May 14, 2025
The Empire Club of Canada Presents
Ontario’s Plan to Protect and Grow our Economy – Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy, Minister of Finance
Chairperson: Jenna Donelson, President, Board of Directors, Empire Club of Canada
Moderator
Amanda Lang, Journalist, Chief Financial Correspondent, CTV News
Distinguished Guest Speaker
The Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy, Minister of Finance, Province of Ontario
Head Table Guests
James Scongack, Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President, Bruce Power
Harry Taylor, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial & Regulatory Officer, Hydro One
Welcome Address by Jenna Donelson, President, Board of Directors, Empire Club of Canada
Good afternoon, everyone. Nice to see you all today. I’m Jenna Donelson, Chair of the Board at the Empire Club of Canada, and I’m your host for today’s event.
To formally begin, I want to acknowledge that we are gathering on the Traditional and Treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the homelands of the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat Peoples. I encourage you all to learn more about the Traditional Territory on which you live and work.
Today’s event would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. The Empire Club is a non-profit organization. Our sponsors generously support the club, they make events like this possible, and they make viewing complimentary, for those of you that are online. So, will you all join me, in thanking our Lead Sponsors, Bruce Power, Hydro One, and LiUNA. Thank you. Thank you, as well, to our VIP Reception Sponsors for today’s event, LifeLabs, CPA Ontario, Waste Connections of Canada, Wine Growers Ontario, Primerica Canada, National Bank Financial, the Insurance Bureau of Canada, Algoma Steel, Ellis Don, and FP Canada. Thank you, for your support. Thank you, as well, to our Supporting Sponsors for today, Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario, OREA, International Business University, George and Helen Vari Foundation, CIBC, CBRE, and Think Research. Thank you all. I also want to acknowledge that we deeply appreciate the ongoing support of Bruce Power, and Hydro One, who have been here consistently as our Lead Season Sponsors, in addition to their support for today. And I’m grateful to say the same for our VIP Reception Season Sponsors, Ellis Don, and Waste Connections of Canada. Thank you for continuing to support the Empire Club this season. We appreciate you. And finally, thank you to our Media Partner, the Toronto Star, and our AV Partner, Bespoke Audio Visual. We appreciate your support.
I’d also like to recognize that we have a number of elected officials, and other dignitaries in the room, as well as several past presidents of the Empire Club. So. Will you join me, in welcoming them here today?
If you have a question for the Minister, please scan the QR code that is found on your program, or through the Q&A function, if you are online. For those of you that are online, if you require technical assistance, reach out to our staff, using the chat function.
Just under two weeks ago, Canadians went to the polls in a historic election. In his victory speech, Prime Minister Carney echoed a now-familiar refrain: “Build Baby Build.” It was a rallying cry aimed at not only a national infrastructure and industrial strategy, but at productivity, energy, and the future of Canadian competitiveness. But no version of that plan can succeed without Ontario. Ontario is core to the Canadian economy. Our largest labour force, our biggest manufacturing sector, and our gateway to North American trade. And as the global economic climate grows even more uncertain, Ontario’s leadership will be tested like never before. We’re facing new threats, not just from outside our borders, but from factors at home, such as falling productivity, a prolonged housing crisis, and the possibility of rising inflation again. If we want to compete in this new and uncertain world, we are no doubt going to have to do some things differently. That’s why today’s conversation is so critical, and it’s why I’m honoured to be welcoming back the Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy, Ontario’s Minister of Finance.
Minister Bethlenfalvy is here to deliver his Annual Budget Speech—his first, since the 2025 provincial election—and it couldn’t be more timely. He is no stranger to this stage. In previous appearances, he laid out a vision focused on building: building infrastructure, building skilled trades, building the clean energy economy. And Minister, I always remember what you said in your 2022 speech at the Empire Club. You reminded us that, “Prosperity doesn’t fall out of the sky. Even in a province as rich in opportunity as Ontario, you have to work hard to achieve it.” Today, we’ll hear exactly how his government plans to do that. By protecting Ontario’s gains, preparing for global headwinds, and ensuring this province remains the most competitive place in the G7 to invest, work, and grow. And I know we’re all looking forward to a little later, when Minister Bethlenfalvy will sit down with Amanda Lang, to discuss it in more detail.
But first, please join me in welcoming a leader from one of the province’s most ambitious builders, our Lead Event Sponsor, Bruce Power. Bruce Power is a proudly Canadian-owned company, that is committed to providing safe, reliable power to Ontario, and cancer-fighting medical isotopes to the world. They’re also an important player in driving forward Ontario’s economy. Here to offer opening remarks, and introduce the Minister, is their Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, James Scongack. Will you all join me, in welcoming him to the stage?
Opening Remarks and Introduction by James Scongack, Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President, Bruce Power
Great. Well, thank you very much for having me. And I appreciate the recognition of the work of Bruce Power, and our friends, Harry, and the team at Hydro One. And you know, I know Harry’s in the same boat—I see Tim Hodgson, the former chair of Hydro One, here. It’s a great opportunity to come to these events in Toronto, and talk about the amazing work we do in Ontario’s energy sector. But it’s the thousands of workers every day, in our organizations, that are making that happen. And when we flick the light switch, we expect it to come on, we expect it to be reliable, we expect it to be affordable, and we expect it to be clean. And it’s not guys like me that make that happen; it’s workers like them. So. Let’s give them a round of applause, for what they do every day. [Applause]
So, in addition to promoting Bruce Power, and introducing the Minister, I have to admit this is the only speaking engagement I get to do, where I walk in to the song of U2, Minister. And it makes me feel like a little bit of a rock star, in a sense. But you know, Minister, I put some thought into, I think we’ve been able to sponsor this event, and a number of your budgets. And I put some thought into what is the best way to introduce you. I mean, everybody in the room, you make yourself available to stakeholders, you make yourself available to the sector; people know you. But there’s really three takeaways, from my perspective, when I think of this minister, and what he brings to the role of Minister of Finance. And it’s really summarized in three areas: the first is people, the second is alignment, and the third is investment. And I just want to just touch on all three of them.
You know, all of us, when we leave the room here, there’s a million asks that we have, there’s a million suggestions. And I can tell you, this minister—I see his deputy minister here, Jason, his office, and the entire government, I see Lisa Thompson, the Honorable Lisa Thompson, MPP for Huron—Bruce, and many other officials here. They make time for all of us. They hear our pitches; they have to say no, more than they say yes—that’s part of the job—but they always make time to get the best advice, and feed that advice into the best path forward for Ontario, which the Minister is going to talk about today.
And I want to thank the people that the Minister has put together. He’s a leader that puts a team together. And in this room today, if you could please stand up, if you are a staff person in the Ministry of Finance, either on the public service side, or on the minister’s staff. Please stand up. I know everybody’s awkward. Who’s going to stand up first? Jason, you’re the deputy; you have to stand up first. Let’s give these folks a big round of applause, for everything that they do. [Applause] The Minister knows that it’s the people that he brings together that drive the results.
The second area I want to talk about is alignment. Oftentimes, in Bruce Power, when we’re thinking about how can we do things better, one of the questions I always ask people is, “What are the circumstances in which we, as an organization, are at our best?” And there are often times when, actually, something has gone a way that was unexpected. A piece of equipment is broken—don’t worry, not from a nuclear safety perspective—but something that needs to be fixed, there’s an immediate issue that hits us. And whenever we’re faced with those circumstances, I ask people, “What is it that makes us successful, in those circumstances?” And the one word that I can use to summarize it is the word alignment. It’s when people are aligned, they break down barriers, they break down silos, with very clear objectives, that we’re at our best. And I think the word alignment is really important, in terms of introducing the minister today. This is probably the most consequential budget in Ontario’s history, that we’re going to hear this week. And it’s going to be followed by, what I would also argue is one of the most consequential federal budgets in Ontario’s history. And for Canada and Ontario to meet this moment, we need the province of Ontario, we need the government of Canada, and the private sector, all aligned on what we are going to do, to move things forward. And Minister, you and your federal counterparts have a role to play, the private sector, all of us in this room, have a role to play, and you can count on us for that.
But the third rule around investment—and I think, really underscores what this minister and this government have tried to do, and successfully done for a number of years, and that is around attracting investment. You know, I have a saying, at Bruce Power, it’s kind of the Economics 101 rule: nobody spends, nobody works. And that’s very easy to understand. Unless people are investing and spending, nobody works. And we want to be putting people to work. And that’s, really, what I think the minister’s budget this week is all about—we’re waiting to see it with bated breath. But this minister and this government have always worked to create the kind of environment that we need, where private sector organizations like Bruce Power, supported by OMERS, and TC Energy, and our unions, can make the investments. And when we make the investments, people go to work, and they build, and they do great things.
So, Minister, the three words, I think, that when I think of you: it’s about putting people first, it’s about creating that alignment, and it’s about creating the environment where people can spend, and do great things. So, with that, I’d like to introduce Ontario’s Minister of Finance, the Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy, to the podium. Minister.
The Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy, Minister of Finance, Province of Ontario
Well, thank you, James. Great introduction. No notes. Really, really impressive. You know, my team that you introduced—some of them who are here, some of them who are in the background—said “Minister, whatever you do, be disciplined. Don’t talk about crowd size.” You know, I get the point. I guess, I know why they’d say that. But I can’t help myself. This is the third-largest crowd since 1903, only bested by a man of the faith, man of God, Billy Graham, and my boss, Doug Ford. So, give yourselves a big round of applause.
I also want to echo what James said. I have a number of my colleagues here today, in the room—I believe they’re all here—Minister Stan Cho, Minister Caroline Mulroney, my great partner at the Treasury Board, Minister Lisa Thompson, our Minister of Rural, Minister Todd McCarthy, Minister Vijay Thanigasalam. Also, Democracy works with Opposition, and we have in the room MPP Stephanie Bauman, MPP Catherine Fife, MPP Jessica Bell, we have a former Finance Minister, Rod Phillips, and we have a newly-elected Liberal MP—we let one in the room—and you mentioned him, Tim Hodson. If I could ask you all to stand up, and acknowledge these great, great people. [Applause] So, thank you. And I’ll give some brief remarks, and then we’ll get into the fireside chat. And thank you, for the Empire Club, for hosting another incredible event.
Right now, as was mentioned, Ontario is facing a challenge like we have not faced in a long time. Our closest ally, the United States, has imposed tariffs on us, that are challenging a relationship that was once considered unshakable. You know, I lived in the United States for almost 15 years. My wife is American, my children were raised there, and I remember those years fondly. And at that time, I worked for a Canadian financial institution. I also served as president of what is now called the Canadian Association of New York. After the tragedy of 9/11, the Canadian Association of New York rallied in support of our American friends, by hosting a huge “Canada Loves New York” campaign. Thousands of Canadians came to New York, to demonstrate their support and love for Americans, in the wake of those horrific attacks. But now, we find ourselves in a different place with our American friends. The tariffs are a challenge that none of us has wanted, but we’re going to have to work together to overcome it.
The situation we are in today is a wake-up call. The status quo is no longer an option. That is what the budget I will be presenting later this week is going to be about—boosting our economic prosperity, thinking big and bold, and championing nation-building projects like the Ring of Fire, and yes, world-leading nuclear energy. It’s about much more than just the tariff threats we are facing today. Our plan to protect Ontario is about making sure that we can help workers and businesses weather the immediate storm, but it’s also about building a stronger, more resilient, self-sufficient and competitive province—I believe that was Caroline Mulroney, who initiated that applause; thank you, Carolyn. We’re protecting Ontario not just from tariffs, but from whatever challenges may face our economy, our workers, and communities, for decades to come.
It starts with a strong fiscal position, because you can’t build a strong economy without a strong balance sheet. And thanks to our government’s responsible management of the province’s finances over the years, we are in a stronger position to act to support workers and businesses. Our efforts to maintain that fiscal prudence have resulted in Ontario seeing major wins, including two credit rating upgrades last year alone. Our lowest interest costs is a percentage of revenue we’ve had since the 1980’s, and among the lowest borrowing costs of any Canadian province. Our finances are in the best health they’ve been in decades, and we’re going to use that to make the necessary investments to protect the economy, and build the economy of tomorrow.
Our 2025 Budget is a plan to protect Ontario. One that gets nation-building projects underway, to make our economy stronger for today and tomorrow, and gives businesses the confidence to invest, hire, and grow here. Nation-building projects like the Ring of Fire, deepwater ports in James Bay, and critically, pipelines. Whether they are east-to-west, or north-to-south, Team Canada needs to come together, and work to champion these new pipelines that will help get more of our oil and natural gas to market, and help bind all 13 provinces and territories together more closely, while reducing our reliance on the United States.
In Ontario, we have world-leading advantages in critical minerals, in energy, in technology, in talent, and infrastructure. For example, we have all the necessary tools and resources to mine, to process, and ship critical minerals all over the world, from right here in Ontario. But when it takes 50 years to receive a permit to open a mine, we’re not doing ourselves any favours. It’s unacceptable. We need to build more, and we need to build faster. That’s why we continue to call on the federal government to put an end to barriers like Ottawa’s Bill C-69, a law that blocks building in Canada, and put instead to work all of us, to speed up permitting. And it’s why our government recently introduced legislation to get approvals in Ontario done in months, not years, through a one-project, one-approval model. We need to send a clear message to the world that Ontario, and all of Canada, is open for business.
We will continue to attract even greater capital investments, strengthen our supply chains, support critical job growth, and fuel our economic growth. And we will accomplish this by getting those big nation-building projects done faster, like unlocking the Ring of Fire, so that we can dig, process, and sell those critical minerals, to meet the demand of our manufacturing sector here at home, and ship them all around the world. And like building out our clean energy grid, by investing in nuclear, and boosting our production, transmission, and storage capabilities, to meet our rapidly-increasing electricity demand. This is the kind of decisive action our government is taking to protect Ontario’s economy, and the workers and industry that drive it. Industries like manufacturing, which we have worked tirelessly to support since 2018, like we did two years ago, when we first introduced the Ontario-made Investment Tax Credit, to help businesses lower costs, innovate, and become more competitive.
But with the US tariffs putting jobs and [Indiscernible] at risk, our manufacturing sector finds itself facing newfound uncertainty, and we must respond. That is why, as part of our 2025 budget, we are enhancing and expanding the Ontario-made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit, by increasing the tax rate from 10 to 15% for Canadian companies, and expanding eligibility to include public companies who want to invest, build, and hire, right here in Ontario [Applause]—folks, that was Lisa Thompson, who led that applause; so, thank you, Lisa. Altogether, this would provide roughly $1.3 billion in additional support to the sector over the next three years, and would enable manufacturers to receive as much as $3 million per year in tax credits. This will be a major boost of confidence to a sector, as it looks for certainty, at a time when US tariffs have created uncertainty. And it would be a significant tool for businesses, as they look for more ways to help keep their workers on the job.
After all, folks, it’s workers who will help build us the infrastructure we need to grow Ontario’s economy. Our government created a historic capital plan to invest nearly $200 billion, over the next 10 years, to build roads, highways, housing, and other infrastructure. But we know there’s more to be done. Particularly, to put the conditions in place to build more homes. Just this morning, I joined Minister Flack, Minister Surma, and Minister Sarkaria, to announce our government is continuing with a renewed focus on building by investing an additional $400 million into our Housing Enabling Water Systems Fund. This will support our municipalities with much needed funding for critical investments in sewage, and other infrastructural needs that facilitate home building. And it serves as a piece of our broader plan to grow Ontario’s economy for today, and for future generations and communities.
And as with most aspects of Canada’s economy, Ontario must also continue leading the nation in the pursuit of free trade. We already conduct around $350 billion of two-way trade with provinces and territories, but we believe there’s even more opportunity to generate wealth and prosperity for Canadians. Under Premier Ford’s leadership, Ontario is leading free trade, calling for unity, and championing nation-building projects. That’s why we introduced new legislation to tear down interprovincial trade barriers, that open up our 16-million-person market to the rest of the country, to one day add as much as $200 billion to our annual GDP.
You know, given everything that’s happened with these tariffs, and the impacts they’ve had on our workers, our government is reiterating: we’ve got your back. That’s why we’re doubling down on strategies we know have maximum impact, like supporting our workforce, so they can acquire, develop, and retain valuable skills. So far—this is an incredible statistic—one million workers in Ontario have trained and reskilled for in-demand jobs, through our Skills Development Fund. And now, as part of our work to protect Ontarians through our 2025 Budget, we’re taking further action, by topping up the Skills Development Fund training stream to the tune of an additional $1 billion, bringing our total to $2.5 billion. I was pleased to join the Premier recently, to announce this critical investment just last week, and deliver some much-needed certainty, at a time when our workers are expected to face pressure from US tariffs. And this won’t just help our workers; it will help their families, as well, as they look for ways to weather this storm.
All of this to say that right now, Ontario finds itself at a crossroads. One where uncertainty makes it difficult to see what the future might have in store. But also, one where opportunity is waiting for us at a return. And I’m here to tell you that Ontario is choosing to seize that opportunity. We’re going to continue to seize the moment, continue to be bold, think big, and build big, with projects that will deliver meaningful changes to our economy, through development and revitalization of future industries like advanced manufacturing, mining, and technology. And at the same time, we will continue to deliver on measures that will help us protect our businesses, our workers, and our communities, so they too can feel reassured and thrive, as well.
On May 15th, ladies and gentlemen—not today, maybe that’s the big crowd that’s here today—I will be releasing Ontario’s 2025 Budget, our plan to protect Ontario, and make it the best place to live, and the most competitive economy in the G7 to invest, create jobs, and do business. And a lot of what I shared with you today will be the focus of what our government is envisioning for Ontario’s future. Our ambitious, bold, and targeted plan, will detail how we aim to turn that vision into a reality for our well-being today, and for future generations. We have a vision, we have a plan, and together, we will build a stronger Ontario, we will build a stronger, sovereign, and prosperous Canada. Thank you very much.
Jenna Donelson
Thank you, Minister. Thank you, for detailing your plan to help us seize the moment, create opportunity amidst uncertainty, and here to go a little bit deeper is our moderator for today. Amanda Lang is one of Canada’s most respected business journalists. She is the Chief Financial Correspondent for CTV News, and over her 25-year career, Amanda has interviewed business leaders, policymakers, and global thinkers. Will you join me, in welcoming her to the stage today?
Amanda Lang, Chief Financial Correspondent, CTV News
Hello, Minister.
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
Hi, you see the back of the room, there, gave me a standing ovation. So, thank you.
Amanda Lang
That’s just your staff back there.
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
That is my staff. They’re already standing. Rod Phillips led the charge. Thank you Rod.
Amanda Lang
And just a reminder, we are taking your questions, they’ll show up on this iPad. We do want to hear from you—I won’t ask them, if I don’t like them, so you may as well lob them in. I think there’s a couple of reasons this room is so well-attended. It’s a budget week, and people like to know—and we know you like to pre-announce things, you’ve done a little bit of that; feel free to do some more right here, right now. And in fact, on that front, I will start with—just in case you’re feeling generous—there’s a lot of spending that will be supportive of growth, is what we’re hearing, that there’s vision for the future. Will some of that spending include tax cuts for Ontario?
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
You really are putting me on the spot.
Amanda Lang
Yeah.
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
You know, let’s stay tuned until Thursday—only three more sleeps, to get there. You know, I was thinking about—and I’ve said this before—you know, how I think about our economy. And you know, I grew up in Montréal, and I grew up a fan of the Montreal Expos, and—there’s one Montrealer in the room. I have to explain that’s a baseball team, because some of my younger staff look at me, and go, “An Expo? What the heck is that?” The Montreal Expos, they left town in 2005. The other day, I was jogging, and I had my Expos toque on—this was about a month ago—and these two guys yelled out at me, “Hey dude, you’ve got to move on.”
Amanda Lang
That’s amazing.
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
And I thought that’s pretty—you know, I had to laugh, you know, I kept running, but I had to laugh. And I thought, you know, it’s the same with our economy: we’ve got to move on. You know, whether we have tariffs or not, the status quo for our economy, our prosperity is not an option. A lot of the provincial spending is social—our healthcare, our educational, our social services. And you know, none of that can be funded, unless we have a robust economy. And so, we have to lock arms, and I think as I mentioned, federally, provincially, municipally, you know, work together to drive a greater prosperous agenda.
And by the way, we’ve got everything that people want in this country, around the world. We’ve got natural resources, we’ve got talent, we’ve got, you know, a great position next to the largest market in the world. We’re known around the world for democracy and freedom. So, let’s get it done.
Amanda Lang
Which is, of course, the tone of the conversation, provincially, federally, there’s a sense of urgency. And I think it’s a welcome one, most of us feel like this is great, and on certain subjects—but sir, we’ve been talking about the Ring of Fire, since you bought that Expo’s t-shirt.
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
Toque. It was a toque.
Amanda Lang
Toque. Some of us are skeptical that, although there’s a lot of goodwill, and a sense of urgency, that much has changed in the practical. So, and I know some of what you’re doing by way of policy-making is trying to clear paths—which could be easier said than done. Some of the blocks are constitutional, and legal in nature, and regulatory, and they’re hard to break. So, just give us some reassurance on things like that. Even if it, just stay with the Ring of Fire. Can we really get it done, anytime soon?
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
Absolutely. We’re going to get it done. And I’ll tell you, we’ve been at it, I put in my first budget—this will be my fifth—a billion dollars for infrastructure, so that you can have all-season roads, and infrastructure. We’re all there, and we have to have a legal framework to be able to get permits done. So, right now, permitting takes about 15 years, before you get a shovel in the ground. You know, I was looking at the, I believe it was the World Bank who ranked us something like 188 out of 210 countries in the world, time to get a permit. You know, capital is not going to wait around that long. And these are critical minerals that we need, and they’re in the Ring of Fire. So, what’s—we’re not going to relent, but we need partners. And some of those partners are the federal government.
And I like to say, you know, we’re in one side of the rowboat, and we’re rowing like crazy, and we have been for seven years. But if the federal government—and I hate to say it, over the last 10 years, they’ve been rowing in the other direction. So, we go around in circles. The more we row—we saw this in COVID, where you row in the same direction, federally, provincially, municipally, and with First Nations, absolutely critical. When we row together, we’ll get a lot further. So, I’m very confident that the time has come that we are actually going to get these things done. And I’m sure, when you have me back a year from now, I’ll update you on that progress.
Amanda Lang
One of the other big, obviously, front-of-mind issues has been the tariffs, a trade war. There seems to be some movement in a positive direction, on that front—I think we can be cautiously optimistic, that we’re inching towards some kind of resolution. The central piece of it that may stay with you, and be a problem for a long time, is the Trump administration’s view of auto manufacturing. It feels to me like they’re pretty dug in on the idea that we don’t need to make as many cars in Canada as we do. Maybe we negotiate our way back to a better place. How do you safeguard the future of a sector, without throwing—I don’t want to say good money after bad, but good money after good, I guess. Putting more money into a sector that might inevitably see a decline?
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
Well, first off, it starts that we’ve got an incredible auto sector, from the workers in the plants, to the supply chain. And you know what? They buy our cars because they cost less. You know, what a concept. I was just in the GM Plant in Oshawa, with Premier Ford and others, talking to the workers there. They are some of the best frontline workers on building trucks and cars in North America, the most productive. You know, they innovate, and this is about innovation over tens of decades, you know, where they’re able to produce a better product, through ingenuity and hard work. And so, I think that I’ll put our workers up against any in North America.
Number two, I think that we will have a federal government that’s going to, they’re responsible for the tariff negotiations—I would echo that that the tone is, let’s say, improved. And I think, you know, we are going to do everything to protect those workers, and those businesses that invest in the auto sector. I would also say, we’ve provided $11 billion in support so far; you know, $9 billion in deferred taxes, and $2 billion for WSIB rebates, too—another billion, as I mentioned, for training workers. And at the end of the day, the federal government has to play an outsized role in helping us not only protect those jobs, but I think pivot to a much more robust economy.
QUESTION & ANSWER
Amanda Lang
There’s a question from the room on the support for innovators, entrepreneurs, in the province. I know you put some supports in place—tax credits among them—what, what’s the vision for fostering that kind of growth here?
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
A couple of things. First off, you know, some people call for us to cut taxes, and cut fees. Well, guess what? We’ve cut taxes, and we’ve cut fees. We have never raised a tax or a fee. In fact, just the opposite. We’ve been cutting taxes, since day one—I’ll have more to say on that, about that, on Thursday.
Amanda Lang
Feel free to say it now.
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
No, thank you. Amanda, you’re good. But I’m good, too.
Amanda Lang
Yeah, I know. I know.
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
Kent liked that. You know, number one is, we’ve got to make the conditions right for capital to be here to invest. It’s not just tax rates, but you know, it is, it does help—so, our Ontario Manufacturing Tax Credit that I mentioned, so that’s really a tax cut for our manufacturing sector. Very well received. Talked to every of the stakeholders, the TMX, the Canadian Motor Vehicles Association, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, you name it, they’re all supportive of that—they’ll say it was their idea.
Number two is regulations. You know, we can’t have, we can’t be the red tape capital of North America. You know, we just put through legislation on specialized economic zones, to have one project, one approval, system delegated to the people who know what they’re doing, and have the capabilities—meaning the provinces, and the First Nations, and the municipalities. The good news is that Prime Minister Carney, on the campaign trail, said he supports one project, one approval, delegated to the people who know what they’re doing. And I think that’s a great message to send the capital in Canada; it’s a great message to send the world, that Ontario and Canada will be open for business.
Amanda Lang
We’re also, of course, all of you are working hard on interprovincial trade. The federal government has this July 1st kind of goal. Most of these barriers are not federal in nature, so it’s going to fall to you folks, in the provinces. Are things like the Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit not contrary to the spirit of interprovincial free trade? Is that not a non-tariff barrier?
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
Not at all. You know, I mean, I encourage people to lower taxes. I mean, we’re one of the highest tax jurisdictions in the world, for personal income tax. We have to be competitive. We’re not an island in the Developed World, in terms of competing. And, you know, the Canadian free trade, you know, which we’ve tabled legislation, we’re going to lead the charge, in terms of bringing down those barriers. Many say that could lead to about $200 billion growth in our economy. On a $3 trillion economy, that’s about 7 or 8% growth, just here in Canada, by opening up our markets, getting rid of—and if you look at some of the regulations, they don’t make a lot of sense, they’re built up over a long period of time. So, yeah. It takes a little courage, to take the lead, and say we’re dropping all our party-specific exemptions, we’re encouraging, and putting in legislation, labour mobility, so you can work anywhere. Think about that. All the red tape that you have, if you’re a nurse in BC, to become a nurse in Ontario, and vice versa, or to buy [Applause]—yeah, someone’s a, maybe we have one. Yeah.
Amanda Lang
It’s not the Nursing Union, I can tell you that.
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
And also—yeah. I don’t know, I don’t know. There might, I know a few nurses that support us. And obviously, so credentialing, and…
Amanda Lang
Yes.
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
…labour mobility. These are important parts of Canadian free trade.
Amanda Lang
The reason I make the joke—I don’t know what the Nursing Union thinks—but we’ve already heard from the Social Work Union in Nova Scotia about the credentialing of social workers, which is vastly different in Nova Scotia than it is in Alberta. The folks that are, the human impediments to inter-provincial free trade will still be there, and they still have valid arguments to make. But do you feel confident, that you and your counterparts across the country can—it’s not that you can steamroll any of this. But can you move quickly on it? And in negotiating, it’ll be case-by-case, inch-by-inch. This will not be an easy task.
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
The way I think about it: if not now, when? You know, we’re facing [Applause]—if not now, when? We’re facing these challenges. As a former president once said, “We don’t do these things because they’re easy, we do them because they’re hard.” And some of them will be hard. But leadership is about having a vision of how this country should work together. What are we, as 13 provinces and territories, and a central government, if we don’t have the will to trade amongst ourselves? The will, and to figure out how to boost the wealth of our workers, increase revenue per worker, increase our real GDP, get into making us the most prosperous economy in the G7.
Amanda Lang
There is a question from the room on, you mentioned health and education. Those are two things, of course, that touch most of us in our daily lives, in a very kind of physical and real way. And we have real deficits in the infrastructure of those things, right across the country, at every level. What’s the kind of commitment to invest there, even as we have these big issues that we need to tackle, can we keep our eye on those things that matter so much to, to citizens?
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
Absolutely. And let me just say, you can’t have world-class healthcare and education without a strong economy. So, it starts there. The second thing I would say, we’ve invested record amounts in healthcare, for example. We’ve seen our population grow by 1.3 million, just in the last three years—and by the way, not all of them can get work permits. That’s a federal responsibility. We’ve got to get people working. But the claims on social services are there, and that’s why we’re investing record amounts in healthcare. That’s why we made the announcement last week, along with Dr. Jane Philpott, and our great Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones, that we’re investing over $2 billion to attach every Ontarian to a family doctor within four years.
Just as a sidebar, if you read Dr. Jane Philpott’s book, she said, “I hope we can get this done across Canada, within ten years.” She came to us, and we talked, and said, “Can we do it in five?” And we said, “Let’s do it in four.” Let’s have a real purpose: if not now, when? I met some of the folks from the homecare industry. You know, homecare, that’s part of the future of healthcare in Canada. As we age, and we have a growing population, who doesn’t want to age at home? And develop a system—but it’s hard work, to make sure that we can have that care go from an institutional setting to a home setting.
Let’s talk about acute care, that you mentioned. We’ve got a $50 billion investment going on in hospitals—over 50 hospital projects across Ontario. Unprecedented infrastructure build of hospitals, to make sure that we can take care of acute care, get those surgical wait times down. We lead the country, but we can do more, in terms of best-in-class metrics, and attach everyone to primary care, and secondly, keep our emergency departments going. So, these are our priorities. We’re not going to relent on that.
Amanda Lang
You mentioned the, I think, $400 million in the water infrastructure fund. Housing remains, housing/affordability—for a lot of people, it’s the same thing, these days—remains top-of-mind for most Canadians. We haven’t made the progress we need to make. We simply haven’t. Unless we start doing things differently, it’s sort of hard to see how we will. But do you feel as though supporting it at that level is the right place to do it? What else can we do?
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
I’m absolutely bullish about it. It’s an absolute imperative. We don’t want to be sitting around here and saying, you know, in 20 years, when your kids or grandkids are saying, you know, “When you had the opportunity to get something done, why didn’t you do it?” This is an absolute imperative for us to get this done. Now, interest rates, and other input costs, have changed the dynamic for building—not just in Ontario, but around the world, frankly. This morning’s announcement wasn’t just about the, now over $2 billion, to help municipalities with infrastructure, which will help things go, but also regulations like the development charges. A massive overhaul of how development charges will be used, not to penalize developers, but to get more things built. And by the way—this was really something—in that announcement, we had Steven Del Duca, the mayor of Vaughan, former Liberal leader, Carolyn Parrish, Mayor of Mississauga, former Liberal MP, both endorsing not only the plan that we announced, the legislation that’s coming this afternoon, but supporting Doug Ford and a Conservative government in our goal. Now, you tell me the last time that has happened.
And the third thing I would say is—again, not to put everything on the federal government—we can’t do it alone. We need a federal government that is rowing with us, as I said, going in the same direction. Again, I’m encouraged, because Prime Minister Carney signaled on the campaign that this is a priority. So. Let’s work together, we’ll get it done.
Amanda Lang
When you say that you’re rowing in the same direction, what do you want from the feds? They also are planning a budget. Now’s the time to ask.
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
Well, yeah. And like I said, my colleague and friend Tim Oddson is here, so he’s taking lots of notes. What do I want to see? When we talk about some of the money for housing, the Canadian Housing Infrastructure Fund, it came with a lot of conditions. And you know, you can’t give the provinces and municipalities, particularly municipalities, they know their communities. Give us the money, unconditionally, so that we can build more faster. That would be number one. The Infrastructure Program that was launched in 2013, the massive Infrastructure Plan out of Ottawa, the ICIP they call it, expired in 2023. We need a new bold infrastructure plan, and funding.
Let’s talk about the regulations. As I said, the one project, one approval. Like, if we’re, you know, doing changes to get things built faster, and another order of government is doing different things, going in the other direction—and let me tell you, I mentioned C-69; nothing says don’t build in Canada, for those who know, like Bill C-69. Capital’s not coming to this country. So, that’s the jobs, that’s what we need to do more of. And those are some of the things I would say, to the federal government.
Amanda Lang
In the time we have left—this will be your closing remarks, so I’ll frame it that way—there is a question from the room, and I think it’s a really apt one, which is there’s a lot of talk about the Ring of Fire, critical minerals. We know that we are looking to the future, and that this is a time of alignment between provinces, and the federal government, and a sense of crisis. Can we do more than just dig them out of the ground? Is this a time to think about downstream production, about new manufacturing, and do it simultaneously with getting the resources out?
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
Yeah. Let me frame it this way. We’ve got a great oil and gas sector in this country, but most of it’s shipped to the US, refined there, and then sold back to us at a higher price. You know, we have an opportunity to go up the value chain in all our natural resources, and be able to do the actual, not only digging, but the processing here in Canada. I think that’s absolutely critical. Not only is that, those really good jobs in the downstream—call it the midstream—but in the mining sector, they’re around, those mines are around for a long time; they could secure high-margin, high-paying jobs.
Let’s think about energy. We just announced last week, $21-billion investment in four Small Modular Reactors. We’re leading the world now, in Small Modular Reactors. People in countries around the world are looking at the technology we’re developing, right here in Ontario. We’re doing nuclear refurbishments at Bruce Power, at Darlington, and Pickering, in my riding. Again, we’re leading the world in refurbishments, and we’re looking at building new nuclear. Guess what? All the jobs around that ecosystem are incredible jobs. These are skilled trade, boiler makers, to engineers, to nuclear physicists. And I mean, these—and they’re not overnight jobs, they’re going to be around for a long, long time.
So, we need to go up the value chain. We have to think differently about our economy. And I think that with the new government in Ottawa, I think there’s a sea change, and a real opportunity that, for the first time in at least a decade, Canada has an opportunity to go up the ranks, in terms of, you know, the OECD puts us near the bottom in the past; and going forward, near the bottom, I think we have a real shot to make these nation-building changes for the people of Canada right now. It’s flashing red. I guess that was my closing mark.
Amanda Lang
You hit the mark perfectly. We do have just a few seconds, if you want to talk tax cuts.
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
Stay tuned.
Amanda Lang
We do have to leave it there, Minister. As I turn it back over to Jenna, I would like to ask the room to join me, in thanking you for your time today.
The Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy
Thank you. Great job. Thank you so much.
Jenna Donelson
All right. Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Amanda. Stay tuned, everyone. Let’s give them another round of applause, and say thank you for that conversation. I now have the pleasure of making another introduction, to share appreciation remarks. As we heard today, Ontario’s ability to grow and compete will depend not only on strong fiscal policy, but on the strength of our infrastructure, including the systems that power our homes, businesses, and economies. That’s why I’m especially pleased to be joined with one of Ontario’s leading electricity providers. Hydro One plays a critical role in building and maintaining the infrastructure that keeps this province running, connecting communities, enabling industry, and supporting economic growth from end-to-end. They are also a Lead Sponsor for today’s event. And so, it is my pleasure to have Harry Taylor, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Regulatory Officer at Hydro One, here to offer our appreciation remarks. Harry, welcome to the stage.
Note of Appreciation by Harry Taylor, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial & Regulatory Officer, Hydro One
Thank you very much, Jenna. And congratulations, I think you’re just completing your first year, as Chair of the Empire Club. This has been a terrific conversation, in a 120-year history of meaningful conversations—terrific year of conversations, I should say. And I have to say thank you to Minister Bethlenfalvy, for inspiring, potentially, a group of leaders, who can make a difference to this province, and this country. You called your –you started your remarks talking about “Protect Ontario.” Sounds defensive, but what I heard was a lot of offence, going on offence, creating conditions for success. And I think it’s incumbent on all of us, in this room, to think about that for a minute. We can wait until something turns or changes, we’ve got a government who’s committed to making some change at the provincial level, and it sounds like at the federal level, as well. So, now we need to look in the mirror and say, “What are we going to do to go on offence?”
And here at Hydro One, I’m happy and proud to say we are on offence. We are making investments, working with our partners at Bruce Power, and OPG, to bring the power they generate—as well as some other independent power producers—to the businesses, the households, and the people of this province, while also looking to make investments to bring power outside the province to our other partner provinces. We are doubling, and by the end of our mandate, tripling our investment in this province, to enable, create conditions for success. So, I think all of us should think, as we leave this room today, what can I do in my business, to ensure we’re going on offence, to create the province and the country that we’re being called on. This is province-building, and nation-building. Thank you very much, Minister Bethlenfalvy.
Concluding Remarks by Jenna Donelson
Thank you, Harry, for those great remarks. Thank you, again, to our panellists, sponsors, and of course, to all of you for joining us. There’s a special group that I have not recognized in the room. We have our students and young leaders here. We have students from Queen’s University, and Humber Polytechnic. Thank you for being a part of today. We’re glad you’re here.
To stay connected with us, please subscribe to our newsletter, by scanning the QR code that you will find on your table. We also have an exciting new membership program. So, if you are interested in learning more, please see our staff at the registration desk.
We also have some important upcoming events, and I hope you will join us. Specifically, I want to call out that on June 3rd, we will be hosting the US Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra. He’ll be having a discussion on the relationship between our two nations. Based on what we heard from you, Minister, I think that’s going to be a very timely and important conversation—I think I saw Lisa Raitt in the room; she is the one moderating that. So, please join us for that. Tickets are on sale now.
As a club of record, all Empire Club events are available to watch and listen to on our website. A recording of this event will be available shortly. Thank you all, for being here today. I wish you a wonderful afternoon ahead. This meeting is now adjourned.
