I’m going to be sharing my time with the member for Richmond Hill, and I will simply be mindful of the fact that I will begin my remarks now, conclude at 10:15, and continue this afternoon.

In that context, it is my pleasure to join the debate in this House with regard to the Building a Strong Ontario Act, our budget bill. This budget confirms our government’s commitment to invest in Ontario’s future and enhance our competitiveness within a global economy, with a responsible, targeted approach to help people and businesses.

The budget speech that was presented last week to this House by the Minister of Finance outlines this government’s priorities for building a strong economic foundation to provide Ontario’s growing population with highly skilled, well-paying jobs, while at the same time attracting global investments in manufacturing and research. We are exercising fiscal prudence by keeping Ontario’s finances in check as we make the necessary investments in health care, education, infrastructure and transit, while being on track to balance Ontario’s books with a $200-million surplus by 2024-25. This is what Ontarians asked for. This is what Ontarians expect. And we are delivering both on growth and fiscal responsibility. This is our duty. This is our pledge. We are getting it done.

Speaker, this budget is all about people. This budget is about investing in workers, in families and everyday Ontarians who have asked this government to live within its means while investing in the programs that workers and families desperately need to purchase a home, raise a family and save for the future. This government is a citizens’ government that reflects the will and the expectations of the people.

Because of the failed tax-and-spend policies of the previous Liberal government, Ontario lost over 300,000 manufacturing jobs between 2004 and 2018. The previous Liberal government, which was propped up by the NDP for three years, thought they could spend their way to prosperity, and look where that left Ontario—higher debt, lost jobs, and a downgrade of Ontario’s credit rating.

As evidence that nothing has changed, the federal Liberal government, also propped up by the NDP, delivered a budget this past Tuesday which included record spending, tax increases, and zero investments in municipalities, business, or assistance for everyday Canadians.

Thank you to the member opposite for the question. This is a budget that balances the competing concerns we face. This is a budget that is thoughtful, transparent and forward-thinking.

Fundamentally, what His Majesty’s loyal opposition fails to understand—both at the federal level, supporting the federal Liberal government, and in opposing this budget—is that when we tax and spend, we drive jobs out. The answer is to reduce taxes, create the environment for prosperity for businesses, particularly small businesses, to invest in people, so that when we have prosperity, we have the funding for the public services we—

Thank you to the member, who I understand plans to support this budget, wisely. The federal budget—the federal debt and deficit are out of control. Not only is it $1.22 trillion, a record debt, most of which was piled on just in the last few years—interestingly enough, the former federal finance minister, Bill Morneau, clearly objected to what direction that Liberal government was going in, supported by the NDP. He has written about it in his book. He left because he didn’t agree with that being the pathway forward, and that is now leading, as I said, to $49.3 billion in annual interest payments that the Canadian people will be saddled with.

We are going in a different direction. We have a path to balance, and that is where we are headed, while making sure we have investments to create a prosperous Ontario, which in turn funds the public services that we all rely upon. That is the Progressive Conservative way.

But homes don’t get built by the government. They don’t get built by themselves. They get built when a government such as ours creates the environment where it happens, where we unleash the potential to address the issue, and that is what we’re doing.

Then, with investments that create the pathway for Highway 413, that has a ripple effect across the province. With investments in transit, that has a ripple effect across the province. It’s all about targeted investments in strategic areas across the province, but it’s also about general investments.

In the area of health care, we’re making it possible so that we have more nurses—thousands more nurses in well-paid positions, more PSWs, more doctors, because you can’t just build hospitals; you’ve got to have the people, and we’re investing in people.