In the first four months of this year, more than 80,000 good-paying jobs have been created in Ontario. Last month alone, we added 25,000 jobs, including 5,800 in manufacturing. By lowering costs across the board, our government has created the conditions for job growth across the province. We have cut 500 pieces of red tape that the Liberals imposed to stifle economic growth, and we’ve reduced the cost of doing business by $8 billion in the province every single year.

Now, we cannot let the Liberal carbon tax lose Ontario’s momentum. We have shown the Liberals the way: Lower taxes create jobs; lower taxes create wealth in Ontario. We ask the Liberals to scrap the carbon tax today.

Speaker, at every single opportunity they get, the Liberals have hiked taxes. Not only do they continue to hike the carbon tax, but now they plan to cancel the accelerated capital cost allowance. Now, Speaker, that’s the exact program that our government put in place to create 700,000 jobs since we were elected. The Liberals are taking that away from our businesses.

Their tax hikes chased 300,000 manufacturing jobs out of Ontario. If they need proof that lower taxes create jobs, just look at our track record: again, 700,000 jobs created since we were elected, 80,000 jobs this year alone.

Enough with the tax hikes. They don’t work. Lowering taxes is what works to create the jobs. Scrap the tax today.

Of course, I am going to start off with the fact that I have been starting off with almost every day: that in 2023, Ontario created more manufacturing jobs than all 50 US states combined. We cannot say that enough in this Legislature. That is a sign that our auto plan is working.

Think about when we attracted NextStar from Korea into Windsor. They’re currently building a $5-billion battery plant. At that time, we said there would be a lot of follow-on investment. Well, here’s one: A company, Bobaek, has invested $35 million in a brand new plant across the street in Windsor that does battery insulation panels and other parts for electric vehicles. They are putting 144 people to work there, and Bobaek is already planning their phase 2, which is a twin building next door. It’s because we lowered the cost of doing business by $8 billion.

To the students who are here: Under the previous government, we lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs. Since Premier Ford was elected, we have seen 700,000 men and women go back to work.

It was only a few years ago that Reuters announced there would be $300 billion spent on electric vehicles across the world and zero of it was coming to Canada. Now, here we are, three years later; $28 billion in electric vehicles has landed in our province, putting men and women to work every single day. Bloomberg has now said that Canada is the number one jurisdiction around the world for electric vehicle parts. That is where we are. We have dethroned China from the number one position for the very first time. That’s what’s happening in the province—

Let’s talk about a few numbers. As of this morning, since this Premier was elected, we have 700,000 new jobs created in the province of Ontario. Last year alone, 180,000 jobs were created here in Ontario. We said it yesterday, and we said it last week, but we’ll say it again: In 2023, Ontario created more manufacturing jobs than all 50 US states combined. Last month, Ontario led the nation in job creation. Nearly 24,000 new jobs were added in our economy just in the month of January; 9,700 of them were in construction. Ontario accounted for 65% of all jobs created in this country. We are leading the nation in job creation.

This is such a historic number that it bears repeating: In 2023, Ontario created more manufacturing jobs than all 50 US states combined. In the last three years, Ontario has attracted more than $29 billion in new manufacturing investments, creating more than 11,000 new jobs in that sector.

This year, Ontario welcomed an investment from a Kitchener-based med-tech firm, FluidAI. They’re investing $25 million, hiring 38 new technicians with a $1.4-million investment from our government. This investment will strengthen our world-class manufacturing sector and create jobs for hard-working families in Ontario.

We have continued to create the right conditions for job growth in every region of the province.

Speaker, a few minutes ago, you heard the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing say that 700,000 new jobs were created in Ontario in just the last five years. Let me give you a bit of a breakdown: 70,000 workers work at 1,900 life science sector firms in Ontario, 420,000 workers are at 25,000 tech firms in Ontario, and over 120,000 direct jobs and hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs are now in our auto sector all across Ontario. All of that, Speaker, is not by raising taxes; it’s by lowering taxes and lowering the cost of doing business by $8 billion a year. Record job numbers have hit Ontario by keeping taxes low.

With more than 420,000 tech workers at more than 25,000 firms, Ontario is the global tech leader. By cutting red tape and reducing the cost of doing business by $8 billion annually, we’ve created the conditions for the tech sector to prosper. That’s why we’ve seen the creation of more than 100,000 good-paying tech jobs since we took office.

In just this last year, cutting-edge tech companies like Snowflake, DNEG and USEReady invested $142 million to expand their operations and have created 950 good-paying jobs. As a result, Ontario is now one of the largest IT clusters in North America. Our message is clear, Speaker: If you’re a tech worker, researcher or firm, there’s no better place to be than right here in Ontario.

The brightest tech workers and leading tech firms are packing their bags and coming to Ontario, reaffirming their confidence in the thriving tech ecosystem that we have built.

Our government will continue to do absolutely everything to ensure Ontario remains a global tech powerhouse.

Thank you to the member for the question.

It’s interesting, in the auto sector—you always hear about these indirect jobs that are created. When I was mayor of the city of North Bay and my economic development team would say, “Well, they’re going to bring 10 jobs, but there are going to be 40 spinoff jobs,” I never understood and never acknowledged that that was actual. They were talking about a big stretch. But in the auto sector, they’re not talking about a stretch, because the auto companies assemble vehicles; they don’t make many of the components. So for every $1 that’s invested, for every job that goes to an auto plant, you can see about $7 to $9—some will say $12—invested in the other sectors. You will see seven to nine to 12 jobs created in the other sectors. They don’t make a tire. They don’t make a steering wheel. They don’t make a windshield. Somebody else makes that for them. So when you have an increase in a plant, you have an increase in jobs all around.

Because it’s critical minerals now from the north—no matter where you are in Ontario, you are now going to benefit from the auto investment.

We’ve got a number of other advantages that I did not have an opportunity to speak about. I talked about the fact that we have this ecosystem here in Ontario, but it’s supported by this beautiful talent that we have, which is rejuvenated every year by 65,000 STEM grads—science, technology, engineering and math—every year. We have this unique ecosystem that also includes trade deals with 50 different countries around the world. So when you are building something in Ontario, you have the opportunity to export that, tariff-free, to most countries in the world—an extremely competitive advantage.

There was a time when companies were fleeing Ontario—300,000 jobs left here. But under this government, we have lowered the cost of doing business by over $700 billion a year, every year. The result? Look at Telus—a $23-billion investment in network infrastructure and broadband technology, creating 9,500 new jobs over the next five years. Tata Consultancy Services, an Indian tech firm, launched their fifth global hub right here in Toronto—5,000 new jobs and 100 internships for those 65,000 STEM grads.

We have created the right climate for companies like LTTS and Snowflake to locate right here in Ontario, all because Ontario is open for business.