Menu

Patty Hajdu

NOICE announcement

FedNor announces new clean energy program for Indigenous communities

, ,

The Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor) is delivering a new green initiative to northern Ontario’s Indigenous communities.

Funded by the Strategic Partnerships Initiative, the Northern Ontario Indigenous Clean Energy Initiative (NOICE) will help Indigenous-led clean energy developments come to fruition.

The program will assist communities with planning, skill development, and assistance in securing investments for green energy projects.

NOICE is framed as a reconciliation effort that will help Indigenous communities in the north determine their own pathways towards greater economic resilience and self-sufficiency.

The new program was announced by Minister for FedNor Patty Hajdu, who described its purpose as a way to “empower increased capacity for Indigenous communities to pursue economic and business opportunities in clean energy development.”

The minister says clean energy is one of Canada’s strongest selling points in international markets.

First Nations and Metis communities, Indigenous-owned businesses and organizations can apply to the program.

The clean energy announcement comes two weeks after the former Environment and Climate Change minister Steven Guilbeault resigned from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet in response to the federal government’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreement with the province of Alberta, which opens up the possibility of a new pipeline.

In an interview last week, Guilbeault expressed skepticism that Canada could still reach its 2030 emissions targets.

When asked about former minister Guilbeault’s resignation, Minister Hajdu argued that Canada needed to be pragmatic in its approach to climate change.

“It’s important to have targets that we can reach, rather than targets where we have provinces, in some cases, not agreeing at all to do that work,” she said.

Hajdu pointed out that the MOU includes commitments from Alberta to reduce emissions and comply with a higher industrial carbon tax.

“Although I appreciate that there may not be unanimity of opinion in this space, I do feel that it is important to work in the art of the possible,” she continued.

red and white flag under blue sky during daytime

2025 budget offers new opportunities for northern businesses, says minister Hajdu

, , ,

The Liberal Party’s proposed 2025 budget will include about $185 million in spending towards the country’s new “Buy Canadian” policy.

Most of the funding will be split between Public Services and Procurement Canada, the federal government’s chief procurement agency, and a new program called the Small and Medium Business Procurement Program, which will be specifically tailored towards helping smaller Canadian businesses do business with the federal government.

Under the procurement programs, major public works projects, such as building infrastructure, will prioritize buying from Canadian suppliers where possible to keep Canadian dollars invested in the country’s industries.

Patty Hajdu, the Minister of Jobs and Families and for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNOR), frames this year’s budget as a response to the great challenge of the current moment: “To ensure that Canada has what it needs to be able to continue to be a sovereign nation. It sounds dramatic, but it is exactly that,” the minister says.

Hajdu defines the budget as a way to ensure that Canadian companies get support from the federal government as they try to find new buyers in the wake of American tariffs.

Infrastructure is a key component of the budget, representing tens of billions of dollars of new investments over the next few years.

Building new roads, ports, and railways will serve as an early test of the Buy Canadian model, offering chances for Canadian businesses to earn their share of the government’s multi-billion-dollar projects.

Minister Hajdu suggests that northern Ontario’s industries could see opportunities to take part in a retooled economy. She says Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper has expressed interest in finding new markets and selling new products, which is exactly the sort of thing the budget’s new procurement programs will be looking for.

The minister also points to Algoma Steel and Kap Paper as examples of companies that could find a lifeline with new procurements, fewer barriers to national and international trade, and larger infrastructure investments to connect them to their buyers.

A recurring criticism of the budget is the cuts it makes to public services, but Hajdu says she finds the controversy surprising. She argues that the plan to reduce the civil service focused on attrition, retirements, and reducing contract work.

“And it’s really so that we can invest in Canada, and invest in the kinds of things that municipalities need, just like we have a need here in Thunder Bay for infrastructure of all kinds,” she says. “That need exists, and in fact is amplified in smaller communities.”

The Liberal Party’s 2025-2026 budget still needs to be passed, and it is not yet clear if the party will have the votes it needs. The final vote will take place on Monday, November 17.

Image (64)

Federal budget draws support from northwestern Ontario member of parliament

, ,

No complaints on the federal budget from a local member of parliament.

Thunder Bay Superior North MP, Minister of Jobs and Families, and Minister responsible for FedNor, Patty Hajdu, is really excited about the budget.

“Listen, I think these are things that, in particular, smaller communities have been calling for a long time. There’s a huge focus on bringing down costs for Canadians,” explained Hajdu.

“We’re protecting vital social programs that Canadians rely on, like the National School Food Program, which has been made permanent, that so many people talk about in our region and are involved in, we’ve got the $10 a day childcare commitment that’s continuing, we’ve got the Canadian Dental Care Plan that so many, especially seniors, have talked to me about in terms of the way that they can actually get support and it really reduces their costs.”

Outside of programs, the minister was also happy with the extensive investment in infrastructure.

A total of $115 billion has been earmarked for infrastructure over the next five years.

“This is, I think, one of the most exciting things for me as an MP who represents small communities and rural communities who often have a really hard time replacing aging infrastructure, whether it’s water and sewer infrastructure, whether it’s road infrastructure, whether it’s community centres, roofs on libraries, linings of pools like I’ve basically heard it all in 10 years, and all of those things are deeply important, whether they’re visible or whether they’re not,” said Hajdu.

“The functioning of municipalities rests on the ability of its infrastructure to not only provide quality of life, safe drinking water is like an essential for every community across the country, but also to make sure that we can not only attract people to these communities, but keep them.”

Hajdu adds that support for entertainment and recreation infrastructure is also important.

“I mean, people need more than a job. We often talk about good jobs being the attractant. That might be the case, but if someone doesn’t have a place to go and play pickleball or go for a swim or bring their kids for skating lessons,” added Hajdu.

“Those kinds of things can really undermine attracting people to the region, and we see that people leave because there aren’t the kinds of quality of life infrastructure that they’re looking for.”

More ongoing infrastructure projects in the region and country will also create more jobs for Canadians.

“For everybody that’s in the skilled trades, everybody who’s thinking about going into the skilled trades, we need you because to build things, we need the builders,” said Hajdu.

“We need the welders, the electricians, the heavy equipment operators, the carpenters. You know, the stonemason workers like these are the folks that are going to be building up our communities and building Canada strong.”

Meanwhile, the budget highlighted that immigration numbers are set to be greatly reduced.

This comes amid support for the Rural and Northern Immigration Program in northwestern Ontario.

According to the federal government, in 2018, 3.3 per cent of Canada’s population were temporary residents.

By 2024, that number had more than doubled to 7.5 per cent, an unprecedented rate of growth that put pressure on housing supply, the healthcare system, and schools.

Budget 2025 announces that the 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan will stabilize permanent resident admission targets at 380,000 per year for three years, down from 395,000 in 2025, while increasing the share of economic migrants from 59 per cent to 64 per cent.

The new plan will also reduce the target for new temporary resident admissions from 673,650 in 2025 to 385,000 in 2026, and 370,000 in 2027 and 2028.

“I think ultimately what the government wants to do is to really bring immigration down to manageable levels,” said Hajdu. “I would say that this immigration plan is a responsible plan to help with communities that, conversely, have had a hard time absorbing newcomers at some places in southern Ontario, in particular around temporary residents.”

“We want to make sure that obviously regions like Northern Ontario have what they need to keep growing, and so in the budget, it specifically mentions the needs of rural communities, and so we’ll be working with rural communities like the ones in my riding to make sure that there are pathways to permanent residency that we can, bring in, you know, a percentage of temporary workers as needed in a rigorous way that ensures Canadians come first for any work that’s available in the community.”

Hajdu 1

Minister Patty Hajdu discusses truth and reconciliation

,

Tuesday is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – a statutory holiday as of 2023.

“It’s an important day for people to have some time and space to consider the history of this country,” says Patty Hajdu, MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North, Minister of Jobs and Families, and Minister responsible for Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FEDNOR).

“To consider the realities of Indigenous peoples, and in particular, to understand the impacts of residential schools on First Nations families and communities that still have a deeply painful and lasting legacy to this day,” Minister Hajdu continues.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was born out of Orange Shirt Day, the grassroots Indigenous movement to commemorate the thousands of children who never returned from Canada’s residential schools, and the thousands more who survived, but whose lives were changed forever by their experience.

Hajdu believes Canadians are beginning to grasp the extent of Canada’s dark record in its historic treatment of Indigenous peoples. But knowing and understanding the history only represents the “truth” of truth and reconciliation: to reconcile, action is required too.

The minister says there are both individual and collective acts that can be taken. “To continue this path of healing that I would say our country is on, it is obviously about compensation in some cases that governments have been pursuing for long-standing violations of treaties, which are still living and breathing documents.”

“But for individual Canadians, I think it’s important to understand the context of the area that you’re living in. In Northern Ontario, we have a rich history of Indigenous contributions, Indigenous communities, Indigenous leaders, and Indigenous people,” Hajdu continues.

“I think that Canadians, by participating in these National Truth and Reconciliation Days, have an opportunity to hear from the stories of Indigenous peoples themselves, that can speak to their experiences, their hopes, and the challenges they continue to face.”

Delivering on reconciliation

For decades, Canada has recorded a gap in socio-economic well-being between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, measured by a Community Well-Being Index.

Indigenous Peoples in Canada tend to have lower incomes, higher rates of poverty, and lower rates of employment and education, with all the problems that come with being economically worse off. These numbers are only exacerbated for Indigenous peoples who live on-reserve.

It is impossible to separate the economic gap experienced by Indigenous peoples in Canada from the history that the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation attempts to bring to light.

As the minister responsible for FEDNOR, Hajdu says grants and contributions going to Indigenous-owned companies and corporations help contribute to economic reconciliation.

There may be more opportunities for economic reconciliation with the controversial Bill C-5, which Prime Minister Mark Carney intends to use to speed up economic development projects.

The nuance of the situation is that there is no consensus between Indigenous communities around Bill C-5: some support the promise of economic reconciliation, while others are concerned about the possibility of violating sovereignty and damaging the environment.

“The Prime Minister has been really clear that projects of national interest have to benefit First Nations or Indigenous people,” says Hadju.

Referring to the first five nation-building economic projects announced earlier in September by the federal government, the minister says “they all have an extensive Indigenous component, including in some cases Indigenous equity positions, Indigenous consultations, Indigenous collaboration.”

But Hajdu also recognizes why support for the projects is far from universal. “I understand the fear in this space because of the history of how this country has operated, in many cases violating treaty rights, and violating agreements that have long standing in the Canadian law systems and in the courts.”

Hajdu says Canada’s nation-building projects must demonstrate a benefit to Indigenous peoples and partners. She hopes that over time, trust can be built in that space if Canada follows through on its promises.