Premier Doug Ford's Speech at the 2023 Association of Ontario Municipalities annual conference
August 21, 2023
Premier's Office
LONDON — Premier Ford delivered the following remarks at the 2023 Association of Ontario Municipalities annual general meeting and conference.
"Well, good morning, everyone.
Thank you, Jeyan, for that introduction.
Before I begin…
I want to offer my thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Mayor Myles Murdock…
Who passed away, last week, after a brave battle with cancer.
It’s a terrible loss…
My thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones…
And the entire community of Goderich…
During this difficult time.
Friends…It’s great to be back here in the wonderful city of London…Alongside my caucus and cabinet colleagues…For the 2023 AMO Conference.
I want to acknowledge Regional Chief Glen Hare…
And Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell…
As well as our host mayor,
Josh Morgan.
And I want to give a big thank you to Colin, Trevor…
The Board of Directors…
And everyone at AMO for inviting me to speak today.
It’s my sixth time speaking at this conference…
And as I’ve said before…
This event is one of the highlights of my year.
It’s always a privilege to join you…
To not only talk about the challenges we’re facing…
But also,
The great progress we’re making together…To grow and build Ontario.
And friends…
Ontario is growing at an unprecedented pace.
Last year alone,
Our population grew by more than 500,000 people.
At this rate,
Ontario will add five million more people in the next 10 years.
That’s like adding two new cities nearly the size of Toronto in a decade.
Ontario is now the fastest growing jurisdiction in all of North America…Bar none!
We’re growing faster than both Texas and Florida…
The two fastest growing states south of the border.
Hundreds of thousands of families are coming to Ontario…From other parts of Canada…And from all over the world…For a better life.
Because here in Ontario…
We have endless opportunity.
We’re seeing new businesses set up shop.
We’re attracting billions of dollars in new investments…And new jobs…Across all sectors…
In all regions of the province.
And I have to tell you…As Premier…nothing brings me more joy…
Than joining you in your communities to welcome a new investment.
Another factory…
Or a new shift.
Another production facility…
Or a state-of-the-art manufacturing lab.
In April…I joined Mayor Vrbanovic…
And Mayor McCabe...
To break ground on the University of Waterloo and City of Kitchener’s new Innovation Arena for health-science start-ups.
In May…I was thrilled to join Mayor Liggett…
To celebrate Moderna’s major investment to make vaccines in Cambridge.
And I’ll never forget…
Last year…
Standing shoulder to shoulder with Mayor Dilkens…
To celebrate Canada’s first large-scale electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor.
Or this past Spring in St. Thomas,
Alongside Mayor Preston…To announce that Volkswagen was following suit…
With their first overseas gigafactory.
And friends…I just want to take a moment to talk about our growing auto sector.
Working with great mayors like Drew and Joe…Our Indigenous, labour and business partners…We’re building a home-grown electric vehicle supply chain…That’s going to benefit every community in this province…
For generations to come.
We’re connecting critical minerals in northern Ontario…
And clean steelmakers in Hamilton and Sault Ste. Marie…
To auto makers and battery manufacturers across Ontario.
Over the past two and a half years…
We’ve attracted over $25 billion in auto and EV battery investments.
And today…
Ontario is the only jurisdiction in North America…
Where the world’s six largest automakers have set up shop.
These investments…
They’re spurring further growth…Across all regions of the province…
And across our manufacturing sectors.
In fact…
Last month alone…
Ontario added more than 7,800 manufacturing jobs to our economy.
That’s more new manufacturing jobs than all 50 U.S. states combined.
Ontario manufacturing sector now employs over 820,000 people…
The highest it’s been since December 2008.
That’s 820,000 workers…
With good, stable employment.
820,000 workers…
Who are proud of what they’re making…
Right here in Ontario.
And across all sectors…700,000 more people are working today, than when we took office in 2018.
Friends…As our economy grows...
As our population grows…
We need to make sure our infrastructure keeps up.
That’s why…Across Ontario…We’ve embarked on the most ambitious capital plan in our province’s history.
We’re investing nearly $50 billion to support more than 50 new hospital projects across Ontario.
We’re investing $28 billion in roads and highways…
And more than $70 billion in transit…
As we build the largest transit expansion in North America.
Shovels are in the ground to build the new Ontario Line.
Work is underway…On a bridge crossing over the future Bradford Bypass.
We’re building the new Highway 413… stretching across Halton, Peel and York regions.
In Windsor…
We’re widening and expanding Highway 3…
From two to four lanes between Essex and
Leamington…
And building a new interchange to connect Highway 401 to Lauzon Parkway.
We’ve purchased three new trainsets as part of our plan to bring back the Northlander…
Connecting Timmins and Cochrane with Toronto.
And we recently approved the terms of reference for the First Nations-led Environmental Assessment…
To finally build the all-season roads to the Ring of Fire.
But at a time when it’s never been more important to deliver infrastructure for our growing province…
We need to do everything possible to deliver on our commitment to build Ontario.
We need to get it done.
It shouldn’t take 15 years to open a mine.
It shouldn’t take decades to build roads to the Ring of Fire.
It shouldn’t take years to get approval to build homes for growing communities.
Together,
We have to ensure that Ontario is a place…
Where our shared potential…
Is limited only by the scale of our ambitions.
Together,
We have to ensure that Ontario is a place…
Where we can do and build big things.
Of course…We can’t talk about building…Without talking about homes.
As everyone in this room knows…We’re in the midst of a housing crisis.
I hear it everywhere I go.
People are struggling.
Struggling with affordability…
With the rising costs of buying a home…
With high rents.
This struggle…
Is being felt most by young people and newcomers…
Who are priced out of the dream of home ownership.
Even one of our own mayors…
Mayor Salonen from Wilmot Township…
Can’t afford to buy a home in the municipality she leads.
This is a status quo…we can’t accept.
That’s why it’s so important…That we work together…To build at least 1.5 million homes by 2031.
Failing to act…
Would worsen the housing supply and affordability crisis.
Failing to act…
Would hurt everyone in Ontario…
By driving up the cost of goods and services…
And by hampering new job creation and investments.
Failing to act…
Would threaten to erode Canadians unwavering support for immigration…
At a time when our economic success depends on welcoming skilled newcomers to fill critical labour gaps.
As Canada and Ontario welcome more people…
We need to build more homes of all types.
To do so…
Our government is the first one in decades…
To have a real plan to build more homes.
Our Housing Supply Action Plan…
Has set ambitious targets for growing cities and municipalities.
It has cut costly red tape…
While reducing municipal fees and taxes on purpose-built rentals…as well as affordable and attainable housing.
Through our transit-oriented communities…
We’re planning for density right next to transit.
We’re unlocking lands…
To build more than 50,000 new homes that people can afford.
That’s the same as adding a city the size of Welland, Belleville or North Bay.
And after decades of stagnation…
We’re starting to see results.
Against challenging headwinds like higher inflation rates and labour shortages…
2021 and 2022 had the most housing starts in over 30 years.
This is positive momentum…
And a step in the right direction.
But as our province grows at an incredible speed…
We need to do more.
And friends…we’re doing more.
When it comes to building more homes…
We need to work together.
The federal government…
Provincial government…
And municipal governments,
All have a role to play.
One of the most important things we can do as the provincial government…
Is support municipalities in reaching your housing targets.
So today…
I’m pleased to announce…
The Building Faster Fund.
This new fund…
Is an incentive program…That supports municipalities to build more homes.
It’s a three-year, $1.2 billion program…
That will reward municipalities…
For reaching annual housing targets.
These targets…
Will be ambitious…
But realistic.
For the first year of the program…
In 2023…
We want to achieve at least 110,000 new housing starts.
It would be the first time in over three decades…
That Ontario surpassed the 100,000 threshold.
From there…
We’ll ramp up over time…
Until we’re on track to build at least 1.5 million homes.
Municipalities that reach 80 per cent of their target each year…
Will become eligible for funding…
Based on their share of the overall goal…
Of 1.5 million homes.
Municipalities that fail to reach at least 80 per cent…
Won’t be eligible.
Think of it like this.
If you get an ‘A’…you become eligible for funding.
If you do worse than an ‘A’…you don’t.
But here’s the best part.
Municipalities that exceed their target…
That do better than 100 per cent…
Get a bonus.
Let me take a moment…To demonstrate with a few choice examples.
Let’s take Pickering…
One of Ontario’s best performers right now.
At Pickering’s current pace of building…
They’re on track to exceed provincial targets…
By over 150 per cent.
If these numbers hold…
Pickering could be eligible for over $5 million in new funding.
Or let’s take Vaughan…
Another top performer right now.
At Vaughan’s current pace of building…
They’re on track to exceed provincial targets…
By a whopping 140 per cent.
Again…
If these numbers hold…
Vaughan would be eligible for $17 million in new funding.
These are incredible sums of money…
That will reward municipalities for building homes…
And help pay for important infrastructure and community building projects.
The Building Faster Fund will start flowing in 2024…
And can be put toward housing enabling infrastructure…
Like site servicing, roads and public utilities…
And other shovel-ready projects that support the goal of building homes and community building.
Over the coming weeks…
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing will be consulting with AMO…
On further defining what’s eligible.
And I want to reassure our small, rural and remote municipalities…
Who don’t have housing targets...
10 per cent of program dollars…
$120 million…
Will be set aside to support housing in your communities.
And to ensure more municipalities are eligible for the Building Faster Fund…
We need more municipalities to have housing pledges.
So today…I’m also announcing…
That we’re extending strong mayor powers…
To another 21 municipalities,
That commit to provincial housing targets.
Specifically…
Municipalities projected to have populations of over 50,000 people by 2031…
Will become eligible for strong mayor powers…
And the Building Faster Fund…
So long as heads of council…
Provide written confirmation to the province…
That they pledge to meet their housing target.
I want to be clear.
These municipalities will no longer be required to provide a council-endorsed housing pledge.
And that’s because we want more municipalities to be eligible for the Building Faster Fund sooner.
That said…
We hope and expect…
Mayors and other heads of council…
Will work with their colleagues…To secure a council-endorsed pledge…
To demonstrate their shared commitment to building.
Together,
The Building Faster Fund and strong mayor powers…
Are providing municipalities with powerful new tools…To build homes…And to build them faster.
As you do…
As you build more homes faster…
We know that you need to service those homes.
These homes need roads…
They need water and other infrastructure.
It all requires significant investment.
That's why our government…
Led by Minister Surma…
Has now for months been urging the federal government…
To renew and expand the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.
While we remain hopeful they will follow through on recent commitments for new funding this Fall…
Ontario is preparing to move forward with its own program to provide more support to municipalities.
Because we know…
You need resources now to help win the fight against this housing crisis.
Friends…
We have two choices.
We can sit back and ignore the crisis…
Or we can build more homes.
Our government is choosing to build homes.
We’re choosing to build the roads, highways, transit, hospitals, schools and other critical infrastructure…Our growing province needs.
We’re choosing to work together with all of you…To build Ontario.
Thank you again for inviting me here today.
May God Bless the people of Ontario."
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Caitlin Clark 8/21/2023 |
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