Schreiner is the second provincial party leader to visit in the northeast in less than a week. Premier Doug Ford is in Thunder Bay at the moment.

After Sudbury, the Green Party leader will head to North Bay where he plans to unveil his party's plan to address the opioid crisis.

The next provincial election is in June.