Steve Paikin, the host of TVO’s The Agenda, a team of producers, camera people and technicians, plus a truckload or two of broadcast equipment, travelled north along Highway 11, Yonge Street, from Toronto to Timmins to examine the economy, the mood and the temperature of the world as seen through the eyes of north eastern Ontario.
They set up a mobile studio inside the new The Bucket Shop facility, and interviewed Maggie Matear from the Timmins Economic Development Corporation; Mayor Steve Black, Paul Woodward from the Bucket Shop and six students from Timmins High and Vocational School.
And despite the effort, it was entirely worth it, according to Paikin.
“Our show is designed to bring the world to our studios in Toronto, so we can inform our viewers, that is the way our show The Agenda works,” acknowledged Paikin. “But several times a year, we like to get out of Toronto, and go out and see the rest of Ontario.”
From Paikin's perspective, TVO has a responsibility to cover the province in its entirety and not only from Toronto.
“It’s essential that we do it,” Paikin said. “As much as we love the format of our show of bringing the world to our studio, either in person or via satellite, that just won’t do it,and we’ve got to get out of the studio.”
“We have been to 35 different cities and locations across the province, during the time the Agenda has been on the air.” Paikin added. “We have been pretty well everywhere.”
The focus of the Agenda’s Timmins-themed program was the state of the region’s economy and prospects for the future.
“The economy in Northeastern Ontario is a big deal, as is the impact of the impending closure of Kidd Creek,” said Paikin.
TVO and Timmins do have another link, that Paikin maintains was not an overt reason for coming to the city with the heart of gold.
John Ferri, the Vice President of Current Affairs and Documentaries hails from Timmins.
Paikin explained, that he is from Hamilton, and to avoid the appearance of favouring that city, Hamilton was one of the last cities visited by Agenda on the Road.
“And it is the same situation with John, we have been to many other places over the last seven years before returning to Timmins.,” Paikin explained. Ferri was hired by TVO three years ago.
“But we are also going to have a half a dozen young people from Timmins High and Vocational High School,” Paikin stated.
“ I learned from them that they intend to remain in Timmins- they expressed to me that yes, they do want to see the world, and leave Timmins for a while, but none said and I want to move to Toronto.”
“Their response goes against type that all young people from smaller locations can’t wait to get to Toronto,” Paikin said.
Paikin said, he also learned about the extent of agriculture in Timmins and north eastern Ontario.
“We did a very informative interview yesterday about agriculture in the north,” Paikin revealed. “You don’t necessarily think of agriculture north of the French River, but because of climate change and longer growing seasons it is now possible this far north.”
(Editor's Note: Geographically, Timmins is actually located south of the Prairies, Canada’s food basket.)
Paikin, who has crisscrossed Ontario, noted that there is no one Ontario point of view.
Rather there are many perspectives across the province.
“Politically, these are very interesting times in Ontario, we are 18 months away from a provincial election,” noted Paikin. “And it is difficult to predict an outcome today despite the poll numbers.”
As for changes Paikin has seen in Timmins since he was last here - investment continues despite the uncertainty.
“ I just went to one of the best restaurants I have ever been to, and it was right here in Timmins,” said Paikin. “It is called '1800', and it was not here the last time I visited.”
“It was tremendous, the ambience was great the food was great the service was great,” he added.
As for the mining sector, Paikin said the lack of concrete action on the Ring of Fire is a major Northern Ontario concern.
“ I can just imagine the frustration at how little progress has been made, since it first came upon the scene over 10 years ago," Paikin said.
“Everybody knew it was going to be a tough slog, with many levels of negotiations, but they don’t seem to have had much progress. Cliffs withdrew and Noront is trying to make it work, ” added Paikin.
“At the end of the day you want a win-win, situation,” said Paikin.
As for how northeastern Ontario is covered by the rest of the province, Paikin said these are tough times for Ontario’s newspaper industry. As papers, close, merge or otherwise retrench, due to the rise of online sources of information they will offer less and less coverage of the north.
“The retrenchment of the news media is impacting their ability to cover the province,” Paikin declared.
“At one time, the Windsor Star, the London Free Press or the Hamilton Spectator had their own political reporters.
“Now we have one reporter feeding 20 newspapers across Ontario and we have become more insular,” Paikin said.
“If it doesn’t happen in the GTA, the media tends not to cover it, unless it is a major disaster like the flooding and water problems at Kashechewan,” he added.
The Agenda and TVO are the exception and they will continue to bring Ontario wide issues to its viewers.
The Timmins feature areas on TVO’s Agenda will be shown on Tuesday, April 4, 2017
