Make it so, number one.

• Author: Robinson, David
• Position: NEWS - Ontario's 21st century - Column

The 21st century can be Ontario's century. The Ontario we know 1 is already an astonishing success. It is one of the richest, most peaceful, best educated and most productive regions in the world. People from around the world line up to become Ontarians. In 2001, more than 45 per cent of Canadian immigrants selected the Toronto region alone. Three to five million new people are expected to arrive in southern Ontario over the next 20 years. The province is now home to 38 per cent of Canadians--more than half the population outside of Quebec!--and the share will actually increase over the next 20 years. Ontario is Canada, though most Ontario politicians are too polite to say so. You may not be old enough to remember that before confederation most Canadians-to-be lived in. what we now call the Windsor-Quebec corridor And most of them lived in what we now call Ontario. It was still true when the rest of British North America joined the Canadas. It is still true now. Ontario is the industrial heartland of the country, with one of the most advanced economies in the world. It has an unbeatable trading location: the province sticks 741 km south into the heart of the richest economy in the world. And it has a free trade agreement with the Americans.

For purely political reasons, most of the candidates in our current election won't admit that Ontario's economic performance was surprisingly strong during the recent hard times. That's despite a serious case of the Dutch disease brought on by a misguided federal government. Just last month, for example, Canada lost 31,000 fall-time jobs, but the Province of Ontario gained 25,000 full-time jobs. And things will get better. The Canadian dollar is going to fall farther, improving Ontario's trade balance and boosting manufac-turing.employment.

Just building on what we have, it is obvious Ontario can be great. We need vision, we have to be willing to invest in ourselves, and we need to elect a government that will make it happen.

We have to prepare for 3 million more people in Greater Toronto. We have to develop a 21st century transportation system to connect our people with their jobs and their jobs with the markets. We need to make the entire Windsor-Quebec corridor the best place in the world...