That’s our member from Windsor there—Ontario is becoming the heartland of the electric vehicle and clean steel manufacturing revolution.

D’Algoma à Windsor, l’Ontario est au coeur de la révolution qui s’opère actuellement dans la fabrication des véhicules électriques et d’acier propre.

And, Mr. Speaker, this is just the beginning.

Our Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit is helping manufacturers lower costs, innovate and maintain a competitive edge.

And to keep up the momentum, today, our government is providing $100 million in new funding to Invest Ontario.

To attract more investments and more jobs, right here at home in Ontario.

And we are supporting all of this by continuing to invest in Ontario’s clean energy advantage.

Mr. Speaker, all this growth means we need more infrastructure.

We need more highways to transport the goods we are producing.

We need more transit to get people to where they are going.

We need more hospitals and we need more schools to serve our growing population.

But a growing economy and population is not the only reason we need to build. After decades of previous governments saying no, we inherited an infrastructure deficit in this province, and that’s why we are building Ontario.

We are building more highways, like Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass.

We are investing in more transit, like the Ontario Line and the Northlander.

Across the province, we are building hospitals, long-term-care homes, schools and child care spaces.

But as hundreds of thousands of people move to Ontario each year, existing infrastructure is becoming more and more strained.

Despite our historic and unprecedented $185-billion capital plan, Ontario must build even more.

And Ontario taxpayers can’t shoulder the costs alone.

That’s why I am pleased to announce that today, our government is launching the Ontario Infrastructure Bank.

Monsieur le Président, je suis heureux d’annoncer qu’aujourd’hui notre gouvernement lance la Banque de l’infrastructure de l’Ontario.

Following in the steps of many other jurisdictions around the world with similar entities, the bank will attract trusted institutional investors to help finance essential infrastructure that would otherwise not get built.

A new, arm’s-length agency, the bank will leverage investments by public sector pension plans and other trusted institutional investors to help fund large-scale infrastructure projects right across the province.

At the outset, the projects financed through this new agency will be focused on long-term-care homes, energy infrastructure, affordable housing, municipal and community infrastructure and, yes, Mr. Speaker, transportation.

Canada is renowned for one of the strongest pension systems in the world, including what we call the Maple Eight, the largest funds in Canada and some of the most influential investors in the world. We’ve heard from these funds that they are looking for more opportunities to invest workers’ savings in Canada and right here in Ontario. With the Ontario Infrastructure Bank, we’re creating opportunities for these Canadian pension funds to seize our home field advantage and invest right here at home.

The federal government also has to do its part.

We are calling on Ottawa to invest in a new, next generation infrastructure program that provides adequate funding to address the critical infrastructure needs of provinces and municipalities.

In the meantime—

Interjections.

I knew there was a reason why I liked the member from Mississauga–Lakeshore.

It’s a very important question, and it’s a big question, and I’ll do my best in the time allotted.

As the Premier said, every car that you’ll have a choice to buy in the not-too-distant future will be an electric vehicle. We believe in a clean, green economy in this province. So what are we doing about it? Obviously, not only manufacturing. We’re going to be a manufacturing powerhouse for electric vehicles in this province, but we’ve got to make sure that the production that goes into those vehicles, be it clean steel in Hamilton or Sault Ste. Marie, is fired by clean energy—that the electricity to charge the electric vehicles is done through clean energy. That’s why we’re investing in small modular reactors.

There are many ways to improve the environment. We all believe in that. We’re all going to do it together.

But let me tell you this: We’re also, in the budget, going to put in place the first provincial park in 40 years.

The member is right; there’s no daylight between the member opposite and myself and our government with regard to ensuring that all long-term-care homes have not only the proper infrastructure and air conditioning, but the proper supports.

Let me point out that when you don’t build long-term-care beds—like the previous government in 2011, in 2014, supported by the NDP. You don’t have to air-condition a bed that you don’t build.

Mr. Speaker, not only are we putting in air conditioning right across the province; we’re also building those beds. We’re also putting funding inside—we did in the budget of 2020, almost $5 billion to hire the personal support workers, the nurses to provide four hours standard of care in this province, which will be leading all of Canada.