Born and raised in the Thunder Bay area, Ron Yurick has lived in Northern Ontario almost all of his life, and has been a resident of Chapleau for 28 years, where, among many other public involvements, he has served as a Municipal Councillor. He is currently President of the Green Party of Ontario.

Ron has a B.Sc. in Geology and a Master’s degree in Resource Development Planning. His employment experience has been primarily with resource development issues, working briefly in industry, and then for la Province de Québec, Parks Canada, and the MNR, where he authored the Chapleau District Land Use Guidelines and conducted numerous inventories and resource analysis studies. He continues to be involved with resource issues as a member of the MNR’s Northeastern Regional Advisory Committee, where he speaks for the interests of non-motorized recreationists, and advocates for the wiser utilization of Northern Ontario’s resources and for getting more local benefits from those resources through regional value-added manufacturing.

Ron also has extensive experience volunteering time and energy on issues of public interest, including community development planning, contributions to the Algoma Trails study, and on a variety of other projects both within his community and in the Superior East area. He was heavily involved in Timiskaming’s struggles over whether Toronto could dump garbage in the Adams Mine, and the MNR’s “Lands for Life” process. Ron was also one of the main proponents behind establishing a major new Conservation Reserve in this riding.