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.

It’s always a privilege to rise and speak to third reading of the Building a Better Ontario Act (Budget Measures). 2024.

Before I start, as always, I’m thankful to the supreme God for giving me the health and well-being so that I can stand here and represent the residents of Mississauga–Malton. Thank you to the residents of Mississauga–Malton for giving me an opportunity. Thank you to my volunteers, my family, my extended family. Above all, thank you to all the staff members. Thank you for your support. That’s why I’m able to deliver this message.

Everyone in this House would agree, Ontario is a great place to live. Over the last several years, our economy has not only grown but has flourished, propelled by the ingenuity and the resilience of Ontarians under the leadership of Premier Ford—and our Minister of Finance has done an incredible job.

This economic expansion has been accompanied by a surge in population as we have seen individuals and families recognizing Ontario’s boundless opportunities. An example: the reason I, along with my family, came to Canada in 2000 as a new immigrant—by the way, yesterday was my birthday, 52 years strong. I just want to take a moment to thank—

Fifty-two years strong. Thank you to Malaika for this beautiful gift, which I am wearing, as you can see. Thank you to my children for amazing things.

As we celebrate this growth, we are aware of the responsibility it comes with, the responsibility to ensure that every resident enjoys access to essential services and a high quality of life. To fulfill this responsibility, our government is making strategic investments across key sectors that underpin the prosperity and well-being of our society.

Our investments in health care infrastructure, workforce development, patient-centred care reflect our unwavering commitment to health care that is accessible, efficient and responsive to the needs of all Ontarians.

Similarly, in transit, education, housing, we’re not simply keeping up with the demand, but we are proactively laying the groundwork for a more inclusive and sustainable future. From expanding public transit networks to investing in affordable housing and modernizing our education system, in every decision, this government is guided by a vision of Ontario that is equitable, resilient and forward-thinking.

We recognize that economic growth must be accompanied by enhanced public safety. That is why, in this budget, we are making sure that we are committed to creating safer streets and communities by investing in law enforcement, crime prevention and community-based initiatives. By addressing the root causes of crime and fostering collaboration between government, law enforcement agencies and community organizations, we are making sure we’re building a safer Ontario.

As we embark on this journey of progress and transformation, let’s remember that the true measure of our success lies not only in economic indicators, but in the tangible impacts. Across our province, these are the priorities and initiatives Ontarians want to see their government focus on, and we remain focused.

Madam Speaker, Ontario is part of a global economy, and there are global economic challenges that we cannot ignore. The cost of living continues to rise, placing an increasingly heavy burden on the shoulders of Ontario’s hard-working families. The Bank of Canada’s decision to maintain elevated interest rates and the federal government’s carbon tax heighten this financial strain, compounding the challenges faced by the households across the province.

This is a typical tale of two different governments: a government at the federal level that is increasing the costs by adding the carbon tax, and a government here in Ontario that understands and believes the challenges faced by Ontarians. That is why we’re reducing the gas tax by 10 cents. That’s the contrast we’re going to continue to talk about in the next few minutes.

But before I talk about it—this budget didn’t come by itself. There’s a whole team who worked hard to prepare this document. This document is the voice of the people of Ontario.

Thank you to the Minister of Finance, who criss-crossed the whole province for the budget consultation. Despite his busy schedule, he was there to listen to the people of Ontario—their challenges, their issues, their suggestions.

And of course, the member from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound, who has done an incredible job—he was the PA and part of this budget consultation, along with the member from Oakville. They both deserve a big round of applause.

Interjections.

Thank you.

Of course, the members of the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs all came together, irrespective of which party they belong to, to listen to the people of Ontario.

And definitely, we need to say thank you to our staff members, who were there to support us all along the way.

It was not an easy task, but we accomplished it. And you can see that the result and the fruit of that accomplishment is this budget.

From groceries to gasoline, the affordability of everyday necessities is diminishing. In the face of these challenges, we are making sure that the urgent need to provide relief to Ontario families is in this budget. That is why we’re proposing to extend the gas and fuel tax cuts until December 31, 2024, through the passage of this spring bill. This would save Ontario households an average of $320, since the cuts were first introduced on July 1, 2020, putting more money back into the pockets of hard-working Ontarians.

Together, let’s work towards a future where prosperity is within reach of all Ontarians, regardless of their economic circumstances.

The vast natural resources, for example, in the north present a wealth of opportunities for sustainable development and job creation. By investing in infrastructure, innovation and skills training in the mining industry, we aim to unlock the full economic potential of the region while safeguarding its environmental integrity for our future generations. Ontario has dedicated a billion dollars to support critical legacy infrastructure such as all-season roads, broadband connectivity and community support for the Ring of Fire region. At the heart of our strategy lies a concerted effort to attract investment and create jobs. Madam Speaker, this government understands and believes that, in order for a prosperous Ontario, we need to increase the revenue of Ontario so that we can have the money to invest back into the services for the people of Ontario.

Our government is committed to investing in critical infrastructure and innovation to support the growth of northern Ontario. From modernizing transportation networks to expanding broadband access and investing in R&D, we are paving the way for increased connectivity, productivity and competitiveness in the region. Madam Speaker, that is why our government is investing $15 million to enhance the Critical Minerals Innovation Fund, which was launched in 2022. The additional funding of $5 million per year for 2024-27 will continue to help Ontario’s mining sector undertake research, development and commercialization of innovative technologies, techniques, processes and solutions related to the critical minerals, something which we heard during the budget consultations, and we’re delivering the results. This is part of our plan for building a better Ontario, now and into the future.

And all this work, when we talk about attracting these investments and building everything, building the products and the services for the people of Ontario, we need to have sustainable, competitive energy to support our growth. That is why our government firmly believes that the clean, safe, reliable and emissions-free nuclear energy must play an even larger role in our future energy supply mix. That is why nuclear energy has long been recognized as the cornerstone of Ontario’s electricity system, providing a stable and low-carbon source of power that is essential for meeting our energy needs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In line with this region, the government remains committed to supporting the continued, safe operation of nuclear facilities such as the Pickering nuclear generating plant, as well as the refurbishment of Darlington and Bruce nuclear generating stations. These initiatives not only ensure the continued reliability and the safety of our nuclear fleet, but also contribute to job creation and economic growth in communities across the province.

Madam Speaker, by embracing clean and sustainable energy solutions like nuclear power and small modular reactors, we can ensure a reliable and resilient energy supply. We can ensure that there is energy available for the future generation while advancing our goals of environmental stewardship and economic prosperity.

Look at the numbers, for an example, Madam Speaker. If you really compare, as I talked about the tale of two different governments—I want to add to this: When the government was formed in 2018, there were 7.17 million people who were employed. To date, in the last three years itself, our government has helped support the job creators to create the jobs and we have seen the total employed are now 7.91 million people working, which is 700,000 people more compared to 2018. And now, again, if you compare it with the 15 years of Liberal government, where we saw 300,000 jobs going out, we have 700,000 jobs coming in, and that is another contrast between the two governments.

And it’s not that the people don’t recognize it. That’s why we saw in the by-election results in Milton and L-K-M—we saw the by-election results where people said, “Keep going. The people of Ontario want to make sure there is prosperity and the government continues to support that progress for the people of Ontario.” Why? There are a lot of people from across the world who want to come to Ontario and make their home, like me and my family. So, to everyone who is thinking and considering a move to Ontario, I’d like to say thank you for taking that decision. You’re welcome here. If you want to invest, this is a place where you come; if you can dream it, with your hard work you can achieve it. That is why, Madam Speaker, it is very important that this budget talks about creating progress and prosperity.

Another example is that revenue in 2018-19 was $153.7 billion. Today, if you look at 2023-24, revenue is $201 billion. For this increase in revenue, I want to say thank you to all the hard-working Ontario workers for supporting Ontario’s progress and prosperity, and thank you to the government for making sure that we continue to make the investments. In 2018-19, the total expenses were $161 billion. If you look in 2023-24, the government invested over $194 billion to serve the people of Ontario. This strategic approach not only enhances the reliability and resilience of our infrastructure, but also contributes to the progress of the economy and the people at large.

Madam Speaker, talking about investments, we’re investing in 15 new projects through the $15 million Hydrogen Innovation Fund, which supports projects that pave the way for reliable, affordable, clean electricity generation and alternatives to conventional electricity.

Back to the north, we are continuing to support the northern economy through the Northern Energy Advantage Program, which will provide a rebate for eligible mining, forestry and steel operations in northern Ontario. So to all those who are thinking of investing, Ontario is a place where you can make your investments, and you’re not only growing the economy of Ontario, you’re growing the economy of your organization as well. If you are thinking of investing, Ontario is the economic engine of not only Canada but of North America, and soon will be the economic engine of the world. That is why we are making sure that we are investing into the programs that it needs to help and support this progress.

It’s not just the money, it is the people—the people are the biggest asset of this province. That is why, Madam Speaker, one of the key pillars of our progress is a sustainable workforce. We are delivering a plan to build by investing to attract better jobs, build roads, highways, public transit, while keeping costs down for the people of Ontario.

We truly believe that we have supported the long-term targeted and strategic investments in Ontario manufacturing. For example, one of the ways that government is lowering costs for Ontario manufacturers is through the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit. For example, when you invest $100, a 10% refundable corporate income tax credit for eligible investment in building, machinery and equipment for use in manufacturing or processing will be delivered. It’s a vicious cycle—when you come here, you invest and you support Ontario, the government of Ontario is going to support you, and together we are able to support the people of Ontario. Introduced in the 2023 budget, the credit will provide Ontario businesses with estimated income tax relief of approximately $1.1 billion over the first four years of the incentive, from 2023 to 2026.

Madam Speaker, we have supported this. We have made sure, through these initiatives, the output is that we are able to attract Volkswagen’s $7-billion investment in St. Thomas. What will it do? It will create 3,000 good-paying jobs. The $5 billion extra in energy investment—what will it do? Employ 2,400 more workers. The Umicore investment in Loyalist township will create 600 direct jobs.

Why is it required, Madam Speaker? When all these investments come, it gives opportunity and growth for the people of Ontario to work hard. When they work hard, they become financially more independent. When they become financially more independent, they’re able to give back to the community.

As we are talking about the community and we are talking about making sure that we have people, our workers—Madam Speaker, Ontario’s workers are central to Ontario’s plan to build. They’re our greatest asset, and that is the reason why the government of Ontario is investing in the people of Ontario.

In 2023 alone, employment in Ontario increased by 2.4%, driven by an increase in both full-time and part-time positions. Through these initiatives, we’re making sure we will help and support and promote financial stability and peace of mind. Something which we are doing is prioritizing sustainable pensions for our workers, supporting a target-benefit framework to safeguard retirement security in the skilled trades and other fields. If passed, the spring bill amendment will bolster this framework, allowing employees to maintain their pensions while transitioning to different employers.

And our infrastructure commitment is not just a promise, it’s real progress, improving connectivity, fuelling economic growth and bolstering quality of life. Strategic investments in transportation are easing congestion, enhancing safety and opening doors for businesses and communities. We are laying the foundation for more efficient and resilient infrastructure, ensuring that Ontario is ready for future generations.

All told, as part of our historic 10-year infrastructure plan, we are investing more than $190 billion in highways, transit, broadband, and housing-enabling and other infrastructure all across our province.

We are committed to easing the burden of commuters. Our new One Fare program, for another example of how we are here to support the affordability crisis for the people of Ontario: The new One Fare program simplifies transit payments for riders connecting across Ontario, saving the average daily rider $1,600 per year.

Another great example is, right now, as we are going through the summer, there are a lot of university students who are going to be doing their internship. For somebody who is living, for example, in Mississauga and is doing an internship at the Legislative Assembly, they can hop onto Mississauga transit, go to the GO station, take the GO train or bus, come to Union Station, take the TTC subway, while making sure all of it is paid by one fare. These are real solutions to a problem and support the people of Ontario.

Madam Speaker, there are so many good things in this budget, but I want to sum up by saying that the measures contained in the spring bill are aimed at rebuilding Ontario’s economy, building infrastructure, highways and transit, working for workers, keeping costs down and better services for all of us. We have a plan and a long-term vision, and we’re taking real action rooted in strong fundamentals.

I firmly believe, Madam Speaker, this government can and will get it done and that is why the people of Ontario want us to keep going and build a better, prosperous Ontario. So I encourage everyone to come together and vote in favour of Bill 180, the Building a Better Ontario Act.

Questions?

The minister talked about health care in Niagara. It was under your government that we closed six hospitals in Niagara: St. Catharines General, the Hotel Dieu, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Welland, Fort Erie and Port Colborne, and in 2014, it was your government and your candidate that said no to GO two-way, all-day, all the way to Niagara and no to the new hospital. It was brought in by other people.

Investing in health care, I believe, is one of our foremost priorities. So I’m going to ask the government—I don’t care who answers it. In Fort Erie, you have decided to close our urgent care centre which provided 24/7 care for 40,000 residents in Fort Erie. They’ve now cut it down to 10 hours a day. I’m going to ask the government: Are you going to reopen the Fort Erie Urgent Care Centre that, quite frankly, the Premier promised to keep open in the last election?

Thank you to the member opposite. I can tell you this minister and this government care a lot about the Niagara region. We have dedicated a lot of resources and time. In fact, we have the great member from Niagara West, who is a member from the government here, who has been advocating for great health services here in the Niagara region and throughout Ontario. And we have a new hospital being built in Lincoln in the Niagara region which is going to be of tremendous benefit to the people of Niagara.

I can tell you, we’ve also been supportive of all the wine producers and the craft beer manufacturers in the Niagara region which have been very thankful for the support we have given them in this budget to make them more competitive, to get their products sold to market and helping consumers and businesses in the Niagara region. We will continue to be supportive of the people and businesses in the Niagara region.

My question is for the minister. By any measure, Ontario carries the largest debt burden in Canada. It’s the most indebted province in Canada. By your own measures, I might add, you are supporting an unsustainable debt burden. Your net debt-to-GDP is now higher than when Kathleen Wynne left office.

You have a $9.8-billion operating deficit. Your total debt and deficit is projected to be $439 billion. You’ve increased it by almost $150 billion. The amount that you’re spending, the interest on the debt, continues to climb.

At the same time, you are spending the least in Canada on per-capita spending when it comes to health care, when it comes to education.

How do you square the fact that you are the most indebted province in Canada but spend the least on the things that people care about?

Great member from Markham–Unionville for a great question. He is absolutely correct in that we do need more medical professionals here in Ontario. That’s the case not only in Ontario but, indeed, throughout Canada and, in fact, all throughout North America. So, we are incentivizing them with northern stay grants to have doctors who are educated stay in remote communities so that they can service those communities.

We have announced that we are creating a new medical school in York University, close to your community, right in Vaughan, Ontario. Minister Lecce is here, I see—great for you and that community.

We need to educate and foster more doctors right here in the province of Ontario, and this is the first government in many decades that is actually doing that.

What is making progress is the deficit that has been going down year over year. We actually had a surplus two or three years ago. We have a path to balance—the only major government in Canada with a path to balance. We will be balanced in two years.

With all the things that the opposition is promising, could you imagine if they were in power, the fiscal mismanagement, the debt we’d have piled on?

We have a great path right now. It’s a path of investment in building Ontario, but also being fiscally prudent. I’m proud of our track record with respect to the debt and deficit.

With respect to Ottawa in general—I know you did touch on Ottawa—Ottawa is a region we’ve been extremely committed to. As you know, the government recently had the Premier down there to make a big announcement for a new funding agreement for the region of Ottawa and changing some of the cost situations with the government there. Ottawa is a region we’re very committed to as well as, of course, as you touched on, the mental health and addictions, which we’ll continue to support.

Thank you to the minister and to the wonderful PA for the presentation. I know this budget is very fiscally responsible and has so many things to offer for Ontarians.

I’m going to stick with one specific area. It has been said many times before December but I will say it again: Ontario is home to some of the world’s best and brightest doctors and medical professionals. I know this government, not a long time ago, opened the door for foreign-trained nurses for the first time in history.

Through you, Speaker, I ask the member from Oakville and PA to please tell us what our 2024 budget does to continue to provide the people of Ontario with the medical professionals they need in order to receive the quality of care that they deserve.

Next question?

Further debate?

First of all, we are building infrastructure. And first of all, I have to thank the Minister of Education for being in my riding on Friday to announce a new public school for our growing community. In that area where we’re growing and building, we’re building another 825 student spaces and another 88 child care spaces, which is just huge for families. Thank you again to the Minister of Education for this infrastructure build.

Also, what we’re looking for in some of our communities is—we have aging infrastructure when it comes to community centres, and we need that extra little help. We see a lot of our malls are changing. A lot of our seniors would walk around the malls, but our malls are being redeveloped into townhouses and different types of housing—affordable housing—because of our initiatives from our government. Once again, thank you to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for helping us build more housing, but for that we need some help with some community space.

I’m asking the parliamentary assistant, if you can help me: Explain what’s in the budget to help with community space for our growing communities.

First of all, I’ll say thank you to the member from Lakeshore, Etobicoke–Lakeshore—there are two Lakeshores—for your advocacy for the people of Etobicoke–Lakeshore. You’re so right. Who does not remember going to community centres or the libraries to play and have fun? Those who are parents—I do remember when my kids were young, I used take them to the Fletcher Creek community centre. It used to be fun. We would hang out as parents, the kids would have fun. They learned swimming and essential things for their lives. These centres have been serving our community for generations.

That is why, as said earlier, this is the government that believes in investing for the people of Ontario. We are investing $200 million to new community sport and recreation infrastructure. All the caucus members—

Any of the members opposite can answer this question. I’m wondering why Ottawa didn’t get the funds we needed for mental health supports. Let me talk in particular about something we brought up in pre-budget consultations. Counselling Connect: This is a program that runs at about $600,000 a year. It provides, within 48 hours, immediate help of up to three psychotherapy sessions for people in immediate crisis. This was a plea that the Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre made to the government: “Could the province assume responsibility for this?” What we got instead, unfortunately, is a province of Ontario office in our city that’s going to cost three times the amount this particular program costs—we’ll take the office; we’ll use whatever means we have to lobby the government.

I would ask any of the members opposite: Why not take on that responsibility provincially so we could get every single person in our city—and, why not, every single person in Ontario—access to mental health support within 48 hours?

I’m so pleased to be here today. I’m going to say it like I mean it: I’m really pleased to be here today. This budget, budget 2024, we have been very vocal about the gaps that we see in this budget and I’m going to talk about some of the amendments, but I’ve been listening to some Pink Floyd recently, and I’m going to try to get some Pink Floyd quotes on the record because it’s very applicable to this current culture of this government.

I’m really doing this for my own amusement, but at third reading, we need all the help we can get, especially having gone through an extensive pre-budget consultation process where myself and my colleague from London North travelled around the province, and our colleagues met us in Hamilton and northern Ontario. Although, I must point out to the government members who are so happily here, as well, that no Toronto pre-budget consultations were scheduled. This government left Toronto off the pre-budget agenda. And I have to say, I know that there is some bias towards the GTA area; certainly earlier, the Minister of Health was talking about how we’re just downtown New Democrats, even though I’m from Waterloo and we’ve got people from Windsor; we’ve got people from northern Ontario; we’ve got people in the Ottawa area.

Toronto matters. It really, really does, and the fact that this government intentionally removed Toronto delegations from the budget process was very problematic, because this is the economic engine of Ontario. The connectivity with our various communities truly does matter, and if you are trying to design and craft a budget that meets the needs of the people who we are elected to serve, then you need to include Toronto. I wanted to point that out.

I also wanted to say that we did try to make this budget bill better during committee. We introduced two significant amendments. We’re, of course, limited, just so you know, in what we can do. This obviously is not the budget that I would have designed, by a long shot. But I do want to say, we did try to make it better and, very quickly, we introduced a couple of amendments.

One of the amendments proposed an emergency room emergency fund, because we have had so many emergency closures across this province. When those small rural hospitals are shutting their ERs down—in Durham, there was emergency room closures, as well—I think there were 203 over the course of the last year. That’s another record in the province of Ontario—check—for this government. We’ve never seen these kinds of closures for emergency rooms ever in the history of the province of Ontario, and it is impacting the health and safety and well-being of the people that we’re elected to serve; make no mistake about that.

So what we did is that we created a new schedule to create an emergency room emergency fund, to keep ERs open that would otherwise be shut down due to the lack of funding. And do you know who actually recommended this? They came to committee, and I want to thank the good folks from Minden, because that community got blindsided as this government allowed and permitted and fast-tracked the closure of their emergency room in Minden. It’s heartbreaking for that community. They have been tracking the deficits of the hospitals in this province, and you would have to be literally with your head in the sand to not know how dire the situation is for our acute-care hospitals in Ontario. So we proposed this; of course, it went nowhere.

And then one of the schedules, of course, renames the infrastructure bank to the new Building Ontario Fund. The infrastructure bank was introduced originally in the fall economic statement; it’s copying the federal Liberal infrastructure bank, which has been an abject failure. So instead of this government actually looking at a mechanism that would assist with infrastructure development, do you know what they did? They just rebranded it. They just called it a new name.

We tried to really get at the heart of what this new Building Ontario Fund would look like: What are the parameters? What’s the framework? We don’t have a lot of confidence in this government’s ability to create legislation, or even regulations, well, and so what we did is we introduced an amendment that would ensure that the Ontario Infrastructure Bank—or the Building Ontario Fund, now—would not allow for public dollars to be used for private, for-profit projects that would otherwise get built. This makes a lot of sense, because, as my colleague has pointed out, this province is in massive debt and with an ongoing $9.8-billion operational funding shortfall, which was not predicted even in the fall economic statement.

So people are paying the price for your poor policy decisions, for your poor legislative decisions, and the costs for Bill 124 in total, the FAO predicts, are at $13.7 billion. I’d like to point out that that is money you put your hands in the pockets of Ontarians for, because this government talks about pockets a lot. You put your hands in the pockets of Ontarians when you introduced Bill 124, an unconstitutional piece of legislation which caps wages at 1%, then you called everybody who was working during that pandemic—the nurses, the front-line health care workers, the doctors—heroes, but you capped them at 1%, which is a contributing factor to the out-migration of those health care professionals in Ontario—100% for sure it is.

So what we wanted to make sure with this new Building Ontario Fund—how would the implementation happen? Because reduced public financing for long-term-care facilities or affordable housing that are normally privately financed that would not otherwise get built is an issue. And public financing is a big part of our Homes Ontario plan, because this government has to get back in the business of building truly attainable affordable housing. The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has encouraged this government to build that kind of housing, not market share. This is truly affordable attainable housing, because that is the stabilizer for the economy, right?

And we now know, after five and a half painful years of this particular government, that housing starts are down. It is very disturbing to see these numbers decrease in the face of people living in tents and temporary shelters across this great province. That crisis is real.

If you were serious about stabilizing the housing market, you would get back into the business of building non-market housing. We have a plan. We presented it to you in the face of a really positive solution, one part of the solution to address the housing crisis. This government said no. They’re very good at saying no to us, as they just did earlier, on the education funding.

However, it would not be worthwhile to allow costly private financing to displace affordable public financing. So, we tried to get some clarity on this, because, I have to tell you—I mean, there’s a lot of talk about the gravy train in this place, but we’re really focused now on the gravy stains, because you keep leaving a path of destruction and, quite honestly, really poor fiscal decisions which we are going to end up paying the cost for.

So we tried to make the bill better. It didn’t go very well for us, because it’s a supermajority here at Queen’s Park. We did put a dissenting opinion, though. This is a record-long dissenting opinion; I believe it’s nine pages long. I do want to thank my staff in my office, Karissa Singh, who is my legislative assistant, and Steffi Burgi, who is an OLIP intern—they’re doing amazing work—but also Caitlin Hipkiss, who is our researcher.

Interjections.