Public Infrastructure is essential to the people of Ontario and critical to the competitiveness of our economy, the quality of life we enjoy and the delivery of public services.
In May 2005, the Ontario government released a five-year infrastructure investment plan, Renew Ontario, which establishes a vision for the renewal of Ontario's public infrastructure.
ReNew Ontario is a $30-billion plan that directs infrastructure investments to key public policy priorities - health care, education and economic prosperity.
The plan includes major improvements in the way the province's infrastructure investments are planned and managed:
• A longer planning horizon for infrastructure investments;
• Better co-ordination with co-investors in the broader public sector - federal and municipal governments and public agencies such as universities school boards and hospitals - to establish a common set of priorities and towards a common set of outcomes;
• Rigorous application of the principles of the Ontario government's infrastructure planning, financing and procurement framework, Building a Better Tomorrow;
• The introduction of Alternative Financing and Procurement for large, complex infrastructure projects, resulting in better project management and the use of private-sector financing;
• New accounting policies to capitalize and amortize capital assets over their useful lives; and
• Better integration of infrastructure investment with growth policy.
Some highlights of the ReNew Ontario plan include:
• Hospitals - more than $5-billion for health care projects by 2010;
• Investments in schools, universities and colleges totaling $10-billion by 2010;
• Transportation investments valued at more than $11-billion by 2010;
• New affordable housing investments of more than $600 million by 2010;
• Updating justice sector infrastructure with investments of $1-billion by 2010;
• Investments in water and wastewater systems in partnership with federal and municipal governments; and
• Investing in Northern Ontario and rural communities to support economic development and public health and safety;