Toronto

Wynne heads to northern Ontario for week of announcements

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne will be taking her chequebook as she embarks on a northern tour today.

Tour comes amid growing political unrest in region, including relaunch of separatist party

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne poses for a photographer at Queen's Park in Toronto on Friday, August 5, 2016. (Nathan Denette/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne will be taking her chequebook as she embarks on a northern tour today.

Wynne's week-long visit will take her to schools, hospitals, businesses and First Nations from North Bay to Sioux Lookout.

She'll also be making stops in Sudbury, Dryden, Kenora, Fort Frances, Kirkland Lake and nearly a dozen other communities.

Wynne is expected to announce a series of investments relating to infrastructure, health care and other measures.

The visit comes amid growing political unrest in the region, including the relaunch of the separatist Northern Ontario Party.

The party was registered with Elections Ontario last week, and says its first goal is to elect 11 candidates to the legislature in 2018.

The premier also faces a revived movement underway in Kenora to have that city join Manitoba after a local paper mill announced it was closing because of Ontario's high electricity rates.