October 17, 2024
The Empire Club of Canada Presents
Rebuilding Ontario’s Economy: Hon. Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario
Chairperson: Jenna Donelson, President, Board of Directors, Empire Club of Canada
Moderator
Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan, President and CEO, Humber Polytechnic
Distinguished Guest Speaker
The Honourable Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario
Head Table Guests
David Lebeter, President & CEO, Hydro One
James Scongack, Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice-President, Bruce Power
Welcome Address by Jenna Donelson, President, Board of Directors, Empire Club of Canada
Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Empire Club of Canada. My name is Jenna Donelson, and it is my great honour to serve as chair of this historic organization, and 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.
We have a number of ministers, MPPs, mayors, and other elected officials and dignitaries with us in the room. I’d also like to acknowledge that we have two former premiers, Mike Harris and Brian Tobin. So, please join me in recognizing them.
I would also like to recognize our sponsors. The Empire Club is a nonprofit, and our sponsors generously support the club, and make online viewing complimentary. We appreciate them. So, thank you to our Lead Sponsors, Hydro One, and Bruce Power. And thank you to our VIP Reception Sponsors, BMO, the Insurance Bureau of Canada, AtkinsRéalis, LiUNA, Shoppers Drug Mart, the Ontario Road Builders Association, Aecon, Waste Connections of Canada, Westinghouse, TELUS Health, AWS, Dynacare, and DoorDash. Thank you. And thank you to our Supporting Sponsors for today’s event, Sheridan College, Aurora Strategy, Fasken, RCCAO, Think Research, URBINCO, LifeLabs, Enbridge, CAA Insurance, International Business University, Sienna Senior Living, and Greater Toronto Hotel Association. Thank you. And I also want to thank our Lead Season Sponsors, Bruce Power and Hydro One, and our VIP Reception Season Sponsor, Waste Connections of Canada. Thank you. And finally, thank you to our Print Media Partner, the Toronto Star. Thank you, Toronto Star.
If you have questions for our speakers, please scan the QR code found on your program, or if you’re online, the QR function under the chat. For those of you online, if you require technical assistance, please get help using the chat button that you will see on the side of your screen.
One reason I am so proud to lead the Empire Club is because of its rich history. For well over a century, this podium has been the place where Canada’s leaders come to deliver the great speeches, or host the great conversations of their time, to address the most pressing issues of the day. And this is especially true when it comes to Ontario’s leadership. In fact, since Leslie Frost, nearly every sitting Ontario premier has addressed the Empire Club. Over the decades—yeah, it’s great news, let’s clap for it—over the decades, each has delivered an important and timely message about the state of the federation, emerging societal issues, and of course, the economy. And regardless of political stripe or moment in time, their appeal was clear. Ontario’s success is critical to the success of the country, and our economic prospects are strong, if we make the right investments. Today’s distinguished guest is no exception, and we are so very pleased to, once again, be hosting Premier Doug Ford.
I think it’s fair to say that it seems like the challenges we have been facing, whether it’s housing, inflation, or the cost of living, can weigh on us from time to time. And the conversations around them are not always easy ones to have. But the Empire Club isn’t where we just come to have the easy conversations; it’s where we come to have the necessary conversations. Ones that not only address our challenges, but shine a light on our potential. And this is why I am so pleased that our club has been home to that long line of premiers, who have stood at this podium to lead those conversations, and share their vision for a stronger, more resilient Ontario. And that, like many of the people who came before us, we’re hearing directly from the premier about the work he’s been doing, and the opportunities that lie ahead for this province that we all love.
And to introduce the premier, it is my pleasure to welcome to the stage someone who is a familiar face at this podium, and who himself leads an organization that is critical to Ontario’s economic success. Please join me in welcoming to the stage, President and CEO of Hydro One, David Lebeter.
Introduction by David Lebeter, President & CEO, Hydro One
Wow, look at this crowd. Good afternoon, Jenna. Thank you for that wonderful introduction. And to this crowd today that’s gathered here, for that warm Empire Club welcome. I’m looking around, remembering the last time I was up here, which was in May, earlier this year, when I was, for lack of a better term, the main course. Fortunately today, I’m not the main course—or thankfully, I’m not the main course—what I do have the distinct pleasure of, though, is introducing our guest speaker, a man who really does not need an introduction, our premier, Premier Doug Ford.
And as I was thinking about what I would say, in introducing the premier, I was reflecting back on how I’ve gotten to know him over the past couple of years. And a few things really stood out for me. So, among many things, the premier is a family man—and I picked up on that very quickly, the first time I spoke to him, and listening to him in other times, when he’s been speaking about his family, and the great pride he has in their accomplishments, and their successes, and their contribution to Ontario. Fantastic thing to build on.
He’s a businessman, as evidenced by his family business, which he ran very successfully for many years. He’s a politician, witnessed the success he’s had in that area. And he’s a builder, which is really the topic of today. And you can see that ,when you look around Ontario today. Look at the hospitals that are going up, the schools that are being built, the care facilities, the infrastructure such as highways, and byways, and mass transit. Those are investments that are taking care of Ontarians today, and preparing them for the future. And he’s a builder when I look around, and I see the regrowth and rebirth in the manufacturing sector, the mining sector, and agriculture, creating well-paying, long-lasting, good jobs for Ontarians today, and into the future. And he’s a builder when I look at what’s going on in our communities, with housing development that just continues to accelerate. Every year, we’re building and connecting more homes. And that’s about building communities.
And he’s a builder when I look at the energy sector, the sector I’m familiar with, where I see the government making measured, prudent decisions on generation assets that are going to power this province for many, many decades to come, setting the foundation for a future. I see that showing up in the nuclear announcements, the refurbishments, the new builds that are being looked at, the renewable procurements the IESO has done, storage procurements, the Independent Electric System Operator’s done. And very agnostic to the generation source, whether it’s nuclear, renewable, hydroelectric, and even in the short term, natural gas, because we do need that fuel source to continue to power this province.
Those are all the signs of someone who’s a builder, and who cares. There’s one other thing Doug Ford is—or sorry, Premier Ford, my apologies—he’s a proud Ontarian. And I’m not going to get this quite right, but I’ve heard the Premier say this many times, “Ontario, the best place in the world to live and raise a family”—and I hope I got close to getting that right, sir. This is an amazing province, and only someone who has that tremendous amount of pride can deliver a message like that.
Hydro One, like Premier Ford, is a builder. And we see that building showing up in the demand for electricity, all across this province. In our case, that shows up in the sense of the case of new transmission lines, which I really think of as the highways of electrons, that allow energy to flow from where it’s generated to where it’s needed. We see it show up in the build out of our distribution system. Think of those as the main streets of the electric grid. And then I see it show up in the connections, the new connections, which every year, we’re connecting more customers than we thought we would be connecting, and more customers than we did the year before. Think of those new connections as the driveway of the electric grid, that gets the electrons to right where they’re going to be used. So, tremendous growth. And what an exciting time to be in Ontario. Is anybody in this room not excited about being in Ontario, right now? Put your hand up if you’re not. Okay, let’s have a round of applause for Ontario.
On a personal note, I’ve been privileged to have a few meetings with the premier, and I’ve gotten to know a few things about him. And I remember the first time we met, it was a very casual meeting. But let me assure you, it was focused. The premier had questions he wanted to ask, he had issues he wanted to talk about. And what struck me the most—and I really appreciated this—was how well he listened to what I had to say. He honestly cared about what I had to say, and he was seeking to understand, which is fantastic. And I hope, sir, that I returned the favour, and you sensed that I was keenly interested in what you had to say, and the vision you had for Ontario, at that time. It was a great meeting, and I look forward to many more with him. I also picked up, at that time, that he had a vision for Ontario. And it wasn’t a vision for the next two years. This was a long-term vision, that was going to set this province up for success, for decades to come. And that’s not something I’ve always found in politicians. Sometimes, you see a short-term vision, but this is the man who had a long-term vision. And equally important, I realized that the premier was not afraid to share his truth, to tell you exactly what was on his mind, to challenge your thinking, and then listen to your response. And I always admire a person who’s willing to say what they’re thinking, stand behind what they’re thinking, but then be willing to be influenced, if they hear new evidence that supports that. And I found that in our premier.
So, I’m sure that today will be no different than the other day. Premier Ford will join us. He will speak his truth, and we’re going to have a fantastic event. And with that, I’d like to welcome Premier Doug Ford to the podium.
Thank you, everyone. Thank you so much, and good afternoon. What a crowd here today. My goodness. And David, thank you. Thank you for the very kind introduction. And, and I’m fortunate to have you leading Hydro One, and your entire team there, you’re doing an incredible job. Because without your leadership, David, there’s a stall on the economy. Because we won’t be building homes, we won’t be building large factories, and so on and so forth. So, please pass my thanks on to your team. And I do remember our conversation, sitting by the little wood stove, in the solarium there. But thank you for everything you do. And I’m thrilled to be here today, alongside, I always call him the team of all stars, and I really mean that, the person that takes care of all the money—he’s tight as skin on a grape, I always tell him, which is a good thing—is my great Finance Minister, Peter Bethlenfalvy. Peter, thank you for everything you’re doing. And Minister Fedeli, I always say our number one salesperson. He’s all over the world, bringing companies here to Ontario. He’s done an absolutely incredible job. And thank you, Vic. I’m surprised you’re even here today—he’s usually over in Asia, over in Europe, attracting more companies. Actually, he just got back the other day. So, I’m sure he’s booking a flight to leave very shortly. Minister Sarkaria, Minister of Transportation, you’re doing an incredible job, as well. You know, he’s been a little busy—I think I have that in my notes, you’ve been a little busy—I’ve got to ask you, did you ride your bike down here, or did you take the transit? I gotta ask which one you chose. Okay. And Minister Lecce, again, Minister of Energy, just doing an incredible job—and anyone that knows, I call him “Lech”—he’s the Energizer Bunny, and he does not stop. You’re expanding our capabilities, and thank you for all your work. Minister Thompson, thank you, Minister Thompson, Rural Affairs. She knows everything about agricultural, rural affairs. And rural communities in Ontario play such an important role in our province, so, thank you for everything you’re doing. And Minister Todd McCarthy, one of the brightest legal minds in the country—it’s not him that tells me that; every other lawyer out there tells me how bright he is on the Constitution, and real estate. He’s doing a couple portfolios focusing on procurement on business, and he just temporarily jumped in for the Minister of the Environment; he’s knocking it out of the park. And Minister Kusendova, just Natalia, you’re doing an incredible job. You’ve jumped into long-term care, you’re building long-term care homes, as quickly as we can, and you’re taking care of issues. But I have to tell you something about Natalia. During the pandemic, not only she was working as an MPP, she was a nurse, and she must have been slugging 80 to 100 hours a week, during the pandemic. But that shows the character of someone. So, thank you, Natalia. Thank you for all your work.
Before I get started, I just want to thank Jenna, and Sal. Thank you for incredible leadership here. Jenna, you have your job cut out, over the next little while. But great leadership. And I just want to wish Sal a very happy birthday—what are you, about 30 years old today, Sal? But happy birthday, my friend. I also want to thank the entire team at the Empire Club of Canada, for hosting us today. And it’s a real honour to be here. You’re reminding me, Jenna. I remember—and I wasn’t with him at the time, Rob came here, my brother, and he got stuck in one of the elevators. And I don’t think the Toronto Star, Benzie ever believed that he was stuck in the elevator—did you, Benz? So, anyways, I also want to thank Ann Marie Vaughan, President of Humber Polytechnic, hailing from the great state of Etobicoke. Thank you, Ann Marie, for moderating it today. And Ann Marie, I really look forward to sitting down with you. I’m a massive fan of Ann Marie. You know, Humber Polytechnic is in my area, and I’ve just seen it grow over and over, under your great leadership, so thank you.
It’s also great to see so many familiar faces in the audience. And sorry I wasn’t able to work the whole audience, but I’ll get to it. We have two—we have many great mayors, by the way, but two are here, I’m told. We have 444 municipalities; they’re all doing a great job. And I always say, if all three levels of government, if we all work together, we work collaboratively together and cooperate, there’s no one that can stop us. So, I just want to acknowledge, two that I know of here—if I miss anyone, I apologize—Mayor Rob Burton, from Oakville. Mayor, thank you for all your leadership. And I got to tell you something. The mayor is pretty humble, but when we first took office, Ford in Oakville were saying, “Hey, we’re going down to Mexico.” But with Rob working collaboratively with us, they aren’t going there. They’re building retooling for the F-Series pickups, which is their number one selling brand. So, we’re going to be rocking and rolling at Ford Motor Company, in Oakville. And thank you for your leadership. Another great champion, Mayor Nuttall from Barrie. You know, anything you need to get done, he gets done. He’s a mover and shaker, he guts through the red tape and all the bureaucracy. And he’s doing great up in Barrie, and Barrie’s thriving.
So, my former—there’s a former premier, that’s my favourite premier in the world, Mike Harris. I even love you, Mike, more than I love Mike Jr.—and I love Mike Jr. a lot, because he’s been doing a great job. You know, he’s a mentor, he did an incredible job. And I know my dad served underneath you, and so many great, great people, Jim Flaherty, I keep listing them. But what a great team you have there. And of course, Brian Tobin, former premier Brian Tobin, thank you. It was great chatting today. And thank you for visiting us here in Toronto—I was actually with Andrew Furey, just last night, or yesterday. I had him over. And so many business and community leaders out there. That’s what makes Ontario the strongest region in the world.
I’m here today to talk about our plan for Ontario’s economy. It’s an important topic right now, maybe now, more than ever. Growing geopolitical instability and ongoing disruptions to global supply chains are challenging economies, right around the world. Here in Canada, the ongoing impact of inflation and high interest rates, alongside the growing cost of the Federal Carbon Tax—which, in my opinion, is the worst tax you could ever put on the backs of people—continue to squeeze the budgets of families and businesses. Amid these challenges, our government remains focused on continuing to rebuild Ontario’s economy, starting with creating the conditions and the environment for businesses to grow, thrive, and prosper.
I always say, if government starts creating jobs, we’re all in deep trouble. What we do is create the environment and conditions for companies to come here around the world, and they come here, and they thrive and prosper and grow. We’ve cut red tape, saving people and businesses $1.2 billion, and over 1.5 million hours in time, every single year, that those people can be reallocated somewhere else within your company. We’re making energy more affordable by reducing electricity rates for small, medium, and large-sized businesses by 15% to 17%, and we’re keeping taxes and fees low. In fact, we have—this is pretty staggering—we have never raised a tax on people or on businesses. And I can tell you, we never will. And it’s a very simple theory. You want to stimulate the economy? Put money into people’s pockets. They’ll go out and do something as simple as going out for dinner, maybe buying your kids’ sneakers, or clothes, or maybe putting a little renovation on your house. And they might do that because they have money in their pockets, and same with businesses. If you put money into businesses, they’ll invest into their people, into technology, into their infrastructure, and they grow. That’s what creates economic strength, and the economy starts booming.
The worst place you could ever give your money is to the government. I’m telling you, any level of government. We believe, our government believes, you can spend it a lot wiser and stimulate the economy, than more money into the government’s pockets. In total, we’ve reduced the cost of doing business in Ontario by $8 billion, each and every single year. The results of our plan, the numbers, they speak for themselves. We’ve attracted more than $45 billion in the first electric vehicle and battery plants in Canada, along with billions and billions of dollars of investment in the tech sector, and more than $5 billion in life sciences. And that’s last year alone—but I don’t know if you heard Bloomberg, a couple months ago, that Canada, meaning, really, Ontario, has just knocked off China as the number one spot in the world, to invest in the EV sector. Over 137 global companies invested over $11 billion in Ontario last year, creating 12,200 jobs. Last year alone, all of you folks created 165,000 new jobs. In 2023, Ontario created more manufacturing jobs, think of this, than all 50 US states combined; those are staggering, staggering numbers.
This is another great stat—and I apologize for the numbers; I’m just a numbers guy, show me the numbers, numbers don’t lie, and let’s cut to the chase, here—so, since 2018, we’ve added over 860,000 new jobs to our economy. But beyond just numbers, these statistics are so much more than just data points. They represent better jobs, and bigger paychecks, and real opportunities for workers, families, and whole communities to thrive. They signal Ontario’s growing strength, as a global hub for innovation and investment. It’s a far cry from where we were just six years ago, when sky-high energy prices and uncompetitive business environment forced plants to close, sending 300,000 jobs south of the border. What a difference a few years can make. And our pro-worker, pro-business agenda has been a true Team Ontario effort, with full credit going to workers, businesses, and our union partners—and I see one of the true leaders, Joe Mancinelli, and Victoria, thank you for all the work that you do, there you are, right over there. And thank you for helping build Ontario.
Today, as we face economic and geopolitical uncertainty, rising costs, and a critical election south of the border, we can never take this progress for granted. We need to keep investing in, and implementing, our plan to rebuild Ontario’s economy. Next week, when Ontario’s legislature resumes, after a very, very busy summer for our government, we’ll be doing just that, including measures to help build critical infrastructure faster.
Our government has the most ambitious plan to build in Canadian history, with $190 billion in new infrastructure spending over the next 10 years, including nearly $100 billion to build the roads, the highways, and the public transit needed, to tackle crippling gridlock on our streets. Here in the GTA, we’re leading the largest expansion of public transit in North America. As we build the Bradford Bypass, Highway 413, expanding Highway 3, Highway 11, 17, basically everywhere you drive right now—no matter if it’s the 400, 401 East, QEW, there’s construction. I know it’s a pain in the butt, but it’s needed. It’s needed to build that infrastructure for the future. And Minister Sarkaria, our hardworking minister of transportation, he’s been busy lately. And every time I get in a traffic jam, who do I call? Honestly, I think he avoids my calls, sometimes. But hey. he’s an incredible person, very, very bright individual. He was with Miller Thompson, a bright lawyer. I’m just so blessed to have the best team that’s ever been assembled in politics. On Tuesday, Minister Sarkaria was in Etobicoke, talking about our focus on getting drivers moving faster, by bringing sanity back to bike lane decisions. It isn’t enough to keep an eye on future bike lanes—thank you—we need to, and will, remove and replace existing bike lanes on primary roads, that are bringing traffic in our cities to an absolute standstill. And earlier today, Minister Sarkaria was out talking about how we’re getting shovels in the ground sooner, to build Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass, as part of our first piece of legislation, when we’re back, to Reduce Gridlock and Save You Time Act.
As ambitious as these projects are, even as we get shovels in the ground on Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass sooner, they aren’t enough to keep pace with Ontario’s growth. So, just last month, I announced our plan to build a new driver and transit tunnel expressway under Highway 401, to provide a new faster route for the most gridlocked highway in North America. Together, these projects are helping to connect our growing region, tackle gridlock on our roads, and keeping people and goods moving. As the Board of Trade said, it’s costing us $11 billion of economic growth, just on the 401, not to mention the hundreds and hundreds of hours, there’s thousands of hours, tens of thousands of people stalled, just sitting there on the 401. Our buildings are off the 401 in Kipling. I was driving home the other night, it was about 11:30, look on the 401, and I don’t know what the reason was; it was packed, on both sides of the highway. And people just want to get home, they want to get to work, they want to get goods to their destination a lot quicker.
When the legislature resumes next week, our government will always be focused on ensuring Ontario has the power needed to fuel our growing economy—and I know, David, you touched on that a bit. As we look ahead, and continue to attract billions and billions of dollars in new investments, electricity demand is projected to rise 75% by 2050; that means, we’ll need another 111 million megawatt hours of energy by 2050. That is equivalent to four-and-a-half size cities, the size of Toronto—so, just imagine that, four-and-a-half cities the size of Toronto. That’s how much energy we’re going to need. And that’s an enormous challenge.
But as I always say, every challenge is an opportunity. And you better believe we’re seizing that opportunity, so that we’ll never, ever have to say no to new investment, and we can always say yes to new jobs. To do so, we’re leading the future of nuclear energy. We are a nuclear powerhouse around the world, with upgrades at Bruce, Darlington, and Pickering nuclear generating stations already well underway. We’re building the first small modular reactors in the G7 at Darlington, with early construction coming in on time and on budget. These projects are crucial to Ontario’s continued economic success. In fact, energy policy will be fundamental to the future of our province. And Ontario has a choice, a pro-growth agenda that attracts investments, creates jobs, and keeps energy costs down, for people and businesses, or ideological dogma that offers false choices, and burdens hardworking people and businesses with a costly Carbon Tax. I know where I stand. Our government will always choose economic growth and affordability for families. And we will always reject the high cost of a Carbon Tax.
I—thank you—you know, I better stop there, with all our priorities this session. Otherwise, I’m risk stealing Peter Bethlenfalvy’s thunder, if I get into the Fall Economic Statement—but I’m sure the Toronto Star knows it already, so, they’ll get that out there. Needless to say, our government will never stop looking for ways to keep costs down for hardworking families. And I look forward to sharing more news on that, in the very near future.
Now before I finish, I just want to, quickly, I want to talk about the upcoming US election, there. It’s not an overstatement to say next month’s presidential election, and the upcoming review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, is more consequential than anything else on the horizon to our economy. As everyone here knows, there is no partnership more important to the economic success of Ontario, than the economic success of Canada, than our closest ties with the United States. It’s a partnership that is growing stronger every single year. In 2018, two-way trade between Ontario and the United States was $390 billion; today, it has increased to more than $500 billion. If Ontario were a standalone country, we’d be America’s third largest trading partner in the world. In fact, our province is the number one export destination to 17 US states, and number two for another 11 states. We need to do everything we can to shore up support, for not just maintaining, but strengthening and growing our historic partnership. That’s why, for the past several months, there’s been a full-court press from our government, to encourage all parties, no matter what political stripe they come from, to reject protectionism, and embrace “buy can-am” mentality. As the US looks to de-risk and de-couple from China, there’s no partner better positioned to support our friends and allies south of the border than Ontario. We have an abundant supply of critical minerals. And as a global leader in the future of nuclear energy, Ontario is uniquely positioned to support America’s economic growth, and its national security objectives. With this kind of approach, we’re encouraging US lawmakers to think big, to build fortress North America, and bet big on the US-Ontario relationship. To do so, however, we need to show our closest ally that we’re working together in lockstep. We cannot risk finding ourselves outsiders looking in.
I was pleased to see the federal government match US tariffs on Chinese imports, like electric vehicles and steel. Next, the federal government needs to match US action to ban Chinese software from vehicles on Canadian roads. And we need the federal government to pause the implementation of the Digital Services Tax. The DST is a bipartisan consensus in Washington. They are absolutely furious at us. I talk to Democrats, I talk to Republicans, and they are furious. They’re furious with Canada over even considering what they view as an unfair tax on American companies. Putting aside the fact that they’ll never support bringing in the new tax, no matter what it is, we cannot put millions of Canadian jobs and our historic economic partnership with the US at risk, because of a stubborn refusal to listen to the concerns of our American friends. The federal government needs to pause the implementation of the Digital Services Tax.
Friends, let’s end on a positive note, here. Today, Ontario is the envy of North America. We’re the envy of the world. We’re attracting investments, we’re creating jobs, we’re an economic powerhouse. But as I said earlier, we can’t take this success for granted, and we won’t. We’re going to make sure that Ontario’s business environment remains ripe for growth and investment. That means, keeping costs down, and building infrastructure. It means ensuring we have the energy we need to power growth, and strengthening economic ties with places that share our values. That’s exactly what we’re going to do to continue to do. Let’s get it done. Thank you again for inviting me today, and may God bless the people of Ontario. Thank you so much.
Jenna Donelson
Thank you, Premier Ford, for sharing your vision and your leadership with us. I think David is right. You wear your Ontario pride well, and we appreciate it. And I know we are all looking forward to the fireside chat portion of today’s event, so we can dive a little bit deeper into your plans for the province. And so it is my privilege to introduce the moderator of today’s discussion, someone who’s been a trailblazer in the education sector for nearly 30 years. She is the President and CEO of Humber Polytechnic, so please join me in welcoming to the stage Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan.
Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan, President & CEO, Humber Polytechnic
Well, thank you, Premier. And Humber is very fortunate, because the Premier is our MPP. And so, we’re always delighted to have him come join us. Thank you very much. So, Premier, you really draw a crowd. It’s a big group here, which is great.
The Hon. Doug Ford
I think it’s because of you.
Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan
No, no. But I want to thank you for your time today. And I know we’re all looking forward to hearing more about your government’s plans, and vision for the future of the province. And to start this conversation, and I think it’s a really important conversation, is about the declining productivity rates in, in Canada, and what that means for our future. And I know you’re equally concerned about those productivity challenges that we face. And so, I’m interested in hearing more from you about that. And let me link it to a subject that would be near and dear to my heart, which is around the, developing the talent pipeline, and that’s role in productivity. And you, I know the government’s invested over $1.5 billion in skills development, since 2018, but labour shortages still exist, and there are over 200,000 jobs going unfilled every day. And it’s estimated that we’re going to need 100,000 new workers in the construction sector, over the next decade. Are we making progress? And how can we ensure there’s enough workers, to build everything that you want to do?
The Hon. Doug Ford
Well, thanks so much, Ann Marie. I’ll, I’ll start off with that question, right off the hop. And a good example, as I called him out, Joe Mancinelli from LiUNA, he’s doing a new opening on Friday. And that’s going to give Joe and LiUNA an opportunity to double the amount of people they train. They’re at about 50,000 now—Joe, you’re going to double that up to 100,000. But the Skills Development Fund, we’re spreading right across the province to all different sectors, to making sure that we have the talent that we need, to meet the demand. We’re seeing massive, massive growth. Unlike anywhere in North America right now, not just on the economy, but in population. You know, 800,000 people showed up to our door last year alone, and a lot of those people want to get out and work. But because of the delays of, of immigration, getting their work visa—it takes 18 months to, to two years to get a working visa from the federal government. We have more asylum seekers coming here. And, you know, we’re looking at approximately 24% right now of everyone on, on Ontario Works as asylum seeker—and I don’t blame them, by the way. I blame the federal government, for not getting them out there and giving me a working permit.
You know, I have a lot up in the hotels, on Dixon Road. And there’s little Timmies I pull over, after I go through Timmies, I talk to them. Every one of them are saying they want to work. So, we have, in a total, 473,000 people on Ontario Works—better-known as welfare—and I just have a message for them. I’m excluding asylum seekers and refugees, because they will work when they get a building permit—I mean, sorry, building, see, that’s what’s on my mind, building permits—working permits. You know, I always say, if you have mental health or addiction issues, we’ll take care of you, until you get back on your feet. If you have a physical disability, we’ll take care of you. That’s not a problem. That’s why we have ODSP. But everyone that’s healthy, the 473,000 people, and we have over 250,000 jobs available, get off your butts, and go out there, and start working. I don’t care what you do. Just work. Get involved in a, in a trade. I know that all trades, no matter if it falls under LiUNA, or other organizations, you do an incredible job at Humber, in the trades, as well. So, it’s a combination of the private sector unions, and our great colleges and universities. Our number one selling feature are the people of Ontario, are the 70,000 STEM graduates that we graduate every single year. Unlike anywhere else in the entire North America, we have the talent. And that’s our number one selling feature, the quality of life, living here in Ontario, it’s second to none. And I just want to thank you for, for contributing to that, because your programs are incredible. If you ever have a chance to, to go up to Humber, it’s jaw-dropping. And they keep building and building. So, thank you for all your work.
Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan
Well, thank you, Premier. I’m so happy to be a part of the network of 24 colleges in Ontario—and I’ve said to you many times, it’s a jewel, nationally. Our post-secondary system in Ontario is, in my view, second to none. And it’s incredible to be in that, that field. So…
The Hon. Doug Ford
I say, I’ll put our colleges and universities against anywhere in the world.
Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan
…so, I want to ask you, because I heard you note that you met with Premier Furey yesterday.
The Hon. Doug Ford
Yes. Yeah.
Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan
And Ontario has a role and has always had a role of the driver of not just the Ontario economy, but the Canadian economy.
The Hon. Doug Ford
Yes.
Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan
And it is central to the social, economic, and cultural capital of this country. And you’re about to take on a new role. And that is as chair of the Council of the Federation, which is all the premiers and territorial leaders in Canada. Can you talk a little bit about what your priorities are going to be, in that role? Because it’s an important role. And I really believe Ontario has a unique opportunity to really lead.
The Hon. Doug Ford
Well, thank you so much, Ann Marie. First of all, if you’re fortunate enough to be premier, they rotate chairs every, every 13 years. And I just, I got lucky, and it landed on, on my year—and they switch over in August. But we have an incredible team of premiers. We all put political stripes aside, we always look, what is the best for, for Canada, and the regions? And then, they’re very diverse, from coast-to-coast-to-coast. But we come up with a, you know, a common mindset that we can help. Just a couple that we’ve been talking about, and we’re having them come and visit in December, all of them, then we have another, they’re coming back in the summer there. But just making sure, one is the prescription drugs. These pharmaceutical companies coming here, and it takes, what, 700 and, what is it, 745 days to get drugs approved? Life-saving drugs, that other jurisdictions around the world get them approved in a year? And we’re seventh, in the G7. So, we have to really start moving with Health Canada, and all the provinces, as well. So, make sure that we have an opportunity to have these life-saving drugs as, as early as possible.
We also are going to be talking about our energy demands, right across the country. If you look at our energy demands—and we’re very, we’re going to be very diverse, and look at all forms of energy, but one obviously is nuclear. We have 19 CANDU reactors, in Canada; 18 of them are in Ontario. I’m pretty sure I’m on that—is that correct, David? I think it’s 19, 18, that we have in Ontario. But we’re going to continue building on that, building on that fleet. We’re going to make sure that we look at other areas, from biomass to gas, and even, even windmills and solar panels. We’re going to look at all forms of energy. And I’m, I’m blessed. Honestly, I’m blessed to have a minister like Steven Lecce. Anyone in this room that knows him, I call him “Lech”, he is a firecracker. And man, is he making moves. And I’m just fortunate to have a great minister.
And the last, the other—see, Lech, you have a few friends here. That’s good. And the last one, just meeting our commitment with NATO, making sure that we allocate our 2% towards our military; I think it’s never been more important to do that. And believe it or not, that came from one of our NDP premiers, that he wanted to focus on that—Wab Kinew, which, which is a really, really good guy. We kind of put our, everyone puts their politics aside, and we just have an incredible team of premiers here.
Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan
Well, thank you for that comment about NATO. As an Honourary Colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force that I am. I’m delighted to see that’s a priority for you, as well.
The Hon. Doug Ford
Thank you.
Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan
So, let me ask you a bit more about the United States election, because I think that’s probably—sorry, I lost my paper again—probably key to the questions in everyone’s mind. And even last week, when you were talking at Humber, you spoke about the energy sector, and how our growth in nuclear energy can really be a sales force, or a sales opportunity in the United States. I know you don’t want to pick a side, in the US election. Can you talk a little bit about more of the work you’re doing, to ensure that we don’t end up with a more protectionism view in the United States, come November 6th?
The Hon. Doug Ford
Well, Ann Marie, it’s—and everyone in this room knows this, it’s all about building relationships. And I spent 20 years of my life between our Chicago facility and New Jersey, going back and forth. And you meet a lot of people. And I’ve talked to endless amounts, every single week, endless amounts of governors, senators, congressmen and women, right across the entire country, no matter if they’re Democrat or Republican. You know, I had Governor Walz in my office—and this is before President Biden stepped down, so, this was about two or three weeks prior to that, if I, if I remember correctly. And so, we walked in the office. And he saw a big picture of Rob, and the footballs. And he said, “Hey, I was a football coach.” And I said, “That’s great.” You know, so, I go to the shelf, I pull off a football. And next thing you know, we’re tossing it back and forth. But there’s something that I got to tell you, for the first time, that’s no big secret but—so, when we sat down one-on-one, I said, I’m really, really concerned, you know, about the President. God bless him. And, I hope he has great health, and everything—my heart actually broke for him, back then. And I said, “Governor Walz, you should run for president.” And three weeks, four weeks later, next thing you know, he’s the running mate to Kamala Harris. But he’s a really, really good person. And then Governor Murphy, from New Jersey, you have him over, you have these people over to the house, and sure enough—I don’t know what it is with these footballs, but we’re tossing a football around. And we’ve made MOU agreements with many different states, and having a group of governors up here, like Illinois, we signed MOUs, Maryland, Indiana, Michigan, there’s a whole raft of them that we’re doing. But it really helps out, you know, when you can pick up the phone, and call them, and just work things out. They all know—and I always say, I’m the worst culprit, “Buy Ontario. Ontario made. Buy Canada.” So, I’m as guilty as anything. And they’re experts, down there, “Buy USA. Buy America.” And I told each and every one of them, we’re so much stronger when we work together. We have a couple of things that you desperately need, I would tell them. Your critical minerals. As China is cornering the market on critical minerals around the world, we’re a safe haven of critical minerals, that there’s no one else I’d like to give our critical minerals to, to support their military, as well, and their technology, than the United States. We have ample critical minerals.
And, and then the other big area is our energy. As we build up our fleet of energy, and we have enough capacity for ourselves, New York State always needs energy. Always. And so does Michigan, and so does Ohio, and Pennsylvania. And these big data hubs that you might have 5 or 10 people working in, these data hubs, but man, do they suck energy. And they want our clean, green energy, reliable energy, coming from Ontario. Very few people realize this. But as we stand right now, we can deliver energy all the way south, down to Florida, from our grid. Texas is stand alone— was talking to Congresswoman there, the other day—they’re stand alone. But do you remember what happened a couple of years ago, when Houston and Texas had a little, little snowfall? It almost shut down all of North America, because a lot of components were, were coming from there. And I invited the Congresswoman to join our grid, because it’s reliable. And we have the best people in the world, when it comes to our energy, on all facets.
Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan
That’s a really important point about the security, and safety, and reliability of our grid, in terms of productivity.
QUESTION & ANSWER
Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan
Let me give the last word to a question from the audience—and this is about Canada’s youth. And many young people are facing uncertainty, in today’s time. And I know you’re so enthusiastic about Ontario. What message would you leave young people in the audience about what the future is for them, and how important it is for them to be able to dream, and have a life, and families here in Ontario?
The Hon. Doug Ford
Well, there’s no better place in the entire world. And I meet a lot of youth, literally, daily or, or weekly. And I just tell them, number one, work hard. Work ethic is second to none. No matter what job you have in life, everyone respects a hard worker. Stay in school, as long as you can. And when you graduate, it’s going to be the lightest luggage you’re ever going to carry anywhere, that no one can take off you. And some kids, they may not be academics. Get into a skilled trade. And because once you have a skilled trade, you have a job for life. And it just amazes me, you know, when I, when I go around, and I see the craftsmanship, when they’re building these homes. We need people like that. We need skilled tradespeople from all over the world, and here, to get involved. We’ve seen an increase in women getting into the construction sector, by—it’s increased over 50%. I encourage more young women to get involved. It’s a great-paying job. And it’s a job you can carry around, if you move here from Toronto, up North, or move wherever. You’ll have that tool in your toolkit. But we have a very, very bright future, here in Ontario. You’re leaders around the world. And, you know how you can tell you’re leaders? Not just the numbers—because I study these numbers inside and out—it’s when you have an ambassador come from a different country, consul generals that are here, when you see governors come here, and they’re in awe. As one governor said—and I won’t name the name—said, “Doug, you’re eating our lunch.” And I said, “Governor, we’re going to eat your breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” but joking around. Because they’re, they’re very close allies. I love the US. And we’re going to work hand-in-hand with them. But a very bright future. Keep working hard, and never, never stop working. You’ve got to have that work ethic. And when you apply, I always tell the young people, a lot of young people, you know, they want to start at the CEO seat, and work their way up. That doesn’t cut it.
You know, I’ll just tell you my personal story. If wasn’t out of the house by 6 o’clock in the morning to get up to Deco, and I’m coming home, you know, at 8 o’clock at night, whatever, 14 hours later, my dad would look at his watch and say—and he wasn’t joking—why are you home so early, son? And man, I ever said I had a problem, he’d kick my butt right down the street, and back into work. Yeah, there was, yeah, there was little—times are different now. We can’t, you know, we’re soft. I’m, I’m a softie with my four girls. What can I say? But they’re workers.
Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan
I was just going to say, I might introduce you to my daughter, maybe you could give us a hand. So, Premier, thank you so much today, for sharing your thoughts, and, and your optimism about Ontario, and your energy. I mean, you can sense from your family upbringing where your energy and enthusiasm comes. And I really want to thank you for being here today, and for the honour of having the opportunity to ask you these questions. And thank you to everyone who’s joined us today, both here and online. And sincere thanks to the Empire Club, for an incredible event.
The Hon. Doug Ford
Thank you.
Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan
Thank you.
Jenna Donelson
Thank you very much, Dr. Vaughan and Premier Ford, for that great, insightful conversation. Now, I’d like to introduce our final speaker, to deliver appreciation remarks. Please join me in welcoming to the stage, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President at Bruce Power, James Scongack.
Note of Appreciation by James Scongack, Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice-President, Bruce Power
Great, well, thanks very much for having me. Before everybody leaves the room, you know, Hydro One was the appetizer; Bruce Power’s the dessert. That’s the story of my life, by the way. I love what you do, David, but we’re the dessert. You know, the Premier is really well known for giving his cell phone number out. I was wondering, Minister of Transportation, he calls you every time there’s traffic. Would you like to give your cell phone number out, sir, today? We’re happy to take it.
Look, you know, there’s two economic lessons, I always remind everybody at Bruce Power, when we think about growing the economy, and playing our role. And the two economic lessons for me is, number one, nobody spends, nobody works. And number two, a 24/7 economy needs 24/7 electricity. And what do we need to do that, as Ontario’s largest private investor in electricity infrastructure? We need policy certainty. And as the Premier mentioned, in Ontario, we have a story that we can be really, really proud of. You know, if you look at a map of North America, and you look at reliability, and emissions, Ontario stands out as a beacon of hope and opportunity. We’re a jurisdiction that, just over 10 years ago, had coal-fired generation. How much coal do we have operating in Ontario now? Zero percent. So, we can be reliable, and we can be clean. And it’s our nuclear fleet that did the heavy lifting, and it’s our nuclear fleet that will continue to do the heavy lifting. So, that stable energy policy that the Premier talked about, that is so important. And I appreciate the release earlier this week by Minister Lecce, showing that as our economy grows, so is our demand for electricity. And it’s going to take all of us, every clean energy tool in the toolbox, to meet that need.
The other area I want to talk about is Ontario’s life sciences strategy—I see Minister Fedeli, in the room. This week, Ontario released its life sciences strategy. Ontario is the only jurisdiction in the—yes, I’m not following the teleprompter, by the way, so, the teleprompter’s trying to figure out where this is going—Ontario is the only jurisdiction in the world that has the production of lifesaving medical isotopes, used to diagnose and treat cancer, in its life sciences strategy. And it’s also part of our energy policy. So, we look forward to continuing to be an energy superpower, an energy superpower to power a 24/7 economy, an energy superpower to produce clean, reliable energy, but an energy superpower that gives people hope, who are fighting cancer.
Thank you very much, Premier, for having us here today. Thank you to the Empire Club, for putting on a fantastic lunch. And I wish you all a fantastic afternoon. Take care.
Concluding Remarks by Jenna Donelson
Thanks, James. As we bring today’s event to a close, I want to take a moment to thank you all for joining us. And a special thank you to our sponsors, for their continued support of the Empire Club, as we pursue conversations that matter. I’d also like to take a minute, on the note we ended on, to recognize the students and young leaders in the room. I believe we have some students from Humber Polytechnic and TMU, sitting at the Bell tables. Yes. Thank you for being a part of our community, and helping advance public dialogue on the topics that matter.
In closing, don’t forget to subscribe to the Empire Club newsletter, by scanning the QR code found on your program. That way, we can keep you connected and informed about upcoming events. And speaking of upcoming events, on October 24th, we will be hosting Ontario’s Minister of Energy and Electrification, the Honourable Stephen Lecce, and on November 12th, we will be in conversation with the Honourable Todd McCarthy, Ontario’s Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurements. I know they’re both here in the room. And those tickets are going very fast, so get on your phones now. And on November 20th, we will be hosting the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship. So, please join us for those upcoming events.
As a club of record, all Empire Club events are available to watch and listen to on our website, and the recording of this event will be available shortly. Thank you all for joining us today. I hope to see you soon. This meeting is now adjourned.
