I rise not just to defend our education experts and teachers in Niagara, not only to echo the concerns from so many parents, but to sound an alarm about the risks of underfunding education in Ontario, especially in the Niagara region.

Since 2018, the ministry has stripped away $1,500 per child from our schools. Across Niagara, I’ve heard from so many of our amazing teachers who have to dip more and more into their own funds to support their students.

I come from a family of educators, and I know that in Niagara, we have some of the best teachers and some of the best EAs in Ontario. However, this is the legacy of this government: Educators must get used to doing less with less. Our most vulnerable students suffer disproportionately. Special-needs children are sent home because we lack the resources to support them. Parents who are already burdened are scrambling to fill the gaps that the government has abandoned.

So what solution does the Ford government propose? A superficial ban on cellphones in classrooms, the classic bait-and-switch distraction from the real issue: considerable and suffocating underfunding of education.

An education leader and a teacher in Niagara, Jennifer McArthur, hits the nail right on the head when she says, “This focus on cellphone bans is a mere distraction from the escalating violence in our classrooms and the desperate need for mental health supports. It’s another glaring example of how out of touch the Ford government is with the realities of modern education. They sidestep real issues, offering token policies instead of substantive dialogue and effective solutions.”

And this is the harsh reality: While the Ford government gets you to focus on small policy tweaks, over 40,000 qualified teachers in Ontario are walking away from the profession, driven out by real issues related to funding shortfalls. Nine out of 10 principals declared a crisis in mental health support, yet what is the government’s answer? More security cameras? Come on. A focus on security, not actual funding for mental health or educators? This narrative of neglect, less funding and more distractions cannot continue. This is exactly why we need sweeping changes.

The government of Ontario should substantially increase the funding for public education in Ontario, so that every child receives the high-quality education they deserve, regardless of their family income. The time for excuses, the time for deflections and the patchwork of Band-Aids is over. It is time for this government to step up, to take the responsibility and to right the wrongs. The children in Niagara and in Ontario and the educators that teach them deserve much, much better.

Further debate?

Actually, I want to stay on this and talk about something that the minister said: That basically, on this side of the House, we don’t care about education or our kids. I think that was a terrible comment, quite frankly.

I have three beautiful daughters. I have a lovely wife. My wife was a teacher for 30 years. My daughter Tara-Lynn works with special-needs kids in the Catholic school board—very, very challenging, particularly with the underfunding. EAs are understaffed. My daughter, who I just messaged just now, works at St. Nick’s in St. Catharines. It’s a very low—the parents make very little money; you know what I’m saying.

Interjection: Low-income.

And do you know what? That’s my daughters. So to stand up and say I don’t care about education is a lie, and you guys shouldn’t lie in this House like that. It is unbelievable that he said that today. I am extremely upset about it, because I know what my daughters and my wife do. Do you know what they—

But I’ll tell you what my wife and my daughters do when they go out on a Saturday night for a social. Do you know what they do? If you’re going to give them anything, they’re the most boring people to be married to, because all they do is talk about their kids, because they love little Johnny. They want it better for little Johnny. They want to make sure he gets an education. How many times have my wife or my daughters taken a sandwich to school, or an apple, because there are kids there that don’t have that opportunity to have a sandwich? We know, with our cuts to our nutrition programs. So when you stand up, it’s not accurate, and I’m really upset about that.

The last thing that I’m going to talk about, because my time probably ran out—I don’t get a lot of time to talk—is they talk about how on side of the House, we’re not standing up for bringing retirees back into schools. Why don’t you hire more teachers who are coming out, who need a job? The reason why they’re retiring—the reason my wife retired is she’s tired. She’s exhausted. For her, it was not easy going to school every day. She decided to retire to take care of her family—her mom and her dad.

You say, “Well, they only care about seniority.” Yes, you’re darn right we care about seniority. I support unions; he said he doesn’t. He thinks that they should be able to pick and choose who they want. The reason why you join a union is because you want to have seniority rights. So that was wrong.

The last thing I’ll talk about—that was supposed to be the last thing. This is the last thing. How many remember, two years ago, when they attacked the workers and the EAs with the “notwithstanding” clause? How many remember that?

It’s an honour to be able to stand today and talk about increasing the funding for education.

Last constituency week, I went to visit a public school. We all like to visit schools. I’m not going to mention where this school was; it certainly wasn’t in downtown Toronto. We had a half-hour discussion with the kids about them. It was a grade 5 and 6. They were talking about things like evacuations of classrooms when someone got violent. They were talking about how they didn’t feel safe in the washroom.

When they realized that I stood here and that I could talk to the Minister of Education, I asked the kids, “If there’s one thing that I could ask the Minister of Education, what would it be?” And one little girl put up her hand and she said, “A fan”—a fan, because there’s only one window, and she went and she showed the window—“and sometimes, like, it’s so hot in here that we can’t work.” A fan.

They’re trying to say that we’ve got adequate funding in our public school system and they’re down to the point of a grade 5 kid—her class needs a fan. There are serious problems. We need to fix them.

C’est important de comprendre que, dans les écoles francophones, le manque de ressources veut dire que si tu as un enfant avec des besoins spéciaux, on va te dire : « Inscris-le pas dans une école francophone. Envoie-le dans une école anglophone, parce qu’ils ont plus de chance d’avoir les ressources dont ils ont besoin pour s’occuper de tes enfants. »

Les enfants francophones ont droit à une éducation en français. Mais quand le gouvernement refuse de financer nos écoles de façon appropriée, ça veut dire que nos enfants, nos francophones, n’auront pas la chance d’aller dans une école française.

Ça, c’est sur vos épaules. On peut changer ça aujourd’hui en passant la motion que ma chef a mise de l’avant.

I would just like to highlight I will be sharing my time with the member for Mississauga–Malton, as well as the member for Oakville. Madam Speaker, I’m pleased to be here before you to discuss Bill 180, Building a Better Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2024.

Madam Speaker, our government is always keeping the needs of Ontarians firmly in sight. Every day across the province, people are headed to their place of work or the businesses they own. Patients are headed to their health clinic. Students are headed to their classrooms. Young families are headed to daycares or their play dates. Seniors are headed to meet their friends at the park for some exercise and some socializing. It is these people, Madam Speaker, who we keep in our sights and for whom we’ve prepared our 2024 budget and the measures found in Bill 180. That’s because they’re going about their lives despite the challenges of our times.

Despite a challenging global economic situation, our government is moving forward with our plan and building a better Ontario for them. People in governments around the world today are seeing and coping with high interest rates and global instability. Like people everywhere, governments have to make plans and decisions in light of these rates and this instability.

I stand before you today and say that, with this reality in mind, our government remains on a path to build for the long term while keeping costs down now for Ontarians. This is reflected in our budget with our proposal to extend the gas and fuel tax cuts to continue helping families and businesses when the cost of living is simply too high.

It is also reflected in our work to support our historic and vital investments in infrastructure across the province through the Building Ontario Fund. It is reflected in our changes to the Liquor Tax Act to help supply and support Ontario’s world-class winery sector.

It’s always a good thing to get up in the people’s House and talk about public education.

This is the question I want to ask in the three minutes I have this afternoon: I wonder how often the minister over there thinks about the people we are losing every day in our public schools. And I’m not just talking about the staff who may decide to leave. I’m talking about the kids who are excluded from class. I’m talking about the kids who feel like they don’t belong in our schools. And why? Because they need more support.

What’s on the chopping block right now back home? Special education.

Albert Einstein, high-school dropout—how many other wonderful minds, even if they aren’t geniuses of that calibre, are we prepared to lose because this minister can’t figure out what inflation means? This minister can’t figure out that the amount of money you spend in 2018 is not what you need to spend now to at least keep things moving. It’s a wilful refusal.

The question, again, I will ask rhetorically now is, who are we losing as this minister decides to throttle the funds of public education?

I will submit to you, Speaker, we are losing autistic kids, we’re losing dyslexic kids, we’re losing kids with anxiety disorders—kids who are brilliant, compassionate, wonderful people, who need help at that stage of their life. We stand at risk of losing them.

My friend from Thunder Bay–Superior North has the role now, but when I had the honour of being the disabilities critic in this province, the amount of disabled adults I talked to who had interacted with the corrections system, who had a hard time holding down work because they felt like they weren’t smart enough and they were told and they felt like they weren’t worth anything—the staff in our public school system stand ready and stand prepared to help those kids, but they can’t do it at a ratio of 24 to 1, or in JK, like 32 to 1, when half the class are on individual education programs. It’s an impossible task.

If one actually is a Conservative, I would like to say that an important thing you’re concerned about is waste. So how many kids and how many people in our system are we wasting wilfully because we refuse to invest in them?

We’ve got $600 million for a parking garage for a spa, or we have billions in potential money that we hand over to real estate speculators and real estate investment trusts, but we do not have money for disabled kids, and we do not have money for the staff who are prepared to help them.

Who are we losing? That’s my question this afternoon.

If we vote for this motion and we say as a House that public education requires investment kept up with inflation, then we are speaking the honest truth and putting our faith in the staff and the kids who deserve our help.

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for putting this on the floor.

I remember.

I’m glad you remember.

I’m just going to sit down and say, “Support this motion,” because the most important thing is a publicly funded, publicly delivered education system in the province of Ontario. And stop trying to privatize it.

Je vais essayer de mettre le plus de points que je peux dans le temps que j’ai. C’est important que je parle aujourd’hui, parce que quand on pense que le ministère dit qu’ils ont, tu sais, des millions—lui, il parle de gros chiffres, mais la réalité des faits c’est qu’ils investissent moins de 1 500 $ par étudiant.

Moi, je peux parler par expérience, puisque j’ai mon épouse—et j’ai ma fille qui travaille dans le milieu de l’éducation comme aide-enseignante. Ma fille est qualifiée. Elle a été préparée pour être capable de protéger les enfants. Quand un enfant est en crise, c’est ma fille qui va aller traiter avec cet enfant-là en crise.

Mais je peux vous dire, madame la Présidente, que les temps sont difficiles, puisqu’elle pense même quitter son emploi—qu’elle aime. Elle est dans son milieu et elle veut continuer à travailler, mais à cause d’un manque de financement, de bonnes heures de travail—elle a un bon salaire, mais il n’y a pas d’heures. Elle a un bon salaire.

Mais ce qui est important de dire, par exemple, c’est qu’on a besoin d’un gouvernement qui reconnaît le travail qu’ils font, et qu’il devrait les rembourser.

Je vais laisser la parole à ma collègue qui vient d’arriver. Elle aussi veut parler en français sur le sujet.

Further debate?

I recognize the leader of the official opposition on her reply.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Call in the members. This will be a 10-minute bell.

The division bells rang from 1452 to 1502.

All those in favour of the motion will please rise one at a time and be recognized by the Clerk.

Motion negatived.

Mr. Bethlenfalvy moved third reading of the following bill:

Bill 180, An Act to implement Budget measures and to enact and amend various statutes / Projet de loi 180, Loi visant à mettre en oeuvre les mesures budgétaires et à édicter et à modifier diverses lois.

Je voudrais remercier mes collègues.

I want to thank my colleagues for their comments this afternoon. I want to note in particular the experience that every one of the caucus members on this side brought, the care, the thought that went into their comments.

I will say that I found it very difficult to hear the Minister of Education stand up and wave away the many significant issues and concerns that we have raised here today. There is no denying the state of our schools today. There is no denying that our kids are studying and working in overcrowded classrooms. There is no denying that our education workers and our students are experiencing more violence in classrooms than ever before.

I heard some of the members opposite, when one of my colleagues mentioned Kevlar, scoff at that. This is a reality. This is a reality that education workers in this province are facing every day. I heard the members opposite in the government talk about the fact that they were so proud of all of the hiring they’re doing. My goodness, where are they?

We, I think, have made a very clear case for the fact that our students are suffering, that our parents suffering, that they are bearing the literal cost of these additional resources. Right now, parents cannot put up with anything else.

We, in the opposition, will not put up with this government’s creating of a crisis in our education system. We will fight tooth and nail to save that public education system. It is the cornerstone of our democracy. We will stand for it.

I really do hope that the members opposite, that the government, support this excellent motion. Why would we not throw everything we can to support our public education system in this province?

I’ll have the record note: That’s the member from the Niagara region, which is going to benefit from those changes to the alcohol modernization plan that we have.

We also have benefits in place for the many people of Ontario who want to see changes to the Pension Benefits Act to help better set up Ontario workers when it comes to saving for their retirements.

Speaking of workers, Madam Speaker, successful governments are always attuned to the needs of workers. Day in and day out, we’re working for workers, including with our efforts to prepare workers today for the jobs of tomorrow, hence why we are investing an additional $100 million in 2024-25 in the Skills Development Fund Training Stream, just as we are continuing to implement the $224-million Skills Development Fund Capital Stream. Because we support our workers and continue to do all we can to further the development of Ontario’s world-class workforce, just as we are doing all we can to build out Ontario’s skilled trades pipeline for in-demand careers. Here, we are supporting a variety of programs that attract more young people into the skilled trades.

Thanks to our investment of an additional $16.5 million over the next three years through the skilled trades strategy, we are fostering the skilled trades workers of tomorrow. We need to keep encouraging employer participation in apprenticeships, because it is with their help that we will continue to provide more young people with an entry into meaningful, lifelong careers.

Now that I’m on the subject of careers, we are committed to creating and remain committed to creating good-paying jobs as well as fostering business investments that will deliver tomorrow’s economic success today. This is why our budget allocates an additional $100 million to the Invest Ontario Fund, bringing its total to $600 million to help attract investments and new jobs in key sectors such as advanced manufacturing, life sciences and technology.

Madame la Présidente, nous demeurons résolus à créer des emplois bien rémunérés, ainsi qu’à favoriser les investissements des entreprises porteurs de la prospérité économique de demain, et ce, dès maintenant. C’est pourquoi, dans notre budget, nous octroyons 100 millions de dollars additionnels au Fonds pour Investissements Ontario pour le porter à un total de 600 millions de dollars, ce qui contribuera à attirer des investissements et de nouveaux emplois dans des secteurs clés comme la fabrication de pointe, les sciences de la vie et la technologie.

Creating good-paying jobs and fostering businesses is why we are boosting the growth of Ontario’s end-to-end supply chain for EVs and EV batteries. With the historic Honda investment, we’ve attracted over $43 billion in new investments in the vehicle manufacturing and the EV supply chain system in under four years. Who can forget the 12,000 permanent jobs these investments will create, jobs of the future—a future that will be here sooner than we think and that will support Ontario workers and families for decades to come.

But we don’t have to wait decades in order to see results. This past Friday morning, for example, Statistics Canada released its monthly employment numbers, which showed Ontario added 25,000 jobs in April alone. And that’s including 5,000—5,000 jobs, Madam Speaker—in the manufacturing sector. This is the fourth consecutive month that employment in Ontario has increased. Our efforts to create more good-paying, meaningful jobs are paying off, and we’re not stopping there.

But of course, we can’t simply create jobs out of thin air. We need the help of millions of Ontario employers and job creators to get the job done. So, for our businesses of all sizes, we are enabling an estimated $8 billion cost savings and support this year alone, including $3.7 billion for small businesses, all thanks to key actions taken by this government since 2018.

So, let’s revisit what I just discussed: —we’re attracting investments—check; —we’re creating new jobs—check; and we’re supporting businesses large and small—check.

Check, check, check, Madam Speaker. This Premier promised Ontarians that he would open Ontario for business once more, and here we are, breaking records and building our future today. And that’s exactly what this budget is about: building a better Ontario for all.

With this budget, our government continues investing to create jobs and economic growth. And despite a challenging global economic situation, our government also continues to invest in care, health care, education and other vital public services as well.

For example, there is our continued investment of $6.4 billion since 2019 to build 58,000 new or upgraded long-term-care beds across the province by 2028. Then, there’s our investment of $155 million in 2024-25 to increase funding to fast-track construction of the next tranche of long-term-care homes by November 30, 2024. I know the member from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound is nodding his head in support.

These and many others are some of the steps our government is taking to build a better Ontario, just as we are doing with our plan to build and expand and renew schools and child care spaces. We’re doing it by investing $23 billion over 10 years for capital, including education capital of $16 billion in capital grants.

With Ontario’s population growing as rapidly as it is, we need to continue to build the spaces so that students can have a place to learn close to home. And we’re building those new schools, we’re building those child care spaces and we’re continuing to support many right across the province.

We’re also getting it done for our older students who are looking to begin the next chapter of their professional lives. With our 2024 budget, we are supporting small, northern and rural colleges and northern universities by providing $10 million in targeted supports. We’re doing so because Ontario schools and universities are shaping our next generations and fostering a sense of community like no other, so we’re there for them too.

While we’re on the topic of community, we also know that keeping active and having access to recreational opportunities is key to having a thriving community. That’s why we are launching a new $200-million Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund to strengthen communities right across Ontario. By investing in new and upgraded sport and recreation facilities, we are supporting the mental and physical health of families, youth and seniors for generations to come.

Madam Speaker, so far, I’ve discussed our plan for Ontario and the 2024 budget, which the measures in Bill 180 will help move forward. I’ve discussed jobs and investments, long-term care, education and recreation. In all these cases, we are doing more.

More needs to be done because previous Liberal governments failed to do the work they were elected to do, Madam Speaker. They failed to build roads. They failed to build highways and transit. They failed to build robust health care, schools and homes. Worst of all, they failed our people. They stood by and racked up unimaginable debt while countless jobs and investors left Ontario for greener pastures. We knew since day one that we had a lot of work to do, work that is helping bring this province to the place it needs and deserves to be in.

This is especially true now that our population is growing at exceptional rates. More is needed so we can thrive and secure our collective future. Our population is expected to increase by more than five million people over the next 20 years—five million more people.

They’re going to go to places like Essex, which is such an attractive place to live and to work and to raise a family. People need public services, affordable places to live and health care when and where they need it. That is why we are continuing to build a robust health care system that puts people at the centre of care.

And we are delivering on the most ambitious plan for hospital expansion in the province’s history, including building a new hospital in Windsor and, while we’re at it, more health care in Niagara and more health care right across the province.

But you know, we’re not going to stop there, because there is so much more to do. Over the next 10 years we’re going to invest $50 billion in health care infrastructure capital, including close to $36 billion just in capital grants to the health care sector. There is no government quite like this government. We are changing the landscape of health care here in Ontario for the better by putting money where it is needed the most. That’s why we’re also committing $620 million over 10 years to allow health care system partners to address urgent needs and extend the life of hospital infrastructure, infrastructure that will ensure that our children and their children after them have the services they need to build a life, just as we did.

Jobs and investments, education, health care, fostering communities and a whole lot more: We are getting it done. These are public goods and in one way or another they are ultimately connected by provincial infrastructure. That is why a key part of the 2024 budget is our focus on highways and other critical transportation infrastructure. That’s why we are targeting gridlock and saving commuters time by advancing critical highways like the new Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass. While I’m at it, aren’t we doing something in Windsor and Essex by widening Highway 3?

Hear, hear.

Highway 3.

Highway 3; I knew I had it here. I keep looking over my left shoulder and all I can see is Windsor and Niagara and other parts of southwest Ontario and mid-west Ontario and the 416 and more Windsor over here. And of course the 905 over there and right across this great province. Because we need to build, rehabilitate or expand our existing in-demand highways like the 403, like Highway 7 and the iconic Highway 401.

It’s why we are supporting the construction of the 416 and Barnsdale Road interchange in Ottawa and other key projects right across the province. We’re improving roads, highways and bridges, as well as carrying out the largest transit expansion anywhere in North America. Once again, Madam Speaker: check, check, check.

It’s all happening and it’s happening right here in Ontario. It’s happening with our improvements to GO train and GO bus services, connecting light rail transit and advancing four priority subway projects in the greater Toronto area.

It’s happening in the north, where we are bringing back the Northlander and restoring passenger rail service to southern Ontario. This is in addition to our $1-billion investment to support all-season roads, high-speed Internet connectivity and community supports for the Ring of Fire region, a region which has the potential to reshape the economic realities of our province and our world for good.

Because it’s clear that despite a challenging economic situation, our government is rebuilding the economy by accelerating Ontario’s plan to build, the most ambitious capital plan in Ontario history, perhaps even Canadian history—investments of more than $190 billion over the next 10 years to build and expand highways, transit, and of course, homes. Housing supply is a priority, full stop. And it’s why we are increasing funding for housing-enabling municipal infrastructure that will get more homes built and get them built faster.

First, there’s our $1-billion investment in the new Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program. And then there is our quadrupling of the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund to $825 million, which will fund municipal water infrastructure projects. There’s also our $1.2-billion Building Faster Fund that rewards municipalities that meet or exceed their housing targets, and this includes $120 million for small, rural and northern communities that have not been assigned a housing target due to their unique needs and circumstances.

At the end of the day, we are making these investments and changes because we know that supporting our municipal partners is the best way to get more homes built and get them built faster. And we’re not going to stop the work needed in order to get it done. We’re going to keep going. We’re going to double down and keep going because shovels in the ground, getting dirt flying, building—that’s what the people of Ontario are counting on us to do.

Madam Speaker, before I begin my wrap-up, there are a few things I’d like to mention. I’ve said this in the past, and I’ll say it again: I dedicate this budget to my father, who, since I first introduced this legislation, has now celebrated his 94th birthday.

Interjections.

I also would be remiss if I did not give my sincere thanks to the people who help me day in and day out to craft these budgets, and that includes my parliamentary assistants, the member for Oakville—thank you very much; the member for Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound, who has left me, but he has gone on to greener pastures, so he says; and of course, the new member to help out, the member for Mississauga–Malton. Their support, hard work and dedication to see this budget through has helped shape the results of our incredible efforts, and I’m lucky to have such an incredible group of colleagues to support me in our mission to build a better Ontario.

Indeed, the work we are doing here in this chamber will shape the future of this province. And so we must act and invest carefully and responsibly, just as we are doing by investing in Ontario’s economy without raising taxes—and we’re doing that without raising fees, as well—and making it easier for the people of Ontario and the businesses of Ontario to do their work, to raise their families, to have a good job in this province. That’s because the workers, the patients, the business operators, the young families, the students and the seniors of Ontario are all counting on us.

This budget and these budget measures demonstrate how we are delivering on our plan to build, how we are building a better Ontario.

Truly, this budget comes at a time when Ontario, like the rest of the world, continues to face economic uncertainty.

Ce budget et ces mesures budgétaires montrent comment nous nous y prenons pour réaliser notre plan pour bâtir, comment nous bâtissons un Ontario meilleur.

Assurément, ce budget arrive au moment où l’Ontario, à l’instar du reste du monde, continue à faire face à l’incertitude.

Despite this uncertainty, we are continuing to deliver on our plan to build, investing in the infrastructure to get more homes built faster, attracting better jobs with bigger paycheques, keeping costs down for families and businesses, all the while retaining a path to balance.

Madam Speaker, I will close by saying this: Our government is about now and the future. We are doing a lot. We know there’s more work to be done, and we continue our prudent, responsible approach in building a better Ontario.

I encourage all members in this vaunted House to join our government in voting in support of Bill 180, in support of Ontarians now and well into the future.

I recognize the member from Oakville.

It’s a great pleasure to be able to rise today to speak on third reading of Bill 180, Building a Better Ontario Act. Thank you to the Minister of Finance for sharing your time; I’m also sharing my time with the member from Malton.

I will say to the people of Ontario that the province of Ontario is in very good hands with our Minister of Finance overseeing our budget. Speaker, it’s also been an honour to work with the staff that have put the budget together at the Ministry of Finance. We have a great team of people that have worked day and night to put this budget forward, so I want to thank them for all their hard work in building this budget.

As the minister so eloquently explained, with the 2024 budget, our government continues its vital work and delivers on our plan to build. I would like to focus my debate remarks today on the notable pieces of work that Bill 180 is helping to move forward. When taking a step back, we can see how important these measures are—how they are important to the machinery of government and making sure our policies and programs are able to develop and evolve as smoothly and as soon as they can.

Our proposal related to the taxation of gasoline and diesel fuel is undoubtedly one of the most visible and most talked about of our government’s initiatives contained within the 2024 budget and these budget measures. We have proposed legislation that, if passed, would extend existing gasoline and fuel tax cuts until December 31, 2024. The Ontario government temporarily cut the gasoline tax by 5.7 cents per litre and the fuel diesel tax by 5.3 cents a litre—from July 1, 2022, it has already extended these cuts several times until June 30, 2024. The extension before us today, if approved, would ensure that Ontario tax rates remain at nine cents per litre until December 31, 2024.

This measure has been helping the people of Ontario. For example, if the extension is passed, households in Ontario will save an average of $320 over the two and a half years since the tax rate cuts were first introduced. As the minister has said, our government understands that the average Ontario family and the average Ontario business is feeling the sting of high inflation and interest rates. To help ease this sting, our government seeks to continue to support Ontario families at the pump with this latest cut to the tax on gas and diesel fuel.

Now, Speaker, I turn to another measure, this one aimed at supporting Ontario’s vibrant and growing film and television industry. As the members know, the film and television industry continues to create high-value jobs and attract investment throughout the province of Ontario. This is why we are proposing to simplify the Ontario Computer Animation and Special Effects—or OCASE—Tax Credit. The OCASE tax credit is an 18% refundable corporate income tax credit. This is available to Ontario companies that undertake computer animation and special-effects activities for eligible film and television productions here in Ontario. The proposed changes to the OCASE tax credit would help companies get their tax credits faster, delivering on our government’s commitment to explore opportunities to simplify tax credit support for computer animation and special-effects companies.

A component of alcohol taxation is another specific item in the budget, Bill 180. Our government, as everybody knows, is for keeping costs down and supporting Ontario’s alcohol and hospitality sectors. That is why, with Bill 180, we are proposing to eliminate the wine basic tax that applies to the sales of Ontario wine and wine coolers at on-site winery retail locations. The new rate would take effect as of April 1, 2024. It is to keep costs down and support the province’s alcohol and hospitality sectors that our government stopped the estimated 4.6% increase to the beer basic tax and LCBO mark-up rates that were scheduled for March 1, 2024. You see, this increase would have resulted from rates being indexed to inflation. This is an increase the government has consistently stopped over the last six years since we attained power in 2018. Halting this increase results in approximately $200 million in relief to Ontarians.

As pointed out when our government announced this change in February, the freeze will be in place for two years, until March 1, 2026. As noted in the 2024 budget, the province will also conduct a targeted review on the taxes for beer, wine and alcoholic beverages sold in Ontario. The aim of this review is to promote a more competitive marketplace for Ontario-based producers and consumers.

Speaker, let us move on to another measure, this one having to do with the government’s continued progress with regard to Ontario’s pension plan landscape. Here, I am talking about our efforts on implementing a permanent target-benefit framework. Ontario workers deserve sustainable pensions. That is why we are taking action to implement a target benefit framework that would help protect the retirement security of workers in the skilled trades and other occupations. This framework would help Ontario employees move from employer to employer while keeping the same pension. Specific to the measures in the 2024 budget bill, I can add that they followed stakeholder consultations over the last year.

Now, the Ministry of Finance is preparing the regulations that would be necessary to implement the target benefit framework, which the government intends to come into effect on January 1, 2025. Target benefit pension plans are intended to provide a worker with a monthly stream of income in retirement, with predictable contributions from employers during a worker’s time under their employment. Implementation of a permanent target benefit framework would pave the way for employees to offer workplace pension plans, increasing opportunities for Ontario workers to save for their retirement. As a concluding point on the framework, I can say it is a demonstration of yet another way our government is working for the workers of the province of Ontario.

Speaker, now I turn from our strides aimed at building the retirement funds of workers to focus on our strides in building infrastructure in the Building Ontario Fund. Specifically, this budget measure would establish a new stand-alone statute for the continued operation of Ontario’s new infrastructure bank, the Building Ontario Fund. The Ontario Infrastructure Bank, now the Building Ontario Fund, was announced in the 2023 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review as an important tool to help attract capital to Ontario to build essential infrastructure. The Building Ontario Fund is exploring opportunities to support large-scale projects in many sectors, including post-secondary housing for students, long-term care, energy generation and municipal infrastructure sectors. This fund will help meet the infrastructure needs of a growing Ontario as the government moves forward with Ontario’s plan to build.

Speaker, there are a few additional measures I would like to touch on that are in this bill. Proposed are all minor legislative amendments to clarify or improve administrative effectiveness or enforcement, or to maintain the integrity and effectiveness of various statutes administered by the Ontario Minister of Finance.

No two bills tabled in this Legislature are exactly alike, because they are always a reflection of the time in which they are crafted. The same goes for governments and their budgets. Our economic and fiscal situation, they are a reflection of our times. Each year’s budget reflects information inputs from the year before and, through its forecasts and outlooks, projects into the future by several years. A budget, after all, is a point on the continuum, a very important one, with Ontario’s fiscal year running from April 1 to March 31 every year.

With these points in mind, I’d like to take a few minutes to flesh out some of the economic proof points of the times Ontario finds itself in now, as shown in the 2024 budget. Ontario’s economy in 2024 is expected to be negatively impacted by high interest rates from the Bank of Canada. The outlook for Ontario’s real GDP growth in 2024 has deteriorated significantly over the last year. The budget also shows that following estimated real GDP growth of 1.2% in 2023, growth is projected to be 0.3% in 2024. This is down from 1.3% at the time of the 2023 budget and 0.5% at the time of the 2023 Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review. Real GDP growth is projected to then increase to 1.9% in 2025 and further rise to 2.2% in 2026-27. Compared to the 2023 budget and the 2023 fall economic statement, this represents slower projected growth. Bear in mind, for the purposes of prudent fiscal planning, these Ministry of Finance protections are slightly below the average private sector forecast.

Meanwhile, employment in the province is projected to rise by 0.8% in 2024, slowing from a 2.4% increase in 2023. A positive is that the unemployment rate over the outlook period is projected to remain below the historical average.

Geopolitical developments pose a significant risk to Ontario’s economic outlook and can influence the government’s revenues. Commodity markets and supply chains continue to be impacted by global conflicts and tensions. Rising tensions are continuing to weigh on international trade in goods and services, which could impact Ontario’s trading relationships in North America.

I now turn to fiscal matters. For 2023-24, the government is projecting a deficit of $3 billion. The government does retain a path to balance in the 2024 budget, projecting deficits of $9.8 billion in 2024-25 and $4.6 billion in 2025-26 before reaching a surplus of $0.5 billion in 2026-27. As the minister alluded to in his presentation, we are the only major government in Canada that actually has a path to balance.

As noted in the 2024 budget, Ontario is not alone: Ongoing economic uncertainty related to inflation, high interest rates and rapid population growth is creating the need for investments in both public services and infrastructure such as schools, health care facilities and, of course, housing. This makes for challenging economic and fiscal circumstances for governments around the world.

Unlike many governments, one key aspect of Ontario’s fiscal situation is very favourable. You see, Ontario’s bonds provide investors with exceptional liquidity, and a wide range of bond offerings, including green bonds, have sold at record levels. In fact, Ontario is the largest and most consistent issuer of green bonds with $18 billion issued since 2014-15. In February, Ontario issued its second green bond for 2023-24 and 15th green bond overall for $1.5 billion. I might add: This was the first green bond issued under the new Ontario Sustainable Bond Framework. This framework released in January allows for a broader range of potential Ontario bond offerings in the future, including ones related to emissions-free nuclear power, which I know our Minister of Energy has talked so much about in the House.

Ontario will continue to finance most of its borrowing program in the long-term public markets in Canada as well as internationally. Ontario completed long-term public borrowings of $42.6 billion in 2023-24. For this fiscal year, Ontario’s long-term borrowing is forecast at $37.5 billion and, the following year, forecast at $37.7 billion. This is only $0.1 billion and $0.7 billion higher than the forecast in the 2023 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review. The government remains committed to reducing the debt burden and putting Ontario’s finances back on to a more sustainable path.

Ontario has kept its debt-burden-reduction targets unchanged from the 2023 budget, and Ontario’s interest on debt-to-revenue ratio is at the lowest level it has been at since the 1980s. That, by the way, is after coming to power in 2018 and inheriting the largest sub-sovereign debt in the entire world.

As I conclude my remarks today, let me just say that our government is proud of all we have accomplished to make life easier for the people and the businesses in Ontario. We have done all kinds of things. They range from creating new ways for individuals to receive medical care in their community and making it easier to get parking permits and book ServiceOntario appointments. As the Minister of Finance mentioned, we would enable an estimated $8 billion in cost savings and support for businesses, including $3.7 billion for small businesses alone. We are investing in vital public services and in infrastructure, investing to get more homes built faster and investing to attract better-paying jobs right here in Ontario.

Ontario five years ago had zero investment dedicated to electric-vehicle manufacturing. Today, Canada, most of that being right here in Ontario—in fact, almost all of it—has over $43 billion committed to electric vehicle manufacturing, placing Canada number one in the world for auto investments. We’re attracting the vital services and infrastructure and investing to get more homes built faster and investing in better-paying jobs.

We will also focus on keeping costs down for both families and businesses. They’re equally important. We need to attract investments in businesses here in the province, which we are on the path to doing after years of Liberal mismanagement and manufacturing jobs fleeing the province as the government didn’t even support manufacturing in this province. In fact, they said Ontario is going to go the way of the service economy; manufacturing is a thing of the past. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. We are undergoing a manufacturing renaissance here in the province of Ontario with over 300,000 manufacturing jobs created in the last six years.

It’s also important to keep costs down for families. Families are having a tough time with inflation, high gas costs, the carbon tax, interest rates. Working with the people we are eliminating licence plate sticker renewal fees, lowering the gas tax, putting through the LIFT credit—the highest tax cut in Ontario’s history for low-income earners—these are just a few measures we’ve put through and will continue to put through in the years ahead.

We are dedicated to continuing to work and keep costs down for families and businesses. I might add the key here to that point: We’ve been able to maintain economic growth, low historical unemployment, all while on a path to balance our budget, and that’s with inheriting the largest sub-sovereign debt in the world in 2018. So we’re on a very, very good path of fiscal prudence but also, where we are spending money, investing it to get a return on investment. That is absolutely key.

I encourage all members to vote in favour of Bill 180, Building a Better Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2024. I will now cede my time to the great member from Mississauga–Malton.

You look 39.