Thank you to the member from Niagara West for sharing his time with me and for sharing his important point of view in supporting this bill. This bill is called Building a Strong Ontario Act.

I rise today to speak on this budget. This budget represents our government’s commitment to driving economic growth, expediting vital infrastructure projects, and attracting more jobs and investments to help businesses, families and workers.

Our government has an ambitious plan in place to build more roads, highways, hospitals and over 1.5 million homes. We are expanding subways and public transit and creating more opportunities for people in communities throughout our province. We are taking a responsible and targeted approach that addresses the needs of today while establishing a solid fiscal foundation for future generations. We are building a stronger Ontario that works for everyone.

Speaker, our government has been creating the environment and the conditions for companies to come here and to thrive, prosper and grow. When companies thrive, prosper and grow, so do the people who work at these companies. Ontario continues to lead the nation in job creation, with more than 600,000 jobs added to the province since 2018.

I am proud to share with you some remarkable achievements that have occurred in recent months. For April 2023, the monthly employment data released by Statistics Canada showed that employment in Ontario has increased by 32,700 jobs. This is seven consecutive months of job growth for our province as we continue to attract significant investments that create good-paying jobs for workers across our province.

Over the last two and a half years, Ontario has successfully attracted over $25 billion in automotive and electric vehicle battery-related investments, including a $7-billion investment from Volkswagen to build their first overseas EV battery manufacturing facility in St. Thomas. This groundbreaking investment from Volkswagen, Europe’s largest automaker, will generate up to 3,000 direct jobs and up to 30,000 indirect jobs. Ontario’s partnership with Volkswagen, among many other global automakers, demonstrates our ability to attract historic investments and reinforces our position as a global leader in the electric vehicle supply chain.

Furthermore, our government has also attracted over $3 billion in investments from the life sciences sector and global bio-manufacturers over the past two and a half years, the most recent being a multi-million dollar investment from Moderna to partner with Novocol Pharma, an Ontario-based manufacturer, which further reinforces our commitment to economic growth and job creation.

To complement these achievements and continue to build a strong economy, we need the infrastructure to support it. Our government’s plan to build is investing in critical infrastructure projects that are needed to support growth across the province. We are building new highways, roads, schools, hospitals, long-term-care homes and transit. We are making significant progress and taking action to ensure we have a safe and reliable transportation network, regardless of where in the province you live.

One of the projects that holds a high importance for my constituents is the Yonge North subway extension. The extension is a key part of our government’s plan to fight gridlock. It is a critical project for York region that will provide much-needed access to reliable public transit and will connect more people to major employment centres in Markham, Vaughan and Richmond Hill. Once completed, the approximately eight-kilometre TTC Line 1 extension will put 26,000 more people within a 10-minute walk from transit, and it’s expected to reduce daily travel times for commuters up to 22 minutes.

We are committed to reducing gridlock, connecting people to more jobs and making travel faster for everyone, and we are getting it done on public transit.

But we are not stopping here. We must keep the momentum up. As we continue to attract global investments, as we build Ontario, we are facing a historic labour shortage, the largest labour shortage in generations, with hundreds of thousands of jobs going unfilled each and every day. We must tackle this issue hands-on, using every tool at our disposal.

This is why our government is investing heavily in training to help people prepare for good, in-demand jobs. We can grow our economy by filling all these jobs to care for those in our communities who need it most and to help build new homes, schools, hospitals, highways and transit. We need more skilled workers, and we need them now.

Our government will continue to invest in our people and support our growing community and economy. This is why we are investing $25 million over three years to make it easier and faster for skilled newcomers to come to Ontario to help fill the jobs in the skilled trades and health care. This new investment will ensure Ontario is ready to welcome new skilled workers. We will focus on removing the barriers that newcomers need to deal with, recognizing their credentials and helping newcomers find more meaningful employment sooner in their field. We are committed to building a better life for them and their families, because no matter where they come from, they can build their Canadian dream right here in Ontario.

Speaker, we are making the historic investments to train the workforce of tomorrow as part of our $1.5-billion skilled trades strategy, including a $225-million investment to upgrade and build new training centres. Ontario has the jobs, and our government has the plan—a plan that has a bright future for the people of Ontario, a future that includes a skilled workforce to build our historic infrastructure plan. Whether it is upskilling workers through our skills development programs, attracting more young people into the skilled trades, or breaking down barriers to get more skilled newcomers into the province, we are leaving no stone unturned. We are building a stronger Ontario that works for everyone.

I urge all members in the House to support this plan, to pass this budget, so that together, we can build a strong Ontario.

During this budget, building highways, transit and infrastructure projects are the main keys of this budget. We are going to deliver the most ambitious capital plan in Ontario’s history, with planned infrastructure spending of more than $184 billion over 10 years, including:

—$27.9 billion to support planning and construction of highway expansion;

—$70.5 billion for transit over the next 10 years;

—over $48 billion in hospital infrastructure over the next 10 years;

—$15 billion in capital grants over 10 years, supporting a full continuum of care of first responders who have experienced post-traumatic stress injury and other current mental health disorders.

Madam Speaker, through you, I want to ask the member opposite why he is not supporting this great initiative.

My question is for the Minister of Education.

Canada’s economy, and indeed the world’s economy, is changing and innovating every single day. Many technical and digitized jobs in demand today may not have even existed a generation ago. The knowledge and skills previously required for work must reflect and adapt to meet our future needs.

Parents want assurances that our education system is keeping pace with the ever-changing future job landscape, so that their children have the best possible chance at obtaining good jobs with stable paycheques.

Speaker, can the minister please explain what our government is doing to ensure that Ontario’s curriculum is providing students with forward-thinking skills for the jobs of the future?

Knowing that students will learn about increasingly critical technological concepts is encouraging. The much-needed changes to course content will certainly reflect the knowledge and skills that are necessary for careers and occupations that are emerging across many sectors.

What is also true is that many jobs in the skilled trades are currently unfilled, and the vacancy rates continue to rise by the day. The reality is that Ontario’s population is growing rapidly, and workers for many occupations are desperately needed to build infrastructure and housing.

Speaker, can the minister please explain our government’s plan to connect students with in-demand skilled trades jobs?