My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. Since we took office, Ontario is seeing record levels of investment across our economy. Countless companies from across the globe who didn’t have a Canadian presence before 2018 have come to Ontario to set up shop.

Now, under the previous Liberal government, the opposite was occurring. Their high-tax agenda, endorsed by the NDP, drove businesses out of Ontario. Now they want our government to sit idly by while the federal government tries to hike the carbon tax. That’s unacceptable, Speaker. We refuse to go back to the Liberal days when businesses were fleeing our province in droves because of high taxes and, yes, red tape.

Can the minister please explain how our government’s approach to business has contributed to record levels of investment in Ontario?

Well, here’s the difference: While the federal government is increasing taxes through the carbon tax, we have been reducing taxes. In fact, we’ve lowered the cost of doing business by $8 billion a year. What has that resulted in? Site Selection Magazine declared Ontario as Canada’s most-competitive jurisdiction again this year. That’s five out of six years Ontario is our most competitive jurisdiction. The CBRE declared Toronto is the leading North American jurisdiction for tech job creation. Ontario leads Canada in foreign direct investment. In fact, in the first half of the year, almost $9 billion came into Ontario from outside of North America. That’s 57% of Canada’s foreign direct investment.

Speaker, none of this happened by raising taxes. We want our federal government to hear loud and clear that lower taxes create jobs.