My question is to the member for Peterborough–Kawartha.

When I looked at the budget, one of the things I noticed is that when you look at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing’s budget, you see a $124-million cut. That’s on top of the $5-billion loss in infrastructure spending that is occurring across Ontario because of this government’s Bill 23.

What is this government’s plan to properly fund affordable housing projects so that they can actually get built?

Everything I’m seeing in this budget is looking like a cut.

Speaker, I wish a warm welcome to David Colle of Green Infrastructure Partners, Peter Hamstra of Dufferin Construction, Andrew Hurd of the Ontario Road Builders’ Association, Rick Tamburro of Miller Group, and Steve Smith of Roto-Mill. Thank you so much for being here with us today.

My question is for the Minister of Infrastructure.

All Ontarians need reliable and affordable high-speed Internet, no matter where they live. I hear from the business community, including the agricultural industry across northern Ontario, that access to high-speed Internet services is essential to successfully managing and operating their businesses. Individuals and families living in rural, remote and Indigenous communities all need Internet access for their day-to-day lives, to improve access to health care, and to keep connected with family and friends.

Can the minister please explain how our government is connecting Ontarians in rural, remote and northern regions of our province to fast, reliable, high-speed Internet?

Ensuring that individuals and families across our province have access to reliable, high-speed Internet is a necessity, not a luxury.

The previous Liberal government failed to invest in priorities that are important to Ontarians living in rural, remote and Indigenous communities.

Under the leadership of the Premier and this minister, we know that the plan for accessing high-speed Internet is currently being implemented, but the people in the north are seeking assurances that they can be confident in our government’s ability to deliver on the promise to bring access to unserved and underserved communities.

Can the minister elaborate on how our government is building high-speed Internet infrastructure and connecting the communities in the north?

During this budget, building highways, transit and infrastructure projects are the main keys of this budget. We are going to deliver the most ambitious capital plan in Ontario’s history, with planned infrastructure spending of more than $184 billion over 10 years, including:

—$27.9 billion to support planning and construction of highway expansion;

—$70.5 billion for transit over the next 10 years;

—over $48 billion in hospital infrastructure over the next 10 years;

—$15 billion in capital grants over 10 years, supporting a full continuum of care of first responders who have experienced post-traumatic stress injury and other current mental health disorders.

Madam Speaker, through you, I want to ask the member opposite why he is not supporting this great initiative.

I want to thank the two members from Carleton and Mississauga–Malton for their great debate today.

With the ambitious plan that we have to build 1.5 million homes in the province of Ontario, Ontario needs the workforce to build the infrastructure and homes of the future. How will this budget help to build that with the workforce that we need?