It’s my great honour to extend my heartfelt gratitude and a warm welcome to His Holiness Mahant Swami Maharaj as he graces our province with his presence later this week. His Holiness is among the most respected Hindu leaders in the world today and the current spiritual leader of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, a worldwide organization dedicated to promoting harmony.

The presence of His Holiness Mahant Swami Maharaj marks the commencement of the celebrations for BAPS Canada’s 50 years of dedicated community service. This auspicious event will ignite a year-long festivity, allowing us to reflect upon and commemorate the remarkable achievements and invaluable contributions of BAPS to our great nation. Over the past five decades, BAPS Canada has grown to become recognized for their community service, remarkable achievements and invaluable spiritual and humanitarian endeavours in more than 150 towns and cities across Canada. We commend their unwavering commitment to lift society as a whole. Particularly, BAPS played a vital role in supporting and serving communities in need throughout the pandemic.

In closing, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to His Holiness Mahant Swami Maharaj for coming to Ontario.

We’re incredibly thankful for the impact of BAPS in making Ontario a stronger and better place to live, work and play.

My question is for the Minister of Transportation.

The people in my riding of Brampton North have been negatively impacted for years by the dithering and delays from the previous Liberal government when it came to supporting critical transportation projects like Highway 413. Supported by the NDP year over year, the Liberals ignored action that should have been taken to build Highway 413 in favour of listening to downtown environmental activists who don’t live in Brampton, never visit Brampton and claim they know what’s best for Brampton.

The reality is, over the coming decade, Ontario is expected to grow by more than two million people, and the fact is that we need to build the necessary infrastructure to keep up with our growing province.

Brampton is a beautiful place, led by its diversity and its people, and no matter how much the opposition disagree, the people of Brampton deserve a new highway.

Can the minister please explain what our government is doing to support the people of Brampton by advancing transportation infrastructure with Highway 413?

Highway 413 is essential not only for the people of Brampton, but it’s essential for the overall prosperity of Ontario. Clogged roads don’t just keep people from getting from place to place; they trap transportation trucks from getting goods to market. They cost Ontario’s economy more than $11 billion every single year. Once completed, Highway 413 would help goods travel faster to and through the greater Toronto area, significantly boosting Ontario and Canada’s economy.

More than $785 million worth of goods per day move on Ontario’s highways, making the transportation system the backbone of our economy.

Can the minister elaborate on what our government is doing on highway infrastructure to support our province’s economy?