My question is for the Minister of Infrastructure. My constituents expect to see a government that respects their tax dollars and works hard to be good, strong fiscal stewards. It’s essential that our government continues to demonstrate strong leadership by cutting red tape, implementing projects that boost good jobs in our economy and show overall respect for the taxpayer.

Our government must continue to do all that we can to be prudent fiscal managers, especially during this time of global economic challenge and rising costs.

Speaker, my question to the minister: Could the minister please explain to this House what actions our government is taking to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely and appropriately?

But, as a government, we are making the strategic investments necessary to build community infrastructure and ensure that these crucial projects are completed. We’re responsible to ensure that we’re delivering effective and resilient infrastructure that serves the needs of our communities, the needs of our constituents and protects the things that matter most to the people.

Could the minister please elaborate further on how this proposed legislation will ensure that crucial infrastructure projects can move ahead quickly and efficiently?

Thank you to the member for the question. The people of Ontario expect us to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. That is why, yesterday, I introduced Bill 69, the Reducing Inefficiencies Act, 2023, that, if passed, would allow the province to improve the management of real estate which will reduce red tape, optimize office space, enhance fiscal management and save taxpayer dollars.

Currently, Ontario has one of the largest and most complex real estate portfolios in Canada and we have been working towards establishing a more holistic approach to managing provincial agency properties. As part of this legislation, a framework would be established to modify the real estate authority of 14 entities under eight ministries to just the Ministry of Infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, we have an obligation to be fiscally prudent when managing government assets. It is my hope that the members opposite will support this legislation.

The Reducing Inefficiencies Act, 2023, if passed, will modernize an almost 50-year-old environmental assessment process that is outdated, slow and costly. We are living in a world with cost escalations. We need to be nimble, responsible and we need to do everything we can to continue to build up this province.

Thank you very much, Speaker. Thank you to the member opposite as well.

I was reading in Hansard yesterday that the member for Nickel Belt was talking about how, in Health Sciences North in Sudbury, we have 17 surgical units available. Only 14 of those are open; typically, they don’t even run the entire year because they run out of government funding.

I’m curious to understand why the Conservative government thinks that’s a better solution than providing the funding to operate these existing, publicly structured, already-built hospital surgical rooms; that funding them at a lower cost doesn’t make sense, but funding a private clinic where there’s a profit margin that will cost more, ultimately—it’s through the OHIP card, but it still costs the only taxpayer we have. There’s only one taxpayer; we’ll pay more, all of us, as taxpayers. Why is that a better solution than actually funding the hospitals that exist, that could be doing the work with the equipment in facilities that we already have?