Thank you for the offer.

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound, who I see over there, and the member from Oakville, who is right behind me, who I see right there.

Today I rise to speak to the second reading of the fall bill, the Building a Strong Ontario Together Act (Budget Measures), 2023. The measures in this bill continue our responsible, targeted approach that will help get Ontario through the uncertainties of today and build critical infrastructure in communities right across the province, while also laying a strong fiscal foundation for future generations.

Mr. Speaker, Ontario is seeing significant growth.

Monsieur le Président, l’Ontario connaît une croissance considérable.

Nearly 500,000 more people came to the province last year, and 4,400 more businesses operate in our province today compared to last year. Our population is growing, jobs are being created, and companies are choosing Ontario as a place to do business. But we cannot take this good news for granted. This is because the world today is marked by rising geopolitical and economic global uncertainty. Now, more than ever, it is important to remain fiscally disciplined, responsible, and flexible so that we can emerge from these uncertainties stronger than ever before. We must continue with our plan to build a strong Ontario, and we must do it together.

Our plan is guided by two key pillars: building Ontario and working for you. Underscoring these pillars is our government’s prudent and responsible fiscal plan that includes a path to balancing the budget. I can say we are focused on responsibly eliminating Ontario’s deficit while delivering on the priorities of the people and businesses of Ontario.

Due to a slowing economy impacting revenues and an increased need for flexibility to respond to risks, our government is now projecting a $5.6-billion deficit in 2023-24. We are maintaining a path to balance, and following a projected $5.3-billion deficit in 2024-25, our government is forecasting a surplus of $0.5 billion in 2025-26.

As we have done since day one, we will continue to be transparent with the people of Ontario about the fiscal outlook of this province. Every 90 days, I’m out before the people of Ontario to provide an update on our finances. And we have received six clean, unqualified opinions from Ontario’s Auditor General ever since we came into government.

As we deal with the uncertainty ahead, our government will never hesitate to do what is necessary to support the people and businesses of Ontario.

Devant l’incertitude qui plane sur l’avenir, notre gouvernement n’hésitera jamais à faire le nécessaire pour soutenir la population et les entreprises de l’Ontario.

Our plan to build includes building the critical infrastructure we need to support communities right across the province. This means building hospitals, building long-term-care homes, building schools, building child care spaces, building highways, building roads, building transit.

Our population is now over 15 million people. Some 15.6 million people call Ontario home. And we have hundreds of thousands of people a year coming to our great province. Again, this growth is really good news—really good news; une bonne nouvelle, madame la Présidente.

To accommodate this growth, we need to build. We are delivering on our $185-billion capital plan, our historic capital plan and, dare I say, the most ambitious plan in the history of this great country. However, our government inherited an infrastructure deficit, and this growth is adding more strain to existing, aging infrastructure. We need to build, and we need to build even more.

Ontario taxpayers alone cannot shoulder the costs. That is why we are launching the Ontario Infrastructure Bank. Modelled on similar institutions in jurisdictions around the world, the Ontario Infrastructure Bank will attract pension plans and other trusted institutional investors to help finance essential infrastructure that otherwise would not get built. The bank will focus on large-scale infrastructure projects that will build long-term-care homes, affordable housing and major infrastructure in our communities and in municipalities—also investing in energy and transportation sectors. This will give the world-class pension funds that call Canada home, such as the Maple Eight, the opportunity they’ve been looking for to invest workers’ savings right here in Ontario.

While we build the infrastructure Ontario so desperately needs, we are doing so by building a stronger, more prosperous economy.

En bâtissant l’infrastructure dont l’Ontario a tant besoin, nous bâtissons également une économie plus forte et plus prospère.

Madam Speaker, for too long, the previous government failed—I see them over there—to seize Ontario’s critical minerals opportunity despite the value these minerals can bring to this great province. Key to us building the economy of the future is unlocking northern Ontario’s critical minerals—would you agree?