First, I want to say it’s an honour to be able to share my time with the Minister of Finance and the member from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound. I’m on a great, great team.

It’s a pleasure to be able to use this time to be able to speak about our government’s Plan to Build Act. We brought this legislation forward as one of our first orders of business, because we have already hit the ground running, and are well under way in implementing our 2022 Ontario Budget: Ontario’s Plan to Build.

This is our plan to rebuild Ontario’s economy; our plan to keep costs down for Ontario families and put more money back in their pockets; our plan to work for Ontario’s workers and deliver better jobs and bigger paycheques; our plan to build highways, transit and key infrastructure, and support the building of housing right across our province; and our plan to keep Ontario open, today and in the future, by investing in home care, long-term care and our health care workforce.

“Build”: Mr. Speaker, that word appears in our 2022 budget more than 300 times, and it appears in the legislation we are discussing today, whether we’re talking about getting shovels in the ground to build highways, bridges, subways and schools; building new hospitals and long-term-care beds, and recruiting nurses, doctors and personal support workers; making investments in the auto sector and in critical minerals to rebuild Ontario’s economy; or to build a province that works for workers while keeping costs down for families. Our government has a plan to build, and we have a plan to get it done.

Our government has a plan to build prosperity everywhere, for everyone, for every person and every region across this great province. Our plan will build prosperity for all. For too long, employment growth and opportunities have been concentrated in Ontario’s largest metropolitan areas. For example, our government doesn’t think it’s fair for government organizations to be centralized in one location, typically Toronto. Too many regions have not shared in the prosperity in this province. Every small city, town and village in Ontario has something to offer, and the Ontario government has a plan to make sure everyone can contribute to making this province great.

That’s why our 2022 budget includes a Community Jobs Initiative. Through this initiative, the government is working to bring jobs and provincial agencies to communities across Ontario to spur economic growth throughout the province. This begins with exploring the relocation of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board headquarters to London, Ontario. The Workplace Safety and Insurance Act of 1997 currently requires the main offices to be located in Toronto. Our Plan to Build Act would, if passed, see this section repealed, because we don’t believe that only one urban centre should have access to these good jobs and community benefits that they can bring.

Mr. Speaker, another way to build is helping to bring prosperity in all corners of the province through our Regional Opportunities Investment Tax Credit. It is a tax credit that was introduced in March 2020 to help lower the cost for businesses seeking to expand and grow in areas of the province where employment growth has been slower than the provincial average. It supports corporations that build, renovate or purchase eligible commercial or industrial buildings in qualifying areas in Ontario. It provides an incentive to bring jobs and growth to these communities because, as I noted earlier, we believe communities across the province deserve access and opportunity to build and succeed. Members may recall that in the 2021 budget we temporarily doubled this tax credit rate from 10% to 20% until the end of 2022. We did this to provide additional support for businesses in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This enhancement increased the available tax credit support for regional investment from a maximum of $45,000 to a maximum of $90,000 in a year. Through the legislation we are discussing today, our government is proposing to extend the temporary enhancement of the Regional Opportunities Investment Tax Credit until the end of 2023. This would give businesses more time to make use of this enhanced support, more time to invest in Ontario’s communities, more time to rebuild our economy.

By extending the limited enhancement to the Regional Opportunities Investment Tax Credit, Ontario would be investing an additional $40 million, resulting in a total estimated tax credit support of over $280 million from 2020-21 to 2024-25. As we move forward with our plan to rebuild Ontario’s economy, this measure would help bring growth and prosperity to Ontario’s diverse communities. From Cochrane to Kenora, from Thunder Bay to Timiskaming, from Manitoulin to Perth, the Regional Opportunities Investment Tax Credit enhancement would support job creation and growth throughout this great province.

Mr. Speaker, our plan to build also includes one of the most ambitious capital plans in our province’s history. It includes planned investments over the next 10 years totalling $158.8 billion, including $20 billion in 2022-23. This plan is getting shovels in the ground to build highways, hospitals, transit and other critical assets, creating jobs and laying the foundation for a stronger Ontario. It includes $25.1 billion over the next 10 years to support the planning and construction of highway expansion and rehabilitation projects across the province, cutting commute times so the people of Ontario can get to work faster and to their families faster.

Additionally, these critical projects will support job creation and drive economic growth. For example, we are moving ahead with building the Highway 413, a new 400-series highway and transit corridor across Halton, Peel and York regions. This highway will support the movement of goods and services across the province, saving drivers up to 30 minutes on their commute, as well as being a relief to the most congested area in North America.

Our government has taken another step towards getting shovels in the ground to build the Bradford Bypass, a new four-lane highway connecting the 400 in Simcoe county and Highway 404 in York region. This critical infrastructure will ease gridlock in the greater Golden Horseshoe area by taking pressure off an increasingly congested Highway 400 and existing east-west local roads. It is estimated that commuters using the Bradford Bypass will save up to 35 minutes in travel time per trip compared to existing routes on local roads.

Our work on expanding Highway 401, an important economic corridor, better connecting eastern Ontario and eastern Canada: This work includes three bridge replacements in Oshawa to facilitate future widening between Brock Road and Pickering through to Highways 35 and 115; bridge replacements in Port Hope to facilitate future widening between Highways 35 and 115 to Belleville; and acquiring land to facilitate future widening of Highway 401 through Belleville and Brockville.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to provide some examples of the highway rehabilitation and expansion initiatives that will help decrease gridlock and increase productivity for the people of Ontario.

In the north, we are widening from two to four lanes on Highways 11/17 from Highway 587 east to Pearl Lake, and this includes new Pearl River bridges for 14 kilometres.

We have also several rehabilitation and resurfacing projects for Highway 417 in Ottawa, Highway 401 in Cornwall, Highways 115 and 7 in Peterborough. In addition, there are bridge replacements on Highway 417 in Ottawa.

In the southwest of the province, the government is improving Highway 401 in Oxford county, Highway 21 in Kincardine and west of Springmount, as well as a bridge replacement on Highway 40 over the CN railway in Sarnia. In central Ontario, we have bridge replacements in Orillia, Barrie and Oshawa and are expanding the 401 from Mississauga to Milton. We are building in the east, north, west and central Ontario—all across this great province.

Mr. Speaker, I’d now like to focus on public transportation. Our plan includes a $61.6-billion investment over 10 years in public transit. With the Plan to Build Act, our government is proposing changes that will improve local passenger transportation systems because, as we know, a stronger, more integrated transportation network is absolutely critical and vital to the people of this province. This includes transforming the GO Transit rail network into a modern, reliable and fully integrated rapid transit network through properties such as the Bowmanville GO rail extension, which will provide GO Transit rail services from Oshawa into Bowmanville on the Lakeshore East corridor and help reduce gridlock, and the London GO rail service, which will provide weekday GO train trips between London and Union Station in Toronto.

Our plan also includes the government’s historic vision for the largest subway expansion in Canadian history. This includes the all-new Ontario Line that will offer subway service between the Ontario Science Centre to Exhibition Place through downtown Toronto. This new subway line will connect to more than 40 other transit routes, including GO rail lines, existing TTC routes and the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit line.

Our ambitious vision also includes several extensions, such as the Scarborough subway extension that would provide additional service extending from the existing TTC’s Line 2 Kennedy Station with three new stations along the way; namely, Lawrence Avenue and McCowan, Scarborough Centre, and Sheppard Avenue and McCowan Road.

The Yonge North subway extension will extend the TTC’s Line 1 service north from Finch station with new additional stations: Steeles, Clark, Royal Orchard, Bridge and High Tech.

And the Eglinton Crosstown West extension will extend the Eglinton Crosstown west of the future Mount Dennis Station, with seven new station stops, from Jane to Renforth, as well as a proposed connection to the Toronto Pearson International Airport.

Additionally, a few examples of new light rail service that connect to stations and lines include: the Hazel McCallion Line, previously known as the Hurontario LRT, that will provide new service in Peel region along Hurontario Street, connecting Port Credit Station in Mississauga to the Brampton Gateway Terminal at Steeles Avenue; the Finch West LRT that will provide new service connecting Finch West Station on the Yonge-University Line to Humber College; and the Hamilton LRT that will provide new service connecting Eastgate Square to McMaster University through downtown Hamilton.

Our transit projects in the GTA will support more than 16,000 jobs annually during construction over the next decade. By 2040-41, the subway projects are expected to have a total ridership of roughly 620,000 and expand the existing network by 50%.

Shovels are already in the ground across the greater Golden Horseshoe region. We have hit some noteworthy milestones, such as preparing the Scarborough subway extension, with the tunnel-boring machines getting into position to prepare for digging tunnels. And we have started the planning for the design and build of three subway stations and related bus facilities. This includes working on all the nuts and bolts for installation, from the tracks to the signals and communication involved. We want to ensure that once it is constructed, it will continue to be a vital piece of infrastructure.

It is worth noting again that our Plan to Build Act will support this plan through proposed measures that would enable better integration of the services of the local transportation systems to help the people of Ontario get to where they need to go.

Our plans include actions and investments to ensure that Ontario’s health system is even more resilient. The pandemic took its toll on health care, but it was not without learnings. With these lessons learned, we can deliver high-quality health care in the face of any future challenge.

Our capital plan for building Ontario also includes more than $40 billion over the next 10 years in hospital infrastructure, including $27 billion in capital grants. This is $10 billion more for hospitals and health care than the commitment in the 2021 budget. These investments will increase capacity in hospitals, build new health care facilities, and renew existing hospitals and community health centres. This funding means supporting thousands of acute and post-acute beds and hundreds of adult, pediatric and neonatal critical care beds.

Ontario is investing another $3.3 billion for the hospital sector in 2022-23, bringing the total additional investments in hospitals to $8.8 billion since 2018-19. Funding in 2022-23 includes $1.5 billion to support the continuation of over 3,500 critical care, acute and post-acute beds. It means increased access to high-quality health care, much-needed surgical and diagnostic imaging recovery, and health and human resources.

With that, my time is expired. I will pass it back to you, Mr. Speaker.

I certainly hope the opposition would see to it that they will support us in this great budget put forward by the Minister of Finance.

In Tuesday’s throne speech, the government highlighted its desire to put in place the conditions that will lead to the construction of over a million homes.

We have seen that the lack of supply, along with the recent Bank of Canada interest rate hikes, are placing a strain on many young Ontario families looking to buy their first home—but it’s not just potential homebuyers; it’s also people looking for rental accommodation in an increasingly tough environment.

More often than not, delays caused by red tape, infighting at local councils or simply bad policy have stalled construction of housing, be it rental, non-profit, long-term-care or even someone wanting to buy a home.

Yesterday, the government tabled legislation that would supplement the powers of mayors in Toronto and Ottawa. Specifically, I want to know how these added authorities help move projects along.

Thank you to the member for his remarks, full and considered. I think we all agree that more housing is needed, but across this province housing starts are at an all-time high. Last year, Ontario had over 100,000 housing starts, the highest level since 1987, and more than 13,000 rental starts.

Interjection.

We know we still need to build more homes. Does the opposition not agree and does the member not agree that we need to accelerate the construction of all kinds of homes for all kinds of folks in Ontario?