 It's now time for Member's Statements. I recognize the Member for Mishkegouak James-Babe. Merci, Monsieur le Président. I rise in the House today to speak on behalf of the constituents in my writing of Mishkegouak James-Babe about the crucial shortage of doctors and nurses in the region. Speaker, it has been known fact for quite some time now that having access to family physician in the North and in ongoing is an ongoing challenge. Parlons plus particulièrement de la situation. Let's talk about my county, Hearst. This municipality has been going through a shortage for quite some time. In this city there are 1,500 patients without a doctor, which is a high percentage of the population. Mr. Speaker, the emergency of the Hearst Hospital is on the brink of having to close down because there aren't enough doctors. Hospitals in my writing are also having a nursing shortage. In smooth rock falls, they have tried and continue to try to recruit by offering incentive to attract nurses and they still cannot get the human resource they need to cover this shift. Mr. Speaker, I'm asking the government to act on this crisis situation. The government must invest in programs that will mitigate problems in the North. It's time to act. The poor government learned to listen and commit to finally taking action to ensure everyone in Northern Ontario can get a family doctor and address the nursing shortage. Merci, Monsieur le Président. Thank you very much. Member Statements. Member for Mrs. Agamal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mrs. Speaker, last 18 months have been tough. The banks saw 26% increase in first-time visitors across the province. COVID-19 has affected every fabric of our society. However, that has not stopped our province, the people of Ontario, from working together to ensure no one is left behind. They have displayed the true Ontario spirit. I would like to spotlight our community ambassadors. Dr. Rave Tiwari, Kathy O'Connor, Sukhwinder Sharma, Khayusha, Bhavish Patel, and Angie Monique for stepping up and supporting our office community food drives. I am thrilled to share that the ambassadors from Mrs. Agamalton have collected over 1,500 pounds of food for Mayor Bonnie Kromby's annual Thanksgiving food drive to ensure fellow neighbors can enjoy meals with their loved ones during the festive season. The achievements like this would not be possible without a true team effort. Thank you. Thank you, the resident of Mrs. Agamalton and my wonderful office staff, for always being there to lend a hand to our community during these tough times. I am looking forward to your support for blood donation drive on December 18th. Let's continue to work and serve the community through Ontario spirit, and that is what will get all of us ahead in the road to recovery. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Member Statements, the member for Spina Fort York. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. November 14th was World Diabetes Day, marking 100 years since Banting and Beth discovered insulin in a lab just a few hundred metres from this legislature at the University of Toronto. But as well as insulin, people with diabetes often need eye care. The fake of wolf lives in Spina Fort York in its type 1 diabetes and has been unable to update its prescription because this government refuses to negotiate a fair deal, leaving optometrists paying an average $27 out of pocket to examine an OHIP insured patient. It has been 76 days since seniors and children have been able to receive OHIP covered eye exams. My constituents have sent hundreds of emails and thousands of signed petitions asking the government to negotiate in good faith with optometrists. There are people like Dr. Melissa Yoon of Dr. Yoon Optometry in Spina Fort York who simply wants to assist her clients and can't keep paying out of pocket for it. The impact is far-reaching, affecting people from the ages of 7 to 70. Bob Whelan is 70 years old and a constituent and he can barely read because he needs a new prescription. Another constituent, Jugbeer, has a seven-year-old daughter who needs prescription glasses but hasn't been able to get an eye exam because of this government's refusal to negotiate. He says that this is having a negative impact on her learning and her well-being. Mr. Speaker, we are imploring this government to negotiate a fair deal with optometrists so that residents like Jacob, Bob and Jugbeer's daughter can get the eye care that they need. Thank you very much. The next member's statement, the member for Brantford Brandt. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in the House today to acknowledge a memorable event which recently took place in my writing of Brantford Brandt. For 24 years, the Saturday prior to Remembrance Day, the ThinkEvent Committee has chosen to honor local veterans, widows, widowers, and Silver Cross mothers. For the past 22 years, this took the form of a wonderful luncheon attended by local veterans and their families and members of the community. The pandemic forced the organizing committee to pivot and on Saturday, November 6th, for the second consecutive year, I was able to participate in delivering gift bags to the homes of veterans and their families. The gift bags contained a wonderful assortment of community-donated gifts, including a gift certificate for a lunch at a local restaurant. While we wish we could have honored them collectively, this was still a wonderful way to remember the tremendous service and sacrifice of our veterans. I'd like to give a special thank you to my newly elected colleague, MP Larry Brock, and the work his office staff also did in making this year's event successful. ThinkEvent provided an opportunity to salute our local patriotic men and women who served our great nation and to thank them in person while their number decreases year by year. Their legacy of fighting to preserve freedom remains. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the member for Toronto Center. Thank you, Speaker. If you ask any Torontonian what our national bird is, don't be surprised if someone answers the construction crane. The Rider-Levitt-Bernahal Crane Index tracks how many cranes dot the skylines of North American cities and found that Toronto has a whopping 43% of all the cranes counted in the 14 cities that they track. Speaker, the Conservative members opposite will cry all day that the source of Toronto's affordable housing crisis is a lack of supply. But Speaker, how can we have more cranes in the sky than all of Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington, D.C. and New York combined and still manage to have a supply problem? The problem speakers, we aren't building the right kinds of housing. We don't need more multi-million dollar condos on every single corner. We need investments in affordable housing. We need real rent control and stronger inclusionary zoning rules. Rules that allow cities to require developers to build affordable housing within their projects. I recently spoke with Darren, a constituent of mine who lives in the church in Wellesley Village who also wants to see stronger inclusionary zoning rules put in place. Darren lives in a behemoth 42-story tower, but sadly only half of the units on the second floor were designated as affordable rentals. But worse, Speaker, because this building, this condo, was built after 2018 when this government cut rent control protections, these units aren't even rent controlled. We need this Premier and his Conservative government to stop pandering to the profits of developers and start putting affordability for tenants first. Thank you. The Member for Guelph. Thank you, Speaker. I spent constituency week meeting with people in Guelph, farmers in Wellington County, folks from Caledon, Lawn, Halton Hills, Orangeville, all opposed to Highway 413. None of them a downtown Toronto elite. I attended a rally in Bolton against the Premier's highway schemes. All over 100 people took time out of their busy Saturday afternoon to wave signs against Highway 413. The same signs on local people's lawns along the highway's proposed roof. None of them are downtown Toronto elites that can afford a $1,000 fundraiser. So, Speaker, let's be clear. The only elites pushing for this highway are wealthy land speculators and PC donors who will cash in big time if the Premier builds this highway, paving over paradise to put up a linear parking lot. People who live and farm in the area want to protect the farmland that feeds us. They are opposed to paving over the wetlands that clean our drinking water and protect us from flooding. They are opposed to putting more stress on the rivers they love to fish. They are opposed to paving over the green belt. They are opposed to the Premier making life less affordable for people by forcing them to commute further distances to find an affordable place to call home. They want $10 billion spent on better transit, affordable housing, health care and climate action. Not a highway that will pave over the places they love. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. The next member's statement, the member for Oakville. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's an honour to be in the legislature here today and to bring awareness about important organisations in my riding of Oakville. Last month I had the honour of attending the virtual grand opening of Paddy's Place, a new dementia care facility operated by Acclaim Health. As the population ages, Paddy's Place will be critical in filling a growing need by servicing individuals living with dementia. Paddy's Place is a state-of-the-art facility that is tailored to the needs of its clients. In fact, before construction, clients were consulted on the facility design and which features should be included to provide the best care for them. Paddy's Place is a comfortable and inviting home. The features include an adult day program and it is the only facility in Holton Region to have beds for short overnight stays. The 3D immersive technology room, which is the first of its kind in Canada, is designed specifically for people with dementia. I have a personal connection to Paddy's Place. It was named after Dr. Paddy Plaxton, who was my family's physician for many years. In fact, it was Dr. Plaxton that delivered the wonderful news to my wife, Nadja, and I that we would be having twins. Dr. Plaxton is now living with early onset dementia. She practiced medicine in our community for over 20 years. Her dedication to the community is honoured in the name of the new facility. I want to thank the residents of Oakville and Holton Region for their support and contributions to building this fantastic facility. I also want to extend a personal thank you to everyone at Acclaim Health for the fantastic work that you are doing. I am so grateful to you and all the members of Acclaim Health and all the members of the community that have participated in raising funds for this fantastic facility. Thank you very much. Member Statements. Member for Davenport. Mr. Speaker, by the end of the last government's term, Ontario had the second highest childcare fees in Canada and Toronto had the most expensive fees in this entire country. We have heard so many promises over the years of change, but the fact is that this Conservative Government has failed to deliver on affordable childcare. Today, parents in my riding of Davenport are paying a median fee of $1,578 a month, and that's if they can find space at all, most cannot. On top of that, COVID restrictions and staffing pressures have seen spaces closed just as parents are returning to the workplace. Families at Rawlinson School, for example, are finding that their childcare centre is turning them away. They're letting children go because they are so short on rooms. Worker retention remains a major issue because wages have not kept up, and the one hope for families rests with an offer from the federal government which has finally come around to the idea of funding universal affordable childcare programs. Over the weekend, I was pleased to hear that Alberta became the latest province to sign up, joining seven other provinces and territory, but Ontario is lagging behind once again, and we've got federal officials telling the Toronto Star last week that the province has yet to even submit a formal plan to them. While this government drags their feet, families, especially women, are paying the price, it's time for the government to stop wasting time, sign the deal, let's deliver $10 a day childcare to the people of Ontario. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Thank you. Member Statements, the Member for Niagara West. Thank you very much, Speaker. The rebuild of the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital has been one of my top priorities since being elected as the MPP for Niagara West. I was born in the hospital, I campaigned for the hospital, I remain committed to seeing the rebuild of this hospital to completion, with the shovels in the ground upcoming soon. This summer, the request for proposals went out as part of a hugely important next step in getting these shovels in the ground. As part of our comprehensive plan to end hallway healthcare, the Ontario government made an additional investment of over $15 million earlier this year to support the planning and design of the new hospital. And once complete, this new state-of-the-art facility will replace the existing aged building, improving capacity, expanding access to quality care, and helping end hallway healthcare for patients and families in West Niagara. Now, getting to this stage of the project planning requires an immense amount of work from the hardworking staff and planners who have helped us get here, and I wanted to thank them for that work. Once complete, the New West Lincoln Memorial Hospital will have a modern up-to-date facility with capacity for over 61 beds, a larger 24-7 emergency department, maternal and newborn services, modern surgical suites to deliver care with the best technology available, and outpatient care services, including minor surgical procedures such as endoscopies. I want to thank our local municipal and community leaders, supporters, volunteers, doctors, nurses, and frontline healthcare workers for their tireless advocacy and the important regional projects in Niagara West. I also wish to acknowledge the hard work that continues to go forward and I look forward to seeing shovels in the ground. Together, we will build the New West Lincoln Memorial Hospital. Thank you very much. That concludes our member statements for this morning.