March 27, 2006

Statement to the Legislature
by David Caplan, Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal

Check against delivery,

Mr. Speaker, I rise to share news about a landmark event with the Honourable Members. Today, I participated in the launch of work in the West Don Lands - one of the most important urban revitalization projects in Ontario.

Toronto’s West Don Lands is a waterfront precinct as big as London’s Canary Wharf or New York City’s Battery Park. And I am confident that it will become one of the most dynamic neighbourhoods in Toronto.

Where derelict buildings stand today, people will be living, working and shopping.  Where there are barren lots, kids will play in parks and pools and childcare centres.

This affordable, accessible community will attract families from diverse economic backgrounds. It will be Toronto’s first major sustainable community in years.

And it is being built on land owned by the Government of Ontario.

The 80-acre West Don Lands is Ontario’s top waterfront revitalization priority, the centerpiece of a 2,000-acre waterfront project.

The government has shown strong leadership and support for the revitalization of the West Don Lands and the Toronto waterfront.

Last September, I signed the West Don Lands Memorandum of Understanding making the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation the master developer and setting out the important collaborative role of our land agency, the Ontario Reality Corporation, in supporting the revitalization efforts. Ontario is the first jurisdiction to put together such an agreement with the waterfront corporation.

The government will also be introducing legislation to enable tax increment financing to assist with brownfield redevelopment and public infrastructure development. This new municipal fiscal tool would be introduced on a pilot basis, allowing for its prudent review. If the legislation passes, one of the two pilots would be the West Don Lands.

The West Don Lands is an example of how our government believes modern communities should grow.  This will be outlined in the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, to be released later this Spring.

It follows the important principles of growth planning…from affordable housing to  brownfield revitalization and transit-oriented development.

The West Don Lands project symbolizes our commitment to the restoration of Ontario’s public infrastructure.  The McGuinty government inherited a huge infrastructure deficit, and we developed the comprehensive $30-billion ReNew Ontario investment plan to address how we will pay down that deficit. Now, we have begun to implement that plan. Just as work begins at the West Don Lands, so shovels are going into the ground in infrastructure renewal projects right across the province.

This makes me very proud, both as Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal and as a resident of the City of Toronto.

Thank you.