Well, good morning everyone and I want to welcome you to the 2021 AMO conference.

Without question, AMO is a highlight of my year as Premier. I love getting together with all our municipal partners and hearing firsthand what’s happening in our cities and towns.

I wish more than anything that we could be doing this in person, but I am confident that next year we will gather together again.

The Covid-19 pandemic has tested us like never before, the impacts of this virus were felt in every part of our lives, but particularly locally, at the municipal level.

It has been a time of incredible sacrifice for everyone.

But I look back to where we were 18 months ago, we didn’t know what the future would hold, and how long this virus would be in control of our lives.

And then I look at where we are now, and how far we have come together.

Nothing fills me with more pride than seeing how this Province responded when called upon.

We saw the best of the Ontario Spirit, undaunted, unwavering, unbreakable.

As I stand here, we have over 19.95 million shots delivered, with a vaccine effort that is among the most successful anywhere in the world.

And here is the God’s honest truth, we have been so successful, so effective, because of the province’s amazing partnership with municipal and regional governments to ensure this got done right.

From the beginning, we knew that the best way to guarantee success was to work shoulder to shoulder with our local leaders.

I’ve said many times before, I’ve walked in your shoes, as has Minister Clark. Nobody knows what your communities need better than you.

Each of you helped carry out this most important of jobs and you delivered every single time.

And here we are. Over 20 million vaccines administered, over 9.5 million fully vaccinated and Ontario being held up as an example of what can be done when levels of government work together to best serve the people.

Team Ontario showed what we are made of, and you should all take great pride in the roles you played to get us here.

But the reality remains, despite all our incredible progress, we are not done with Covid yet.

This is a virus that will exploit any opportunity, any weakness in the system, to mutate and become even more lethal.

You only need to look south to see what can happen if we let our guards down and how quickly a variant can devastate an unvaccinated population.

Covid will be something we live with for a while longer. We must always stay prepared.

As the doctors have said, cases will rise, cases will fall.

But the doctors have also said that case counts don’t mean what they used to because we have so many people vaccinated.

That’s because vaccinations ensure that people who do get infected can avoid the worst-case scenarios.

They ensure that we can protect our hospitals from being overrun and threatening the entire health care system.

And so, I encourage everyone to do their part, get your shots and ensure you have the most protection possible, for yourselves, and for others.

While we deliver record numbers of vaccines, we will continue to fortify our hospital capacity and to make the long overdue investments in your local communities.

After being ignored by previous governments, we are ensuring that you have the hospital beds in place to properly serve the people who depend on them.

Among our many investments are brand new hospitals in Windsor, in Brampton, and in Quinte.

These will be state of the art facilities that will suit the needs of your rapidly growing populations for decades to come.

And at the centre of our efforts to strengthen the health care system is making long overdue investments in our Long-Term Care sector.

After decades of neglect, this government is making the largest investment in Provincial history and delivering 30,000 new and upgraded LTC beds all across Ontario.

From North Bay to Palmerston to Owen Sound and everywhere in between.

We have committed to ensuring long-term care residents receive—on average—four hours of direct care per day over four years.

We are also making investments to increase direct care hours provided by allied health professionals such as physiotherapists and social workers by 20% over two years.

This will make Ontario the leader in resident care in Canada.

To do this, we will hire more than 27,000 new nurses and personal support workers.

And we are investing $4.9 billion over four years to make this happen.

From our older citizens, to our youngest, we are focused on the health and well-being of all Ontarians.

As we know, our kids need to be in school, it’s where they belong, and where they thrive most.

And they will be back in class this fall.

We are also are making over $2B in additional resources available, including more than $1.6 billion for a safe return to school this September.

And aligned with the advice of Sick Kids and CHEO, our government is taking further action to optimize air quality in our schools.

Including deploying an additional 20,000 standalone HEPA filter units into learning spaces.

Implementing thorough requirements to inspect, maintain & improve mechanical ventilation systems.

And a public ventilation reporting tool that will enable parents to see the scope of improvement measures at every school in Ontario.

Now, as we have said since the beginning of the pandemic, solving the health crisis must always be the #1 priority.

Because we know there is no healthy economy without healthy people. And healthy economies need strong, resilient communities.

As we continue our shared battle against COVID-19, our government is investing in Ontarians.

And we are ensuring that our small towns and cities are at the forefront of these efforts.

To that end, we are making historic infrastructure investments to benefit all Ontarians.

Up to 1.4 million Ontarians continue to be without access to reliable high-speed internet.

This isn’t just a small-town issue, or a rural issue or a remote issue or a northern issue – it is an all of Ontario issue.

And no infrastructure project is more vital than connecting all Ontarians to high-speed internet and broadband infrastructure.

That is why this government is investing nearly $4 billion dollars to connect every Ontarian in unserved and underserved parts of the province by the end of 2025.

This is the largest single investment in broadband by any provincial government in Canadian history.

We have stepped up to the plate so that residents in every municipality, every region, will have the access they need.

From the digital to the physical, we are doing more than ever to connect Ontarians to opportunities and to each other.

We are making record investments in transportation infrastructure, in every corner of this province.

We are partnering with the federal government to provide up to $2.15 billion in funding to assist Ontario municipal transit systems with COVID-19-related pressures.

We are providing up to $44 million to deliver local and intercommunity transportation projects in 38 underserved municipalities across Ontario.

In the 2021-21 program year, $375.1 million in Gas Tax funding is being provided to 109 municipalities providing public transit service to 144 communities across the province.

These communities represent over 92% of Ontario’s total population.

And this stable source of funding enables municipalities to have the flexibility to improve and expand your public transit services as you see fit.

Because you know better than anyone what your communities need.

And we are keeping our promise to build better public transit – delivering more transit services faster – and making best use of taxpayer’s dollars by forging new partnerships.

We are moving forward with two-way, all-day service every 15 minutes on core segments of the GO Transit rail network.

Demonstrating that this government remains fully committed to improving the transit experience and making life easier for the people of Ontario.

My friends, this has been the most trying time our province has faced in a generation.

We have overcome so many obstacles and achieved incredible success in the face of extreme adversity.

We did this by working together, as Team Ontario.

There is much work left to be done, but there is no better team than this one, we can handle whatever comes our way.

As long as we work together.

So, let’s be hopeful, let’s stay resilient, let’s get through this challenge and on to the next one.

Our government is here to listen, to learn, and to understand how we can work in true partnership for the benefit of all Ontarians.

Thank you for all you have done and continue to do.

God bless all the people of Ontario.