 It is now time for Member's statements. I recognize the Member for Kitchener Centre. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to thank Dr. John Lord, Kay Wiggle, and Doug Carton. Members for Seniors for Social Action Ontario for my own riding Kitchener Centre. In our meeting last week, they shared research that show that the government continues to see aging through a lens of frailty. And they explained that this lens is short-sighted. It pushes government decisions to support little more than attending to the issues in long-term care. Now, don't get me wrong, we have to fix the long-term care system, but people would not be forced to wait indefinitely for long-term care beds if we invested in the lives of elders in our communities right now. Mr. Speaker, they provided solutions. Build a system on a foundation of autonomy and choice. In fact, they supported my call for a seniors advocate because they believed in the vision of having an independent and empowered space in the legislature that focuses solely on addressing systemic issues like low wages, unsuitable housing, and the inability to age in place. We share this vision with the National Association of Federal Retirees, Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, Care Watch Ontario, CanEach Canada's National Seniors Advocacy Organization, the Alzheimer Society of Ontario, Older Women's Network Housing Committee, Accessible Housing Network, Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition, and the Waterloo Region Health Coalition. They all support this bill. So let's call Bill 196, the Seniors Advocate Act, to committee so that communities like mine can make sure that their solutions become law. Further statements, the member for Ottawa, West Appian. Thank you, Speaker. I rise today to speak on the passing of Justin Clark, who was described as a gentle giant of disabled advocacy after he won a landmark case in 1982 to live independently. Justin passed away at the age of 58 last week. Justin loved visiting with family and friends and was known to play bocce once or twice a week at an Ottawa rehab centre. Born in 1962 with cerebral palsy, unable to walk or talk, he spent his childhood in the Rideau Regional Centre institution. After he turned 18, Justin's parents would not allow him to go camping with his friends. His efforts to have their decision overturned would eventually lead to one of Canada's most important trials. His powerful testimony, communicated by pointing at symbols on a board, changed the minds of skeptics in the room and received a standing ovation from parents. Judge John Matheson read his judgment aloud. We have all, all of us, recognised a gentle, trusting, believing spirit and very much a thinking human being who has his unique part to play in our compassionate interdependent society. Justin's spirit lives on through our memories. His innocence and capacity to love knew no bounds. Those who came to know him felt his warmth and joy in being with them, said Robbie Giles, his former childhood teacher. I would like to end my statement with a quote from Justin Clarke's 2018 interview with the CBC featuring his motto, I had a good life, I will go forward. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you, the member for Nicol Belt. Thank you, Speaker. The complaints against LifeLabs are non-stop. Twelve months after LifeLabs pivoted to booked appointments rather than walk-ins, their call centres still keep people waiting for hours only to drop the call. Ask Tulio about this. Their website says, and I quote, we currently experience technical issue. Ask John about that. If you are lucky enough to get through, there will be no appointments available whatsoever for weeks on end. Ask Louise about that. Once you show up for your long-awaited lab appointment, there is still a chance that they will get there and they will be closed. Ask Paul or ask Mr. Armstrong, they found that out. Or Nicol or Leo, they were told that they have no record of their appointment. Or you will wait outside for a long time before anyone opens the door to let you know how much longer you may expect to wait outside in minus 27 degrees weather like Madame Theriault found out. LifeLabs is the only lab provider in all of Sudbury and Nicol Belt. It is a private for-profit lab. Their poor performance is having a ripple effect on our entire healthcare system. Specialists do not want to discharge people, patients from our hospital, and many patients have to reschedule their long-awaited specialist appointment because of problems with LifeLabs. Minister, at a minimum, recognize the price our healthcare system is paying by allowing LifeLabs to continue to fail us all during a pandemic. People's life and health hangs in the balance. The next member's statement, the member for Flamborough-Glanbrook. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good morning. I stand this morning to speak about how proud I am of our government's vision and commitment in supporting the cultural and recreational sectors through this pandemic. Our government is investing over $2.5 million to expand and improve access to three culture and recreation facilities in my hometown of Hamilton. Our investment will help finance the construction of a new 75,000 square foot building at the Angcaster Agricultural Society's Fairgrounds. The expansion at the Hamilton Children's Museum and energy efficient and safety improvements at Dundas Valley School of Art. The new fairgrounds will include a show ring for equestrian competitions and a large space for trade shows, events, fairs, and concerts. Outdoor events can now be brought inside. The fairgrounds will host shows year-round creating jobs and supporting the local economy. Nearly $1.2 million will be invested in expanding and making the Hamilton Children's Museum more accessible. A rehabilitation project will make Dundas Valley School of Art more accessible, reduce energy costs, and make it a healthier environment. This will improve the lives of people in Hamilton. Our government recognizes that fairs, museums, and art centers have been among the hardest hits during the pandemic, and we want to deliver on these projects. Thank you. Member Statements. Member for Waterloo. Thank you very much. The financial empowerment and problem-solving program is a budget item worth fighting for. It has had a profound impact on the lives of vulnerable individuals and their communities. Funding expires on March 25th. I first became aware of the value of this program through the advocacy of some of the best people in Waterloo Region, Joe and Stephanie Mancini of the Working Center. To date, across Ontario, FEPS has improved the financial literacy of 464,000 Ontarians and helped them access $794 million in new income. Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19 pandemic in Waterloo Region, the local delivery agency, the Working Center, has completed 1,344 tax returns and supported 2,294 people with money-related issues, including financial education workshops for those on low incomes, like Donna, a 64-year-old factory worker who has been laid off and was being hounded by creditors. Her FEPS worker helped create a financial plan and obtained benefits at 65 in order to support herself. Not only was this a financial success, but Donna has also said that following the support, her blood pressure was lower and her doctor was able to address her diabetic medication. Financial stress had been making her physically sick. To end this program now would surely cause harm to my community and others across this province. The return on investment is clear and I ask that this be funding, be included in Budget 2021. It's not only the right thing to do, Mr. Speaker, it should be considered an intelligent and compassionate investment in our communities. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the Member for Ottawa South. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Ontario's vaccine rollout is a great public health initiative in this province's history. It's not an easy feat to vaccinate 14 million people. It requires a lot of coordination and planning. That's why in December I put forward a motion for debate in this legislature, calling on the government to ensure a clear and transparent vaccine rollout that prioritizes high-risk Ontarians, includes bi-weekly reporting and monthly appearances by the Vaccine Task Force at the Select Committee on Emergency Management. The motion passed unanimously. It was an agreement that all parties in this House wanted the government to be successful in the rollout because it meant that our communities would be protected. Now, almost three months later, here's what's happened. Ontario took a vaccine holiday over Christmas while other provinces were vaccinating residents in long-term care. And it took us nearly half a million doses and 60 days to get to the 70,000 people we said we had to get to first, residents in long-term care. Now, the central online booking portal won't be ready to the middle of March and public health units. Well, they've had to go out on their own. AstraZeneca was approved yesterday and the government said, well, we're not quite sure what we're going to do with it yet. We all have a stake in this rollout and the government needs to be open and transparent about what they're doing and work with all members of this legislature to ensure that the rollout is successful. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The next member's statement, the member for Peterborough-Cawortha. Thank you, Speaker. On January 24th, one of my childhood heroes passed away. When I first started to play hockey, I wanted to wear number nine. My brother wore it, Gordie Howe, Rockard Richard, and Bobby Hull. It seemed all the great players wore number nine. My father told me I should wear ten. When I asked why, he said because ten is greater than nine and George Armstrong is the greatest leaf ever. I wore ten for the next decade. George made his NHLWU in 1949 playing two games with the Leafs before returning to the Marleys. That season, Stoney Reserve and Alberta gave him a nickname that he'd keep throughout his career. Big Chief Shoot the Puck because of his Algonquin heritage. Cons Meith described George as the greatest leaf captain as a captain that the Leafs have ever had. I've been lucky to call his son, Brian, my friend, for almost two decades now. And through that friendship, we were able to get George to autograph Leaf sweaters every year to give to a player in the under-the-lock hockey tournament. We did it to inspire young players to emulate George. A Hall of Fame career, captain of the Maple Leafs, four Stanley Cups, his statue on Legends Row, and number ten retired. And yet George remained extremely humble. His son, Brian, opined, even in death, dad was humble. He did it during a pandemic just so we couldn't have a public ceremony at Centre Rice for the Scotiabank Centre to celebrate him. Thank you, Chief Armstrong, for inspiring so many. Thank you very much. The next member statement, the member for Timmons. Well, Mr. Speaker, we all know in the last election new Democrats and conservatives ran on a promise in order to deal with electricity prices. Hydro prices going through the roof as a result of policies put in place by the former Liberal government. And people have had to pay ever since. Well, imagine how people back in our writings are feeling. A government that's been in office now the better part of three years, who's had all kinds of opportunities to be able to deal with fixing some of the systemic problems that were created under the Liberals that have risen electricity prices, such as signing some of them contracts that they did. And what do people do now? They look at their hydro bill and it's still going up. If you look at people's hydro bills who live in rural and northern Ontario, especially, where they don't have a choice other than to either heat by propane, heat by wood, or heat by electricity, many people are having to do electricity for a number of reasons and are paying hydro bills per month in the neighbourhood of $800 to $1,000. People cannot afford this and they're asking all members of this House to implore on the Conservative government to maintain its promise and to drop hydro rates by 14% and not raise them each and every year in the way that you have. Do people appreciate that we've had a temporary pause on time of use pricing? Yes, but that is now over and people's hydro bills are going through the roof. You should keep your election promise. If not, I'll tell you, people will remember next election. I'll again remind members to make their comments through the chair not directly across the floor. Member Statements, the member from Milton. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, not a lot of people know that my writing of Milton includes a significant rural component where access to high-speed internet is a serious issue, Mr. Speaker. Especially during this last year, it has been evident that proper access to internet is critical for our students, families, small businesses and farmers. That is exactly why our government created our up-to-speed strategy, Ontario's first ever broadband and seller action plan. With this plan, our government is investing $63.3 million over five years to bring high-speed internet to Milton and other parts of our province. Through the strong actions being taken by our government, I worked closely with providers, Sengen and Mage Networks to finally bring internet service to rural Milton. Mr. Speaker, the design of this program has been finalized and I'm proud to announce that home installations for high-speed internet will begin as early as first week of April, Mr. Speaker. This means family, students, businesses and farmers in north part of rural Milton will soon have reliable access to high-speed internet that they can depend on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much. The next member's statement, the member for Perry, Salma Skoka. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to talk about the thing that represents hope for all of us. This is, of course, vaccination. We've had some challenges with the supply of vaccine coming from the federal government, but they are telling us those challenges are now behind us. In Ontario, we are using local public health units to deliver the vaccine. This is important because of how large and varied our province is. The same plan that will work in Toronto won't work in Perry, Salma Skoka or anywhere else in rural Ontario. That local planning has been happening for some time. Both Simcoe-Maskoka District Health Unit and North Bay Perry Sound District Health Unit have released their vaccine rollout plans. Both health units will be using max vaccine clinics to start with. In Maskoka, the clinics are located in Huntsville and Bracebridge and started giving vaccines yesterday. In Perry Sound, the clinics will be located in Sundridge and Perry Sound. There are, of course, more than four towns in Perry Sound, Maskoka. As more vaccines are available, both health units have said there will be more places to get a shot, and I will certainly be encouraging this. This past weekend was the first weekend. Seniors over 85 in Maskoka could sign up to get a shot and there were some glitches with the sign-up system. For those who ran into difficulties, please try again and sign up for the waiting list. The health unit is only scheduling based on the vaccine. They know they have, but they will be using the waiting list to contact more people as they receive more doses. I'm confident that the vaccines are safe and will enable us to return to our normal activities. I'll be happy to roll up my sleeve for a shot when I'm eligible and I encourage my constituents and all Ontarians to do the same. Thank you. That concludes our member's statements for this morning. Yesterday, on Monday, March 1st, 2021, the official opposition house leader, the member for London West, rose on a question of privilege concerning the recent election of a member from the government party to the position of vice chair of the Standing Committee on Estimates. Standing Order 120B requires that the chair of the Estimates Committee must be a member of a recognized opposition party. The member for London West pointed to a long-standing practice, however, that committee chairs and vice chairs have generally shared a party affiliation, which is correct. In addition, she argued that a deviation from this practice amounts to a breach of parliamentary privilege. The government house leader also spoke to the matter. Before I address the substance of the member's argument, I'd like to take a moment to briefly discuss parliamentary privilege. Erskine May, the preeminent authority on Westminster parliamentary procedure, defines parliamentary privilege in the following terms on page 239 of its 25th edition, and I quote, parliamentary privilege is the sum of certain rights enjoyed by each house collectively and by members of each house individually, without which they could not discharge their functions and which exceed those possessed by other bodies or individuals. There are a number of specific parliamentary privileges, each one falling into one of these two categories, the individual privileges of members and the collective privileges of the house. Examples of individual members' privileges include freedom of speech, exemption from jury duty, and exemption from being subpoenaed to attend court as a witness. Examples of the collective privileges of the house, including the right of the house to the attendance of its members, the right to institute inquiries, the power to discipline, and the right to regulate its internal affairs. While the opposition house leaders' written notice made a claim of addressing its argument as a matter of privilege, the member's presentation in the house made a case purely about the procedural orderliness of what occurred in the Standing Committee on Estimates when it elected its vice chair. The member did not establish how the matter impacts upon any of the privileges of the house collectively, her individual privileges as a member of the assembly, or the ability of the Standing Committee on Estimates to fully discharge its role. No nexus to parliamentary privilege was shown or demonstrated. I therefore find that the member has not established that a prima facie case of privilege exists in this instance. In effect, the matter raised by the member is a point of order, but because of the orderliness of the procedure in question occurred in committee, it is beyond my consideration. Speakers have long held that matters arising in committee must be dealt with in committee and may only find their way to the house through a formal committee report made pursuant to Standing Order 124b. In closing, I will note that our formal rules of procedure, the Standing Orders, are about one element of a mixture of sources that inform and determine how parliamentary business is conducted. Precedent, tradition, custom, and longstanding practices are also part of our procedure. Insofar as they work well and have done so for a long time, careful consideration should be given when changes and deviations are being contemplated. It is one of the collective privileges of the house that it has the right to settle its own code of procedure and as a collective activity, it works best when all members have the opportunity to discuss and understand the motivations and possible impacts of changes to procedure and practice, even if not everyone might agree. I want to thank the member for London West and the government house leader for their submissions. I understand the member for London West has a point of order. Thank you, Speaker. Yes, point of order. I seek unanimous consent to immediately pass private members' motion 141, calling on the Ford government to mandate paid sick days to help keep Ontarians safe in the fight against COVID-19. The member for London West is seeking unanimous consent of the house to immediately pass private members' motion 141, calling on the government to mandate paid sick days to help keep Ontarians safe in the fight against COVID-19. Agreed? Agreed. Agreed to know.