TORONTO – POLITICS – This afternoon, the Lieutenant Governor opened the 41st parliament of Ontario with our new government’s Speech from the Throne.
When the people of Ontario elected a majority Liberal government on June 12, they asked us to build Ontario up now. They asked us to implement our practical plan to build more opportunity and more security for everyone, everywhere in Ontario without delay.
Our Liberal team heard them clearly. I summoned the legislature back just 20 days after winning the election to put our plan into motion right away.
Today’s Speech from the Throne was about the immediate action we are taking to help individuals, families, businesses and communities thrive. It also looked down the road, to the ways in which we will build Ontario up over the course of this new mandate and prepare our province to lead for decades to come.
Read the Speech from the Throne here.
The speech outlined our government’s comprehensive plan to build Ontario up by:
Building the talent and skills of our people through education and training.
Building better public transit in cities and better roads to connect towns with rural and remote communities that feed our prosperity.
Building a competitive business climate through partnerships with the private sector and increased trade missions that guarantee good job opportunities for today’s workforce and lead to the next generation of jobs for tomorrow’s workforce.
Building retirement security with a made-in-Ontario pension plan that puts a comfortable, secure retirement on the horizon of every worker.
We will enact our plan with an unwavering commitment to eliminate the deficit by 2017-18 in a way that is fair and responsible. The new position of President of the Treasury Board will help ensure that our government meets this commitment by managing spending while protecting vital public services.
And I will continue to lead an open and transparent government with new measures to make our government more accountable to the people it serves.
As read this afternoon in the House, to deliver our balanced and comprehensive plan, I will lead from the activist centre. This is where our government must be to engage all Ontarians as full partners in solving the challenges we face as individuals, as communities, as businesses and as a province. We will put evidence before ideology and choose partnership over partisanship, and invite everyone to work together, with and through government, to overcome our challenges and to thrive as a result.
Today’s speech was also about how our government’s plan will build a fairer, healthier province for everyone in Ontario. Our plan and our budget outline a path to sustained prosperity by investing in only those things that will generate lasting benefits for people, families and communities. This is why our comprehensive plan includes annual increases in the minimum wage and Ontario Child Benefit, job-creating partnerships with business, action on global warming, and expanded investments in the programs and supports that build our most vulnerable citizens up to achieve their potential.
To build Ontario up and achieve sustainable prosperity, we need to recognize and support the potential of every citizen and every region, and that is exactly what our plan does.
Please take the time to share the speech with your friends.
And stay tuned, our budget will be back before the House in just over a week’s time. Together, we will keep the trust people have placed in us by building more opportunity and more security, for today and for tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Premier Kathleen Wynne
