Ontario Wraps Up Infrastructure Trade Mission to Germany

BERLIN— Ontario’s government is committed to putting people first by indicating to international investors and companies that Ontario is open for jobs, open for business.

Monte McNaughton, Minister of Infrastructure, is concluding a successful week-long trade mission to Germany, where he met with local officials, institutional investors and industry leaders to discuss how Ontario is bringing investment to Canada.

Minister McNaughton shared details about how Ontario is increasing innovation and competition to the province’s public-private partnership (P3) market to open access foreign markets for Ontario job creators, attract foreign investors and generate income for the province.

“We delivered a simple and clear message: Ontario is a great place to put your money and grow your business,” said McNaughton. “We made it clear that Ontario is open for business, and we’re taking steps to make it even better by lowering taxes, cutting red tape and reducing regulatory burdens.”

During a keynote presentation, Minister McNaughton announced that Infrastructure Ontario, the agency that delivers large public infrastructure projects, is ready to take its consulting expertise outside the province. The government intends to propose legislation that, if passed, would allow Infrastructure Ontario to unlock opportunities and build relationships to open Ontario for business internationally.

“Deutsche Bahn is excited to increase our presence in Ontario,” said Dieter Michell-Auli, Board Member of Deutsche Bahn International Operations, which is opening a Toronto office. “We design and operate the transport networks of the future. Ontario is a growing and forward-thinking transit market. Through economical and ecological traffic and railway infrastructure, we believe we can contribute to efficiently moving people and goods in Ontario and throughout Canada.”

The province will initiate new measures to attract international investment from firms looking to participate in Ontario’s P3 market. They include:

• Creating new opportunities for competition in P3s by accounting for international experience
• Open P3 projects to innovation by making output specifications less prescriptive and rebalancing the Infrastructure Ontario bid evaluation criteria to better reward design innovation.

“I was pleased to share details about the steps we are taking to make Ontario a more welcoming place to invest and do business,” said McNaughton. “We are moving quickly to bring change that will bring tangible benefits to the people.”