I’m pleased to rise today to speak about Bill 69, the Reducing Inefficiencies Act, 2023, that would, if passed, make amendments to the Ministry of Infrastructure Act, 2011, and complementary amendments to nine other acts, and amendments to the Environmental Assessment Act.

Madam Speaker, the people of this province re-elected our government to build Ontario now and for generations to come. They are expecting us to be fiscally prudent by making smarter and more effective decisions, while also respecting how tax dollars are being spent, and, of course, by cutting red tape by removing and modernizing outdated regulations.

That’s why our government is taking the necessary steps to unlock our province’s economic potential, deliver better jobs, and provide cost savings for families and businesses across Ontario. We have already made significant progress. For example, we have unlocked thousands of cost savings for taxpayers and businesses; we have seen thousands of more people trained for rewarding careers in the skilled trades. We are also delivering one of the most ambitious infrastructure plans with a historic investment of more than $159 billion for over 10 years. Our government was re-elected on a promise to protect and grow Ontario’s economy and build our communities so that the people of this province are supported, and we are delivering.

Our government has a plan, and that’s why I’m proud to rise in the House today and speak to our government’s Bill 69, the Reducing Inefficiencies Act, 2023. If passed, our proposed measures would help cut red tape, enhance fiscal management, boost the economy and save taxpayers money. We are practising good governance for the people of this province, and this bill we are proposing contains two initiatives.

The first proposed initiative would better maintain and better manage real estate. If passed, this legislation would establish a framework to modify the real estate authority of 14 entities and provide the Minister of Infrastructure with control over real estate previously under the control of the prescribed entities.

Madam Speaker, each of these 14 entities has a critical role in health, in well-being and economic prosperity of Ontario. Their work impacts many different sectors that people in our province depend on daily, from schools to businesses, health care, the digital sector, human rights, equity, the skilled trades, arts, media, tourism, agriculture, fire safety and so many. We know that the past several years have brought significant challenge to each of these industries, yet members within each of these entities have shown great leadership and adapted to keep their work, programs and services moving forward.

If passed, this legislation would create a framework to centralize the real estate authority of these entities, which would reduce red tape and create a more efficient process so these entities can better support the people of Ontario.

These 14 entities would also be able to leverage the government’s realty model for office space. This model was developed to support the government’s commitment to plan and manage provincial real estate assets to ensure consistent, efficient and sustainable realty services across the entire general office realty portfolio.

The expected outcome would be a better managed government office realty portfolio that provides a responsive client service, provides strategic real estate decision-making and reduces red tape, optimizes existing funds and real estate and reinvests savings to address the market inflation, capital repair and rehabilitation.

Bill 69, if passed, would amend the Ministry of Infrastructure Act, 2011, and nine other acts, including the AgriCorp Act, 1996; Arts Council Act; Building Opportunities in the Skilled Trades Act, 2021; Capital Investment Plan Act, 1993; Education Quality and Accountability Office Act, 1996; Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario Act, 2016; Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997; Human Rights Code; Securities Commission Act, 2021.

Madam Speaker, I want to emphasize that real estate is one of our government’s greatest resources, but currently, accountability for this portfolio is highly distributed among many entities. Each of these entities have individual processes and protocols for decisions and for transactions. Our proposed initiative is the first step in allowing our government to increase operating efficiency. It would also support our objective to act as one holistic organization when it comes to overseeing and managing the real estate portfolio of ministries and entities.

Since 2020, the Ministry of Infrastructure has consulted with key stakeholders, including the 14 entities and their eight oversight ministries. The oversight ministries of these 14 entities support our initiative of acting as a more holistic organization. That’s because these changes would help reduce duplication and will help reduce the burdens for ministries, entities and our government.

We are confident that this bill, if passed, would help ensure that real estate expertise within our government is being leveraged and that decisions are made strategically so we can continue to make the smart strategic decisions and investments that people across this province deserve and need.

The second initiative within this bill will help reduce delays with changes to the Environmental Assessment Act while ensuring continued environmental oversight of class environmental assessment projects.

This proposed legislation, if passed, would allow the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, on a project-specific basis, to alter or waive the 30-day waiting period for class environmental assessment projects. This would bring our government one step closer to modernizing an almost 50-year-old environmental process that is slow, costly and burdensome, without compromising environmental standards and protections.

Madam Speaker, I really want to highlight this portion here: without any compromise in terms of environmental standards and protections.

Our people and businesses across the province face red tape and regulatory barriers, and we are focused on easing those burdens and making Ontario better—better for people by assessing and modernizing important regulations, and better for businesses by removing unnecessary processes that hold them back. By providing new and innovative solutions, we continue to improve quality of life across the province.

The proposed measures in this bill include concrete action that would provide lasting solutions. For example:

—increasing operating efficiencies by implementing a more structured and effective way to manage real estate;

—ensuring our government can better align our policies to enhance government-wide decision-making capabilities through using a more centralized, holistic approach;

—reducing regulatory burden for certain class environmental assessment projects to help get projects built faster; and

—saving time and money that could be spent on other projects that matter most to the people in our province.

The benefits of a more centralized decision-making real estate model, in addition to our amendments to the Environmental Assessment Act, are very, very clear. I’m proud to say that this is part of our government’s promise to make life better for the people of Ontario. That’s why we are consistently taking action to develop new, flexible, innovative and responsible plans to navigate new challenges and build Ontario for the future.

That includes rethinking and modernizing our approach to managing and making decisions about our real estate portfolio. For example, our government is looking at new ways to assess and upcycle real estate properties that sit unused and empty, to better meet the needs of our province. We are doing this by implementing a more efficient process to identify buildings and properties that are no longer needed to deliver programs and assess them for economic and social-purpose opportunities. By revitalizing surplus government properties, we are saving taxpayers’ money while building stronger communities and increasing our potential to deliver more services. We’re also working to distribute a great portion of the agency workforce across the province and boost economic growth in these communities.

Our government has heard very loud and clear from businesses and workers that they expect more from our government, which is why we took action to drive this change. Just last year, we announced that our government is working with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board in planning the relocation of its Toronto-based head office to London. This is part of our government’s Community Jobs Initiative, which aims to distribute the greater portion of the provincial agency workforce across the province to foster economic growth in these communities. This initiative expands, relocates and grows agencies’ presence in communities across Ontario so more people have access to high-quality jobs.

We have made it clear our government will take action for the people of Ontario. We will get shovels in the ground to build highways, to build hospitals, transit and other key projects that will boost our economy and improve our day-to-day lives. This is part of our plan to build Ontario. We are also working to ensure our communities are able to access faster and more reliable and seamless transit. Ontario is seizing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build vibrant, mixed-use communities across transit stations across the greater Golden Horseshoe. These transit-oriented communities, also known as TOCs, will improve transit access and bring more housing, jobs, retail and public amenities within the short distance of transit.

We are also redeveloping Ontario Place into a world-class year-round destination with family entertainment, parkland, waterfront access and more. Repair work has already started on the iconic Cinesphere, Pod complex and bridges. This spring, we expect to begin construction to bring the site services up to modern standards including water, sewer, gas and electrical systems. It has been an entire decade since Ontario Place closed its attractions, and our development project will create a beautiful and cohesive landscape across the site that will integrate the improved areas with enhanced parkland and public space. With our investments, Ontario Place will be a destination where families near and far can come together to create lifelong memories.

These projects are just a few examples of how we are investing in infrastructure for the people of Ontario. Our government has always been open and transparent with the people of Ontario. And we know that these are challenging times. But by working harder, smarter and more efficiently, we are continuing to build on our previous commitments. We are continuing to explore ways to improve quality of life for the people of Ontario. That’s why every day, in every corner of our province, our government is getting the job done.

Modernizing government process and oversight, reducing regulatory burden and saving taxpayers’ dollars through improved efficiency measures like the ones we are proposing today are key to building Ontario. It is key to strengthening communities and ensuring our prosperity today and for many years in the future. Together with the initiative from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, this bill, if passed, would cut red tape. Madam Speaker, the changes that our government is bringing forward would help build Ontario’s economy and prosperity.

I will now turn it over to parliamentary assistant Amarjot Sandhu to talk more about the proposed legislation and Ontario’s plan to build.

Madam Speaker, through you, to the member opposite: To be crystal clear, the environmental assessment standards will remain in place. The EA process is not being compromised. The EA process requires the proponents to assess potential environmental impacts, identify mitigation measures, consult with Indigenous communities, the public and stakeholders before the project will proceed.

The 30-day waiver is after the successful completion of the environmental assessment if there is no other concern in the assessment.

That being said, we are almost one step closer to modernizing a 50-year-old burdensome process.

Having said that, the 2017 Auditor General’s report, as well as other third-party reports, has been identifying these opportunities to have an efficient way to manage and oversee the real estate portfolio. Since then, our government has been in consultation with these entities and our stakeholders and, of course, all the oversight ministries to make sure that we come up with a plan that reduces the burdens—

The expected outcome that the member opposite is looking for from this legislation would be a better-managed government office realty portfolio that provides more responsive client service, that has strategic real estate decision-making authority, and reduced red tape, as I mentioned. And, of course, it will optimize existing funds and real estate funds and reinvest these savings into addressing market inflation, capital repairs and rehabilitation.

By doing so, we can, for example, get a municipal road project to speed up—we can make sure that our government can work with municipal partners and stakeholders to get shovels in the ground faster. That way, we can optimize the way our government works with our stakeholders to build Ontario for the future and for generations to come.

For example, when it comes to optimizing the funds in these entities, we can save a lot of funds and reinvest these funds to work on market inflation. We can reinvest the same funds into capital repairs or rehabilitation. So there is space to be efficient, to operate this in an efficient manner, so that definitely is going to cut red tape and save—