The Challenges: Maintaining the vibrancy of Ontario's rural and northern communities

•  Water and sewage treatment upgrades that might be affordable in a large metropolitan area may be much costlier for households in smaller communities.

•  The lack of educational and economic opportunities in smaller centres encourages young people to leave, and they leave behind aging communities with few resources to build modern infrastructure.

•  Northern Ontario has approximately 90 per cent of Ontario's geography but less than 10 per cent of its population. Economic development in northern communities is hampered by distance - from markets and from each other.

•  About 65 per cent of Ontario's 16,520 kilometres of highways run through northern Ontario. Major northern corridors are a key component of the national highway system and are critical to interprovincial trade. The highway system is the single most important source of access for northern communities, given the relative lack of other effective and affordable passenger transportation options in the region.

•  Transportation costs can inflate the cost of living and the cost of doing business in the North.