My question is to the Minister of Infrastructure.

In the coming decades, Ontario’s population is expected to grow by more than six million people. As our population grows, investing in infrastructure is now more important than ever. Clogged roads and gridlocked highways hurt our hard-working families, as they’re stuck in traffic longer than needed. Outdated and antiquated infrastructure drags down our economy and makes us less competitive as a province. Ontario cannot afford to hold this economy back. Now is the time to build.

Can the Minister of Infrastructure please share with the House what our government is doing to build effective and resilient infrastructure for all Ontarians?

Together, let’s build health care networks that better serve our patients and keep our province moving ahead.

Infrastructure investments ensure a stronger economy, better jobs and bigger paycheques for all Ontarians.

Communities like Brampton, Windsor and my region of Durham are all places that have long advocated for infrastructure investments, but, sadly, the previous Liberal government ignored our needs.

Now is the time for our government to act. Now is the time to get shovels in the ground.

Can the Minister of Infrastructure tell the House what critical projects our government is undertaking as we, together, rebuild Ontario?

Je remercie le député pour sa question.

Our government is very proud to be nation-leading in our standards for highway clearing across the province, but especially in northern Ontario.

Speaker, our government just recently announced a new standard for clearing highways in northern Ontario—a new Highways 11 and 17 standard called the Ontario trans-Canada standard. We will see our northern highways cleared in 12 hours. That is four hours faster than ever before. It represents the massive investments that we have made in clearing our roads in the north—1,100 pieces of new equipment, changes to our contractors’ model, and new weather information stations.

Mr. Speaker, we have been working very closely with our contractors to make sure that we meet those standards and continue to improve road cleaning in northern Ontario.

Bill 36, An Act to implement Budget measures and to enact and amend various statutes / Projet de loi 36, Loi visant à mettre en oeuvre les mesures budgétaires et à édicter et à modifier diverses lois.