Dear Neighbours,
I am delighted to extend greetings to each of you as we embark on a significant week within our community. It is with great pleasure that I present this weekly update, marking the culmination of our residents’ observance of Purim and the forthcoming celebrations of Easter and Ramadan.
In the spirit of communal harmony and inclusivity, let us embrace this season as an opportunity to extend kindness to one another, and celebrate the diversity that makes our neighborhood so vibrant and unique.
Wishing you and your families peace, happiness, and blessings as we embark on these sacred observances together.
Warm regards,
Robin
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In this special edition of the Weekly Update, you can find the latest news and information about the 2024 Budget. Some main points of interest include:
- Building Infrastructure, Highways and Transit in Your Community
- Keeping Your Costs Down
- Better Services for You
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Building Infrastructure, Highways and Transit in Your Community
Rebuilding Ontario’s economy demands that we build the infrastructure needed to support our growing communities.Ontario’s Plan to Build includes the most ambitious capital plan in the province’s history, with $190.2 billion over the next decade to support growing businesses, families and newcomers.
To help municipalities meet their housing targets and get shovels in the ground, we are increasing funding for infrastructure so municipalities can build more homes.That includes $1 billion in our new Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program and $825 million for the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund. The $1.2 billion Building Faster Fund is also helping municipalities build new homes.
To help Ontario communities grow and thrive, we are introducing the new $200 million Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund to support new and upgraded sport and recreation facilities to support the health and well-being of children, families and seniors across Ontario.
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In addition, we successfully negotiated our historic new deal with the City of Toronto, providing new tools, resources and funding to support the City’s recovery through growth.
Across Ontario, we are building new roads and highways. We are leading the largest expansion of public transit in North America. We are also moving forward with critical projects that will get people and goods across the GTA moving again, including building Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass and advancing work on Highway 7 in Markham to Brock Road, through Pickering.
As part of our government’s historic transit expansion, we are bringing back two daily weekday train trips on the Milton GO Line and moving forward with our plan to provide two-way, all-day GO service to Milton.
We have also added year-round GO train service to Niagara. We are bringing fast and reliable transit to downtown Mississauga and Brampton by expanding the Hazel McCallion Light Rail Transit Line, including a two-kilometre extension and loop through to Confederation Parkway.
Work is well underway on four priority subway projects in the GTA, including the Ontario Line, three-stop Scarborough Subway Extension, Yonge North Subway Extension into York Region, and the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension, and planned connection to Pearson International Airport, one of the largest employment areas in Canada.
In order to attract more investment in the province’s infrastructure, our government introduced the Building Ontario Fund, which will help build more projects in areas like clean energy generation, long‑term care and student housing.
Starting with an allocation of $3 billion, the fund will create opportunities for pension funds to put their members’ investments to work right here in Ontario.
This Plan to Build is the most ambitious in Ontario’s history, but it is also necessary to lay the groundwork for Ontario’s long-term growth. Our government will continue to invest to support the success of Ontario workers, families and businesses for years to come.
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Keeping Your Costs Down
Bank of Canada interest rate hikes, high inflation and the federal carbon tax have made life challenging for Ontario families. As families are feeling the pinch on their household budgets, our government refuses to increase taxes or pass on additional costs. We acted early to keep costs down and we are continuing to support Ontario families.
At a time when the federal government is set to raise the carbon tax even further, we are proposing to extend the gas tax and fuel tax cuts until December 31, 2024, saving Ontario households $320 on average since July 2022.
We are also supporting families and students across Ontario by extending the tuition freeze at Ontario’s publicly assisted colleges and universities for at least three more years. Since the freeze was first implemented in 2014, we have saved university students an estimated $1,600 and college students an estimated $350 each year.
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We are also saving daily transit users on participating systems an average of $1,600 each year through One Fare, which eliminates double fares across transit systems throughout the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
We are standing up for drivers by banning new road tolls on 400-series highways in Ontario, and we have frozen driver’s licence and photo card fees, saving drivers an estimated $66 million over the next five years.
We are putting money back in people’s pockets by refunding eligible licence plate renewal fees paid since March 2020 for nearly eight million vehicle owners in Ontario. We also eliminated licence plate renewal fees and plate stickers on a go-forward basis.
And our government is helping more seniors access financial assistance by indexing the Guaranteed Annual Income System (GAINS) benefit to the rate of inflation for the first time in Ontario’s history. We are also expanding the annual income eligibility threshold, meaning about 100,000 more low-income seniors in Ontario will receive payments.
This year, our government froze the beer basic tax indexation and the LCBO mark-up rates for another two years and is proposing to scrap the 6.1 per cent on-site wine-basic tax, making it easier for businesses and providing potential savings for consumers.
These measures will help keep more money in the pockets of Ontario families at a time when they need it most.
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Better Services for You
We believe in investing in better services that make people’s lives easier and more convenient. This is why our government is building a robust health care system that puts people at the centre of care, including the most ambitious plan for hospital expansion in the province’s history. Ontario’s plan includes supporting more than 50 hospital projects that would add approximately 3,000 new beds over 10 years.
In fact, over the next 10 years, Ontario is investing nearly $50 billion in health infrastructure, including close to $36 billion in capital grants. But we know Ontarians also depend on health care supports outside of hospitals. This is why our government is continuing to make health care more connected and convenient, to help patients receive the right care in the right place. Through an additional investment of $546 million over three years, we are creating new and expanded primary care teams to provide team-based primary care to approximately 600,000 people.
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We are also strengthening our health care workforce by providing $128 million over the next three years to support enrolment increases of 2,000 registered nurses and 1,000 registered practical nurses at publicly assisted colleges and universities.
The government is helping to address the increasing demand for health human resources across the province, particularly in underserved communities, through the expanded Ontario Learn and Stay Grant.
We’re supporting a new medical school at York University, which will be the first medical school in Canada focused primarily on training family doctors.
We’re building new schools and renovating existing schools to help ensure Ontario’s students learn and grow, with $1.4 billion in the current school year alone to help build schools in places like North Bay, Kitchener, Lincoln, Barrhaven and Brockville.
We are helping students get back to basics through skills in math, reading and writing, and better preparing them for the in-demand jobs and opportunities of the future.
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My constituency office is open Monday to Friday from 10AM to 4PM.
If you have any questions or concerns we’re readily available to assist you.
You can also reach us by phone at (416) 781-2395
or by email at robin.martin@pc.ola.org.
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Warmest Wishes,
 Robin Martin, MPP
Eglinton-Lawrence
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