It is my distinct honour to rise today here, in my capacity as the President of the Treasury Board, to speak about the Supply Act.

I’d also like to note that I will be splitting my time with my parliamentary assistants who are here—I know I can’t say their names; my apologies—from the riding of Mississauga–Lakeshore and from the riding of Durham.

Madam Speaker, it’s fair to say that a lot of us may not know about what the Supply Act is, and that’s totally fine, but this, of course, does not diminish the value of what the Supply Act means and the value it holds. I believe this will give me an opportunity, actually, to take everyone through what it actually is—and a keen understanding of just how the Legislative Assembly authorizes the use of the public purse.

One of our most important functions as a government is to ensure that the people’s money is spent on the people’s priorities, and that in everything we do, Ontario’s taxpayer dollars are treated with the respect they deserve.

The government of Ontario prides itself on its steadfast belief in transparency and accountability. That is why this government has received five clean audit opinions, which is a stark contrast to the previous government.

Every single dollar spent by the government comes from the province’s hard-working taxpayers. As Ontario and the rest of the world face the ongoing challenges of economic and geopolitical uncertainty, it has never been more important for the government to be transparent and accountable when it comes to the public purse. We are all too familiar with these challenges—challenges that can seem abstract from afar but have real economic consequences every day. Geopolitical tensions continue to rise around the word, escalating while inflation and interest rates remain stubbornly high for Ontario families. There are also ongoing supply chain disruptions that continue to create economic challenges for businesses and consumers alike, and these challenges have touched all areas of life in this province and around the world. These are uneasy times for many of the hard-working people of our province.

However, there is one thing that will support this province in these perilous waters, and that is the resiliency of Ontario workers, businesses, families and people. The people of Ontario are our province’s greatest asset, and it is because of this that our government owes it to people to take careful account of every cent that is being spent in their name. I would like to take this opportunity, before I go much further into the mechanisms of the Supply Act, to acknowledge them.

Despite these challenges, our job creators still make tremendous sacrifices to create new opportunities for hard-working families, and Ontarians continue to seize those opportunities by training up and improving their skills and abilities.

Our resilience as a province and our ability to weather these storms is because of the dynamism and determination of our people.

Madam Speaker, in the face of economic conditions that I have touched upon, the business of government had to continue, and continue it did.

I would like to begin by providing a brief refresher on the government’s fiscal cycle.

The government tabled the 2022-23 expenditure estimates on September 8, 2022, and on December 5, 2022. The expenditure estimates provide details of the operating and capital spending needs of the ministries and the legislative offices for the fiscal year. This constitutes the government’s annual formal request to the Legislature to approve funding requirements and spending requirements. Should they pass, the estimates provide each ministry with the legal authority to spend their operating and capital budgets.

Once expenditure estimates are introduced, they are referred to the relevant standing committee for review. The standing committees then select ministries to appear and answer questions specific to their respective expenditure estimates. This was the first time that we used this new approach, and it resulted in a comprehensive review of almost all ministry estimates. This oversight is invaluable.

Should the Supply Act pass, it signifies the final approval by this House of expenditures proposed by the government in the expenditure estimates that have been tabled during this fiscal year.

It is important to note that our government is not proposing any new spending today. Rather, the government is simply looking to approve the spending outlined in the 2022-23 estimates.

The government introduces a Supply Act to provide the final statutory authority for the government’s and this assembly’s spending. I believe that it is an important enough process to merit a detailed description today.

Madam Speaker, we all recognize that health and education are two areas of utmost importance for the well-being and future of our province. That is why it is worth our time today to give a brief overview of the government’s spending in some of these really critical and crucial areas here today.

It makes sense to start with health because the health and well-being of the people of Ontario is the government’s number one priority.

The people of Ontario rely upon the government to build a strong health care workforce, and that is exactly what the government is doing. Our government is working every day to provide Ontario’s nurses, doctors, personal support workers and other health care professionals with the resources, support and guidance they need.

With this in mind, in August 2022, the Ontario government introduced its Plan to Stay Open: Health System Stability and Recovery. This five-point plan clearly lays out how to provide the best care possible to patients and residents. When fully implemented, this plan is expected to add up to 6,000 more health care workers—that means 6,000 more highly skilled and professional workers to help our loved ones when they need it the most. This is in addition to the more than 11,700 health care workers, including nurses and personal support workers, already added to the health system since 2020.

The government’s dedication to bolstering the ranks of our health care workers is undeniable.

Since January 2022, another significant historic fact is that our government has been able to register and license more than 800 internationally educated nurses in Ontario through government-funded programming. This is a big win for the people of this province.

It doesn’t stop there. The province anticipates that by next year at this time, more than 1,000 international nurses will gain the practice and language requirements necessary to apply their life-saving trade right here in Ontario.

Madam Speaker, let me step back here for a moment to share some information about the entirety of the government’s health spending.

The 2022 budget announced a suite of initiatives to bolster the province’s health care workforce, including $230 million in 2022-23 to enhance health care capacity in hospitals. This investment alone supports thousands of hospital staff, including over 4,500 externs and 2,300 nurses. It also provided more than 300,000 additional hours of physician coverage in rural, remote and in-need hospitals. This represents a much-needed investment to make sure that people in every corner of this province can easily access the very best medical care. An investment of this kind is illustrative of the importance that our government puts on the health and welfare of every person in this province.

The 2022 budget also introduced a permanent wage enhancement for personal support workers and direct support workers. That support was in the form of approximately $2.8 billion over three years. This investment supports more than 158,000 personal support workers and direct support workers who provide publicly funded services in hospitals, long-term-care homes, home and community care and social services.

As I just noted, out government’s investment in the people who make up our health care system is impressive. Of course, those dollars can only be as effective as their complementary investments in the facilities that make up the health care system itself, so I’m pleased to highlight a number of those investments as well, right now. This list, of course, isn’t exhaustive, but it will give the House a quick look at some of the exciting projects that are already under way in this province, under the leadership of this Premier.

It is fair to say that our government is implementing the most ambitious plan for hospital expansion in Ontario’s 155-year history. We are investing more than $40 billion over the next 10 years to improve and increase space in the hospitals and community health centres, and build new health care facilities. This $40-billion investment in Ontario’s health care future will support more than 50 major hospital projects that will add 3,000 new beds over the next 10 years. These projects will build a stronger health care system and at the same time create good, strong, high-paying jobs.

Madam Speaker, I’d also like to touch upon some of these projects and the impacts that they have on communities.

As part of this $40-billion investment into health care, communities like Brampton that were neglected for so long are getting a new hospital. We are building one of the largest new hospitals in Mississauga—and the member for Mississauga–Lakeshore, also my parliamentary assistant, has been a great champion for that program, making sure that we build new hospitals in communities that are growing at a very fast pace. My colleagues from Windsor are getting a new hospital—one of the largest health care investments in the history of this province, in Windsor. That is making sure that we take care of those cities that need it—places like Pickering in Durham region, where we are expanding health care access and building more facilities. The parliamentary assistant from Durham has been a strong champion for health care investments in his region—

I wish to thank the President of the Treasury Board, the member for Brampton South, for that kind introduction and for speaking first on the Supply Act.

It is my distinct honour to rise today to further detail the financial situation of the province of Ontario and the expenditures that the government is making through our plan to build Ontario.

I would also like to thank my colleague for detailing the spending in the crucial areas of health care and education.

Speaker, I must echo the minister’s words and sentiments when it comes to health care and education spending. It is fair to say that those expenditures will likely shape the future of the province of Ontario. However, to make those investments, the province has to be in the financial position to do so.

The top-line details of the 2022 budget might be considered dry by some, but it is necessary for members of this House to get an idea of the province’s current financial situation. Only with the latest information can we accurately paint a picture of the province’s financial circumstances. Ontario’s third-quarter finances, which were released last month, give us that information.

My colleague previously mentioned some of the challenges that must be considered when looking at any current economic data, but they do bear repeating. In the face of high inflation, rising interest rates, global geopolitical intrigue and ongoing supply chain disruptions, Ontario’s economy has remained resilient. And it is to the credit of the people of Ontario that the province’s real gross domestic product, the GDP, is estimated to have increased by 3.7% in the last year. Seen in its proper context, this number is impressive.

Speaker, as we are now three months into 2023, we know that Ontario’s economy is not immune to an expected global economic slowdown this year. It is true that reputable forecasters are bracing for an even more challenging year than was faced in 2022. That is why the government is maintaining a reasonable and realistic fiscal plan. Now is the time to double down on fiscal responsibility—that means ensuring fiscal policy that works with a strict and thoughtful monetary policy. Against this backdrop, the government has remained transparent and accountable—and releasing the 2022-23 third-quarter finances is in the service of doing just that.

It should be noted that the next economic and fiscal update, as part of the 2023 budget, will be this Thursday, March 23, 2023.

I’m happy to now get into some of the projections from the third-quarter finances, as it gives us context in terms of where we are financially today as a province.

Ontario’s 2022-23 deficit is projected to be $6.5 billion. While that is significant, it should be noted that it is $13.3 billion lower than the outlook published in the 2022 budget—and that is $6.4 billion lower than the 2022 Ontario economic outlook and fiscal review.

On the other side of the ledger, revenues in 2022-23 were projected to be $196.4 billion. That is $16.6 billion higher than the forecast in the 2022 budget and $9.6 billion higher than projected in the 2022 Ontario economic outlook and fiscal review.

Of course, it is reasonable to ask why revenues were higher than expected. The revenue forecast reflects stronger-than-expected taxation revenues, which were a direct result of higher net tax assessments for 2021 and prior years.

The people of this province should know how much money is being spent on their behalf on the government programs designed to make their lives better.

Overall program expense in 2022-23—those expenses were projected to be $188.6 billion, and that number is $3.4 billion higher than the forecast in both the 2022 budget and the 2022 Ontario economic outlook and fiscal review. These increases are due to spending related to reopening of colleges and resulting additional on-campus activity, the government commitment to support the city of Toronto to address a portion of its 2022 operating deficit, and additional funding for prevention and containment of COVID-19 at long-term-care homes. The government feels that these expenses were necessary and appropriate. As well, these expenses have been partially offset by additional third-party revenues from colleges; ministry underspending, particularly underspending for infrastructure projects; and through the drawing down of existing contingencies within the fiscal plan.

Speaker, before I discuss some of the investments associated with Ontario’s Plan to Build, I would like to put a little bow on some of these top-line budget numbers.

Interest on the province’s debt is projected to be $13.4 billion, slightly lower than the $13.5 billion forecast in last year’s budget.

Because of the lower deficit, the net debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to be 38.3% in 2022-23, 3.1% lower than the 41.4% forecast in the 2022 budget.

There is one additional point I would like to make about the overall budget within my allotted time. It is important to remember that the 2022 budget included a $1-billion reserve in 2022-2023. This was to protect the fiscal outlook against any unforeseen changes in the province’s revenue and expense forecasts. This demonstrates this government’s prudent fiscal approach. The reserve was designed to insulate the province from unforeseen expenses of any kind. It also provides additional prudence in the government’s fiscal framework. It should be noted that, if that money is not needed, the reserve is eliminated at year-end as part of the final projection for 2022-23, published in the 2023 budget.

With that context in mind, I’d like to move on to Ontario’s Plan to Build.

The first pillar of this comprehensive plan is rebuilding Ontario’s economy. It is sad but true that Ontario lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs between 2004 and 2018. That was quite a hole to dig out of, but that is what we were up against, and we remain up against that sorry legacy. To deal with this, the government has a plan to help create the environment for jobs and to build prosperity everywhere for everyone. The key to doing this will be leveraging what we already have. An example of this is seizing Ontario’s critical minerals. Our province is rich in the critical minerals that will be key to making sure that the next generation of automobiles are built right here in Ontario. The government’s plan includes up to $1 billion for legacy infrastructure such as all-season roads to the Ring of Fire, building the corridor to prosperity. Over the next three years, the government is investing nearly $107 million to help the province compete with jurisdictions in a global race to develop and own these technologies that will likely define the future of transportation.

The second pillar of Ontario’s Plan to Build is working for workers. This pillar included raising the minimum wage to $15.50 per hour as of October 2022. The government is proud to be able to institute this important increase, largely helping the most vulnerable across our province. Under this crucial pillar, the government also plans to invest $1 billion every single year in employment and training programs. These programs are to help workers all throughout Ontario to retrain and upgrade their skills. The world moves fast, and the skills one may have today might not be the ones needed for the jobs of tomorrow. That is exactly why retraining and upgrading is so important for our skilled workers. Our workforce must be agile and flexible—and the billions of dollars earmarked for this type of training is designed to do just that.

The third pillar of the plan is where the billions of dollars invested in infrastructure can be found. So many people in this province are wasting time, day after day, sitting in traffic or waiting for a train or subway. Bumper-to-bumper traffic, gridlock and transit delays are not only a nuisance, but they also cost this province billions of dollars. This must change, and this will change. We can talk about traffic until we are blue in the face, but nothing will solve the problem until we get shovels in the ground to build highways, transit and other infrastructure projects to fight gridlock, boost the economy and create jobs. To do this, the government is planning one of the most ambitious capital plans in the history of Ontario. Over the next decade, these infrastructure projects will total $159.3 billion, including $20 billion in 2022-23 alone. The government is investing $25.1 billion over the next 10 years to support highway projects across the province, including building Highway 413, building the Bradford Bypass, and enabling the widening of Highway 401 through eastern Ontario. There are many highway infrastructure projects and, frankly, there’s not enough time to mention them all today. But that is the investment we are making to get Ontario moving again. The government is also investing $61.6 billion over 10 years for public transit, including the Ontario Line here in Toronto and GO rail across the greater Golden Horseshoe and into southwestern Ontario.

The fourth pillar is something that any fiscally minded person can appreciate: keeping costs down. The government has a plan to help keep costs down by increasing housing supply, by making it less expensive to drive or take transit, and by providing direct relief on everything from child care to taxes. The government has committed to making it less expensive to drive by eliminating and refunding licence plate renewal fees for passenger vehicles, light-duty trucks, motorcycles and mopeds. The government made transit more affordable across the greater Golden Horseshoe by eliminating double fares for most local transit when using GO Transit services. The government is also working on lowering child care fees for parents by signing a $13.2-billion agreement with the federal government. I know it has been mentioned many times, but it should be noted that the government remains committed to securing an average of $10-a-day child care by September 2025. By putting more money back into the pockets of the parents of Ontario, the government is working toward a more financially secure future for all of Ontario’s families.

The last pillar of Ontario’s plan to build is a plan to stay open. It’s true that Ontario fared better than many jurisdictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that is owing to the resilience of the people of Ontario. It is now the government’s duty to make sure that Ontario is prepared to face any future challenges. The government is doing this by making historic investments in our hospitals, with an additional $3.3 billion in investments in 2022-23. Over the next three years, the government is also investing $3.5 billion to support the continuation of over 3,000 hospital beds put into place during the pandemic. As well, the government is investing $1.1 billion over three years to support the continuation of hundreds of new adult, pediatric and neonatal critical care beds added during COVID-19.

Speaker, the people of Ontario deserve a government that has a real plan to build. Furthermore, the people of Ontario deserve to know for sure that the money that is being spent in their names is being spent in a transparent and accountable way.

The government is proud of Ontario’s plan to build and proud of its five pillars detailed today. The plan demonstrates how we are continuing to make essential investments to support the people and the businesses of this great province.

It should be noted that this supply bill, if passed, would formalize the investments I have outlined today. And at the risk of repeating myself, it is also important to note that the Supply Act, if passed, is not about approving new spending; the Supply Act is instead about providing legislative approval for the spending to which the government has already committed.

The review of the province’s fiscal position as of the third-quarter finances and the detailed rundown of the government’s Ontario’s Plan to Build hopefully served as a reminder to all members of this House of the transparency and accountability that informs all government spending.

With that said, Speaker, I encourage all members to support this important piece of legislation.

I’m very pleased to rise this afternoon, in my role as parliamentary assistant to the President of the Treasury Board, to expand on what the minister and my colleague the PA from Durham just said. It is an honour to be able to join this debate on the Supply Act for the 2022-23 fiscal year. It is an opportunity that I do not take for granted.

Speaker, the minister has already explained the mechanics of the Supply Act, and PA McCarthy has explained our Q3 results and Ontario’s Plan to Build.

As I said last year at this time, I believe it is critical that all members understand every detail of the procedures of the fiscal cycle. That’s what the people of Ontario expect from their elected officials, and that’s what they deserve, especially now, during challenging economic times. Inflation and interest rates are rising, and the global supply chain has not completely recovered from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is only in this context that we can truly understand and appreciate the fiscal decision-making that has guided this year’s expenses.

Speaker, I know that this has already been said, but I want to reiterate: Every dollar spent by this government comes out of the pockets of the hard-working taxpayers of this province. That’s why the people of Ontario demand accountability and transparency for all of the fiscal decisions made by their government. The families, the workers, the students and the most vulnerable among us, and especially our children and our future grandchildren, deserve this from their government.

As PA McCarthy said earlier, the government is not announcing any new spending today. The investments that the minister and the PA spoke about earlier have already been made, but we’re required to pass the Supply Act at the end of every fiscal year to provide final approval of all spending by the provincial government.

With that said, I would like to go into more detail about some of the major investments that the government has made, and I will also take the opportunity to outline why these investments have been made and how they will benefit the people of this great province.

As the minister said, the health and well-being of the people of Ontario has always been and always will be the top priority of this government. This is more than just talk; it’s illustrated in many concrete actions.

For example, the government continues to make investments to improve health care in every corner of this province. In the 2022 budget, the government committed over $40 billion over the next 10 years to build hospital infrastructure right across Ontario. That includes about $27 billion in capital grants—grants that will get shovels in the ground to build the health care infrastructure that this province needs. That’s about $10 billion more for hospitals and other health care infrastructure than what was committed in the 2021 budget in the previous year. That’s $10 billion more that will go directly to increase capacity in hospitals and community health centres, to build new hospitals, and to renew our existing health care facilities.

This includes funding to support the complete reconstruction of the Mississauga Hospital in Mississauga–Lakeshore, which first opened in 1958. A few years later, I was born there. And my two sons were born there. My sister worked there, in medical records. My niece was a volunteer there. As Mayor Bonnie Crombie said, the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the need for major upgrades at the current hospital—in many cases, long overdue. Demand for hospital services in Mississauga is also expected to grow seven times more than the average Ontario hospital over the next 20 years. The truth is, we needed a new hospital 15 years ago, but the former Liberal government kept saying no. Now, because of this government’s historic multi-billion dollar investment, the new Mississauga Hospital will be almost triple the size: 24 storeys and three million square feet, with 1,000 beds, 80% in private rooms. This will be the largest and most advanced hospital in the history of Canada. The minister and I had the opportunity to tour the construction site recently, where work is under way for a new eight-storey parking structure with spaces for almost 1,500 vehicles. This is an important first step in the project. And just last week, Trillium Health Partners and Infrastructure Ontario signed an agreement with EllisDon and PCL Healthcare Partners to deliver this project using a progressive, P3 approach.

Just across the Etobicoke Creek, the government is expanding the Queensway Health Centre, with a new nine-storey, 600,000-square-foot patient tower with over 350 new hospital beds, in a modern centre for complex care.

In the north end of Peel region, in Brampton, the government is working together with the William Osler Health System to transform Peel Memorial Hospital into a 24/7 in-patient hospital and urgent care centre. This urgently needed upgrade will pave the way for a new emergency department to meet the health care needs of one of Ontario’s fastest-growing communities.

There are hospital expansion projects planned or under way in communities right across Ontario.

For example, the government’s investments will also support the redevelopment of the Ottawa Hospital’s Civic campus. This means an expansion of access to programs and services, finally meeting Ottawa’s bed capacity needs.

The government has also committed to support a new state-of-the-art, acute-care hospital in Windsor-Essex county to add more hospital beds and expand services in the region.

In Huntsville and Bracebridge, the government has provided funding for the redevelopment of their acute-care hospitals. These investments will improve community programs and services and expand access to diagnostic imaging, including MRIs and CT scans.

Speaker, we should also consider the Grand River Hospital and the St. Mary’s General Hospital joint redevelopment project. The government’s investments will expand these existing facilities and support the construction of another new acute-care facility. These investments will directly benefit the entire Kitchener-Waterloo region.

Northern Ontario will also benefit from the government’s increase in health spending. To help address surgical wait times, the government is supporting the expansion of the cardiovascular surgery program at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. This expansion will help to improve access to life-saving care in Thunder Bay.

Speaker, I realize that this list is long, but it’s worth mentioning a few more items to show how this government has made health funding its top priority.

The government is committed to the construction of a new, modern hospital on the existing Uxbridge site of Oak Valley Health. This investment is necessary to replace another rapidly aging facility and to support the expansion of services and a new community health hub with long-term-care services.

It’s important to remember that when the government plans these investments, we must always consider future population growth. It is critical that taxpayers’ money is spent in the most prudent and responsible way to get the most out of each and every dollar.

That’s the case with the government’s support for the Stevenson Memorial Hospital. This investment will modernize facilities, support service delivery, and respond to the population growth that is expected in Simcoe county.

Speaker, during the pandemic, my team in Mississauga–Lakeshore prepared and delivered hundreds of meals to health care workers at the Scarborough Health Network’s Birchmount site. I was pleased to see that the government’s investment included an expansion of that site, including an in-patient tower and expanding the emergency department to reduce wait times and upgrade aging infrastructure.

There are many more projects that I could list. These investments, both to upgrade current facilities and to build new state-of-the-art ones, will help to ensure that the people of Ontario will have access to the best possible health care today and tomorrow.

Madam Speaker, as I’ve said, the health and well-being of the people of Ontario is the government’s highest priority, and the capital spending that I just outlined shows this very clearly.

Along with health care, another important priority of this government is transportation. As my colleague PA McCarthy said earlier, highways, roads and public transit are the economic lifelines of this province.

At this point, I think it is important to point out how large Ontario is. Ontario spans over one million square kilometres, which is over 266 million acres. That makes this province larger than France and Spain combined. Ontario is over three times the size of Germany. And we have almost 7,000 kilometres of road—that’s the second most in all of Canada.

It is easy to forget how extensive our province’s road system is and how much time, effort and money it takes to maintain and upgrade.

That’s why, as PA McCarthy mentioned, the government is investing over $25 billion over 10 years to support highway expansion, maintenance and repair projects right across the province.

I would like to take an opportunity to speak in more detail about some of the most important highway projects that are included in this investment.

There is the development of Highway 413, a new 400-series highway. As I said here last September, this project is critical to the economic well-being of both Peel region and the entire province. It will serve as a transportation corridor across Peel, Halton and York regions to support the movement of people and goods across the western GTA. This is already the single-most congested corridor in North America, and the greater Golden Horseshoe is adding at least 200,000 new residents each year. This necessary new highway will save drivers up to 30 minutes on their commute each way. That’s five hours per week and 260 hours each year. That’s 11 days every year. Highway 413 will finally bring relief to an area that so clearly needs it.

The government has also committed to the Bradford Bypass. This will be a new four-lane freeway, connecting Highway 400 in Simcoe county to Highway 404 in York region. Everyone who has sat in gridlock on Highway 400 can appreciate that this new freeway is expected to save commuters over 35 minutes per trip, compared to the existing route along other local roads. That’s almost six hours per week, or over 300 hours each year.

I’d like to move on to the QEW Garden City Skyway project. This will include a new twin bridge over the Welland Canal, connecting St. Catharines to Niagara-on-the-Lake. This new bridge will keep traffic moving across this important trading corridor that links our international border crossing with the Golden Horseshoe.

The government is also committed to the next phase of construction for the new Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph. Again, this project will provide relief to commuters stuck in gridlock on Highway 401 and will connect the fast-growing urban centres of Kitchener, Waterloo and Guelph.

Also, there is an investment to rebuild over 21 kilometres of Highway 101, known as the Timmins connecting link. This is one of the largest connecting links in Ontario, used by 25,000 vehicles every single day.

Of course, transportation doesn’t just mean highways. The government has also made investments that will support public transit well into the next generation. In the 2022 budget, the government committed almost $62 billion over 10 years for public transit. This includes breaking ground on the Ontario Line here in Toronto. This line will provide rapid transit between Exhibition, Ontario Place and the Ontario Science Centre, and connect to over 40 other transit routes, including the GO train line, TTC subways and streetcar lines and the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

Outside Toronto, the Bowmanville GO train expansion will expand rail service from Oshawa to Bowmanville on the Lakeshore East corridor to help reduce gridlock in my colleague PA McCarthy’s community.

Moving west, the government has invested in expanding GO Transit rail to eventually offer weekend trips between London and Union Station in Toronto. This is part of our plan to transform the GO train network into a modern, reliable and fully connected rapid transit network. The goal is to cut down commute times across the province by increasing service, with faster trains, more stations and better transit connections.

As I said earlier this month in our debate on Bill 71, northern Ontario will play a critical role in the economic future of this province. But to help unlock its potential, we need better transportation opportunities in the north. That’s why the government has committed $75 million to bring passenger rail service back to northeastern Ontario. This will finally restore a key transportation option between Timmins and Toronto to help to connect northern Ontario to the financial centres in the south. This will be an important link for northern Ontario as the government continues to invest in unlocking the full economic potential of northern industries and natural resources, building new, made-in-Ontario supply chains to connect critical minerals from the north, including the Ring of Fire, to manufacturing in the south.

In closing, I would like to thank all the members for listening during this Supply Act debate, as we have highlighted spending on some key projects, particularly in the areas of health and transportation. These are two critical areas where every dollar spent will benefit the people of Ontario.

In the face of hard economic times, Ontario has demonstrated its incredible resilience and strength, and it is our government’s job as guardians of the public purse to support the families, workers and businesses of this province. To do this, we must also build a strong foundation for future growth and prosperity. It’s a heavy responsibility to be trusted with the hard-earned tax dollars of the people of this province. It is not to be taken lightly. The pandemic has only highlighted this point. The government made a promise to be responsible and transparent about the province’s economic and fiscal situation. And I believe, during this final process of the fiscal cycle, that is exactly what we’re doing.

Again, I would like to thank the minister and PA McCarthy for their remarks earlier today.

Together with my colleagues, I urge all members to support the Supply Act, so that spending on these critical public services can be authorized for the current fiscal year.

I’m up to debate the government’s Supply Act to authorize expenditures for the government’s fiscal plan. What I really want to talk about today is what this act will not supply for the people of Ontario.

Let’s start with housing that people can afford. The experts have told us that over the next decade we need to build 160,000 deeply affordable homes in this province. Of those, 60,000 need to be permanent supportive homes with wraparound mental health, addictions and other supports. You won’t see money for that in the Supply Act.

You won’t see money for that allocated to ensure that we build affordable communities—communities where people can actually live in homes they can afford, close to where they want to work. Instead, what you have is a government focused on building million-dollar homes in the greenbelt, paving over the farmland that feeds us and contributes $50 billion to the province’s economy, the land that protects us from flooding, the wetlands that clean our drinking water. So let’s supply the ability of the government to spend money on affordable homes instead of paving over the places we love.

Second, you won’t see anything in the government’s fiscal plan that will supply the ability to build affordable climate-ready communities with resilient infrastructure that’s going to withstand the impacts of the climate crisis that we’re already facing. According to the Financial Accountability Officer, in this decade alone—we’re just talking about the next seven years—the government is going to need to invest $26.2 billion just to make our public infrastructure have the ability to withstand the impacts of the climate crisis, $14 billion for transportation alone—our roads, our highways, our bridges, our transit systems. You can see it—when I was coming to Queen’s Park today, the number of potholes I hit alone coming in, let alone the climate impacts we’re going to face—we’re going to need $6.2 billion over the next seven years just for water and stormwater systems and $6 billion for buildings.

So, Speaker, think of the people and the communities, the municipalities who are going to be on the hook for this damage. We need to do far more to prevent it from happening in the first place—which you don’t see in the Supply Act—we’re going to need to protect the nature that protects us in order to reduce the financial costs of these risks. But at the very least, if the government is going to ignore doing that, they should at least allocate the funding to build the resilient infrastructure to be able to withstand those impacts.

Third, there’s nothing here that’s supplying people with the solutions to address the health care crisis that we’re facing and, in particular, solutions to pay the nurses and the front-line health care workers who care for our loved ones each and every day. We should be embarrassed in Ontario that we have the lowest-paid nurses in the country. The Financial Accountability Officer, an independent officer of the Legislature, in his latest report says that Ontario spends the lowest per capita on health care of any province in the country, and we have the lowest-paid nurses the country. So if we’re going to solve the health care crisis, we actually need to invest in the people who care for our loved ones. That means getting rid of Bill 124. Stop wasting more money on lawyers to appeal it and actually start bargaining fair wages, better working conditions and better benefits for nurses and other front-line care workers in this province.

The final thing that you won’t see supplied in this expenditure plan is the base budget funding that our mental health services need to just be able to maintain existing levels of service, which anyone in the sector will tell you are already inadequate. Some 28,000 young people are on wait-lists that can go up to two and a half years to access basic mental health services.

I tell a story oftentimes of a young man I ran into in downtown Guelph. I never forget the day I asked him, “How are you doing?” He said, “I’m okay today, but it would have helped six months ago, when I was on suicide watch, if I could have accessed mental health services. But I finally got a call from somebody yesterday.”

When we underfund basic public services like mental health services, those have real-world impacts on people’s day-to-day lives, their quality of life, the quality of life in our communities. If you talk to small businesses in downtowns and along main streets all across the province, they’ll tell you it has direct impacts on the economy of this province, the ability of the small businesses to generate the prosperity to fund high-quality education, public health care and the other social services we need.

Speaker, let’s actually have a fiscal plan that supplies what the people of Ontario need to thrive.

Further debate? Further debate?

Pursuant to standing order 67, I am now required to put the question.

Mr. Sarkaria has moved second reading of Bill 77, An Act to authorize the expenditure of certain amounts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Second reading agreed to.

Mr. Sarkaria moved third reading of the following bill:

Bill 77, An Act to authorize the expenditure of certain amounts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023 / Projet de loi 77, Loi autorisant l’utilisation de certaines sommes pour l’exercice se terminant le 31 mars 2023.

Mr. Sarkaria has moved third reading of Bill 77, An Act to authorize the expenditure of certain amounts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry?

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Be it resolved that the bill do now pass and be entitled as in the motion.

Third reading agreed to.

The House adjourned at 1545.