We are a unique nation, continent wide with a vast northern expanse. I was asked as a southerner how we should develop northern Canada. I live in Loretto, a small community in southern Ontario. My career has taken me to northern Ontario and to many countries in the world. What do I see as being unique here? Food for thought.

Canada is huge, the world's second largest nation with a low population. We have a great potential for growth, starting at 3 people per square km. (Bartholomew, Miniworld Factfile 1993) most within a hundred miles of the U. S. border, a sparse population in a highly over-populated world.

Canada is a forested nation. We have harvested vast forest resources but Mother Nature is valiantly trying to re-clothe the harvested ecosystems. The new forest hasn't the same potential for extraction of paper and 2 x 4s as when we found it. Nevertheless, it remains 'green'. Photosynthesis ensures the storage of carbon and production of oxygen. We are major contributors to the world's atmosphere.

Green has a wide variety of meanings. The most practical interpretation is energy. The world faces a crisis as fossil fuel reaches a point of no return. Stored carbon is running out. There is a frantic search for alternatives in the field of renewable energy. Trees are a source of available carbon, of greater value as a future fuel than its current use for paper and lumber.

A fascinating development is the conversion of wood energy to biofuel. We have the Scandanavian experience using forest carbon for central heating and as electrical cogeneration. The first is a starting point for northern Canada. As yet we have no example of the use of cogeneration anywhere in Canada. At the same time companies are developing biofuel from waste wood, a transportation fuel for the future. Ethanol from wastes for farm use provides another direct benefit, a future basis for agricultural production as technology develops and costs are reduced.

Canada is a reservoir. We own a very high proportion of the world's available supply of fresh water. Obviously the various attributes interconnect. Forest areas provide a source of ground water, evidenced by the power of Niagara Falls. This is a drop in the bucket (pun intended) compared to the multiplicity of rivers flowing into the Great Lakes system which have potential benefit as sources of energy. These again are products of the forests.

We have marginally explored the potential for energy from natural phenomenon such as wind and sun, controversial in more settled communities. Both have substantial possibility for relatively unpopulated regions. Industry needs energy and people. Providing energy adjacent to our major water systems would be a precursor to developing manufacturing in northern Canada, which in turn would encourage migration to less populated regions of the country. Energy plantations would add to the equation.

Agriculture is a luxury land use in this context. Canadian agricultural development has concentrated on class 1 land, ignoring the potential of such northern areas as Ontario's clay belts north to Kirkland Lake and westerly from Cochrane to Hearst, Manitoulin Island, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and Fort Frances. The key feature of global warming has been the impact on food production with the north being of increasing significance as productivity improves.

The above pertain to commercial exploitation without touching on the potential contribution of cultural diversity. Our native people represent a vast storehouse of traditional knowledge, and Canada as a young country has a wide variety of populations from around the world, each with a variety of skills. People from across the world could find a comfort zone in this vast land.

In a day and age when people are searching for new experiences, one should not overlook what a land of winter snow and summer recreation can offer. Putting it all together, Canada has a glorious future on the world stage which is struggling to find a place for 8 or 9 billion people to live and play. Canada and especially northern Canada, is the land of the future.