The CBC found that spending helped preserve about 70,000 jobs in the province last year and added almost a full percentage point to Ontario’s economy in 2009.

Pedro Antunes, director of National and Provincial Forecast with the CBC, said, “The additional boost to infrastructure spending in 2009 and 2010 is noteworthy, both in terms of growing the province’s gross domestic product and in maintaining employment during the recession.”

In 2009, government infrastructure spending is expected to have supported 182,897 jobs in the province; this figure is estimated to rise to 223,268 jobs in 2010.

Ontario’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Brad Duguid, says it feels good to get this “third-party validation” that the work his office is doing—and has done in the past—does make a positive impact. Duguid says that while “critics” like to pull MEI’s numbers apart, it’s hard to argue with a credible authority like the CBC.

Duguid also says the ministry will move on from frenzied, ad-hoc stimulus spending and return to the more “measured approach” his office has taken in the past with programs like Renew Ontario.

The CBC found that programs such as ReNew Ontario and Move Ontario did indeed help growth in public investment overtake the rate of growth in private investment.

In addition to the short-term impact in countering the downturn in the business cycle, infrastructure investment can lead to productivity gains in the medium and long-term. The report found that productivity in Ontario has benefited from strong infrastructure growth more than Canada as a whole, and more than other developed economies.

The CBC did this research for Infrastructure Ontario, the provincial body that Duguid says has been “vigorously monitoring” the progress of the stimulus funding program in Ontario.

Following Ontario’s big water-related announcement this week, Duguid will announce a major new project that affects Hamilton’s harbour. Duguid said, having started Ontario on the right energy path with the Green Energy Act, now it’s time to get water and wastewater moving in that same direction. The Feed-in-Tariff program has just resulted in more than 500 new green energy projects, most of them solar power installations, being approved.

Minister Brad Duguid sat down with ReNew Canada editor, Mira Shenker, this morning for a casual chat.

Duguid will also unveil a new joint federal/provincial program tomorrow—rumours have it building on the $32 billion Ontario has invested as stimulus funding. “Once [that program] is done, where do we go from here?” said Duguid. While it would be “unrealistic” to think funding could continue at this rate, Duguid said the ministry is returning to its Renew Ontario roots and focusing on long-term programs—possibly a 10-year infrastructure program.

In even more announcements teasers, Duguid said he would be joining Federal Minister of Infrastructure, John Baird, tomorrow to announce joint funding for some new provincial assets.

In his speech from the throne this afternoon, Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor, David Onley, said Ontario will see job creation and a stronger economy—that’s not news as far as goals go. What we did find exciting is that of the two tools McGuinty mentioned for achieving that growth is the province’s export of  clean-water technology.

The government will introduce a new Water Opportunities Act, designed to take advantage of the province’s expertise in clean-water technology. According to Onley, Ontario companies already employ 22,000 in a growing sector that’s worth US$400 billion annually.

This proposed Act is part of the Province’s new five-year Open Ontario Plan.

Beyond water, the plan will capitalize on Ontario’s other natural resources, such as chromite, a key ingredient in stainless steel. Northwestern Ontario is said to have one of the largest deposits of the mineral in the world. Onley said the government will work with northerners and Aboriginal communities to take advantage of the find and continue to protect half of the northern Boreal Forest.

The plan also includes the already-announced Green Energy Act, which could create an estimated 50,000 jobs, as well as a $32-billion investment in roads, bridges, public transit and energy retrofits for schools that will create an estimated 300,000 jobs.

The Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure has created a pretty good website to help track infrastructure development through the new plan. 

This initiative is meant to compliment the Green Energy Act by boosting investment in renewable energy projects through the creation of job opportunities in Ontario.

Brad Duguid, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, said, “This initiative will help build a solid customer base for renewable energy technology suppliers, give schools and social housing efficient, even attractive, energy options, and provide clean, renewable energy to the people of Ontario.”

McGuinty kept it light, talking about his Ontario roots and wacky Irish grandmother, before moving onto the controversial Samsung deal. He defended the deal–the biggest of its kind in the world–saying it will create thousands of jobs, most of them for rural Ontarians and provide Ontario with clean power. He ended his talk with a reminder that, while his office may have made some mistakes, it is, after “staffed entirely by people.” Human error is one variable that can’t be factored out of governance.

Duguid also talked about his roots–he started out as a municipal councillor for the City of Scarborough. Using his municipal background to warm up the crowd of municipal workers and politicians, Duguid urged them all to “keep track” of projects funded under the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund. He warned that the 2011 deadline may seem far off, but it’s actually right around the corner. Perhaps worried that municipalities weren’t entirely honest about project time lines when they applied for stimulus funding, Duguid seemed to be saying–without really saying it–”take this seriously or you’re screwed come March 2011.”

Duguid focused on water and energy, saying there’s a particularly dire need for upgrades to water and wastewater infrastructure across the province, then moving on to green energy investments. He said Ontario’s investment moves it into the “next generation economy.”

The Ontario Good Roads Association (OGRA) developed this software to help province and municipalities plan for the funding, building and repair of municipal infrastructure, including roads, bridges, sewers and water works.

The Ministries of Transportation and Energy & Infrastructure will invest $450,000 in the asset management program, which 292 Ontario municipalities have already used to inventory their assets, track life cycles and monitor their condition. This software helps managers compile information on the state of municipal infrastructure, which helps them develop asset management plans.

“OGRA is pleased that the Ministry of Transportation and Ministry of Energy & Infrastructure recognized the value of MDW. OGRA provides this application free to Ontario municipalities, allowing us to identify and respond to the needs of rural and northern Ontario communities where the need is often the greatest,” said OGRA president, Eric Rutherford.

Lila adds that this is a way for building owners “to use what they already have to generate a new, long-term stream of income within their real estate investment. With no upfront costs. And without any risk.”

Development of this new infrastructure could generate more than 16,000 jobs for both green-collar workers and consultants and architects—that’s according to the consortium’s estimates.

According to consortium estimates, the $7 billion investment in Ontario will result in the following employment opportunities:

• 3,140 jobs including KC and its partners manufacturing and other related jobs as well as in engineering, operations, maintenance and other spin-off employment
• 7,800 construction jobs
• 5,660 spin-off jobs (for example: architects, software development, legal services, trucking, steel-making, facilities management, accounting and financial services)

“When we look at the 2009-2010 actual construction budget of around $1.8 billion as compared to what we spent in 2003-2004 which was $688 million, it’s clear that there’s been a major significant increase in investment in our highways and bridges,” said MTO deputy minister Bruce McCuaig.

Steve Cripps, director of MTO’s Investment Strategies Branch, said construction costs have become more manageable, which has allowed the ministry to contract out more jobs. “It’s a very positive year for infrastructure,” said Cripps.

They also mentioned Infrastructure Ontario’s newest focus on transportation infrastructure. Having mastered hospitals, the government agency is moving on to other assets.

Gaston said that  the Windsor-Essex Corridor highway project, which should be under construction by 2011, will be the first highway project to be delivered using Ontario’s Alternative Financing and Procurement system (in other words, P3).

The move we find most interesting: Scarborough’s Brad Duguid goes from Aboriginal Affairs to Energy and Infrastructure (MEI), the super-ministry specially created for Smitherman.

Many groups in the construction sector had pushed to separate energy and infrastructure, arguing that the scope of major decision on the energy file meant infrastructure was getting short shrift. The Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO) was one of those groups advocating for a separation of the ministries of energy and infrastructure, which hasn’t happened.

RCCAO’s Andy Manahan says, “Perhaps the Premier was sending out a signal by maintaining MEI that the ‘super-ministry’ was not just created for George Smitherman but that the decision was made for synergistic purposes.” For instance, if a streamlined approval process works for alternate energy projects they should work for approved Growth Plan projects.

“It is our hope that greater use will be made of Parliamentary Assistants to work on the energy and infrastructure files, respectively, so that the views of the construction industry are heard,” says Manahan.

One thing the RCCAO is happy about: Duguid’s promotion. In his previous role, he dealt extensively and fairly with the construction and infrastructure communities. But he does have a daunting task on his hands, given some of the major decisions pending in the super-ministry: marketing the Green Energy Act, including attracting new renewable investment, dealing with NIMBYism over wind farms, and selling the public on rising energy costs for green electricity; dealing with local concerns around new gas-fired plants in Northern York Region and Oakville; determining  the fate of Ontario’s next-generation nuclear procurement; establishing a framework for long-term infrastructure planning; moving forward on Smitherman’s commitment to introduce new legislation to ensure long-term self funding for water and waste water infrastructure; rolling out the $2.3 billion transmission line expansion; completing the massive federal-provincial stimulus spending; and much more.