The bill also facilitates construction 24 hours a day, accelerates property acquisitions and exempts the planned Highway 413 project from the provincial Environmental Assessment Act.

More than $13.8 million of the funding is being provided to build a 12-acre, 8-million-litre biofuel terminal in Port Colborne.

The 16-metre-deep launch shaft will be the starting point for two tunnel boring machines that will dig six kilometres east.

The properties at 610 Bay Street and 130 Elizabeth Street will be redeveloped into a mixed-income, mixed-use development.

Gains were notable among all workers aged 15 to 24 years, where employment rose by 38% among young women, and by 29% among young men.