We take highway truck training and safety on our highways very seriously. That is why we continue to rank, in Ontario, as some of the safest roads in all of North America.

Mr. Speaker, Ontario leads North America in our truck training, and we will continue to work with the industry to do whatever we can to strengthen that and have no room for any of those who abuse the system or who act outside of the rules and regulations.

We will continue to ensure that safety is the topmost priority on our streets and on our highways. There’s nothing more important than that. We will come down hard on anyone who contravenes any of those rules or regulations. We will continue to speak with the industry, speak with those on the roads and ensure we do everything we can to continue improving those measures.

We have worked with the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development to ensure that truckers continue to be trained. In fact, the minister has done various measures to help improve safety and training, along with truck drivers across the province.

Truck drivers are some of the most important people in our economy. They move goods across this province. Their safety is of utmost priority to this government and to all members of this House, and we will do whatever we can. That is why we have always constantly supported measures for the trucking industry, whether it’s building new highways, whether it’s building the infrastructure that they need, to continue to support the safety of their transportation industry. We will continue to do so and continue to work with the industry to ensure that all measures are taken into consideration.

Mr. Speaker, we have increased enforcement all across the province, especially focusing on the north. Safety is a top priority for this government, and I thank those hard-working officers, the MTO officials that are on the roads and making sure that our roads are safe. We have some of the safest roads in all of North America.

We will continue to do whatever we can to have the highest standards of training, highest standards of road safety—as we have done—whether that be investing in critical infrastructure, expanding highways, investing in keeping those highways safe, like Highway 17. I’m very proud of the work that those officers have done to keep those streets safe and continue to have that compliance and enforcement across our highways, especially in the north, Mr. Speaker.

Safety is a top priority and we will do whatever we can to keep the people of this province safe, especially on our roads and especially our truck drivers and those who travel on those roads.

Mr. Speaker, every measure that we have taken, whether it’s been adding more lights, expanding lanes, the 2+1 pilot that we are running in the north for increased safety—those members right there have voted against it every single time. When it comes to safety, when it comes to increasing enforcement, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to increasing the number of officers that we have on the road, the NDP and Liberals have voted against those safety measures every step of the way. That’s unacceptable, Mr. Speaker.

This government will continue to invest in our enforcement officers, will continue to invest in making our roads safer and the necessary improvements that are needed to support that—

Safety is a top priority for this government. As the Minister of Transportation—we have a budget of over $27 billion to invest in our roads, our highways and bridges.

I look forward to working with the member. We have made significant progress on that specific project. We appreciate the challenges that she has mentioned, and we are working with the appropriate partners to ensure that project is well under way.

Unlike the Liberals and NDP, our government is committed to making sure that we’re building highways, we’re building roads, we’re investing in our bridges across this province—$27 billion in our budget over the next 10 years, which both the Liberals and NDP have voted against every single time.

We are saying yes to investing in rural communities across the province—including the Argyle Street bridge, with a new five-span steel arch bridge. The design of the bridge replacement is complete, and our government is in the process of obtaining final approvals to proceed with construction.

Thanks to the Premier and the leadership of this government, we’re investing in our roads, we’re investing in our bridges—$27 billion. That project will be a part of those investments.

Unfortunately, the previous Liberal government had 15 years and did absolutely nothing with infrastructure.

We’re going to continue to make sure we make the necessary investments to build bridges, build roads, build highways and build transit across this province.

I will reiterate that Ontario does have the safest roads in North America, and our government intends to keep it that way, Mr. Speaker. In fact, any time we have brought any measures in this House—through the budget, through the fall economic statement—to invest in road safety, to invest in highways like Highway 11, Highway 17, expanding highways, that member has voted against those measures every single time. We are opening up new rest areas on these highways, and that member voted against increasing safety and building more rest areas across the north.

We will continue to work with law enforcement and advocates in road safety to ensure that we continue to have the safest roads in North America.

We will continue to work with law enforcement and police officers across this province, as we have been, as we continue to have the safest roads in North America, and we will continue to invest in road safety.

I ask the member opposite, when we are making these investments in Highway 11 and Highway 17, when we increase investments for road safety in this province, that he support this government in those measures every single time.

When we are investing in the north, when we are investing in making those highways safer, increasing capacity on those highways, the NDP and the Liberals have voted no to each and every one of those investments.

We are going to continue to keep Ontario’s roads and highways safe.

Safety in the transport industry and across all of our roads is the utmost priority for this government. That is why, when it comes to commercial licensing, we have some of the most robust processes and licensing and training in the entire country and, in fact, across North America. It includes a minimum of 103 hours of instruction and covers a variety of issues, from entry-level knowledge skills to those practical skills needed to operate large trucks on Ontario’s roads.

Our MTO enforcement officers run across this province ensuring that our roads remain safe, and I appreciate all the work that they do, day in and day out, supporting the safety of our highway and transportation networks across this province.

We will continue to ensure that we work together with all members of this House to improve safety on our roads.

The government takes road safety and the safety of all users on the road very safely. Ontario has some of the safest streets in North America, and we’re working hard to keep it this way.

I look forward to engaging with the member opposite on continuing to build safer roads across the province. The former Minister of Transportation introduced a very important piece of legislation in this House known as the MOMS Act, which included harsher penalties for those not obeying safety on our roads, and we’ll continue to work towards our collective goals, as that member mentioned, to keep our roads safe.

We take road safety very seriously, and I look forward to working with all members of this House and speaking to and hearing from their experiences about how we can continue to make these roads safer, because Ontario does have some of the safest roads in all of North America, and we will do everything we can to uphold that safety on our roads.