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.