Thank you, Speaker. Good to see you in the chair.

I think one of the greatest parts about seeing so many new members on our side of the House in here is to get to know them, to hear their stories. That’s one of the reasons why I so appreciate the member from Newmarket–Aurora, because I know her passion for her community and for the most vulnerable in her community. I think that’s one of the most gratifying things, to see the work that we’ve done with the most vulnerable in our communities.

With that, last year our government announced that it would increase the ODSP rate by 5%, which is the first increase of that to happen in as long as I can remember. I was wondering if the member could further speak about the work that we’re doing in the budget for the most vulnerable.

I always appreciate the member from Nickel Belt. She brings such heart and passion not just for her community in Nickel Belt, but indeed for everything in the north and, indeed, everything across the province of Ontario.

I was very thrilled to hear that her only complaint about the budget is that it’s not enough, and so she’s supportive of every measure that we’re making in the budget, just not enough: more roads, more care, more budget for mental health, more education, all those pieces. In many ways, I can agree, but this is what we are doing now. I heard no negatives from her about what we are doing with the budget measures.

While I appreciate her advocating for more, I was wondering if the member from Nickel Belt will be supporting the budget, because she agrees with everything that we’re doing with it.

I’m pleased to rise today and talk about the budget. Maybe I’m getting old and maudlin, but I can remember looking back at what drove me to make the decision to run for office in this House. It was in 2017 where people approached me and said, “We need someone like you in Toronto.” I think that was true for so many of us in the class of 2018. You’ll remember the same thing, Speaker, that drove you to run here. Our class especially—I think so many of us left very good positions and took a step back in order to serve the people of Ontario in this place, because we knew what 15 years of waste and mismanagement, to use that old quote, had done to the province of Ontario.

I still think about that a lot. It seemed like it was just yesterday, and yet it seems like such a lifetime ago. I’ve been thinking about that especially during budget time because of the changes we have made, and I think sometimes of how different it would have been if the government had turned out differently than it did.

I can remember that 350,000 jobs were chased out of the province of Ontario, and I think, listening sometimes to the Liberal members, that if they could pack a few more people into their van, they would still be driving those jobs out of Ontario right now, if they had the opportunity. But we’re in a position now where we have a deficit of workers in the province of Ontario of, I think, 350,000. That makes me wonder how much change we have done in just four short years for the benefit of the people of Ontario.

When I think of a budget that has the largest spending in every single sector that’s ever happened before, I think it’s $200 billion or something like that—I’m not that kind of a numbers guy; I think more in the terms of prescriptions and eyeglasses than in those kinds of numbers—what a difference. We haven’t sacrificed anything to the most vulnerable in the province of Ontario, and yet we are on a path to balance, and that’s after having been through a global pandemic—it’s now endemic—that screwed up the lives of so many, that cost us 50,000 lives in the province of Ontario, and yet we can say with confidence that we are on a path to balance in this province.

I think of that conversation that I had that seems like a lifetime ago, conversations that many of us have had with people who said, “You know what? We need someone like you to stand for the people of Ontario, not just for the riding, but for the sake of the people of Ontario, so that we can turn things around.”

Because if there’s one thing that I’ve learned in the last four years, and especially in working with the Indigenous people in my riding, the nations that I represent here, it’s that we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, but we are all connected with those who have gone before and with those who will come after. One of the tag lines that I’ve adopted through my work here is that we have to leave things better than we found them. It’s so incredible to be part of a government that is committed to leaving things better than we found them.

Again, when I contemplate the fact that we’re looking at a budget that, if passed, will spend more than ever before—I apologize for those fiscal hawks who may be watching, but we are investing more into infrastructure, into roads, into bridges, into making good things happen for Ontario than ever before.

We are building Ontario. We are indeed building Ontario, because we have a duty to our children. I think of the member from Kitchener–Conestoga: five children who are younger than mine. We have a duty to those youth to leave things better than we found them, and that’s why it gives me great pleasure to speak about the budget today.

We have five simple pillars. We need to build Ontario’s economy for today and for tomorrow. We have to build our highways. We have to build transit. We have to build infrastructure.

The first lesson that I learned on county council was that there’s good debt and there’s bad debt. When you’re spending money on operations, when you’re loaning money for operations, you’re in trouble. You’re in trouble in your household; you’re in trouble as a province of Ontario. But when you’re spending money for the future, for subways, for highways, for hospitals, for courthouses, you’re building for the future. That investment will always come back to you, and that’s good debt. That’s why I’m proud that we’re doing that.

We are working for workers. We’re working for workers so hard that we have over 300,000 unfilled jobs in the province of Ontario right now. Our call-out to the world: If you want to make Ontario your home, if you want to work hard, you are welcome here. We want you. We need you. Please come here.

We are keeping costs down. We are doing our bit. We are calling on the federal government to do their bit too, but we are saving people money on gas. I think, if I remember the numbers right, we’re saving businesses over a half billion dollars a year in red tape costs to be able to do their work more efficiently. These are all things that we are doing in the budget.

Probably the most exciting piece for me, Madam Speaker, is that I can’t hear anything negative from the opposition, other than they say, “Just do a little more.” Well, we will, because we’re going to have another fall economic statement this fall. We’re going to have another budget next year. We will continue to build a strong Ontario.

With that, Madam Speaker, I move that the question now be put.