March 27, 2006

Remarks to the Combined Ontario Good Roads Association (O-G-R-A) Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) Conference
by David Caplan, Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal

Check Against Delivery,

Thank you David Leckie, and good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. It is a genuine pleasure for me to be here again.

Whenever I attend this conference I’m impressed at your success in capturing the attention of the government for your issues.

That is because the McGuinty government recognizes the importance of municipal governments — and rural and smaller municipalities in particular.

We see our job the same way you see yours.

Our task is to strengthen the province by strengthening our communities and to ensure our economic success by helping our communities prosper.

That’s your job too. We want the same thingstrong, prosperous communities.

And we can serve the people who placed their trust in us betterwhen we work together, in cooperation to achieve our common goals.

When I was here last year, I spoke about the ambitious plans we were developing to restore Ontario’s public infrastructure after many years of neglect.

That work, that planning, tells us where we want to go, and how we can get there.

Now most of that is done. The roadmap to the future has been drawn, and we are coming to the most important part the part where projects begin to move forward.

That is what I want to talk about today…about the initiatives we are undertaking this year.

There are more than 2,000 public infrastructure projects working through the approval process now  and they will affect communities in every corner of Ontario.

You all know about the major projects like the widening of Highway 69 that will open up communities in the north to more economic opportunities …

Or the enhancements in border infrastructure — like the bridge improvements in Sault Ste. Marie — that will make it easier for our products to reach markets in the U.S. 

But there are also smaller projects in communities all across the province like the arterial roads being built in Elgin County at a cost of some $7 million…

or the storm water and sewage collection project in West Nipissing, that will cost almost $14 million.

Altogether, the total value of the projects being brought forward across Ontario is in the tens of billions.

That is a very large amount of money we say it easily, but it represents much more than the total annual budget of every municipality here.

But I think the results are worth every dime.

When we join together with the Town of Kingsville to invest almost $5 million to improve the sewage collection system we help protect the environment of the entire region.

When we join with the Town of Essex to fix local roads at a cost of $2.6 million we enhance the economic prospects of every business and every individual in town.

And when we act together with the Township of Strathroy-Caradoc to invest $13.3 million in the drinking water supply we are protecting the health and safety of every resident.

Thanks to the leadership and dedication of the folks in this room, we are getting some much needed work done.

There are a number of provincial initiatives underway now that will help you serve your constituents better.

For example, we are making it easier to finance municipal infrastructure projects through OSIFA, the Ontario Strategic Infrastructure Financing Authority.

We created OSIFA because you told us you needed access to affordable financing for public infrastructure

…And now, by making the loan program open for applications on a year-round basis we are improving that access.

Just a few days ago, OSIFA announced approvals for up to $418 million in infrastructure renewal loans for 64 municipalities.

To date OSIFA has committed to provide over $2.4 billion in low-cost infrastructure financing to more than 190 communities for about 1,200 local infrastructure projects.

However there is one area where we do not yet have the results we want.

Many municipal infrastructure projects are financed through tri-partite agreements with the federal government.

The funding for these programs is either over-subscribed or almost depleted. The Canada-Ontario Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund is expected to be fully committed by this fall.

We will be working with the federal government to create new programs to replace those that are now ending.

In fact I have already spoken with Lawrence Cannon, the new federal minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, to congratulate him on his appointment and to raise these issues.

Ontario gets about $1.2 billion less than it should in infrastructure funding from the federal government.

I hope we will be able to correct that fiscal imbalance

…and I hope the result will be better programs that give municipalities more discretion to direct funding to projects that meet local priorities instead of those decided in Ottawa or at Queen’s Park.

We have accomplished a lot together in the past year. But that was last year. What happens now?

There are three major initiatives that will occupy my ministry for the coming year and that will affect the way you do your job for the balance of 2006.

They are ReNew Ontario, which is our investment strategy for infrastructure across the province;

the growth planning initiative, which mainly touches the municipalities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe;

and our plan to improve water and wastewater systems.

I’m going to deal very briefly with the first two, so I can devote a little more time to the third, which is probably the topic that interests you most.

First ReNew Ontario. This is a strategy to invest $30 billion from a variety of sources in public infrastructure by the year 2010.

Under ReNew Ontario we are investing more than $11 billion in transit and transportation infrastructure …

more than $10 billion in schools and institutions of learning.

Those of you from Northern Ontario can see the impact a new facility like the new Northern Ontario Medical School can have on the entire region

and we are investing $5 billion in hospitals and healthcare facilities that will improve access to treatment and cut wait times for millions of people.

The government has already announced 61 major hospital projects in communities like Grimsby, Belleville, Sudbury and Barrie. 

By 2010, 105 healthcare projects will either be underway or completed. This is a major accomplishment that will have a major impact on the lives of your residents.

The growth planning exercise we started soon after we were elected will have similar impacts but it will take longer before the results are as obvious as a new hospital.

For many smaller communities, especially in the North, the principal issue is to find ways to encourage growth.

For smaller communities in some parts of the south, the challenge is exactly the opposite: how to manage rapid growthso we avoid urban sprawl and the kind of unbearable traffic congestion that harms the environment and damages our health.

We passed the Places to Grow legislation to allow us to deal with both kinds of challenges.

We released a proposed growth plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe last November, and so far we have received more than 300 written submissions about it.

Now we are finalizing the Growth Plan, which we expect to release early in the spring.

That is the result of a long process of co-operation and collaboration with municipalities across the regionand I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the contributions you have made, and to thank you for your support.

It’s been a long haul, but the results will be worth it.

I want to turn now to what will probably be our biggest and most important infrastructure initiative for many years to come.

I am talking about renewing our water and wastewater systems, and the steps we must take now to ensure

…that we are providing clean, safe, affordable drinking water in every community…

and, that municipal water and wastewater systems are financially sustainable for the future.

This is not an optional activity. Fixing our water and wastewater systems is not a discretionary expenditure.

It is an urgent priority, for two reasons.

The first, and most important, has to do with public health and safety.

We all remember Walkerton. And we remember that this government made a commitment to implement all of the recommendations of the O’Connor Commission.

Last year almost 1,000 boil water advisories and drinking water advisories and notices were issued in Ontario. 

Each one carries the risk of harm. Each one represents a threat to public health. We have more to do in this area.

The second reason we must fix our water systems is simple good management and simple good sense.

According to Statistics Canada, our water and wastewater systems are the oldest class of public infrastructure and the closest to the end of its useful life.

Every year we have reports of systems that break down, and cost municipalities millions in repair costs and damage.

In one case, an audit of a local water system showed the municipality was losing 41 per cent of its water between the treatment plant and the tap. We can do better.

And we need to do it sooner, not later. The longer we wait, the more it will cost in the end.

The first challenge is financial: my officials estimate we need to invest between $30 and $40 billion in water and wastewater systems over the next 15 years.

Historically, we have not invested enough in water and wastewater systems. And our rates do not provide sustainability.

Some municipalities are already beginning to increase water rates.

But we have to be careful. We have to do this gradually.

We have to make changes. But we have to do it in a way that is fair and equitable.

We have to do it by working together, so that the views of municipalities like yours are given full weight.

We have to be flexible, so local conditions are accommodated. We know that one size does not fit all.

And we have to do it in a way that is economically feasible.

You can see that this is not an easy challenge.

Fortunately we had a lot of help in meeting it

from the Expert Panel we appointed to help develop a sustainable water strategy

 and from the more than 100 municipalities — including many in northern Ontario — who shared their knowledge and experience with the panel.

The panel released its report last summer. Since then we have been holding informal consultations with stakeholders to get feedback on the recommendations.

Some of you participated in that process, and I thank you for your help.

Virtually all stakeholders recognize the need for change, and most agree with the overall direction of the Panel’s report although there are concerns and issues specific to individual municipalities.

The key message for us is to be flexible in how we implement the long-term strategy. I can assure you we will be.

I anticipate that the Government will respond to the Panel’s report in the coming months.

After that there will be opportunities for additional formal consultations.

You are partners in this initiative, and it has to work for all the participants. We aren’t going anywhere without you.

And that’s probably a good place for me to stop.

We have been talking about the way we will build the build the future, and create the kinds of communities we want for ourselves and our children.

This is an exciting prospect. Personally, I am very enthusiastic about the potential and the opportunities we have now.

At the same time, we have to realize that this is an enormous undertaking.

It will require years of work and dedication, and huge investments of time and money for all of us. It will also require changes in the way we work together.  But it will pay big dividends.

We are not just building roads or hockey rinks, or water treatment plants, or bridges. We are building better communities, a better quality of life for our people, and better opportunities for our children. We are building the future together.

The proper emphasis in that sentence is on the word together.

The premier likes to say that all of us are smarter than any of us.

He’s right. We can do more things together than we could do alone.

I am grateful for your support and co-operation.

I will work hard to continue to merit it so that if you are kind enough to invite me to return here next year, I will be able to describe the real progress we have made

as we work to restore the public infrastructure of this province

together.

Thank you for your attention, and enjoy the rest of your conference.