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Originally Posted by Beedok

Population Density:
Saskatchewan 1.75 /km2
NFL 1.38 /km2
Northern Ontario 0.9/km2

And let's not forget that Saskatchewan and NFL both are also seeing massive resource booms, so it isn't like Northern Ontario would have a boost on them. It would be stretched even worse. I'm not saying it would be doomed, but it would be in trouble.

But we're not building roads over almost all of our geographic area like Saskatchewan and Newfoundland. We've got over 300,000sqkm that won't be accessed by road or rail. The population density south of 51 is definitely higher than Newfoundland Island.

Originally Posted by Beedok

Ontario and Manitoba were arguing over cheap lumber in a day when lumber was pretty well king. That's not the case now. As to why the south doesn't want the north to leave, in part because it would be annoying to deal with the massive distraction to the government, in part because they don't want Ontario reduced to a tiny Maritime sized sliver of land, in part because Canadians just aren't fond of separatism of any sort after all the complaining and grumbling Quebec does, and in part out of laziness out of not wanting to need to know another province name.

Having to hold separate debates, a region-specific ministry, and devote half a billion dollars of infrastructure funding isn't distracting? Land area is pretty irrelevant if all you're losing is an economic drain, and while separatism might be a somewhat valid complaint, having to know another province name certainly isn't.

Originally Posted by Beedok

Maybe a few realise that would mean they'd have to get health plans when they pop up north of cottage country. I'm sure you're average person in Windsor or Kingston doesn't sit there counting the tax savings they get because Northern Ontario is a part of Ontario still (I'm guessing there probably aren't any tax savings to be had anyway).

And again we're back to the "Northern Ontario costs money" argument. Is the added cost worth it to avoid having to learn another word?

I don't even want the North to separate, I just want a regional government so that we have something to respond to local issues more quickly and effectively.

Originally Posted by Beedok

I personally don't want the North to leave because then my OSAP would be a nightmare. I go to university in Ottawa, but live in Thunder Bay.

I couldn't even quality for OSAP. Provincial boundaries shouldn't be so much of a hurdle when it comes to post secondary education anyway.