Dalton Mcguinty, Premier of the Province of Ontario is also the Minister of Research and Innovation. He addressed a team of nine journalists who were a part of the India Media Tour held in November 2006.

27% people living in this province were born outside of the country. In our provincial capital here in Toronto 52% of the people living here were born outside the country. So we have a unique and powerful ideal that informs our province, which says that differences enrich both socially and economically and which runs contrary to most development of civilizations in the course of human history. Let me tell you about some of the focus that we have had in our government here. We start from a basic premise, which is to involve capital and all of us can do this. We can all copy technology and we can all buy out natural resources, only two things are left; to build a high wage and a high quality of life economically by combining high standard of living with education and innovation. We have been driving very hard as a government to increase the skills of our people by investing in our human capital.
Above 58% of our Ontarians have some kind of post-secondary education. The biggest investment is in our post-secondary education. We have today 86,000 more young people in colleges and universities in training opportunities than 2 years ago. We have doubled student assistance so that all young people regardless of financial background, have an opportunity to study. We recognize that if India were to be at its best, it would mean that every Indian would have to be at his or her best and so is the case with Ontario. We are also working hard to develop a culture of innovation which is all about developing our capacity.
We have a piece of technology which is the Blackberry, a modern wireless technology produced in Ontario. Blackberries are so popular we have sold 5.5 millions of those so far. As a Premier when I see this technology, I see thousands of jobs, I see hundreds of millions of dollars as revenue coming to government coffers that help me in putting it to use by increasing the facilities of our schools, better health care etc. One of the things we are also doing is changing the law in Ontario. Young people must learn until the age of 18. Our's is a knowledge-based economy, with a population of 12.5 million people as compared to India which is a hundred times bigger than we are, so if we are going to succeed or flourish, we must embark on the new opportunities and challenges a globalised economy has to offer. We have to invest in our human capital. I am sure there are people who want to see their potential. I think you have had the opportunity to visit MaRS. Hoped you enjoyed that experience and we are trying to build on that in other centres in the province.
Since we have taken office, in the past few years we have made 250,000 net new jobs. We have particularly been active in the auto sector. We have been the number one auto producer in North America and have achieved that distinction 2 years running. The reigning champions before us was the state of Michigan, but we have been working hard to get into the sector and have taken over. We are all bent on entering into strategic partnerships with India to make it clear that we are prepared to do what it takes to garner more investments here in Ontario as we have done.
Our diversity is also one of our greatest strengths, we can speak almost any language, know how to do business everywhere and we capitalize on it wherever we can. There are close to a million people who are in Canada of Indian decent and it is over half a million here in Ontario alone. There is a 2-way goods trade with India; $1 billion in 2005 which was 80% since 2001. India is emerging as an important source of new investments especially for us as Ontario is a knowledge-based economy. We want to attract International investments, we want Ontario companies to break into key global markets like India.
We are absolutely fascinated with the emerging middle class. With the million of families working as hard as they can, to achieve those things that we in Ontario sometimes take for granted, that enrich the enjoyment and quality of life. So there is a powerful emerging middle class in India and we will make sure that they can participate in the growth process to make it a win-win situation for both. We are focussing on five specific sectors in our trade mission to India which are Infrastructure, Research and Innovation (I have made myself a Minister of Research and Innovation), Financial Services, Cultural Industries and Education. I end my remarks here, but I am always open to new ideas and advise.