Canada’s two most powerful political leaders are sitting down to discuss some pressing Ontario concerns.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will meet with Premier Kathleen Wynne on Thursday afternoon in Ottawa to talk about pension reform and the Ring of Fire chromite mining deposit, among other matters.

It will be just the second tête-à-tête the two have had held since Wynne succeeded Dalton McGuinty as premier 10 months ago. They last met one-on-one in February.

With U.S.-based Cliffs Natural Resources’ recent suspension of development of a smelting plant that would have created 1,200 jobs, Wynne wants Ottawa’s help to get the Ring of Fire mineral belt up and running.

The potential $60 billion mining project in a remote area about 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay is seen as key to Ontario’s economic future because chromite is used in stainless steel.

But Queen’s Park is seeking “substantial” federal funding toward the estimated $2 billion cost of building roads and other infrastructure to open the area to mining companies.

“The prime minister and his ministers have sung the praises of the opportunities in the Ring of Fire and I believe it’s incumbent upon them . . . to take part in the project and to be full partners,” Wynne said last week.

“They have been full partners in other projects across the country,” she said, pointing to energy projects in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador.

But Harper has so far resisted federal involvement, stressing natural resources fall under provincial jurisdiction and “private companies themselves . . . have to make commitment decisions based on the viability of projects.”

Still, the fact the prime minister accepted Wynne’s request for such a meeting — which was first disclosed by the Star’s Martin Regg Cohn on Nov. 23 — could be an encouraging sign.

The premier is also going to broach the enrichment of the Canada Pension Plan out of concern that Ontarians are not saving enough for their retirement. CPP maxes out at $12,000 a year and Wynne fears that’s too low.

Last month in Toronto, she tried to get the country’s provincial and territorial leaders to present a united front to Harper on the issue.

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