October 31, 2006 - 20:30
680 News
TORONTO (CP) - A planned meeting Tuesday night between Ontario's aboriginal affairs minister and his federal counterpart Jim Prentice to discuss a contentious aboriginal occupation failed to take place after Prentice failed to show up.
David Ramsay, Ontario's minister responsible for aboriginal affairs, had planned to meet in Ottawa with Prentice, the federal Indian affairs minister, to discuss the eight-month occupation of a disputed tract of land in Caledonia, Ont.
But a spokeswoman for Prentice said the minister cancelled the meeting with Ramsay because of "grandstanding" by the province.
Premier Dalton McGuinty had expressed frustration with the situation earlier Tuesday, saying that the standoff cannot be resolved until the federal government "steps up to the plate."
He said his government doesn't have the power to settle the issue and can longer be expected to absorb the mounting economic costs of the occupation.
Six Nations protesters have been occupying the residential development just south of Hamilton since February.