Premier Doug Ford says a partnership with municipalities is needed to help to get more affordable housing constructed.

His goal is to build 1.5 million homes over the next ten years.

Ford addressed delegates attending the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa.

“For our part, we’re providing more resources to speed up municipal processes. We’re investing $350 million in programs designed to cut red tape for municipalities and streamline the planning and development approval processes. We’re working with municipalities to crack down on land speculation and protect home buyers from those who are trying to take advantage of them,” stated Ford.

Ford says more information would also be coming on how expanded mayoral powers in Ottawa and Toronto would be coming to other municipalities.

He also addressed the worker shortage plaguing the health care section.

He outlined actions that were being taken.

“We’re removing barriers that stop internationally trained nurses and personal support workers from safely caring for patients. We’ve launched the Learning and Stay grant, which pays the full cost of tuition and supplies for nursing students in exchange for practicing in underserved regions after graduation. We’re implementing the largest expansion of medical schools in over a decade to train more doctors, and we’re continuing to expand the popular community paramedicine program and investing one billion more dollars in home and community care so that more people can receive care at home rather than in the hospital,” Ford noted.

He added previous initiatives have led to the hiring of over 10.500 healthcare workers, including nurses and personal support workers, on top of the 14,579 net new nurses hired since first coming to power in 2018.

Ford also touched upon planned infrastructure investments and the goal of mining critical minerals from the Ring of Fire in northwestern Ontario.

“Working with our Indigenous partners to finally build the all-season roadway to the region’s critical minerals. And when we connect these vast mineral deposits in the north with our manufacturing might in the south, Ontario will have everything it needs to be North America’s auto manufacturing powerhouse once again. The cars of the future will be built right here in Ontario by Ontario workers from start to finish, from minerals to manufacturing and everything in between. Every region and every worker will benefit from a once-in-a-generation opportunity.”