The government has a plan to build Ontario’s future with shovels in the ground for highways, hospitals, housing and high-speed internet. With these investments, the government will improve our health care capacity, help provide access to critical mineral resources in Ontario’s North, and cut down on the time drivers spend in gridlock so they can spend more time with friends and family.
Highlights of the government’s plan to build Ontario include:
Building Ontario’s Highways Program
- To build, expand and repair Ontario’s highways and bridges, create jobs and spur economic growth, the government has invested approximately $2.6 billion in funding for 2021–22 in support of the Ontario Highways Program, which features more than 580 construction, expansion and rehabilitation projects. As part of the Highways Program, the government has committed funding to build and advance the Bradford Bypass and Highway 413.
Building the Ring of Fire
- Working in partnership with Northern and First Nation communities to create jobs, unlock critical minerals and bring economic prosperity to Ontario’s North, the Province has committed close to $1 billion to support the planning and construction of an all-season road network and other projects that will provide a corridor to prosperity for the remote First Nations living in the Far North. The Government of Canada must step up and match Ontario’s commitments in this critical project. Unlocking critical minerals will play a key role in making Ontario a world leader in the production of electric vehicles.
Building Community Infrastructure
- Ontario is responding to the need expressed by municipalities through the doubling of its annual investment in the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund program. This additional multi-year investment of $1 billion will bring the total investment to nearly $2 billion over the next five years beginning in 2021–22, to provide certainty and predictability to 424 small, rural and Northern communities so that they can build and repair roads, bridges, and water and wastewater infrastructure.
Building More Long-Term Care Beds
- To address decades of neglect and help those waiting to get into long-term care, Ontario plans to invest an additional $3.7 billion, beginning in 2024–25, to build an additional 10,000 net new long‑term care beds and upgrade 12,000 existing beds to modern design standards. This would bring the total investment to $6.4 billion since spring 2019 — a historic investment that will lead to more than 30,000 net new beds by 2028 and about 28,000 upgraded long-term care beds across the province.
Building Hospital Infrastructure
- To support growing demands on the health care system, Ontario is investing $30.2 billion over the next 10 years to build, expand and enhance hospitals, a historic commitment to ensure people can get the care they need in their communities.
Building Transit and Transportation
- To deliver the largest subway expansion in Canadian history, Ontario is making progress in its $28.5 billion plan with the all-new Ontario Line, the three-stop Scarborough Subway Extension, the Yonge North Subway Extension connecting to York Region, and the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension.
- To advance the Hamilton Light Rail Transit (LRT) project, Ontario is investing $1.7 billion towards a total of $3.4 billion to support this shovel-ready project, creating thousands of jobs.
Building Schools and Child Care Spaces
- To help support the long-term success of students, the government is investing about $14 billion in capital grants over 10 years to build more schools, improve existing facilities and support education-related projects. This includes providing $1.4 billion for the 2021–22 school year to support the repair and renewal of schools, including upgrading ventilation systems.
- Over five years, the government is investing up to $1.0 billion to create up to 30,000 licensed child-care spaces for families and communities across the province.
Building High-Speed Internet Access for Everyone
- To provide all regions of Ontario with access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet by the end of 2025, the Province made a historic commitment of nearly $4 billion over six years.
Updated: November 4, 2021
Published: November 4, 2021