 Therefore though it is now time for member statements and I recognize the member from Toronto St. Paul's. Thank you Speaker. I'd first like to start by thanking all of our nurses in St. Paul's and across Ontario it is National Nurses Week and I want to thank all of you for working so hard under unbelievable circumstances even before COVID but certainly now during COVID considering how understaffed and under resourced our healthcare system is courtesy of this government. I might also want to say yesterday I lost a loved one a very dear friend of mine to COVID. I had known her since I was 14 years old. She would often speak about how proud she was of me but I was even that much more proud of her because she was a mother and now her kids lost their mother. So I just want to remind everyone that's watching today please wear your mask, double mask, socially distance, stay at home. There's no hairstyle or haircut or party or dinner or even a hug. I haven't hugged my mother in forever. There's no hug that's worthy losing your life and please when your time for a vaccine comes get it. The federal and provincial government yes they have made mistakes and we know that but when you have a chance to get your vaccine please get your vaccine. It will help save your life. Thank you and to my dear friend. I didn't even know you were sick. I love you and I will miss you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Further member statements? A member from Whitby. Well thank you Speaker. The government has listened to fire services across the province and recognizes the impact COVID-19 has had on their operations and response speaker five million dollars has been allocated to fire departments like the town of Whitby to respond to the local impacts of COVID-19. Speaker Whitby's fire chief Dave Speed said recently that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way they conduct fire safety inspections and firefight training. This funding from the province will be used to help Whitby's fire and emergency services department further develop new ways of providing services to the public as they continue to creatively adapt to our new normal. Speaker I and the other members of my caucus remain committed to supporting materials fire services and recognizing our heroic first responders for their dedication and commitment and protecting hardworking families in the town of Whitby and other parts of the region of Durham. Thank you Speaker. Thank you. Member statements. The member for Michigan walk James Bay. Thank you Mr. President. Thank you Mr. Speaker. I'm honored to talk today to share the concerns of my of the people of my writing. We love nature and we love all the advantages of nature. They enter the ban on camping on camping activities and to have access to entertaining activities like golfing is very difficult for them. We understand it's not easy to deal with the pandemic but we need support. We need the government to show at their the reasons behind their decisions. If it's about physical distancing we have space in our writing. Our golf courses are very large and can be used in all in all security. We believe that we can apply all the public health measures. So we ask the government to review their decisions. Member statements. The member for Perry's on the scope. Thank you Mr. Speaker. I rise today to celebrate an important anniversary in my writing. 50 years ago in March Kimberly Clark opened its mill in Huntsville under the supervision of mill manager Douglas Millican. Doug began working for Kimberly Clark in 1969 to oversee the construction and state as mill manager until 1978. Now in his 90s Doug still lives in Huntsville and attended the drive through celebration of the mill's 50th anniversary. Kimberly Clark makes products we are all very familiar with including cotton out toilet paper, Kleenex tissue, Huggies diapers, Scott paper towels and more. The facility ensures none of the solid waste from its manufacturing process goes into landfill using as much possible onsite while a small amount is used in an offsite waste to energy operation. As well the mill has an onsite water treatment system that replace recycles 80% of the water used in the manufacturing process. Over the past half century Kimberly Clark has made a huge contribution to the town of Huntsville sponsoring all kinds of local organizations and events like the table soup kitchen, Huntsville minor hockey and the paddle for Fairburn fundraiser. Casey also sponsors the Huntsville high school robotics team and offers scholarships to local students going to post secondary education. Congratulations to everyone who has worked at Kimberly Clark over those 50 years from the first plant manager Douglas Millican to the 230 current staff led by manager Joe Welsh. Thank you. Thank you very much. Member statements and member for nickel belt. Thank you speaker. Today is May 12th. It is the International Awareness Day for myalgic and cephalomyelitis chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, environmental sensitivity and multiple chemical sensitivity. The myalgic and cephalomyelitis association of Ontario, better known as Meow, is a registered Ontario charity which support and represent people living with any one of these conditions. Meow had had several awareness day event here at Queen's Park to mark International Awareness Day and since we are in the middle of a global pandemic, Meow is holding an awareness webinar today to mark the day. Since 2013 they had advocated for changes to the healthcare system to better support people living with these medical conditions. In 2016 the Ministry of Health announced a task force on environmental health which delivered its final report back in December 2018. The final report contained concrete recommendations to improve care for the patient afflicted with their medical conditions. In early 2020 the Minister of Health mandated public health to prepare and submit an action plan with regard to the recommendations set out in the task force final report. So here we are in May of 2021 with very little has changed so I heard the Minister of Health to publicly release the action plan, implement and fund the recommendation of the plan, make sure that care is available now and to specify the location where the care will be available. Thank you Speaker. Thank you very much. Member statements, the member for Orlean. Good morning Mr. Speaker. Working families know the struggle between being able to afford childcare so both parents can go to work and pursue their dreams or having someone stay home most often the mother in order to take care of their precious gift. It's time Mr. Speaker that this choice not be based on economics. For far too long the expense of childcare has caused families to struggle and it's taken enormous numbers of women out of the workforce and it's women who have been hit hardest during the pandemic as well Mr. Speaker and analysis by RBC shows that working-age Canadian women are leaving the workforce at a rate 10 times higher than men. Recently the federal government unveiled a new national child care plan to partner with provinces to make childcare more affordable for families. Unfortunately here in Ontario the response from the government has been anything but enthusiastic. Ontario needs a robust and affordable child care plan. With licensed child care at $10 a day Ontario families could save $10,000 a year for every child but it's not only relief for parents it's also about improving the economy. Increasing women's workforce participation has the potential to grow the economy by $7 billion a year and every every dollar invested in child care will return $2 and 50 cents. It's time for this government to get behind affordable child care Mr. Speaker it's not time for blusters or fights with their political rivals families need help our economy needs and wants moms to be successful it's time for the government to get on board with affordable child care thank you. Thank you the next member statement the member for Kitchener Conestoga. Thank you very much and good morning Speaker this has been a very special week for me school bus operators safety advocates and all other stakeholders that I've worked with stakeholders that I've worked with over the past year. Last Thursday my private members billed the safer school buses act past third reading with unanimous support of the chamber. Speaker Ontario is the only place in North America where you will find school buses with an eight lamp all red warning system. As the house has heard me say repeatedly every other province in state uses the dual amber red system. It may be only a different color of light but based on data from other jurisdictions and studies done by Transport Canada we know it will make the 18,000 school buses on our roads safer. You can think about it like a stoplight Mr. Speaker drivers would know to proceed with caution when the amber lights are flashing and when those lights turn red there is absolutely a 100 chance that there could be a student getting off or on that bus and that driver must stop when they see those red lights. I want to thank my colleagues for supporting this long overdue common sense change and to everyone across the province who has vocalized their support and this would not have been possible without you. As the father of five child safety is always something that is very important to me and I can't wait for the first day of school in September 2022 to see the buses pulling up with amber lights and knowing that I was part of making the 800,000 students who take the bus every day here in Ontario just a little bit safer. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have the member for Brampton North. Thank you Mr. Speaker. It's an honor to rise and to speak on behalf of my constituents of Brampton North. Speaker last week I wrote a letter to the Minister of Finance requesting this government mandate lower auto insurance rates. I wrote a similar letter to the Premier in February but I've yet to hear back. I hope the minister is a little more open to working with me and the official opposition to reduce auto insurance premiums and make life more affordable for Ontarians. In my letter I went over the fact that in Ontario we pay some of the highest auto insurance rates in the country. Twice as much as our neighbours in Quebec pay on average. My constituents of Brampton North pay the highest auto insurance premiums in the entire province. More than twice the provincial average. These expensive auto insurance premiums in Brampton are made worse by the fact that Brampton is one of the hardest hit cities by this pandemic. Bramptonians have seen some of the highest positivity rates and are struggling with financial implications of the pandemic. They urgently need relief on these excessively high auto insurance premiums. There are being fewer drivers and fewer accidents on the road during this pandemic. Insurance companies have raked in record profits but the drivers of Ontario have not seen any meaningful rebates. This is why the official opposition has been asking for months that this government implement a 50% decrease on auto insurance payments during this pandemic and allow payment deferrals for those who have lost their jobs in these times of economic uncertainty. I'm urging this government to work with me and the official opposition to provide relief on auto insurance rates for the people of Ontario and instead stop pointing fingers and deflecting blame. Thank you. Thank you. Member statements. The member for Sarnia Lampton. Thank you Speaker. It's an honour to rise today and inform the House of a tremendous opportunity available to the young men and women of our province with the tabling of the Building Opportunities and the Skilled Trades Act 2021 by the Minister of Labor Training and Skills Development. In my writing of Sarnia Lampton thousands of men and women already know that skilled trades training can open the door to a long, high paying successful career in the trades. Trades people build and maintain our hospitals, broadband, bridges and roads, energy infrastructure, our homes and so much more. But many skilled people, the trades people in Ontario will soon be retiring. Nearly one in three journey persons in Ontario with 55 years of age or older. Before the pandemic more than 200,000 jobs went on field every single day. Many of these jobs are in the skilled trades. In my writing of Sarnia Lampton where Ontario's petrochemical industry was focused, alluming's trade shortage in 2022 will present a serious challenge for the companies to compete the important maintenance work necessary to meet the province's energy needs. But if that challenge comes opportunity for too long, young people who have natural talent on the shop floor have been pushed into university lecture halls. Our government is committed to showing these young people that a career in the trades needs good paying jobs and exciting career paths that are in demand right now in our province. Mr. Speaker, I encourage all members of this House to push for swift passage of the building opportunities and the skilled trades act. Doing so will mean we're helping people to get back to work and meaningful careers right away. Thank you. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the member for Barry Innisville. Thank you Speaker. Hear that silence? Over the last 24 hours there has been no silence in the state of Israel. Instead there have been sirens warning people to seek shelter from the barrage of terrorist attacks. We are all disturbed by the scenes of violence on the Temp Mount Harim El-Sharif this weekend. The site of religious significance to Muslims and Jews should be a place of prayer and peace. Israel immediately took action and de-escalated tensions in Jerusalem to restore calm. Hamas and Palestinian terrorist groups have instead continued to incite violent riots lynching and have fired more than 700 missiles at Israeli civilians. Cynagogues, schools are being burned, families attacked, innocent people are being injured and killed because Hamas murderous actions which once again endanger Israelis and Palestinians alike. I remember when I visited Israel and saw the shrapnel at schools and that should not be a reality for any child. Ontario and Israel enjoy strong long-standing cultural and economic ties built on strong foundation of shared values. The government of Canada must support our democratic friends and allies in Israel and their responsibility to defend its people from terrorist attacks. The Prime Minister must unequivocally condemn Hamas for perpetrating these tragic hostilities. Creating an equivalency between Israel, a democracy that wants peace and Hamas, a terrorist organization bent on destruction in Israel, enables terror and cost lives. The failure to speak up and clearly distinguish between those who want peace and those who want violence and death of civilians is morally reprehensible. I hope the Prime Minister stands up and condemns these attacks by Hamas and I pray for everyone in that region to be safe. Thank you very much. I beg to inform the House that the following document has been tabled, a special report entitled COVID-19 preparedness and management, special report on management of health related COVID-19 expenditures from the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario. As we all know there are literally hundreds of staff who work so very hard here at the Legislative Assembly without whom this place would come to a sudden abject halt. Today we pay tribute to one of them, Greg Diddiano, and we thank him for his service to the Assembly going back to 1988. 1988. That was before some of our current members were even born. As a key part of our broadcast and recording service, Greg has spent the last 33 years keeping a keen, watchful eye on the House proceedings, turning on your microphones when you stand up, and I might add when the speaker stands up, turning you off, operating from the crow's nest over there in the Speaker's Gallery or from the audio console in one of our committee rooms. Greg has been a steady and sure hand on the camera catching the image of hundreds of our distinguished Order of Ontario recipients in recent years, as well as the courage and valor of countless firefighters and police officers during their award ceremonies. For the past four years Greg has been a calming presence, training and supporting his staff colleagues, as the House has continued to sit in person, serving the people of Ontario, as all of us on both sides of the House were elected to do. This week, after more than three decades of steady no exemplary service, Greg is retiring. I'm told that Greg loves to go fishing and that he's a avid angler, but up until this point that elusive big one has always gotten away. Greg, you just caught it. Congratulations and we thank you and we wish you many, many years of happy and healthy retirement. Please join me in acknowledging the service of Greg Gordiano here at the Legislative Assembly. Thank you Greg.