Skip to content Ontario.ca Français

BUILDING TOGETHER: Jobs & Prosperity for Ontarians

Section Two: The Infrastructure Plan

Table of Contents

• Letter from the Minister of Infrastructure
• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Section One: Ontario Past, Present And Future
• Section Two: The Infrastructure Plan
  • A. Transportation
  • B. Education and Innovation
  • C. Health Care
  • D. Rural Areas, Cities, and Regions
  • E. Water and Other Environmental Resources
  • F. Tourism and Culture
  • G. Social Infrastructure
  • H. Justice
  • I. Government Services
• Section Three: Plan Into Action

KEY STRATEGIES FOR ONTARIO’S NEEDS

In developing priorities and a framework for decisions in this plan, the government relied on three over-arching themes that respond to the trends discussed in Part One.

Investing for future prosperity

Investments in such core economic infrastructure as highways, transit, postsecondary education, and broadband connectivity are essential to competitiveness. For that reason, this plan focuses heavily on investments in these areas. By helping the Ontario economy to become more productive, expand, and create the good jobs of the future, infrastructure investments will help to ensure a higher standard of living for all Ontarians.

Aligning public services with demographic change

The government is also committed to ensuring that its infrastructure is properly aligned with the lifetime needs of people in Ontario. This plan focuses on helping to ensure that areas attracting new residents will be able to meet increasing demand for services, while responding to changes in the population’s age structure overall. In particular, this plan looks at the implications for health care and other infrastructure as the share of people aged 65 and older increases in the next decade.

Ensuring good stewardship

The Province and its partners have a responsibility to act as good stewards, so that Ontario’s infrastructure provides the services needed today and in the decades ahead. Good stewardship rests above all on proper asset management, because very often the best investments are in repairs and rehabilitation, not replacement.

Good stewardship also entails looking forward to manage emerging issues, such as climate change and the need for accessibility and environmental sustainability, so that infrastructure remains able to meet public needs through the 21st century. Part Three of this plan provides more details on how asset management planning and stewardship will evolve in Ontario over the coming decade.

Back to top

A. Transportation

Accelerating public transit

The Province strongly supports public transit for several reasons:

• Transit takes cars off our roads. Investments in GO Transit, for example, allowed the system to carry 13.1 million more riders in 2009–10 than in 2003–04. On a typical weekday, GO Transit takes the equivalent of more than 90,000 cars off the road.

• It can also cut commute times. For example, an express GO train takes less than 25 minutes to travel from Clarkson station in Mississauga to Union Station in downtown Toronto. The same trip by car can take twice as long during rush hour.

• Car ownership represents a large share of household transportation costs. Transit options that reduce dependence on the automobile can provide significant savings.

• The use of transit reduces environmental impacts. Every one per cent increase in the share of transit versus travel by car would reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by about 25,000 tonnes a year.

• A position statement of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario noted that people have been found to be healthier when they live close to public transit and in higher-density neighbourhoods.

The demand for transit is expected to increase in the years ahead:

• By 2021, roughly 10.3 million people are expected to live in the Greater Golden Horseshoe area, up by about 1.4 million from the current level. Without robust and effective public transit systems, rising commute times and road congestion will hamper economic growth and quality of life. In its regional transportation plan released in 2008, Metrolinx estimated that average daily commute times in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area would increase from 82 minutes to 109 minutes in 25 years if there were no significant new regional transit investments.

• The importance of Toronto’s Union Station as a key transportation hub that brings people from surrounding communities into the downtown will increase, with its morning peak-hour passenger traffic forecast to quadruple over the next 25 years. Travel across and between surrounding regions will also rise, putting pressure on areas with limited or no public transit at present.

• Other rapidly growing parts of the province, such as Ottawa and Waterloo Region, are planning for significant ridership growth that will require transit upgrades and expansions.

• The growth in the number of seniors, who use transit more frequently, is likely to increase demand throughout Ontario, including smaller centres.

Since 2003, the Province has invested heavily in transit, including the GO Transit system, and has made major commitments going forward:

• It has committed more than $9 billion to regional rapid transit projects in Toronto and York Region, such as the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown light rail transit line and York Viva bus rapid transit. In addition, a passenger rail service linking Toronto Union Station to Pearson International Airport will be in service in time for the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games.

• The Province has committed $600 million in funding to support rapid transit in the City of Ottawa. The project involves converting more than 12 kilometres of the existing transitway to light rail transit, with a portion of the route to be tunnelled under downtown Ottawa.

• In Waterloo Region, the Province has committed $300 million to support a proposed plan to create a roughly 35-kilometre-long rapid transit corridor. The corridor would better connect the cities of Waterloo, Kitchener, and Cambridge, linking Grand River Transit to the GO system.

• The dedicated portion of gas tax revenues will continue to provide municipalities across Ontario with long-term, sustainable support for new transit equipment, fleet maintenance, and expanded operations.

In addition, the Province has also brought institutional innovation to the sector with the creation of its Metrolinx agency to improve coordination and integration of transportation across the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

Moving forward

Given the demand for transit, the Province expects to invest significantly in this sector over the next decade. Specifically, it intends to:

• Coordinate and support a significant expansion of transit in the urban centres designated in the 2006 Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, including Waterloo Region, as well as in Ottawa and mid-sized cities across the province where significant growth in demand is forecast.

• Work with Metrolinx and the area’s transit systems to continue to invest in the priorities identified in the Big Move, in line with the fiscal capacity of the Province, with the aim of creating a truly regional transit system in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area. This will also help move towards GO Transit’s goal of increasing annual ridership from 55.6 million in 2009–10 to more than 100 million trips by 2020–21.

• Expand the role of Infrastructure Ontario to use the alternative financing and procurement (AFP) model in the transit sector in coordination with Metrolinx. Part Three of this plan provides more details on procurement.

• Acquire key transit assets, such as GO rail corridors, as the fiscal situation permits.

• Move forward on electrification of the GO system as the fiscal situation permits and where the benefits justify the cost.

• Build more options for active transportation, including walking and cycling, into transportation plans and public transit systems.

Highways, bridges, airports, and ferries

The government will continue to invest in the capacity and quality of the province’s highways, bridges, and other transportation infrastructure to support economic and social goals. Ontario’s businesses rely heavily on this network to get their products and services to market on time, especially in an increasingly competitive economy. Highway infrastructure is also critical to the delivery of effective public transit, particularly in highly urbanized areas. In places with no public transit, roads and highways are generally the only way to get people to work and other destinations.

The need to keep traffic moving on the 400-series highways will be key because they comprise a critical part of Ontario’s highway network. As the backbone of the entire system, the Highway 401 corridor alone carries 437,000 vehicles a day and two-thirds of the freight trucked between Ontario and the United States, making it one of the busiest sections of highway in North America. With economic growth, the risk of bottlenecks will increase.

A major challenge in the coming decade will be much heavier demand in the province’s fastest-growing regions. While providing more public transit options will help relieve this challenge, not all the demand can be shifted to public transit. As part of a long-term strategy to improve the efficiency of highways in high-demand areas, the Province has introduced HOV lanes for cars with two or more passengers, as well as for public transit vehicles and inter-city bus carriers. The evidence to date shows that these lanes shorten driving time for all traffic.

The size of Ontario’s transportation system calls for wise investments in upkeep and rehabilitation. Well-maintained roads, bridges, culverts, and other structures last longer, saving taxpayer dollars in the long run. They also make travel safer, shorten commute times, and decrease vehicle-repair costs for drivers.

Bridge safety is of special importance. Many of the Province’s bridges were built in the 1950s and 1960s, with an expected service life of 60 years. Over the next 10 years, many of these bridges will require rehabilitation or replacement. Highway pavement will also require a significant amount of repair work over the next five years.

Chart 5 - Bridge Building Periods (Age Profiles)

For the past several years, the Province has significantly increased funding for its directly owned highways and bridges to increase capacity and meet upkeep needs. Building on the success of its alternative financing and procurement model, it has announced two major AFP highway projects: the Windsor-Essex Parkway and the extension of Highway 407. There will be ongoing need for new and rehabilitated highways, roads, and bridges. Future investments will help meet that need.

Moving forward

Over the next decade, the government will improve Ontario’s transportation network, support economic growth, and shorten commute times by:

• Developing a corridor-based approach to investing in additions and expansions to the 400-series and other highways to prevent bottlenecks and handle increasing demand.

• Adding at least 500 centreline-kilometres of highway where warranted by growth and demand, primarily through such major planned projects as:

  • Extending Highway 407 east to Highway 115/35;

  • Building the Windsor-Essex Parkway, which is expected to reduce travel time for each of the 6,500 trucks that cross the Windsor-Detroit border every day by close to 20 minutes on average;

  • Continuing to widen portions of Highway 401 in southwestern Ontario and the Kingston area; and

  • Enhancing Northern Ontario’s Trans-Canada Highway corridors by expanding sections of Highways 11, 69, 17, and 11/17 to four lanes to increase capacity, improve safety, and support the Growth Plan for Northern Ontario.

• Continuing the rollout of the long-term HOV strategy, which calls for more than 450 kilometres of lanes along the 400-series highways, including sections in the Greater Golden Horseshoe and Ottawa, by 2031.

• Further developing the multimodal strategy of linking roads and highways with other forms of transportation, such as airports, shipping ports, rail, and border crossings. This will require working with the federal government as well as state and other provincial governments.

  • The Continental Gateway Strategy, which will enhance the flow of goods in Quebec and Ontario and with the United States, represents a significant multimodal project.

  • The Growth Plan for Northern Ontario also calls for development of a northern multimodal strategy.

  • The Province will continue to work with the federal government and Quebec to assess the feasibility of high-speed rail in the Windsor to Quebec City corridor.

• Using innovative construction and repair techniques to reduce environmental impact, lower costs, and minimize impacts on users.

• Working to add more transit-supportive elements to the highway network and prepare for such new technologies as alternative fuel vehicles.

• Using metrics like those in Table 2 to track progress towards specific goals for the state of repair of highways and bridges.

Back to top

B. Education and Innovation

A strong education system and the capacity for leading-edge research and innovation are the foundations of a successful economy in the 21st century. Ontario has invested significantly in schools, universities, colleges, and research facilities to help form a well-educated workforce. Strategic investments will continue, both to support key priorities and help meet demand.

Elementary and secondary education

The government is currently targeting funding to provide the infrastructure to allow children across Ontario to be enrolled in full-day kindergarten. Full-day kindergarten began in September 2010 at almost 600 schools. By September 2014, it will be available at all elementary schools across the province.

The full-day kindergarten program follows other major province-wide initiatives of the Ministry of Education to improve Ontario’s schools. For example, Ontario’s Good Places to Learn program, launched in 2005, provided capital funding to school boards to build additional space to support the government’s goal of smaller primary class sizes. Under the Primary Class Size initiative, boards successfully met provincial targets beginning in 2008–09: 90 per cent of primary classes made up of 20 or fewer students and no primary classes with more than 23 students.

Underlying such major programs are demographic trends that also determine the need for elementary and secondary school facilities. As Chart 6 shows, despite year-to-year variations that largely reflect specific initiatives, investments in schools have roughly tracked changes in the number of children and young adults aged four to 17.

Chart 6 - Population Growth Drives Elementary and Secondary School Infrastructure Stock

Despite a province-wide decline in the school-age population over the past decade, there have been pockets of growth, mainly in the outlying areas of Greater Toronto and Hamilton, where young families are settling. As a result, some schools are now over capacity. Over the next several years, boards in Peel, York, Halton, Ottawa-Carleton, and Waterloo are expected to experience growth in enrolment.

The condition of school facilities is important to parents, students, and school staff. The Province is collecting information on school conditions to help improve decisions around repairs and rehabilitation.

Moving forward

Over the next 10 years, Ontario will work with school boards to:

• Ensure a system of elementary and secondary schools that meets present and future needs.

• Continue capital investment to support underserved French-language rights-holders.

• Base renewal funding decisions on school condition assessments and asset management plans, and work towards setting state-of-good-repair targets. This change will enable school boards to undertake projects to address the backlog of repairs in the most cost-effective way

Universities, colleges, and research

As Chart 7 shows, enrolment at the postsecondary level has been rising steadily over the past decades. Increasing participation rates reflect the growing need for postsecondary education in Ontario’s labour force and economy. From 2002–03 to 2010–11, enrolment growth was strong, increasing by 140,000. Growth has been concentrated in universities more than colleges, and in and around the Greater Toronto Area for the most part.

Chart 7 - Increasing Share of Postsecondary-Age Population is Engaging in Higher Learning

Under the Open Ontario initiative, the Province’s goal is to raise the postsecondary education attainment rate to 70 per cent. Experts predict that 70 per cent of future jobs will require postsecondary education.

To that end, the Province recently announced operating funding to support enrolment growth of more than 60,000 students by 2015–16. The Province will also continue to help more apprentices complete their training. The government’s recently released Putting Students First plan aims to ensure a sustainable postsecondary system strategically aligned with the needs of students and of Ontario’s economy in the years ahead.

College and university infrastructure investments are increasingly driven by technological advances, including laboratory and scientific equipment.

Chart 8 - The Increasing Importance of Technology in Colleges and Universities

The government continues to make significant investments in research capacity at postsecondary institutions through the Research Infrastructure program of the Ontario Research Fund. These investments include the $300 million in research infrastructure funding announced in the 2009 Ontario Budget to support Ontario institutions in leveraging federal funding for research infrastructure.

Moving forward

Over the next 10 years, Ontario will work with universities, colleges, and the research community to:

• Ensure that infrastructure investments respond to demand, align with the Putting Students First plan, and support the goal of a 70-per-cent attainment rate for postsecondary education.

• Introduce a new satellite campus policy to help to manage growth in the system and give priority to new satellite campuses in areas where growth is expected to be concentrated.

• Develop a more comprehensive funding policy for major capital projects, including procurement approaches and a framework for determining the appropriate provincial share. Procurement is discussed in more detail in Part Three of this plan. The Province will continue to consult with colleges and universities on these elements.

• Emphasize asset management planning, repurposing, and facilities renewal. All colleges and universities will be required to develop asset management plans, which will outline the condition of existing assets and the institution’s plan for addressing their renewal needs, as a prerequisite for infrastructure funding. Part Three of this plan discusses asset management in more detail. When seeking funding for expansion, institutions will need to provide a clear rationale for forgoing renewal instead. Repurposing of existing space will be encouraged.

• Continue to invest in research infrastructure.

Back to top

C. Health Care

The Province’s plan for building a sustainable public health care system is based on delivering good care when and where people need it, and protecting the health system for future generations. Investments in health infrastructure will support those goals and the government’s efforts to control health care costs.

65–74

75–84

85+

Health care infrastructure must respond to demographic changes in the coming years. By 2021, the number of people 65-plus in Ontario will have increased by more than 800,000. Table 3 shows that as people age, they account for higher levels of health care spending.

To manage costs and give an aging population the right level of care, Ontario is adopting a continuum of care model. This model is suitable for a population with a large share of older people, whose health care needs tend to be more complex than younger people’s. It makes available a range of medical and related services and supports, in addition to critical care for patients who need it. Continuum of care will be supported by investments in appropriate health infrastructure, including long-term care beds and chronic care settings.

Adopting the continuum of care model is key to relieving pressure on hospitals. For example, receiving the right care on an ongoing basis could prevent unnecessary emergency department visits and hospitalizations, especially of older patients.

When an elderly patient must be hospitalized, ensuring the stay is no longer than necessary is also critical. For example, almost one in five patients in acute-care beds do not need the level of resources and services provided in that setting. They are waiting to go to long-term care or a rehabilitation hospital, or to return home, possibly with health care supports. For elderly patients in particular, the unnecessary time spent in acute care poses health and social isolation risks.

Having people in acute care when they should be in another setting also creates backlogs in emergency departments, where critically ill people often remain for extended periods of time on a stretcher because no acute-care beds are available.

As well as affecting health outcomes, the problem skews the allocation of resources. Estimates indicate that moving patients to a more appropriate level of care when they are ready would generate savings across the system. Supporting the continuum of care model calls for creating facilities outside the hospital setting to deliver the health services required by older patients.

At the same time, there will continue to be significant pressure to invest in new or improved hospital infrastructure in areas of population growth.

Moving forward

To manage pressure on health care spending and improve patient outcomes, over the next decade Ontario will:

• Support a gradual shift to continuum of care and community-based care models.

• Invest in long-term care beds, while exploring options for healthy aging that could reduce this need over time.

• Invest in three to five major hospital expansions and re development projects each year, subject to fiscal capacity.

• Expand access to electronic health records. Progress has already been made on this goal and several additional major electronic health record systems will be completed by 2015.

• Based on new asset management plans, set performance benchmarks for hospitals and long-term care homes. Part Three of this plan discusses asset management in more detail.

• Encourage the sector to strive for greater efficiencies in the delivery of care, including a move towards a “hub” model where facilities offering different types of care are built together where warranted.

• Involve Infrastructure Ontario in the management and delivery of traditional hospital projects, over time and in consultation with the health sector and building industry. Part Three of this plan discusses the role of Infrastructure Ontario in more detail.

Back to top

D. Rural Areas, Cities, and Regions

The Province’s support for Ontario’s rural areas, cities, and regions is creating better places to live and work. As well as helping to fund municipal water systems and public transit, the Province is involved in improving access to public services in rural and remote areas, including the North, supporting regional economic growth, revitalizing communities, and meeting housing needs.

Provincial investments are helping to revitalize downtowns and other neighbourhoods in towns and cities across Ontario. In Thunder Bay, for example, a new consolidated courthouse will provide a focal point for ongoing redevelopment of the city’s centre. The city of Thunder Bay notes that it is intended to provide an “anchor for revitalization.” The downtown south core location of the courthouse is regarded as crucial to advancing Thunder Bay’s economic development strategies.

Thunder Bay is one of the five largest cities in Northern Ontario — the others being Greater Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, and Timmins — that together are home to more than half the northern population of 800,000. The Growth Plan for Northern Ontario, released in March 2011, identifies these cities as regional anchors that are optimal locations for infrastructure to build economic potential and support services.

The growth plan foresees the cities as developing vibrant, mixed-use core areas that attract employment and provide a broad range of amenities. A key pillar of the 25-year plan is revitalizing and linking these and other communities to support growth to help northerners build a resilient and sustainable economy. The growth plan also encourages communities to work together to create a regional approach to development.

The growth plan calls for coordinating infrastructure planning, land-use planning, and infrastructure investments and, in making decisions about northern Ontario, giving priority to investments that support the plan’s policies.

In southern Ontario, the Province is making key investments to host the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games that will result in major revitalization of athletic and recreational infrastructure across the region. In Toronto, additional resources have been committed to upgrade the West Don Lands waterfront area in time to locate the athletes’ village there. After the Games, the athletes’ village will become the centrepiece of a mixed-use, sustainable urban community. A significant share of the housing units will be built as affordable housing.

Social and affordable housing is another municipal infrastructure component. In November 2010, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, which provides the framework within which municipal service managers deliver social and affordable housing, released a long-term affordable housing strategy.

The strategy proposes to create a new, outcomes-based accountability framework for the delivery of housing and homelessness services, provide greater flexibility to ensure investments address local needs, and establish key provincial interests, providing a foundation for future housing investments. Under the proposed legislative framework for the new strategy, municipal service managers would draft comprehensive local plans that reflect provincial interests and identify local priorities.

Moving forward

Ontario recognizes the ongoing needs of communities and regions. Over the next decade, the Province will:

• Explore ways to help municipalities with a stable or declining population meet the unavoidable fixed costs of their infrastructure.

• Continue to assist with higher-order infrastructure needs, such as major transit projects, in urbanized areas.

• Look for continuing opportunities for infrastructure to help revitalize communities.

• Work with the federal government, Aboriginal peoples, and other partners to identify strategic infrastructure needs to support the implementation of the Growth Plan for Northern Ontario.

• Work with municipalities, businesses, and residents to support the implementation of the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

• Continue to find ways and means to work with other orders of government to help meet important municipal responsibilities, such as affordable housing that meets local housing needs and complements the Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy. For example, the Province is working with the federal government on an initiative that would extend federal and provincial funding to help build and renovate affordable housing.

Back to top

E. Water and Other Environmental Resources

The Province is committed to infrastructure investments that support sustainable water systems and that protect our natural landscapes and resources, including the Great Lakes.

Water, wastewater, and stormwater

Ontario’s water-related infrastructure, which includes drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems, is almost all owned by the province’s municipalities, which are also responsible for operation. Between 2003 and 2008, $11 billion was invested in municipal water systems, the bulk from municipalities’ own resources.

Chart 9 - Capital Investment in Municipal Water/Wastewater Infrastructure

Further investment will be needed. For example, many systems are at, or close to, the end of their useful lives. In addition, a number face the need to meet the demands of population growth in their service areas. Climate change will have a significant impact on stormwater systems and will also create pressures on drinking water sources and wastewater systems.

The bulk of Ontario’s population is served by the very large drinking water and wastewater systems located in major urban centres. Conversely, there are many systems serving smaller communities. As Table 4 shows, for example, more than 80 per cent of drinking water systems serve fewer than 10,000 people. These smaller systems are generally more costly to operate for each household served, which is why the Province has helped address their needs through the Ontario Small Waterworks Assistance Program (OSWAP) and other investments.

Loss of water from leaky pipes and inefficiencies in water and wastewater treatment facilities represent major costs. Leaks are easier to pinpoint and fix when operators can measure where water is flowing throughout the distribution system.

The Water Opportunities Act, 2010, allows the government to pass regulations that would require the preparation of municipal water sustainability plans and the establishment of performance measures and targets for municipal water, wastewater, and stormwater systems. It also provides the authority for actions to encourage the more efficient use of water.

Moving forward

Over the next 10 years, Ontario will work to ensure the financial and environmental sustainability of municipal water, wastewater, and stormwater systems through activities on several fronts. The Province will:

• Roll out requirements under the Water Opportunities Act, 2010, for municipal water sustainability plans and performance measurement and public reporting for water, wastewater, and stormwater systems.

• Work with municipalities to encourage them to make the best use of existing infrastructure before building new capacity, and highlight to Ontarians the benefits of using water more efficiently. This would involve, for example, reducing demand by promoting conservation, tuning systems to ensure they are performing as well as possible, and using green infrastructure.

• Encourage municipalities to work with industry, academia, and other orders of government to demonstrate and implement new and emerging Ontario water and wastewater approaches and technologies.

• Work with smaller communities that lack the capacity to address water-related infrastructure needs on their own. This will include a program to systematically assess the need for financial and other types of support, and develop solutions using the best mix of options.

• Make improved asset and financial management practices, as well as conservation and efficiency, preconditions for provincial infrastructure grants.

• Explore an expanded role for Infrastructure Ontario so that water systems can benefit from its expertise in project management and use of the AFP approach.

• Develop a framework for planning water-related infrastructure on a watershed basis. This will build on the source water protection framework under the Clean Water Act, 2006, and will help ensure that strategic, long-term infrastructure decisions are informed at an ecologically significant scale. Work could start in priority watersheds, such as the Grand and Thames Rivers, and would be done in concert with municipalities, Aboriginal peoples, conservation authorities, and other groups.

Ontario will take further steps to determine how wastewater systems can deal with emerging threats, including the environmental and health impacts of chemicals in urban wastewater streams and the need to adapt to climate change.

• Urbanization will put an increasing strain on wastewater infrastructure and the water bodies that assimilate effluent. Ontario will explore innovative approaches for reclaiming water, recovering nutrients, and generating energy from wastewater to mitigate urbanization impacts.

Restoring and protecting the natural landscape

The Province will continue to lead numerous environmental cleanup activities over the next 10 years and to invest in environmental assets.

Environmental cleanup is often linked to past industrial activities. Under the authority of the Environmental Protection Act, the Province can order those responsible for the contamination to clean up the site. Once an order is issued, the Province works to ensure those responsible for violations are held accountable. If required, the Province may step in to undertake the cleanup, recovering the costs where possible.

Cleanup and management of contaminated sites in Ontario is undertaken through various programs in several ministries. Projects range from one-time, small-scale initiatives to multi-year, large-scale investments.

The need for cleanup is not limited to land-based locations. The international Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement provides for the listing of Areas of Concern where environmental quality has degraded to such an extent that uses like drinking water, swimming, and wildlife habitat are compromised. Ontario and other governments are working to remove areas from the list. Examples of Ontario’s investments in remediation include the Bay of Quinte, Thunder Bay, and the St. Marys, Niagara, and Detroit rivers.

Finally, the Province is responsible for a very large and diversified portfolio of environmental assets that are essential to the delivery of key public services, as well as the protection of Ontario’s natural resources.

They include parks, forest access roads, firefighting stations and land and air fleets, dams, fisheries, and research facilities. These assets are located over a wide area and are highly visible and important to Ontarians, especially in rural and northern Ontario.

Moving forward

Over the next 10 years, the Province will:

• Establish a new, one-window approach for environmental cleanup activities, including a new approach to ranking and managing projects. This will involve working over the first years of the plan to consolidate existing cleanup activities and related funding, develop a single inventory of contaminated sites, and create an evidence- and risk-based approach to guide cleanup priorities. This approach will enhance cleanup expertise.

• Implement robust asset management practices to provide guidance on the right investment priorities and ensure funds flow to the assets that need it most, including such structures as dams in light of climate change concerns.

• Continue to protect the Great Lakes ecosystems, develop sustainable economic and recreational opportunities, and increase public awareness of the lakes.

• Promote joint action with federal and municipal governments to align policies and funding.

Back to top

F. Tourism and Culture

The Province has a leadership role to play in helping to ensure that communities are welcoming to visitors.

Tourism and cultural facilities preserve Ontario’s culture and history for the province’s own residents and build its appeal to tourists. Provincial parks and the natural landscape also attract tourists, as well as benefiting Ontarians.

Strong provincial investment in culture and tourism facilities in recent years has helped institutions to attract the visitors whose admission fees represent an important revenue source.

Over the next decade, Ontarians will continue to be the main users of the province’s tourism and culture infrastructure. Although the United States will remain a significant source of visitors, new growth is expected to come mainly from overseas. The number of people travelling worldwide for tourism and other reasons is expected to double to 1.6 billion by 2020, attributable mostly to China and other emerging nations.

In 2009, the Province released a comprehensive review called Discovering Ontario: A Report on the Future of Tourism. In response to one of the report’s recommendations, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture in 2010 established 13 new regional tourism organizations that are independent, industry-led, and not-for-profit. Each organization is responsible for identifying priority projects that would benefit from infrastructure investment.

The report also recommended that the Province identify high-potential destinations and undertake a campaign to target investors, provide selective incentives, and make partnerships with government easier.

As a result of this recommendation, the Ministry is developing a 10-year tourism investment strategy to stimulate private sector investment in major new tourism developments. Investments in infrastructure are likely to be guided by this overarching strategy.

Moving forward

To reap greater benefit from investments in tourism and cultural attractions over the next decade, Ontario will:

• Coordinate tourism-related infrastructure investments across government, ensuring that investments align with regional tourism priorities and strategies.

• Continue to invest in capital repair and rehabilitation at tourism and cultural agencies and attractions to address renovations, building code upgrades, health and safety improvements, and statutory and regulatory compliance.

• Ensure that government agencies and attractions focus on greater financial self-sustainability as a goal for future capital investments and identify opportunities to increase private sector and philanthropic contributions.

Back to top

G. Social Infrastructure

A range of government programs and services helps ensure all Ontarians have the resources and tools to achieve a better quality of life and to take part more fully in society.

Programs and services are provided by some 1,870 community-based transfer payment agencies funded by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and the Ministry of Community and Social Services. Examples of infrastructure in the sector include shelters, children’s aid societies, youth detention facilities and probation offices, treatment centres for children with complex conditions, facilities for early childhood development and people with special needs, and offices and other meeting places. Affordable housing, another important part of social infrastructure, is discussed in Section D.

The government has also identified poverty reduction as a priority because all Ontarians should have the opportunity to be at their best. This includes ensuring that the Province’s infrastructure helps to provide strong, healthy, and inclusive communities for Ontarians to live, work, and play.

The new Poverty Reduction Act, 2009, requires a provincial strategy, to be renewed at least every five years, and annual reporting on progress. As part of the poverty reduction strategy, the government has set a target of reducing the number of children living in poverty by 25 per cent over five years. This strategy will inform much of the work in the sector over the next several years. For example, the social service ministries are developing initiatives to transform and improve child welfare, developmental services, and children’s mental health. Such initiatives will help identify infrastructure priorities where possible.

Several other factors create a need for infrastructure investments in this sector:

• While emergency shelters provide short-term relief to women fleeing domestic violence, the transition to independent life may need additional support. One concern is that the length of time spent in a shelter is increasing and now averages 27 days. This may be because of limited availability of affordable, transitional, and second-stage housing. As a result, several shelters are over capacity, with long waiting lists.

• Another concern in the sector is the increasing number of adults with developmental disabilities, medical problems, or both, who entered children’s residential services early in their lives and are still living there because of lack of capacity in adult services.

• Because many of the sector’s programs and services are delivered over the long term and through numerous agencies, information management is critical to ensure better outcomes. The next decade will see an increased focus on using technology to integrate information, manage risks, and increase efficiency.

Moving forward

Working with agencies and municipalities over the next 10 years, the Province will:

• Align infrastructure investments with innovative programs, services, and supports aimed at reducing poverty and enhancing outcomes.

• Support the creation of community “hubs,” which could include a range of services located together.

• Help women fleeing domestic violence move from shelters into affordable long-term housing, contributing to greater availability of much-needed shelter space.

• Invest in bringing together disparate information sources and systems to provide better service throughout the sector.

• Continue to undertake building condition assessments to set priorities for renewal of the facilities of community-based agencies and organizations.

• In support of the 2025 accessibility goal, require all entities seeking provincial infrastructure funding for new buildings or major expansions/renovations to demonstrate how the funding will prevent or remove barriers and improve the level of accessibility where feasible.

Back to top

H. Justice

The justice sector comprises numerous roles — policing, investigating, hearing and resolving court cases, sentencing, and incarcerating those convicted of crimes. Reflecting these roles:

• The Province is responsible for the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), which provides policing services to municipalities on a contract basis as well as carrying out province-wide activities.

• It also administers most of the civil and criminal courts in Ontario. Those facing criminal charges who are remanded in custody before the case is resolved are held in a provincial detention centre.

• Convicted adult offenders who receive sentences of less than two years enter a provincial correctional facility, while longer sentences are served in the federal penitentiary system.

From the provincial perspective, two ministries manage most of Ontario’s justice-related infrastructure: the Attorney General, for courts; and Community Safety and Correctional Services, for the OPP and correctional facilities for adults.

Crime rates in Ontario have declined for several years, reflecting a number of factors. Through better collaboration among all justice partners, Ontario is working to create healthier neighbourhoods with better law enforcement and targeted investments to help reduce crime. The Province is supporting the fight against gun and gang violence, for example, by ensuring that police and crown attorneys have the resources they need to bring criminals to justice.

Turning to the future, over the next 20 years the size of the population aged 18 to 34 is projected to rise only slightly, from 3.1 million in 2011 to 3.4 million by 2031, but will decline as a share of the total population.

Chart 10 - Total Reported Crime Incidents per 100,000 Pupulation

This trend, in conjunction with crime-prevention programs, is expected to result in the continued decline of crime rates over time.

Other factors play important roles in determining the need for justice-related infrastructure. Over the next 10 years, for example, more municipalities are expected to contract with the OPP for policing service, in an effort to reduce costs. This would create an investment need because the Province is responsible for providing OPP infrastructure.

Several reforms are under way to reduce pressure on courthouse and detention centre infrastructure throughout the province. Through the Justice on Target initiative, for example, participants in the justice system are working together to reduce the number of unnecessary appearances and days to disposition.

Civil justice reforms that began to take effect in January 2010 have made it easier, faster, and less expensive to resolve disputes, while family justice reforms have simplified the steps involved for those cases that must go to court.

Chart 11 - Average Days to Disposition (Criminal Cases, 2010)*

Localized population growth, however, will result in courtroom pressures in some areas, as will other factors like the increasing complexity of some types of cases. Some new courtrooms will need to be added for both criminal and civil cases.

In justice, as in other sectors, increased use of technology could help improve service, lower costs, and reduce pressures on infrastructure needs. Ontario is already adopting technology in the justice sector with those goals in mind. There are opportunities to consider increasing the use of technology. For example, videoconferencing for routine bail and remand hearings could be utilized more extensively. While the intent of such technology would not specifically be to reduce pressures on infrastructure needs, this could be an additional benefit.

Across the province, there are considerable opportunities to bring together services and to deal with aging infrastructure. Providing a range of services close to one another can be very beneficial for streamlining processes and saving time for the courts and people who take part in the justice system.

Moving forward

Working with communities, the judiciary, and municipalities, over the next 10 years the Province will:

• Continue to assess the use of existing assets and, where appropriate, rationalize inefficient assets to save costs. There are many older facilities with high maintenance costs. One goal would be to consolidate services from older facilities into a new facility while maintaining appropriate regional access. Another would be to repair and replace deficient facilities where warranted.

• Continue the approach of strategically locating infrastructure to support a range of justice-related services at shared sites to save costs and improve service, as has been done successfully in other jurisdictions. Before moving ahead, the Province would consult with stakeholders.

Back to top

I. Government Services

Efficient and streamlined public services located in the right facilities offer greater convenience to citizens and cost savings for government. Achieving these goals depends on innovative technology, a move to a hub-based model of service delivery, and effective real estate planning.

Over the next decade, meeting increasingly high public expectations about the delivery of government services will rely on innovative information technology solutions, especially those provided over the internet.

This kind of technology allows government to function as a more integrated organization that can provide faster, “one-window” access in a variety of more convenient ways than the traditional model involving individual ministries.

ServiceOntario is a one-stop delivery network. More than 95 per cent of Ontarians are within 10 kilometres of one of Ontario’s 300 ServiceOntario offices, where they can access driver, vehicle, and health card services in one location. Ontarians can now use their mobile devices to locate the closest service location, find out its hours and the services it offers, and get on-the-spot directions. A number of services, such as obtaining birth, marriage and death certificates, newborn registration, change of home address, and streamlined access to services for businesses are available online, as well.

Meeting public expectations will also rely on a more strategic approach to the kinds of premises that government uses to provide different services. One important area will be the use of “hubs” that offer a range of services to the public. These hubs could bring together a range of services from all orders of government that residents need to access, as well as providing access to sets of services targeted to specific groups.

The government’s own accommodation strategy will depend on having the right mix of owned and leased accommodation to deliver services cost-effectively and reduce the accommodation footprint. For services delivered in person or through a kiosk, the focus would be on locations offering the greatest convenience to the public. At present, charges for accommodation are collected by the real estate arm of the government. There is an inadequate connection between charges and local market rates for the same kind of space. Creating such a linkage would encourage better decisions around staff location.

Moving forward

To give Ontarians better access to government services and provide provincial workers with suitable work spaces, over the next 10 years Ontario will:

• Act on a proposed 10-year vision set out by the Ministry of Government Services to increase efficiency in order to provide cost-effective and personalized customer service for Ontarians. This will require a coordinated strategy to integrate systems, digitally manage information, and enable anywhere, anytime connectivity.

• Explore opportunities to create hubs in which specific groups of people can receive, simply and in one place, access to the range of services they need.

• Use Infrastructure Ontario’s expertise in levering private sector investment to allow ServiceOntario to explore opportunities to expand its one-stop delivery network to other lines of business, including delivering services on behalf of other governments through partnerships.

• Put in place a real estate framework that includes moving the amount charged to ministries for accommodation towards market rates, in order to help drive better decisions about how best to allocate space.

Back to top

Table of Contents

• Letter from the Minister of Infrastructure
• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Section One: Ontario Past, Present And Future
• Section Two: The Infrastructure Plan
  • A. Transportation
  • B. Education and Innovation
  • C. Health Care
  • D. Rural Areas, Cities, and Regions
  • E. Water and Other Environmental Resources
  • F. Tourism and Culture
  • G. Social Infrastructure
  • H. Justice
  • I. Government Services
• Section Three: Plan Into Action

Site Help

• Contact Us
• Accessibility
• Privacy

Notices

• © Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2012
• Important Notices