On a construction site or any type of operation, there’s going to be one company coordinating that operation, and it’s up to them to make sure that everybody involved, that they’re going to be using for that operation, is involved and the service can be provided safely.

The whole secret behind this is that it speeds things up in a safe manner, and that’s what it’s all about.

I want to thank the parliamentary assistant for his remarks. I spent a lot of time on the phone with Ontario One Call, and truly, it being brought into force in Ontario is actually a tremendous positive given how difficult it was to understand what is actually underground—for a common person to know whether they have wires, a pipeline. There are all kinds of materials down there.

Speaker, I wanted to ask, given that both our economy and our population continue to see unprecedented growth, not just of our population, but really of the kind of work that is needed, year after year—and we really need to accommodate our modern economy. It’s important to land some of the industry that we want to attract to Ontario, and we want to see increased productivity. This whole legislation was going to do that, and we have a goal to build 1.5 million new homes.

So I wanted to ask the question of how this legislation can help facilitate construction in the province of Ontario and support builders as they work alongside us to build a strong and prosperous province.

Questions?

Thank you to the member opposite for his debate portion. I expected it to go another 10 minutes, but I guess they’re going to be doing short debates for the rest of the afternoon.

There definitely have been concerns, and I see that this bill removes—will not charge for certain locate requests, but they also won’t be required to pay compensation for the missed deadlines.

When a build is happening, as you can imagine, there are several contractors coming in from several different places, and the need to coordinate all of those contractors becomes difficult. So if we have a company that doesn’t show up to do the locates that are necessary, what is the penalty to them for not showing up and to not keep that appointment?

Could the member speak to why something like that isn’t in this legislation, to protect the builders in these circumstances?

I’d like to thank the member from Cambridge for his remarks. Specifically, I like how you brought into your speech your own incident that you witnessed or you knew was a big danger. With that being the case, we know that we need to ensure public safety and that our people remain safe at all times.

I wanted to talk about the businesses and the industries that will greatly benefit from this proposed change, like construction firms, telecommunications providers, locators, excavators. My question is, can the member please tell us the full impact of this legislation? How will it impact Ontarians, and what are the major benefits that it will provide?

I understand that the bill removes the requirement that the owners of infrastructure pay compensation when they miss deadlines. Now, there’s been a lot of debate, so I apologize if I’ve missed something along the way, but we do know that a lot of northern communities talk about making the one call but then waiting and waiting and waiting. They’ll try and back step and call the actual utility and so on, or people call the MPP’s office. I’m just wondering if there’s anything in the bill that actually calls One Call to account or the utilities to account if they continually miss deadlines.

I just need a second to do up my button here.

Okay, so it’s an honour to rise in the House today to talk about Bill 153, the Building Infrastructure Safely Act. This bill provides some small updates to the Ontario One Call system. The One Call system is about calling before you dig, or now, in more modern terms, call or click before you dig. This is really vital, everybody who’s listening today, that if you’re going to be digging in your backyard or anywhere on your property, or if someone is going to be digging, make sure you make that call, because there are utilities buried under the ground and it could be incredibly dangerous if you hit one of those utility lines.

I’ve got an example from my condo—and this is not exactly a “Call Before You Dig,” but it does talk about the importance of knowing where utility lines are. I live in a condo downtown, and I left one day to go to the store. An hour later, I came back and there’s water pouring through the pot lights in the foyer of the building and water all over the floor. Apparently what had happened was a plumber had cut the wrong pipe. And cutting that wrong pipe—it’s a 32-storey building, so all the water is draining from 32 storeys on that pipe, right? It cost $300,000 in damage. So call before you dig; make sure—I mean, this was not a “call before you dig,” but make sure you know where utility lines are and which utility lines they are before you actually get involved in that.

Let’s see. The other one is a story that comes from London, and my colleague from London West may actually know this building. There’s a beautiful Edwardian home in London, at 294 Central Avenue, and it’s got large bay windows. It’s the first and second floor. It’s the large bay windows. There’s a big dormer. It was built in 1905, and since 1953, it’s been the home of the Delta Upsilon fraternity.

Last summer, a contractor was working on the site when he hit a gas line. Firefighters were called and they turned off the gas, but they had to—and everybody should know this, if you’re watching at home: Do not put water on a gas fire because gas floats and then you’re just spreading the fire further. So they had to let the gas burn off, and at the same time, the firefighters were protecting the building. Fortunately, they were able to do that, so that building is still there today because of the work of the firefighters. But again, that’s another example of “call before you dig,” because that could have been absolutely devastating and it could have put people’s lives at risk as well.

Call before you dig. Make sure that you’re getting it done. This government’s tag line is “Get it Done.” They’ve got a bill before the House this week that’s called “Get it Done,” but they should also make sure that you get it right.

When I was looking for stories to go with my speech today, I came across this article from Global News, and the byline is:

“A rushed process

“In May, the province surprised bureaucrats and local politicians at Mississauga city hall when it issued two zoning orders to skip local planning rules on several buildings in the city.

“The announcement blindsided local officials, who were not expecting the MZOs. Between two” MZOs, “the Ford government doubled the size of a waterfront development to 16,000 units and allowed towers along Hurontario Street.

“The significant changes were announced late on a Friday night by provincial officials, who pushed out the announcement just ahead of the weekend. Local sources in Mississauga told Global News the move was a surprise and bureaucrats found out about the planning changes at the same time as everyone else—when the press release landed.

“It wasn’t just local officials, however, who were left scrambling.

“Sources with knowledge of the provincial process told Global News the request for one building included in the zoning order—a 50-storey tower—came from the developer and was turned around by the Ford government in less than two weeks.”

So this is the government getting it done. They get a request from a developer for a zoning order—“We want to build this 50-storey tower”—and they turn that around in two weeks.

“The order to allow the building near Toronto Pearson airport came through the Premier’s office and was given to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the sources said.”

Then the next byline is:

“Airport forced to take province aside

“After the zoning order was announced, and city staff left scrambling to put the planning direction into action, officials at Toronto Pearson airport were forced to intervene....

“The province was effectively told they had allowed a developer to build a” 50-storey “skyscraper in the middle of a flight path relied upon by the country’s busiest airport,” Pearson.

“‘In response to feedback from the Greater Toronto Airports Authority ... regarding its proximity to Pearson airport, the former minister amended this MZO to remove the northern site located at 5645 Hurontario Street,’ a spokesperson for the Ford government confirmed.”

This is another example of, getting it done is one thing, but getting it right is even more important, because you don’t want to be building or even allowing a 50-storey skyscraper in the middle of a flight path. That’s the kind of mistake that you make when you’re trying to rush things and you’re not actually doing it properly. The purpose of this bill is to actually balance safety and speed, and the airport example is something that the government needs to be working on, because getting it right means that you don’t have to repeal things all the time.

This government has passed many, many pieces of legislation that they’ve then had to repeal—for example, Bill 124. This week, or in this session anyway, the government has announced that it will be repealing Bill 124, and this was the cap on public sector wages. In 2018, when the government got in, they passed Bill 124, and it capped public sector wages at 1% for three years. At the time, everybody said—and I sat in the committee there. We were all saying, “This is a violation of charter rights.” The Liberals passed a similar bill in 2011 capping public sector wages, and it went all the way to the Supreme Court. It was Bill 115. It went all the way to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court said, “This bill actually violates the charter right to freedom of association.” The charter right to freedom of association includes the right to be a member of a union and to fair collective bargaining. So people in this country have the right to be a member of a union and to have fair collective bargaining, and the government cannot override that right with a bill like the Liberal Bill 115 or the Conservative Bill 124. The Liberals had already spent—and I think this lasted about five years in the courts, fighting Bill 115—

My background is industrial engineering, and when I look at that—like I said, what are some of the costs that are wasted? And the wastes are when I look at something that’s delayed. This eliminates that issue. We can speed up development, we can coordinate it better, and we can make it happen. As I stated in my statement about getting it done, this gets it done.

And I would like to say, I appreciate the other side of this House working with us to get this done, because it’s for the greater good of the province of Ontario and for our people who live here. Thank you.

Further questions?

It’s always a privilege to be able to rise and to get in depth in the conversation on Bill 153, Building Infrastructure Safely Act.

My question is to the colleague across the way there. With the bill proposing major changes for the third time in less than two years, can the government clarify the rationale behind these frequent amendments? How do these changes address the concerns missed in Bill 93 and in Bill 23, particularly regarding stakeholder consultations? I’m not sure if there is a relevant question about the lack of comprehensive consultation the first time around.

They’re still there.

Point of order: I recognize the member from Windsor–Tecumseh.

Okay. I appreciate that.

This bill is all about balancing safety and speed, about getting it done. I’ve heard the member from Cambridge talk about getting things built faster, and this is about a process that we need to follow in here. Getting it done is one thing, but getting it done right is even more important.

Bill 124, when it was finally overturned by the Ontario Court of Appeal a few weeks ago—it found, the same as Bill 115, that it was a violation of the charter rights of the workers. If the government had just listened to the public sector workers and to the opposition, they could have saved us all five years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Other reversals where the government is not finding the right balance: Bill 153 is about finding that right balance between speed and safety—but other places where the government has not found that right balance? Bill 23, the greenbelt bill; another bill that has been repealed. Bill 112, the dissolution of Peel region—when they looked at what would happen if you dissolved Peel region, the taxes in Brampton and in Mississauga would have to skyrocket in order to cover the cost of that dissolution, so that one is being repealed. The urban boundary expansions, Bill 150—that’s also being repealed. Bill 307, the use of the “notwithstanding” clause to override portions of the charter—

Blue licence plates: I understand that the Conservative Party is blue and they’re very proud of that colour, but those blue licence plates were not visible and certainly one of the things that we need—

My colleague from Oshawa gave the one-hour lead earlier this afternoon on this bill, and she was talking about how two out of three people who are digging do not get the locate first—so they do not make the one call and call or click to get the locations of the utilities. To the people who are listening at home: This is not an option. You have to do that. If you’re going to be digging on your property or anyone else’s property, you have to make that call to find out where the utilities are. It’s the law. If you do not make the call, you can be fined, and you are also liable for the damages that you cause. The frat house in London was a pretty clear example where those damages could be very, very extensive. My colleague from Oshawa also mentioned that 90% of the damages resulting from utility breaks are caused by people who didn’t call.

Just a little bit of history that I also learned this afternoon: The One Call system came from a private member’s bill called the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, and it was introduced in 2012 by a former NDP MPP from Hamilton East–Stoney Creek. It was done in collaboration with the Conservative member from Sarnia–Lambton, who is still in the Legislature today. So there are ways for us to work across the aisle here, and that’s nice to see, especially for something as important as this—because this One Call saves money, it saves time, and it can actually save lives if people actually make these calls.

The other thing about these calls is that they’re free. I see in this legislation that those are going to remain free, which is really important, because costs should not be prohibitive. In the committee, there was talk that some of the utility companies may actually start charging for those calls—

One utility company was suggesting that they actually charge for those locates, but that has been overruled, because you don’t want the cost of the locate to be a barrier. You want people to call if they’re going to be digging on their property or anybody else’s property.

If you go to Ontario One Call, there is information for everybody who could be impacted by that, who needs to follow the rules around One Call. For homeowners: “If you are planting a tree, building a fence or a deck, digging a new garden, or doing any project that requires you to dig, you must contact Ontario One Call at least five business days before. It’s free, it’s easy, it’s the law.” So for homeowners out there, that’s the advice that comes from the One Call website.

For contractors: “If you are excavating a new building, repairing buried infrastructure, landscaping, residential paving, building concrete slabs, or anything that requires you to break ground, you must contact Ontario One Call. It’s free, it’s easy, it’s the law.” That seems to be their tag line: “It’s free, it’s easy, it’s the law.”

And then, for infrastructure owners, it says, “Prevent damages and stay compliant.” These are the utility companies, basically. They’re saying, “Buried infrastructure owners are able to access educational resources and industry links to help with compliance and safe digging practices in Ontario.” So they’re looking for the utility companies to be a partner in this work.

One of the things that came up, though, and that I’ve heard from some of my colleagues from different parts of the province, is that it can take a long time. They’re supposed to respond within five days; that’s being extended, with this legislation, to 10 days. It can take a long time to get those locates done, and if it takes too long, people get frustrated.

One of my colleagues from a rural community said that it can take months in order to get a locate done. You may plan to do a project in the spring, and by the time you get the locate and are able to start work, it could be the fall, so people are actually just proceeding with this work because the locates are taking too long. This is something the government really needs to work on, to address—and it’s largely caused by a worker shortage of people with the experience and with the skill set to go out and conduct these locates. The government really needs to address that, and that’s one of the recommendations that came from my colleague from Oshawa.

She also talked about getting it done, and she talked about broadband across the province. Broadband, obviously, is a utility and is something that often involves digging. When I was sitting in committee and the government was talking about its broadband infrastructure project—and they’re investing, as they’ve said, $4 billion on this—they were talking about broadband that’s 50/10, which means 50 megabytes a second download and 10 megabytes a second upload. I’m the tech and innovation critic for the official opposition NDP. I have talked to many, many tech people in the sector. They say that’s already obsolete. We should not, in this province, be rolling out 50/10 broadband; we should be rolling out one gigabyte symmetrical.

One of my friends in my riding is actually from Haliburton. He’s a VFX animator, and the only reason he lives in Toronto is because of the broadband. He has one-gigabyte symmetrical, and it costs him, I don’t know, $100. It’s very reasonable here. No matter how much he pays, he cannot get one gigabyte symmetrical in Haliburton. The company that he works for is actually in Montreal, so he has no reason to have to work in Toronto except for the broadband—also, Toronto is a wonderful area, and he’s in Spadina–Fort York, which is the greatest riding in the province of Ontario. So he has those perks.

The one gigabyte symmetrical is really vital in order to harness and tap into the economic potential of our rural and remote communities and Indigenous communities across this province.

I mentioned this when we were in committee, and I’ll mention it again in this House: If you’re a government member, if you’re talking in caucus, could you please recommend changing these contracts to make sure that everything that is rolled out is one gigabyte symmetrical?

It’s not just animators—it’s farmers who also need one gigabyte symmetrical, because they’re doing geo-locations on their farm as they’re working. The new tractors are actually measuring moisture—my colleague from Timiskaming can talk about this with much greater skill and knowledge than I can. They’re doing locations and they’re doing soil sampling in different parts of the field so that they know where to put more fertilizer and what kind of fertilizer that needs to go down. Anyway, that requires the one gigabyte symmetrical broadband. So for farmers, for industry in the northern, remote and Indigenous communities, we really need to get that one gigabyte symmetrical.

The government announced $4 billion for expanding, rolling out broadband, and what my colleague from Oshawa was pointing out is that in 2021, it only spent 1.3% of the targeted spending for the investment in broadband; in 2021-22, it only spent 3.6%. In February 2023, it underspent the planned allotment by $700 million, and the most recent underspending is $450 million. This is not just spending—the spending is just a measure of “Is the broadband getting rolled out, and is it getting rolled out on schedule?” What the financial figures indicate is that it’s not getting rolled out. I know many of our colleagues here in the House are from rural communities. Many of them have been living without broadband for a long time. So getting that rolled out is absolutely vital.

I’ll just pass on one story. I don’t have much time left. My colleague from Timiskaming said his community just wants to make sure they have phone service everywhere—because in some of the communities, the phones don’t work when it rains. There was a house that burned down. The house caught fire, and the owners of the house tried to phone the fire department, and the phones weren’t working. My colleague from Timiskaming was in a general store in a town near where the fire had taken place, and he was telling this story to one of the local residents. He said, “They picked up the phone, and the phone wouldn’t work.” She said, “Well, of course, everybody knows the phones don’t work when it rains.” The weird part about that is, that’s the expectation in that community—that the phones aren’t going to work when it rains.

Imagine when they get one gigabyte symmetrical broadband, and that’s what the government needs to be rolling out. It needs to be doing it in a way that’s safe and fast.

Point of order.

Thank you to the member from Spadina–Fort York for his remarks.

Under this proposed legislation, we are really striving to streamline and improve underground infrastructure. My question is whether the member objects to changes like providing longer delivery timelines for larger construction projects that would need more dedicated time and effort to properly and safely assess the underground infrastructure. Speaker, through you—in addition, depending on the member’s response: I would then ask the member to basically explain why they think something so complex and technical should not be carefully examined to ensure the fastest and safest method possible.

I want to thank the member from Newmarket–Aurora for her question.

Absolutely, safety is first. Safety has to be first, and speed has to be second, but we can balance those out. We can make sure we’re doing something safely, and this is why this government—and I was talking about this in my speech—really needs to look at this “get it done” attitude that it has. Getting it done is great, but if you have to reverse everything and backtrack on major pieces of legislation that you’ve passed over the last five years, then you’re not actually getting anything done; you’re just wasting time. Get it done, but get it done right and get it done safely.

Questions?

I’d like to thank the member from Spadina–Fort York for his presentation today and for recognizing what happened to 294 Central Avenue in my riding of London North Centre and the seriousness of it.

I also think of what happened during the construction that is currently under way—it happened in 2022—of a railway underpass on Adelaide Street, actually, at Central Avenue as well, when construction crews accidentally hit a natural gas line that affected 1,800 businesses and consumers, who had to be evacuated from their homes. Thankfully, there were no injuries, but it was because of the collaboration of a number of different city services to make sure the people were safe.

Currently in Bill 153, it has removed the ability of the owners of underground infrastructure to charge for certain locate requests, but they’re also not going to be required to pay if they miss deadlines. Does the member have any sense from the government or from the legislation how these will be fulfilled in a timely way?

It is my pleasure to rise in the House today to reiterate my support for Bill 153, the Building Infrastructure Safely Act, 2023.

This bill is just one component of our government’s ambitious legislative agenda to build the infrastructure Ontario needs today and to address the needs of tomorrow. It is also a testament to our government’s dedication for fostering a safer, more efficient and cost-effective environment for developing infrastructure in Ontario. This includes key priority areas such as housing, health care, transit and Internet connectivity.

Madam Speaker, I would like to highlight how this bill fits in the context of our government’s broader vision and commitment to ensuring a prosperous and sustainable future for Ontario. With Ontario growing at an incredible speed, this bill would also play a vital role in maintaining public safety and safeguarding the critical underground infrastructure systems that support our communities and our economy.

Under the leadership of Premier Doug Ford, Ontario has embarked on one of the most significant capital investment plans in the province’s history. This significant commitment aims to revitalize schools, hospitals, public transit, roads, housing and to provide a universal access to high-speed Internet for every community across the province by the end of 2025. That’s why this bill focuses on eliminating locate fees, streamlining processes and protecting both workers and critical infrastructure. That positions Ontario as a leader in responsible and forward-looking governance.

We know that by building and maintaining more infrastructure, we are growing communities. And we know it will take a concerted effort, led by the government and accomplished by strong partnerships. It is thanks to strong stakeholder support from a wide range of stakeholders that we have gotten this far.

As we plan for Ontario’s future, we will make use of every tool available to make sure the infrastructure projects we all need are built, whether small or large. We will ensure that all infrastructure is built and maintained to the highest standard of safety standards, because we owe it to our communities, to businesses and to individuals to ensure they feel the benefits from these projects. This includes our construction workers, our trade workers and our skilled workers—all the hard-working people who help build this province by creating and maintaining our infrastructure. It is all part of building Ontario faster and strengthening our communities and laying the foundation for long-term economic growth.

Madam Speaker, the most important of the proposed legislative amendments to the One Call act is the prohibition on underground infrastructure owners or operators from charging fees for locates. Our goal is to keep costs down for a wide range of construction projects while protecting the public from damages to critical infrastructure. Not only would this be consistent with a long-standing industry practice across Canada and the United States, this would also align with our broader plan to facilitate the efficient and safe completion of vital infrastructure projects.

Bill 153 proposes amendments to the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, which is administered by One Call, an administrative authority overseen by the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery.

Within our ministry are 12 administrative authorities that have certain delegated responsibilities in specific sectors and industries, and they administer and enforce certain Ontario laws regarding consumer protection and public safety. For example, if you live in a condominium unit, you have benefited from the work of administrative authorities such as the Condominium Management Regulatory Authority of Ontario. If you have ever hired a licensed electrical contractor, that contractor has been licensed by the Electrical Safety Authority, which enforces the Ontario Electrical Safety Code. The Travel Industry Council of Ontario regulates all Ontario registered travel retailers. It also administers a fund that can reimburse consumers if their registered travel agent has major financial troubles. The Technical Standards and Safety Authority regulates technical safety, including elevating devices and amusement park rides.

All of Ontario’s administrative authorities have one thing in common and that is their responsibility to protect consumers and the public interest. Because they are governed by different statutes that have been amended over the years, their frameworks have evolved in different ways. Through the Rebuilding Consumer Confidence Act, 2020, steps have been taken to address these differences and to improve and harmonize the accountability, oversight and transparency requirements of most administrative authorities. Over the past few years, ministers’ orders have directed several administrative authorities to make changes to the governance and composition of their respective boards of directors. The overarching goal is to ensure the delivery of critical consumer protection programs and services, and public safety laws.

Our government has asked Ontario One Call to take on a more complex role. As such, it is important to provide them with the tools to help them work better with us. This includes more complex work to support the improvements of efficiencies in locate delivery, which requires better systems, backed up by better and sustainable resources.

Madam Speaker, this bill also advances important changes made under the Getting Ontario Connected Act, 2022, in improving the locate delivery system and making the process of obtaining locates more efficient, all while maintaining Ontario’s strict safety standards. Among these changes made to the Ontario One Call act, it included requiring designated broadband projects to use a dedicated locator. A dedicated locator is agreed to by the project owner and the affected members, and it is responsible for responding to locate requests for the duration of the project. This model helps drive efficiencies and avoid duplication by allowing a project owner to get all their locates completed by one locator, rather than waiting on different locators from each underground infrastructure owner or operator.

These proposed changes to the One Call act similarly work to streamline processes, providing One Call with the explicit authority to charge and collect fees. It would allow One Call to make bylaw changes to implement ministers’ orders without requiring member approval and allow the minister to specify additional objects for One Call. This ministerial power would, if passed, give the minister the ability and flexibility to expand One Call’s role in the future and address unexpected issues.

Some other proposed changes to the One Call act include protections for the authority’s statutory officials, officers, directors, employees and agents from personal liability. These are reasonable protections currently provided to other administrative authorities, and this amendment, along with other measures, would bring One Call more in line with other administrative authorities.

Madam Speaker, these are necessary changes if One Call is to evolve as a public safety administrative authority. These changes are in response to the feedback we received in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, such as underground infrastructure owners and operators, excavators, municipalities and others, on how to improve and ensure locate delivery and ensure the sustainable operation of One Call, while limiting cost impacts.

Before I wrap up, this bill, if passed, is a key part of our government’s plan to build Ontario. I hope that all my colleagues in this House will join us in supporting legislation that will ensure our province has the capacity to grow at the pace we need it to. Our government is proud of what we have accomplished, but more work must be done. And I can assure you that we will continue to work with our public and private sector partners to ensure that the critical infrastructure Ontario needs is built.

I appreciate all those who supported our bill for the benefit of our fellow citizens and residents. I’m looking forward to hearing from my colleagues in this House on how we can build—