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’ll have the record note: That’s the member from the Niagara region, which is going to benefit from those changes to the alcohol modernization plan that we have.

We also have benefits in place for the many people of Ontario who want to see changes to the Pension Benefits Act to help better set up Ontario workers when it comes to saving for their retirements.

Speaking of workers, Madam Speaker, successful governments are always attuned to the needs of workers. Day in and day out, we’re working for workers, including with our efforts to prepare workers today for the jobs of tomorrow, hence why we are investing an additional $100 million in 2024-25 in the Skills Development Fund Training Stream, just as we are continuing to implement the $224-million Skills Development Fund Capital Stream. Because we support our workers and continue to do all we can to further the development of Ontario’s world-class workforce, just as we are doing all we can to build out Ontario’s skilled trades pipeline for in-demand careers. Here, we are supporting a variety of programs that attract more young people into the skilled trades.

Thanks to our investment of an additional $16.5 million over the next three years through the skilled trades strategy, we are fostering the skilled trades workers of tomorrow. We need to keep encouraging employer participation in apprenticeships, because it is with their help that we will continue to provide more young people with an entry into meaningful, lifelong careers.

Now that I’m on the subject of careers, we are committed to creating and remain committed to creating good-paying jobs as well as fostering business investments that will deliver tomorrow’s economic success today. This is why our budget allocates an additional $100 million to the Invest Ontario Fund, bringing its total to $600 million to help attract investments and new jobs in key sectors such as advanced manufacturing, life sciences and technology.

Madame la Présidente, nous demeurons résolus à créer des emplois bien rémunérés, ainsi qu’à favoriser les investissements des entreprises porteurs de la prospérité économique de demain, et ce, dès maintenant. C’est pourquoi, dans notre budget, nous octroyons 100 millions de dollars additionnels au Fonds pour Investissements Ontario pour le porter à un total de 600 millions de dollars, ce qui contribuera à attirer des investissements et de nouveaux emplois dans des secteurs clés comme la fabrication de pointe, les sciences de la vie et la technologie.

Creating good-paying jobs and fostering businesses is why we are boosting the growth of Ontario’s end-to-end supply chain for EVs and EV batteries. With the historic Honda investment, we’ve attracted over $43 billion in new investments in the vehicle manufacturing and the EV supply chain system in under four years. Who can forget the 12,000 permanent jobs these investments will create, jobs of the future—a future that will be here sooner than we think and that will support Ontario workers and families for decades to come.

But we don’t have to wait decades in order to see results. This past Friday morning, for example, Statistics Canada released its monthly employment numbers, which showed Ontario added 25,000 jobs in April alone. And that’s including 5,000—5,000 jobs, Madam Speaker—in the manufacturing sector. This is the fourth consecutive month that employment in Ontario has increased. Our efforts to create more good-paying, meaningful jobs are paying off, and we’re not stopping there.

But of course, we can’t simply create jobs out of thin air. We need the help of millions of Ontario employers and job creators to get the job done. So, for our businesses of all sizes, we are enabling an estimated $8 billion cost savings and support this year alone, including $3.7 billion for small businesses, all thanks to key actions taken by this government since 2018.

So, let’s revisit what I just discussed: —we’re attracting investments—check; —we’re creating new jobs—check; and we’re supporting businesses large and small—check.

Check, check, check, Madam Speaker. This Premier promised Ontarians that he would open Ontario for business once more, and here we are, breaking records and building our future today. And that’s exactly what this budget is about: building a better Ontario for all.

With this budget, our government continues investing to create jobs and economic growth. And despite a challenging global economic situation, our government also continues to invest in care, health care, education and other vital public services as well.

For example, there is our continued investment of $6.4 billion since 2019 to build 58,000 new or upgraded long-term-care beds across the province by 2028. Then, there’s our investment of $155 million in 2024-25 to increase funding to fast-track construction of the next tranche of long-term-care homes by November 30, 2024. I know the member from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound is nodding his head in support.

These and many others are some of the steps our government is taking to build a better Ontario, just as we are doing with our plan to build and expand and renew schools and child care spaces. We’re doing it by investing $23 billion over 10 years for capital, including education capital of $16 billion in capital grants.

With Ontario’s population growing as rapidly as it is, we need to continue to build the spaces so that students can have a place to learn close to home. And we’re building those new schools, we’re building those child care spaces and we’re continuing to support many right across the province.

We’re also getting it done for our older students who are looking to begin the next chapter of their professional lives. With our 2024 budget, we are supporting small, northern and rural colleges and northern universities by providing $10 million in targeted supports. We’re doing so because Ontario schools and universities are shaping our next generations and fostering a sense of community like no other, so we’re there for them too.

While we’re on the topic of community, we also know that keeping active and having access to recreational opportunities is key to having a thriving community. That’s why we are launching a new $200-million Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund to strengthen communities right across Ontario. By investing in new and upgraded sport and recreation facilities, we are supporting the mental and physical health of families, youth and seniors for generations to come.

Madam Speaker, so far, I’ve discussed our plan for Ontario and the 2024 budget, which the measures in Bill 180 will help move forward. I’ve discussed jobs and investments, long-term care, education and recreation. In all these cases, we are doing more.

More needs to be done because previous Liberal governments failed to do the work they were elected to do, Madam Speaker. They failed to build roads. They failed to build highways and transit. They failed to build robust health care, schools and homes. Worst of all, they failed our people. They stood by and racked up unimaginable debt while countless jobs and investors left Ontario for greener pastures. We knew since day one that we had a lot of work to do, work that is helping bring this province to the place it needs and deserves to be in.

This is especially true now that our population is growing at exceptional rates. More is needed so we can thrive and secure our collective future. Our population is expected to increase by more than five million people over the next 20 years—five million more people.

They’re going to go to places like Essex, which is such an attractive place to live and to work and to raise a family. People need public services, affordable places to live and health care when and where they need it. That is why we are continuing to build a robust health care system that puts people at the centre of care.

And we are delivering on the most ambitious plan for hospital expansion in the province’s history, including building a new hospital in Windsor and, while we’re at it, more health care in Niagara and more health care right across the province.

But you know, we’re not going to stop there, because there is so much more to do. Over the next 10 years we’re going to invest $50 billion in health care infrastructure capital, including close to $36 billion just in capital grants to the health care sector. There is no government quite like this government. We are changing the landscape of health care here in Ontario for the better by putting money where it is needed the most. That’s why we’re also committing $620 million over 10 years to allow health care system partners to address urgent needs and extend the life of hospital infrastructure, infrastructure that will ensure that our children and their children after them have the services they need to build a life, just as we did.

Jobs and investments, education, health care, fostering communities and a whole lot more: We are getting it done. These are public goods and in one way or another they are ultimately connected by provincial infrastructure. That is why a key part of the 2024 budget is our focus on highways and other critical transportation infrastructure. That’s why we are targeting gridlock and saving commuters time by advancing critical highways like the new Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass. While I’m at it, aren’t we doing something in Windsor and Essex by widening Highway 3?