It is an absolute pleasure to introduce the backbone of our constituency office: Jean Marc, who’s here from Mississauga–Malton.

It is always a pleasure to rise in the House to talk about the important things the government is doing.

Speaker, the only thing certain in the life of an MPP is the uncertainty. Last week, when I had the opportunity to talk about the budget, I wasn’t even sure that I was going to be doing the same thing today. Thanks to the Premier and thanks to the confidence of the minister, I am now in the Ministry of Finance. So all I would say is that uncertainty is the only certain thing that we have.

As I rise to speak on second reading, I want to acknowledge the hard work of the Minister of Finance, what he has done along with his two wonderful PAs, the MPP from Oakville and the MPP from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound. I was with them on the committee as well, and I’ve seen the hard work they have put into this budget bill. So I want to acknowledge and thank both of them for their hard work.

I see my former Mississauga–Malton resident and now a councillor in Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound; Monica is here, as well. It’s good to see you here, Monica, as we talk about the 2024 budget.

The measures that are contained in this bill to deliver strength to the province of Ontario—we call it our plan to build.

Speaker, I would like to spend a few minutes to put the spotlight on notable initiatives contained in this budget, Building a Better Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2024. These are important measures that each, in their own way, support and help move forward our work as a government.

We all know affordability is an issue. We all know about the federal carbon tax and the pressure it is putting on the people of Ontario. Thankfully, we have a government that believes in the people of Ontario. We’re standing shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ontario to support them in these crises.

One of the most impactful decisions that our government has made which affects the day-to-day life of all Ontarians is the decision to reduce the gas price. We’re introducing proposed legislation that, if passed, would extend existing the gasoline and fuel tax reduction until December 31, 2024. With this extension, we are continuing to keep costs down for families and businesses. As the members of this House are aware, the Ontario government temporarily reduced the gasoline tax by 5.7 cents per litre and the fuel tax by 5.3 cents per litre, for diesel, from July 1, 2022, and it was supposed to be finishing up on June 30, 2024. Thanks to this budget, with this newly announced extension, we will make sure that the rates remain at nine cents per litre until December 31, 2024, saving Ontario households $320, on average, over the two and a half years since the tax rate cuts were first introduced.

As the minister said when this proposed extension was unveiled in Mississauga–Lakeshore, our government understands that high inflation and interest rates are hurting Ontario workers and their hard-earned paycheques, and we will be standing shoulder to shoulder with them, continuing to support Ontario families by reducing the cost of gas.

Another thing which I get amazed with is film production. I’m sure many of our colleagues know that we, as Hollywood North, produce close to $3 billion in film production. And that film production is not just content, but it’s an economic powerhouse; it brings in the revolutions. It gives residents the ability to showcase their talent. Under the leadership of Premier Ford, we support film production, and we’re not just saying it, but we’re doing things. For example, we are making sure the Ontario Computer Animation and Special Effects Tax Credit is simplified. The Ontario Computer Animation and Special Effects Tax Credit, or OCASE for short, is an 18% refundable tax credit available to companies that undertake computer animation and special effects activities on eligible film and television productions in Ontario.

Speaker, if you remember, when we were growing up, Bambi was the first animation movie that we watched—and I do know how much it affects and how much pleasure it gives to our youth and now, in fact, even adults. So this is what we’re doing here again.

To be eligible for this tax credit, a film or television production must also be certified for either the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit or the Ontario Production Services Tax Credit—something we call “tethering” to these other film and television tax credits. The budget measures bill proposes to remove this tethering requirement and seeks to replace it with new eligibility rules to ensure the credit continues to only support professional productions. In other words, we are making sure that we are delivering on the government’s commitment to explore opportunities to reduce red tape, simplify tax credit support for computer animation and special effects activities, so that we can see a lot more production, a lot more economic activities.

This budget is full of wonderful things to support the province and the people of the province; for example, supporting our workers.

Madam Speaker, I remember when my father retired, after all his hard work for over 35 years working in a government job. It gave him pleasure to do things which he wanted to do now that he had some time. On one side, he had time, but on the other side, he was worried about the cost of living, his expenses and the compensation. And he’s not alone. After working hard, we want to make sure that we can continue to have a lifestyle that we have built over years.

This is the way our government is making sure we help those workers who helped us to build a greater, stronger Ontario.

We’re making progress concerning Ontario’s pension plan landscape. We’re working to implement a permanent target-benefit framework. If you’re a worker, if you’re in the industry, please join our hands—help us to build this.

Following consultations over the past year, legislative amendments to the Pension Benefits Act are being proposed through the 2024 budget bill. These amendments would implement policy changes arising from the 2023 stakeholder consultations, as well as legislative housekeeping matters. We are currently 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 will provide a monthly stream of income in retirement, with predictable contributions for employers. Implementation of a permanent target-benefit framework would pave the way for more employers to offer workplace pension plans, increasing the opportunities for workers to save for their retirement. This is yet another way we’re working for our Ontario workers.

In 2023, as we know, employment in Ontario increased by 2.5%—increases in both full-time and part-time. Under the previous Liberal-NDP government, we saw 300,000 jobs going out of manufacturing. Since 2018, there are 700,000 more people working in the province of Ontario—helping, contributing and building Ontario.

Interjections.

Thank you to the member for Essex for that encouragement to the government for building a better, stronger Ontario—speaking of which, to the member for Essex, I want to talk about the Building Ontario Fund. We look at the revenue of Ontario going from $150 billion to $200-billion-plus. It’s no coincidence; it is the policy put in place by this government—making sure and helping business to invest in Ontario.

I’ll give you an example. I was talking to a pension fund—and he explained to me that they’re investing $60 billion for infrastructure projects in India. I happened to ask them, “Why don’t you do it here, close to home, close to the heart, where we can invest that money into the infrastructure here, build a stronger Ontario, stronger Canada, and bring more investments into Canada?” When we do this, the revenue is going to increase. When we increase the revenue, it gives us more opportunity to serve Ontarians, flow back into more services.

Thankfully, we have a solution now. The budget measures would establish Ontario’s new infrastructure bank—the Building Ontario Fund—in a new, stand-alone statute. This fund is another step in our government’s plan to build and attract top-quality investment to Ontario and fund infrastructure that would otherwise probably not get built.

The Ontario Infrastructure Bank was announced in the 2023 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review as an important tool to attract capital to help build essential infrastructure. The Building Ontario Fund continues to make progress in laying the foundation of future successes as it establishes a governance framework and builds out the organization, including recruitment of the chief executive officer. The fund is also exploring opportunities to support large-scale projects in the post-secondary student housing, long-term care, energy generation and municipal infrastructure sectors.

This gives an opportunity to all our colleagues. I call each one of us the champion of our riding. We’ve been elected by the people to represent their voice, but at the same time to help them build a better riding as well.

So I encourage all the members of this House to go back to your riding, talk to your stakeholders, identify those projects. Bring those projects, whether it is, for example, in Brampton South, building up another housing for Sheridan College, or maybe building up another residence in Kingston or maybe a long-term-care—as we’re talking about all this progress.

We’re talking about EV batteries—maybe building another EV plant. I was talking to another stakeholder in my region of Peel: Sony Electronics. They’re building up EV chargers.

To build all this infrastructure, we need money—the municipal infrastructure sector. For example, my councillor, Brad Butt, always talks about building a bridge that can connect Etobicoke with Mississauga. It will save a lot of time. It’s not just saving time—it will make sure that the people of Ontario who are driving on that bridge have more time with their family and have better productivity. By doing so, we can encourage more investments coming into Ontario, building our revenue base as well.

So what is this doing? The fund is currently engaging with Canadian entities with long-term investment horizons and an Ontario-based post-secondary institution to help finance new student housing projects. This fund is also exploring opportunities with partners to finance major energy generation projects, including attracting investment to build new nuclear projects.

For example, we can build green hydrogen. We have trucks, and the trucks need DEF, diesel exhaust fluid. To make that diesel fluid, we need urea, and to make that urea, right now we’re using ammonia. Instead of using ammonia, we can use hydrogen, which is made by electrolysis through electricity. To do that, we need infrastructure. And that’s exactly what this fund is going to do.

First announced in the 2023 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review, the fund is an important tool to attract capital to help build essential infrastructure.

Madam Speaker, as the government moves forward with Ontario’s plan to build, the fund will act as a tool to attract capital, to help meet the infrastructure needs of a growing Ontario and ensure that we are building the critical infrastructure necessary to support all Ontarians.

We all know that at the end of every paycheque, a small amount of money is deducted as a pension. All these pension funds collect that money and invest in projects so that they can increase the size of that pension and help the recipients of their pension fund at the time of their retirement. Rather than investing this pension fund across the globe, what if we created opportunities right here at home? We’d have double benefit. We could invest that money into the infrastructure. Our Ontarians would get the benefit. We’d get them more investment, and those pension funds would be able to increase their benefits to the pension fund holders by investing those funds. So it’s a win-win situation. I hope all the members in this House will go back to their ridings, look at those projects and support us in these kinds of pension fund investments.

Madam Speaker, our goal very simple—simple but powerful. The government is working hard to build a better Ontario. That is what we’re doing through this budget, with many examples of new and expanded initiatives to meet these objectives. And we’re doing it all across province. We truly believe that when we make investments across each sector, each geographical location, and when we support Ontario, we build a better, stronger Ontario.

How are we doing it? I’ll give you some examples. Let’s start with $94 million over three years to enhance the health and well-being of Indigenous and northern communities, with culturally responsive and safe care tailored to community needs—investing $1.1 million in funding to Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Services, to support the Soo and surrounding First Nation communities; helping Indigenous workers in northern Ontario train for rewarding careers, with $7.3 million through the Skills Development Fund.

These are not just numbers. These are the actions on the ground. We’ve seen, for far too long, the north was left behind by the previous government. That is why we’re providing the investment needed to ensure it has the support it needs today.

Let’s look at the southern region.

On the communications front, we are investing more than $63 million in the Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology project to bring high-speed Internet access to over 64,000 more homes, businesses and farms across southwestern Ontario.

As the member from Chatham-Kent is smiling and saying—it’s not just the Internet; when you bring the fast Internet, you bring the investment. When you see these investments made, the businesses come.

Our longest-serving member on this side, from Oxford, is nodding and saying, “Yes, these are the important investments we need to make now,” so that we can utilize that fund which we just talked about, so that we can have these pension funds coming and making those investments, so that we can increase the revenue for Ontario, so that we can spend that money in doing more for the people of Ontario. So it’s like a circular economy. We’re making sure that we work hard, we make more money, we invest that money, we give more service. As people are happy, we bring more investment. When we bring more investment, we increase the revenue. Let’s continue that cycle.

I’m very passionate about Mississauga–Malton, so I can’t resist talking about the Hazel McCallion LRT line. A downtown loop would connect the city of Mississauga’s Square One district, and the Main Street extension would bring the LRT into downtown Brampton.

Madam Speaker, I still remember the time when the Hazel McCallion line was named after Hazel McCallion. She was standing right next to me, and she said, “It sounds so weird. It looks so weird. The majority of these names were done when the person is gone. I’m actually naming my own line, in front of me”—but that goes to the hard work she had done; that goes to the supreme power that had been blessed to her.

To Hazel: I still remember that time, and I want to say thank you for all your hard work. And “Do Your Homework”—that mantra that you gave is the one which is helping us, as well.

I don’t have much time left, and there’s a lot more to cover, so I’m going to talk a little bit of eastern Ontario, as well—I don’t want to say only about northern and then southern; when I meet the members from eastern Ontario at the time of AMO, they’re going to say, “Oh, you guys didn’t talk about us.”

In eastern Ontario, we’re planning new campsites in provincial parks. We are electrifying provincial park campsites, including at Sandbanks.

We are continuing our government’s plan to build long-term-care homes across Ontario. We are opening new long-term-care homes in the region, including Woodland Villa, for example, in Long Sault. It opened in December 2023, with 17 new long-term-care beds and 111 upgraded long-term-care beds.

We’re improving services and supports for people in eastern Ontario—such as, in Ottawa, maintaining supportive housing for Salus that includes relocating 79 displaced low-income tenants with mental health and/or addiction needs.

We’re investing more in primary health care teams, including, in Kingston, more than $4 million in funding that will help up to 10,000 people connect to team-based primary health care.

In Peterborough, for example, more than $3 million in funding will allow the newly established Peterborough Community Health Centre to connect up to 11,375 people to team-based primary care.

On the highway infrastructure front and the economic main cable that is Highway 401, we are replacing Highway 401’s Hallecks Road bridge in Leeds and Grenville and widening the 401 easterly from Brock Road in Pickering, and replacing bridges in Port Hope.

These are some of the examples.

I highly encourage the people of Ontario to take a look at the budget book. It’s pretty detailed. It gives you a lot of investments that our government is making, with your help, so that we can build a better, stronger Ontario. As the members of the government, we have been talking about it; we’re not the only ones, though. We go out and we ask people how we’re doing.

I’ll start with a quote from the mayor of Burlington. She said, “We are thankful that the province is listening to municipalities and working with our mayors to address the issues we are facing in our communities....”

The CEO of the Ontario Medical Association said, “Ontario’s doctors welcome the health care investment in this budget. The OMA identified three urgent priorities in our Prescription for Ontario: Doctors’ Solutions for Immediate Action and asked the government for action.... We look forward to working together with the government and our partners on continuing to build a system for today and the future.”

The president and CEO of TRBOT, the Toronto Region Board of Trade, said this: “Following 20 years of massive population growth in the Toronto region, this ‘building budget’ is what the doctor ordered. We applaud the government’s significant investment in critical transportation....”

These are quotes from people across our province.

To conclude, I would like to pick up the torch of a theme the minister said. Yes, like the rest of the world, Ontario continues to face economic uncertainty and pressure due to high interest rates and global instability. These pressures are being felt day to day by Ontario families, businesses and municipalities. Yet, in the face of these pressures, our government is going to continue to work hard and to build a stronger Ontario, the course this bill helps move forward.

That is why I’m very confident that not only the members of the government, but each and every member of this House will support building a stronger, better Ontario by supporting the Building a Better Ontario Act, 2024.

I want to start by saying thank you to the member opposite for talking about affordability, something this government takes very, very seriously.

This is a government—all the members strongly stood up in this House and talked again and again about scrapping the carbon tax. We talked about reducing the cost of gas. The member from Oak Ridges talked about the One Fare program that will help and make sure that commuters can save $1,600.

We are continuing with our previous decision to expand the LIFT, the low-income workers tax credit, to provide more relief to low-income Ontario workers, and of course, reducing the gas reduction, which I spoke about—$320 in savings.

Madam Speaker, I truly believe this is a government that believes and understands that affordability is an issue. We are here to support our residents of Ontario, and we’ll make sure we’ll continue to build those measures to help Ontarians.

Madam Speaker, this budget has a lot of good investments, a lot of good things. Something that the members from Mississauga and Peel region have been asking about is insurance.

I’m just going to quote something from Amanda Dean, the VP of the Ontario and Atlantic insurance bureau. She said, “IBC and its members welcome the government’s auto insurance reforms, which are a good ... step in giving Ontarians more control and choice over their auto insurance coverage. We have long advocated for much-needed reforms that provide consumers with more choice and options when purchasing auto insurance.” This is one of the things which I have seen.

To the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery, my question is: Minister, for your riding, what do you think in this budget you like the most, which you would like to share with your residents?

Something which I’m really passionate about is making sure that the youth have the resources they need, and I’ll give you an example. When I got elected in 2018, something I found out was that every high school in Peel has a sports facility. Malton was the only one with two high schools and no sports facility. Thanks to the ministry, both high schools now have track and field.

Something which I noticed in this bill is about making investments of $200 million in the Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund, which will help build new rec, sport and community centres all across our province, including some of the NDP ridings as well.

Through you, Madam Speaker: I’d like to ask the member whether she will be joining this side in delivering our commitment to uphold the mental health, physical health and well-being of all Ontarians, and is she going to support this important investment?

Madam Speaker, I was listening to the member opposite, who was talking about the investments we’re making in schools.

I just want to read that what we’re doing here in the province is investing over $23 billion, including $16 billion in capital grants over the next 10 years, to build more schools and child care spaces, including a new joint French and English public school in Blind River, a new English public school in Ottawa, an additional Catholic elementary school in St. Thomas and a new French Catholic secondary school in Vaughan. This includes $1.4 billion in funding for the current school year to support the repair and renewal needs of schools.

But what I do want to talk about is also the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund where we increased the investment from $200 million to $800 million. I do get it. The NDP usually says that we’re not going far enough. So I again want to ask the member whether you will support the increase from $200 million to $800 million in the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund and are you going to support this bill?

Through you, Madam Speaker: I would like to ask the member if she can help us to understand whether she will be voting in favour of such an important infrastructure investment we are planning to do in favour of doctors for tomorrow alongside with us—

I want to say thank you to the member from Don Valley West. We were together at the budget consultations and we heard from people across Ontario about investing in skills training through the Skills Development Fund—SDF, as we call it.

Through this budget, we are investing another $100 million for 2024-25 to help workers and job seekers. This is in addition to the $860 million that has been invested since its launch in 2021. To date, the government has delivered close to 600 training projects, supported over 500,000 workers, including those in the skilled trades and health care taking the next step in their career.

My question to the member is very simple: Do you think $100 million is enough investment in SDF, or do you think we should invest more in SDF?

Before I ask my question, I want to acknowledge my colleague the MPP from Mississauga Centre, who is the parliamentary assistant to the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility. She’s also the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Long-Term Care. She’s a member of the Standing Committee on Justice Policy, and she is also a member of the Standing Committee on Social Policy.

You carry a lot of weight, so congratulations. My daughter is going to become a nurse, and I know she looks up to you. She talks to you about that, as well.

Talking about health care support—all Ontarians expect and deserve access to health care in our province. We have heard it from the great Minister of Health. Having the shortfall emergency department wait times in Canada is not good enough for our government. We know that Ontarians want us to continue the work we’ve been doing to support our health care system and lower wait times.

So from your experience and through this budget 2024, can you advise us and tell us, what is the government doing?