 Therefore, it's time for Members of Statements. We're from Bruce Gray-Oneson. We want to hear you first. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Last month, I had the honor of joining Peninsula Family Health Team at the Friendship Club in Lions Head to celebrate Dr. Dave Thompson's 25 years of medical practice on the peninsula. Following a decorated career in the Canadian Navy, Dr. Thompson turned his attention to medicine. He obtained his family medicine specialization in June 1992. Dr. Thompson always likes to tell the story that he received a call from Dr. George Harper in Tobe Maury in the early summer of 1992, asking him if he was free to lend a hand on the peninsula. Dr. Thompson said sure he could try to help out for a little while, and 25 years later he is still there. Dr. Thompson opened his medical practice on the peninsula in September 1992. During his medical career, he has been active in many leadership and community roles in support of the provision of exemplary health care for our residents and our community. Now in his 25th year of medical practice, Dr. Thompson is as busy as ever. He continues to have patient clinic days in both the Lions Head and Tobe Maury sites of the Peninsula Family Health Team weekly. He serves as the medical director for the long-term care facility in Lions Head, provides hospital and emergency coverage at our local rural hospital in Lions Head, provides palliative care home visits, assists monthly with medical surgeries at our regional hospital in Owensown, is a regular preceptor for medical students and residents from four medical school programs in Ontario and provides physician support to the Tobe Maury hyperbaric facility. Dr. Thompson is the embodiment of a true rural family physician. His practice encompasses entire families in our community, from the youngest grandchild to their great-great-grandfather and everyone in between. Dr. Thompson has made the beautiful Bruce Peninsula his home for over 30 years. He spends his free time with his wife Jane, daughter Megan and Emma, and his beloved dog, Sheamus. I invite the members to join me in congratulating Dr. Dave Thompson on his 25th anniversary of providing medical care on the Bruce Peninsula. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to remember statements. The member from Windsor to come see. Thank you, Speaker. We heard out today with a big shout-out to the Knights of Columbus in Windsor and Essex County. 20 years ago, they adopted our local hospice and they've been raising money for the hospice every year since then. It started with a friend of ours, Mike Aegis. We used to be involved in the forest-laid fastball league together. Mike's friend Bill Fontaine came down with cancer and his final days were spent at the hospice. Mike decided to do something to help others going through the same thing. He convinced all of the local councils to get involved and since then they've raised more than $300,000 for hospice. They collected another $8,500 or so on the weekend. Gail and I were honored to spend an evening with these community boosters. The Bishop of London, Ronald Fabro, was there as well. One of the speakers was Andrew Despens. He said the hospice isn't a place where people come to die. It's much more than that. It's a place where people come to live their final days with the respect and dignity they so much deserve. And Speaker, changing gears as my time is running out, you can't settle a contract dispute unless you're at the table. I'm asking the government to direct the two sides involved with our community colleges to get back to the bargaining table. Tell them to set down and settle this dispute. Don't suggest it. Direct them to bargain and do it this week. The students deserve nothing less. Thank you. For the member savings, the member of Kitchener Center. Thank you, Speaker. October the 11th is the International Day of the Girl and on that day, I hosted a STEM Girls event at Google headquarters in Kitchener and, Speaker, it was a huge success. 80 girls from Waterloo region schools from grades five to eight attended the event to promote science, technology, engineering and math. There are many challenging, well-paying jobs in the STEM field, but a smaller portion of women in the sector, and this contributes to a gender wage gap. We know that girls and boys perform equally well in math and science until middle school. For a variety of reasons tied to how the sexes are socialized, we often see girls dropping out of these subjects by high school. Speaker, they need to be encouraged to continue with math and science. So showing them what a STEM career looks like and role models who are successful in this field is one way to do that. I invited six speakers, all dynamic women in various STEM careers. One produces apps at Google. Another one has a wind turbine tech company. Another is a theoretical physicist. We even had a student there. What followed was a TED Talk style format. The women shared why they chose a STEM career, what they do in their jobs and what's challenging and rewarding in their sector. The positive feedback that we received from most students and teachers was overwhelming. Speaker, it was so encouraging to see girls inspired by the work of these impressive women, reminding them that girls can succeed in STEM. We'll do it again next year. Thank you. Thank you. Sir, the statement's the member from left in Kent Middlesex. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to inform the House that on Saturday, October 28th, the famous Canadian ice dance pair Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the pride of Ilderton, Ontario, set a new world record score decisively winning the Skate Canada International event held in Regina, Saskatchewan. I would briefly like to remind this House of the remarkable record of these artist athletes. Moir and Virtue are Olympic champions. There are three-time world champions, there are seven-time Canadian champions, and they are the youngest pair ever to win the ice dance competition at the Olympics. This pair has now skated together for 20 years. Both Moir and Virtue received their earliest training at the Ilderton Skating Club, which continues to be a pillar of the community thanks in large measure to the dedication of the entire Moir family. I congratulate Scott and Tessa on this most recent win and look forward to watching the 2018 Olympic Ice Dance Competition, which will be taking place in South Korea. I know we will all be treated to another stunning performance from our great Canadian skaters. Thank you. Thank you. The member from Nicolbel. Thank you, Speaker. Our hospitals are at a tipping point. Some of them are so overcrowded that it is starting to impact quality of care. I'll give you the example of Mr. Gratton from my writing. On May 13, Mr. Gratton fell ill and went to the emergency room. It was determined that he needed a pacemaker and he had advanced prostate cancer. As his health continued to deteriorate while he was in the hospital, it became clear he needed long-term care. At any other time, he would have been assessed in the hospital and given options to wait his turn for long-term care, but not anymore. In order to apply for long-term care, he had to leave the hospital. It was impossible to care for him at home. He needed 24-hour care, oxygen, a catheter, he needed help with transferring, with feeding. He was transferred to a retirement home with home care. Once at the retirement home, he started to fall out of bed. A few days later, the PSW assigned to his care does not show up. He spent the day unfed and wore clothes without his medication. He is now deemed in crisis, allowed to apply for long-term care home. Not surprisingly, he fell ill again. He sent to the emergency. He now has pneumonia, bladder infection, blood poisoning. His long-term care bed opens up. He is too sick to go to long-term care. Mr. Gratton died in hospital last night. His family felt that the overcrowding in our hospital meant that they were too focused on getting him out the door, on clearing a bed. How many other families are treated the same way? Further member statements? The member from Lancaster, Dundas, Flamborough and West Elm. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I rise to celebrate my alma mater, McMaster University, as they opened the new humanities building, the Red Wilson Building, the 150,000 square-foot facility. Interesting story, two stories behind this. One, of course, is the love and attention and care that Mr. Wilson exemplifies for his alma mater, to which he's added a $10 million donation. And the other was the support of the students. The year that the decision was made to fund this facility was one where the government, to be frank, had decided not to support any social science or humanities infrastructure going to engineering and science. But the students at the university wrote passionate letters. To me, it's over 400, Mr. Speaker, reflecting on why after a 30-year struggle and wait that this facility was so essential. So for students out there who think from time to time, as I did from time to time, when I was a student, that you don't have a lot of influence, you really do have. And the students took charge, and they really own this building. And I'll be there this afternoon to celebrate this opening. Thank you. Thank you for the member's statements. The member from Shadow County, Essex. Thanks, Speaker. Two weeks ago, there were two accidents in Carnage Alley. In a space of only two days, two tractor trailers flew off the road. Before this, there were five crashes in six days, leading up to the Thanksgiving weekend. As my constituents tell me, it's sheer luck that no one has been seriously injured in the latest accidents in Carnage Alley. Now, the Premier has had enough time to decide whether her government will take any action to make Carnage Alley safer. But I'm not convinced that this government is taking the danger of Carnage Alley seriously. First, the Premier made a promise in this house to build a barrier. Well, everyone understood that to mean that the cement barrier in my writing was what my constituents were demanding. And by the way, Speaker, I have over 4,000 signatures ranging from Windsor to Ottawa, demanding that a cement barrier be built. But then the Premier began walking that promise back, and the transport minister said he was looking into high-tension cables. Well, cables may be effective against a car, but a large truck would just plow right through them. Winter is coming, and that stretch is extremely hazardous. Transports will inevitably cross over the grass median and end up in the ditch in the opposite direction. Construction is currently taking place there, and that very stretch from Tilbury to Chatham so take the time and build the cement barriers. I want my colleagues here to understand that my constituents and I will not let this matter go. So again, I say, we must build a cement barrier now. Thank you. Well done. For the members' statements, the members from Ottawa South. Thank you very much, Speaker. Speaker, Ottawa South has produced many great athletes. One of the most notable is rugby legend Al Charron. Just this past week, he was named to the World Rugby Hall of Fame. He has been described as the greatest forward in our country has ever produced. He represented Canada four times at the World Cup, played with the Barbarians All-Stare Squad five times. He played professionally in England and France. He played for Hillcrest High School in the Ottawa Irish, and he has never forgotten his local roots. He still calls Ottawa South home, and he continues to be a great supporter of local athletes. Al is humble. He's a gentleman. He credits his successes as team successes, and I know that the member from Napaian Carlton would tell you he was a big part of their own law team here in this legislature. He continues to be a tremendous champion for the sport he loves and the athletes that play it. Speaker, I ask that all members of the legislature join me in congratulating Al, a really great guy, in this tremendous achievement. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Good morning, members. This is famous member from Elgin, Middlesex County. Thank you very much, Speaker. This past weekend marked the official opening of Veterans Memorial Gardens in St. Thomas. More than 100 people braved the cold and gathered in downtown St. Thomas for the opening. In addition to the general public, the crowd was made up of city officials, members of the Royal Canadian Legion, Lord Elgin Branch 41, members of the Elgin Regiment, Mayor Heather Jackson, Warden Grant Jones, and MP Karen Vecchio. In addition, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, her honor, Elizabeth Dodgewell, was there for the opening. The Veterans Memorial Garden Committee, made up of community members, spearheaded the project over the last two years and were able to raise enough money to create the gardens. The hard work the community attributed to over $110,000 raised through their efforts. I want to really thank her born and his committee for putting this together for the city of St. Thomas and County of Elgin. The garden includes the city's Boy Soldier Statue recognizing First World War veterans, the city's second World War Korean War cenotaph, and a new monument was created recognizing those who served the war in Afghanistan. In addition, Mr. Speaker, a vimmy tree was planted and a vimmy tree was grown from the acorns from Vimmy Ridge brought over to Canada and we now have one of those in St. Thomas. The committee felt that this garden made sense because it brought together all the monuments throughout the city to one central location and the new veterans Memorial Garden provides to people of St. Thomas with more than just memorial, there's a park to enjoy, spots to sit and reflect the contributions of brave men and women. And I look forward to the first member in the state service occurring November 11th. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I thank all members for their statements.