 It's now time for Member Statements. Member for Parkdale High Park. I rise today to bring the voices of the people of Parkdale High Park who overwhelmingly oppose Premier Ford's abusive power and reject his attempt to bully our city and our province. Premier Ford thinks he can do whatever he wants and places no value to the role of the judiciary in keeping the government in check. He has said repeatedly that he will not hesitate to use the notwithstanding clause again. I ask the Attorney General, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and the rest of the Conservative Cabinet and caucus who are complicit in this unprecedented abuse of power. Do you know what rights can be suspended using this clause? Let me tell you. The right to freedom of conscience, of religion, of thought and expression, freedom of the press, freedom of peaceful assembly, the right to life, liberty and security of the person, the right to not be arbitrarily imprisoned, the right to counsel to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence and so on. Take a moment to think about the consequences of your actions. We are debating a bill that suspends our rights and freedoms when there are more pressing issues we need to deal with. We should be tackling the opioid crisis. We should be reversing the $330 million cut to mental health. We should be working to fix our crumbling schools. We should be debating the issues that the people of Ontario expect us to debate. It's a shame Premier Ford has only done the opposite so far. Member statements. Member for London Fanshawe. Speaker, I rise today to talk about a very important and significant issue that is before the Legislature, Bill 31 and the notwithstanding clause. The Conservative Government decided to use it as a sledgehammer to prioritize Premier Ford's agenda to mettle in the Toronto elections October 22, 2018. This government did not consult with the people of Toronto. The Conservative Government thinks it does not need to go to the people they represent and to experts to get their input and opinions on what, if any changes need to happen in the great city of Toronto. The Conservative Government called all members back to the Legislative Assembly on Sunday at midnight to debate Bill 31 because they believed that Justice Edward Balbaba erred when he ruled the Conservative Toronto elections bill violated the Charter of Rights. But what this Conservative Government did not expect was that the people of Toronto were here in the Legislature and on the grounds making their voices heard even though this Conservative Government does not believe in public input on Bill 31. The Premier and his MPPs have the gall to actually twist the intent of the notwithstanding clause to justify throwing the Toronto election into chaos so Premier Ford could get his way. Well, let me tell you that people have spoken. They rallied at midnight until 7am chanting We are the people. This is our house. All Conservative members can pretend that they know best when it comes time for the next election. The public will remember what you did. You casually discarded all the rights of Ontarians by using the notwithstanding clause to force your will on the people. Your day of reckoning will come when the people of Ontario have a chance to have their voices heard in 2022. Member Statements and Member for Oshawa. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker and I was proud to stand in this Legislature last night with colleagues from both sides on behalf of the people from Ontario specifically to speak about Bill 31. I was in the house from midnight and didn't have the chance to debate it the way I wanted to and had the opportunity to sit in the chair for many hours but I'd like to get some of the letters on the record. Constituents from Different Writings sent letters to me. I have one here from David Smith not the member David Smith. No, he didn't send me a letter. To the member from Durham, Miss Park. I empathize with you as a newly elected MPP that this should be a very exciting time for you yet you have found yourself hitched to Doug Ford's wagon which is focused on small-minded self-serving and vindictive legislation that has very little to do with the people of Ontario and everything to do with the Premier sticking it to his former colleagues in Toronto. I ask that you do right by the people of Durham and vote no to the trampling of our democratic rights and no to this bill. As a community leader it's your turn to take a stand for democracy to be on the right side of the sad chapter in Ontario's history. I have a letter to Dave Smith, to the member from Peterborough, Cawortha. I urge you to take action against your government and rescind your support of this bill with your experience in community hockey organizations. You, of all people, should know you can't change the rules in the middle of a game. Do the right thing. To the member from... I can't believe I'm out of time. My goodness, if I had more time I'm happy to share these with the members individually. Thank you. Thank you, Member Statements. The member for Ottawa or Lyon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. And share a little bit of what's going on in Orléans, actually. Last Friday I had the great privilege of serving and representing the writing of Orleans of Orléans. And last Friday night we had a gala. A gala to raise money for the veterans home. This is the first home of its kind that would be built. And it's an initiative with the multi-faith housing initiative. A few years ago they came to see the local federal member and myself and the city council to look for a way of recognizing the hard work of our veterans. The fact that they go to war and sometimes when they come back life has a different path for them. And one thing that we know is that unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, they are homeless. They served our countries. They go and fight our fight. And they come here and we have to take care of them. And this initiative actually was to raise money for this wonderful housing 40 units. That would actually help house veterans. And I look forward to certainly this project moving forward. And to be fair, Mr. Speaker, I may actually send a letter to the Minister of Infrastructure to see if this current government would like to support this wonderful initiative. Oh, and even actually the Minister of Municipal Affairs is welcoming the initiative. So we will be talking. But thank you very much and thank you to all our veterans, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Member Statements. Member for Brampton North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we all know, the court ruling came down stating that the Premier cannot cut down the size of the Toronto City Council in half. Invoking section 33 is messing with people's rights. People are not okay with this, Mr. Speaker. And I think that's why the courts are appalled. Even those who think the notwithstanding clause is a legitimate use of legislative prerogatives would say it should only be used should only be used in extreme or extraordinary circumstances where there's a war going on or an insurrection. The last time I checked, Mr. Speaker, I don't believe there was a war going on anywhere in southern Ontario. I could be wrong. Well, that is nothing new. The jurisdiction of the jury or in any cases, say the courts, they run amuck. In terms of that happening in enormous circumstances, but the courts have not run amuck. This is nothing new that we see here, Mr. Speaker. Now, you can like or dislike the judge's ruling, but we are talking about a fairly minor, a fairly minor measure to change the size of council. And remember, Mr. Speaker, that the court didn't say that you can't cut the size of council. They said that you can't do it in the middle of an election or when the election is about to be called. So, Mr. Speaker, there is no emergency and there's no need for this bill. Thank you. Member Statements.