May 27, 2004

BUILDING A BETTER TOMORROW
by David Caplan, Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal

Check against delivery.

Thank you all for coming.

I want to talk to you today about what might be regarded as the next instalment in our overall plan for managing this province’s public infrastructure.

Earlier this month I released a discussion paper on how to manage growth in the Golden Horseshoe. It speaks to the importance of focussing and directing growth, instead of simply trying to catch up to it.

Later this fall, we will be developing and releasing a 10-year infrastructure plan—the first long-range plan ever developed in this province—with specifics about what we plan to do, and when we plan to do it.

All of these are component parts—building blocks, if you will—of this government’s plan for Ontario’s infrastructure…now and in the future.

What we’re going to do…Where we’re going to do it…When.

This morning…I’m going to talk to you about how.

How are we going to build our infrastructure? How are we going to match up infrastructure projects with the most appropriate financing strategies? How are we going to manage and how are we going to pay for it?

Today we are instituting a new and better way of building the critical public infrastructure the province needs, and the people of this province deserve.

I am proud to be releasing a document we are calling Building a Better Tomorrow, an infrastructure planning, financing and procurement framework for Ontario’s public sector.

Again, like our 10-year plan, like our growth plan…there has never been a document like this in Ontario.

And it is badly needed.

The previous government didn’t plan for future growth by building the infrastructure we’re going to need, and they didn’t properly maintain what had already been built.

The results of that neglect can be seen in our rundown schools, our gridlocked roads and our aging water pipes.

The cost of that neglect can be seen our long hospital waiting lists and other reduced public services.

And the bill for that neglect?

Well, best guess is that to make the repairs we need on the infrastructure that exists today, and put in place the public facilities we need to accommodate future growth, we’ll need to spend more than 100 billion dollars over the next 30 years.

And we need to spend it wisely.

Simply put, given that over the next three decades we will in effect be running a 100-billion dollar construction project, we need to apply intelligent, responsible and ethical business principles to that project.

That really ought to be obvious, but until now it apparently hasn’t been. Until now, government has made infrastructure investments in an ad hoc fashion at best, an irresponsible fashion at worst.

This has led to many of the well-known projects that have either been delayed by uncertainty, gone over budget, or been delivered late.

Sometimes all of the above.

Building a Better Tomorrow is about ending that pattern today.

This document represents what we believe is the best thinking on improving the way important infrastructure decisions are made.

It sets new provincial guidelines to ensure our infrastructure is built, paid for and managed in a way that ensures the best value for taxpayers money.

Building a Better Tomorrow outlines five key principles that will guide all of this government’s infrastructure decisions. They are as follows:

• The public interest is paramount
• There must be appropriate public control, and let me make it very clear right now: In vital areas like water, health and education, there must be public ownership
• Value for money must be demonstrated
• Accountability must be maintained, and
• All processes must be fair and transparent.

To get on with the job of infrastructure renewal, we also need financing strategies. The province will use a multi-facet approach to financing infrastructure.

The government has identified several sources for infrastructure investments, including:

• Direct grants from the provincial capital budget,
• Federal, provincial and municipal shared cost programs like funding for GO Transit and the TTC, and the Canada-Ontario Municipal and Rural Infrastructure Program;
• Pooled financing and low rate loans to municipalities and other public sector partners through the Ontario Strategic Infrastructure Financing Authority (OSIFA);
• Public and private sector partnerships including investments from pension funds and others, under certain conditions;
• New local government investment tools, such as gas tax; and
• User fees, where appropriate and properly regulated.

The five principles guiding our investments and the financing strategies I just outlined will ensure that as we go forward as a province, we have the financial capacity to build and maintain the infrastructure that is the figurative and literal backbone of this province.

And the best argument I can make to prove that point…

…is to remind you of what can happen when governments don’t follow those guidelines.

Highway 407.

Highway 407 was a project that was not delivered in a principled way.

It didn’t just violate one of our underlying principles…it basically violated all of them.

It wasn’t in the public interest.

The 99 year-lease effectively transfers ownership, and control, out of public hands.

There was no accountability. Value for money was a joke, and as for transparency…as for the people of Ontario knowing what kind of deal had been struck…well, need I say anything more?

Now before I take your questions I just want to say to the people of Ontario that the days of infrastructure decisions like Highway 407 are over.

The days of infrastructure decisions based on expediency instead of planning are over.

The days of a government making infrastructure decisions based on considerations that don’t extend past its own mandate are over.

The days of responsible decision-making based on a clear understanding of our infrastructure needs, and how we can satisfy them…

…those days have begun.

Infrastructure is about building.

We are drawing up a building plan, one step at a time, getting every step right…because what we’re building is too important to risk getting it wrong…

Great communities in a great province…for a better tomorrow.

Thank you.