Around Queen's Park

Spring is always a very busy time for the industry and so it is with your association. Over the past few months, we’ve seen welcome movement on the advocacy front thanks in no small part to the commitment and expertise of our members.

2023 budget keeps Ontario moving

At the top of ORBA’s priority list in our pre-budget submission and Queen’s Park conversations was continued strong investment in transportation infrastructure funding. We have been strongly supportive of the unprecedented levels of funding we’ve seen over the past five years from Premier Ford’s government. With the March 23 introduction of the provincial budget, it was clear that ministers Bethlenfalvy and Mulroney heard the industry’s capital needs and backed up those needs with increased funding. The budget’s title, Building a Strong Ontario, does just that with an almost $100 billion capital plan for highways, bridges and public transit over the next decade. $27.9 billion of that is devoted to highway and bridge rehabilitation and expansion representing an increase of $2.8 billion from the projections in last year’s budget. The $70.5 billion announced for transit over the next decade is an increase of $9 billion over 2022 projections.

The MTO budget for 2023 is $3.2 billion, an increase of $300 million from 2022. This robust funding will support much-needed projects such as Highway 413, the Bradford Bypass and the new Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph, enable the future widening of Highway 401 in Eastern Ontario, and increase road winter maintenance primarily for roads servicing northern communities. Transit funding this year is pegged at $7.5 billion, further enabling the expansion and service enhancements of this government’s muscular transit plan.

ORBA was also pleased to see significant investments in recruitment and training, including $224 million for a new capital stream of the Skills Development Fund and enhancing the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program with an additional $25 million. Coupled with the recent announcements on mandatory technical courses in our schools and enhanced apprenticeship opportunities, these investments will help position the province’s construction workforce to build the critical infrastructure necessary for the continued success of Ontario.

ORBA’s lobby day generates momentum

Over March 27 and 28, more than 25 senior representatives from ORBA/OAPCmember companies descended on Queen’s Park for our lobby day and reception. The ORBA executive conducted meetings on March 27 with Premier Ford, Minister Mulroney, and the leader of the official opposition, Marit Stiles. March 28 saw our representatives conduct 35 meetings with the leaders of all political parties, ministers, MPPs, senior minister’s office and ministry officials. ORBA effectively delivered the message that we are the voice of Ontario’s transportation infrastructure industry as we outlined our 2023 priorities, including:

• strong capital investment with early tendering as a priority;

• helping our members deliver projects for the public through project, material, and labour risk reduction; and

• more municipal use of provincial materials indices and recycled materials in the construction of transportation infrastructure.

The reception at the end of the day provided an additional opportunity to engage in a more casual setting and saw attendance from an even greater number of MPPs and staff. A huge thank you to all ORBA and OAPC representatives for representing the industry so well!

HTA provision on snow plow safety introduced

The Less Red Tape, Stronger Economy Act 2023 (Bill 91) was introduced in early April and granted Royal Assent on June 8. An ORBA initiative that we have consistently championed is a prohibition on dangerous driving around snow plows. Schedule 15 of the Bill includes a prohibition on passing plows working in echelon formation on multilane highways. After much discussion with MTO, we’re pleased to see this new provision codified in the Highway Traffic Act. We also look forward to highlighting it alongside the enforcement community during safe winter driving campaigns.

New MTO steel index imminent

As part of our risk reduction efforts, ORBA initiated an approach to MTO regarding the creation of a steel index to compliment the ministry’s existing fuel and PGAC indices. After working closely with MTO coupled with advancing this initiative at the political level, we were pleased to see a draft specification posted for comment on MTO’s Technical Consultation Portal (TCP). Read on through this edition of ROADBuilder to learn more details in a featured interview with ORBA’s first vice president, Andrew Weltz, who was instrumental our efforts to see this initiative through.

Updated 127 rates published

In April, the Ministry of Transportation published updated OPSS. PROV 127 equipment rental rates on the MTO Technical Publications website. As in years past, the ORBA

127 Rates Sub-committee met extensively with MTO to discuss the rates prior to publication. One-third of the rates are updated annually. Across all rate groups, the average increase is 24 per cent.

Final words

This column also marks a milestone for me personally as I will be pursuing an opportunity outside ORBA starting in July. Leaving such a fantastic organization is never easy. It has been an honour to work for ORBA for the past six years – an association and an industry filled with great people. I want to offer my profound thanks to the ORBA Board of Directors, the Ontario Asphalt Pavement Council, CEO Michael McSweeney and all ORBA members and my staff colleagues for their guidance and support. I eagerly anticipate looking on as ORBA reaches new heights going forward.