 I'm sorry to interrupt the Member, but it is now time for Member's Statement. I recognize the Member from Whitby. Thank you. Recently, the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility, the Honourable Raymond Cho, and Terrell's Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable Edith Humong, celebrated the remarkable achievements of 20 outstanding Seniors with the 2023 Terrell Senior Achievement Award. Joyce Marshall from Whitby was one of those recipients. As a retired teacher and Rotarian, she stands out as a shining example of selfless dedication and tireless commitment to the well-being of the community, particularly its senior members. Her remarkable services of volunteer at the Whitby 55-plus recreational centres reflects a deep-rooted passion for making a positive impact in the lives of others. She's initiated and nurtured various projects and initiatives such as the annual World AIDS Day for the town of Whitby and Hospice Awareness Day in Durham Region. Joyce also serves as a dedicated board member of VON Durham, including a commendable 10-year term as Board Chair. Her unwavering dedication and outstanding leadership has left an indelible mark on the Whitby community. Speaker, Terrell Seniors like Joyce have played a critical role in building our communities and province into the strong and prosperous place it is today. Congratulations, Joyce, on your award. Next Member Statement, the Member for Sudbury. My Speaker, Friday was a rough day in Sudbury. On Friday, the Sudbury Action Centre for Youth, SASSY, announced they were closing their doors. They weren't able to make ends meet, weren't able to make payroll. This is an organisation that really helps youth, marginalised youth, transgender youth, youth who are homeless and youth who are using drugs and provide services and support for them. This is part of the bigger problem when it comes to the use of drug use across Ontario. In 2019, Speaker, I brought forward a prior remembrance motion to declare a medical emergency in Northern Ontario for opioid use and opioid deaths. I was voted down by the Conservative Government, but I think we can have that same motion, emergency motion for all of Ontario right now. The death count from opioid-related deaths since 2018 is 20,000 Ontarians have died, Speaker. 20,000. Meanwhile, Sudbury has been waiting for 30 months for response on a supervised consumption site. For an arbitrary reason, the Conservative Government decided they were going to cap the number of supervised consumption sites to 21. To date, we only have 17. Still no funding for Sudbury. Another bad news on Sudbury was that on Friday, Razor Access was giving notice to their last employee. The only employee who was able to stay at our supervised consumption site this spot because of no provincial funding, even though they've been operating for a year and three months. It's a sad day in Sudbury, Speaker. It shouldn't have come to this. It's going to be difficult in the days ahead. Thank you. Thank you very much. Member Statements. The Member for Kitchener South Haskell. Thank you, Speaker. This statement is a statement that I suppose is sort of dedicated to a group of people, although as you'll hear, dedicated to one specific representative of that, which is the people that, for all of us, keep the home fires burning. As we all know, being an MPP, being a politician, is a job that takes you away from family, from your home, but even from the basic exercises of keeping your household running. It makes you distracted. It can make you distant. It can make you angry and upset and frustrated and sometimes not really the nicest person to be around for the people that love you the most. For me, I'm an only child and those people that really keep the home fires burning are my parents, represented today by my mother, who is in the gallery. Thank you. Mum was talking to some friends of hers that essentially had said something along the lines of, oh, you must be very proud. Your daughter has accomplished so much and my response when she told me that is because they have no idea how much work I am. I think that I am arguably more work now than I was when I was actually under 18. From last minute decorating my parade floats to going out to find the perfect pair of black pants, which we still haven't succeeded and having them the night of, to talking me down from ledges day after day after day. It's really people like my mother that keep the home fires burning. So thank you and thank you Mum. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the member for Niagara Falls. Thank you Mr. Speaker. I want to talk about something important to me and my constituents. Getting all day two-way go train service to Niagara Falls. This isn't just about trains, it's about making life better for all of us. I've been fighting for this alongside my community for 10 years when I first ran for office. Remember that by-election in 2014? The Conservative candidate said no to go. The Conservatives also said no to the new hospital. But my community and I have never stopped fighting. And we've made progress Mr. Speaker. We have go train service that doesn't meet our needs. It needs to be consistent two-way all-day service. Metrolinx is expanding go train trips all over Ontario. Yet Niagara Falls is not on the list where we have 14 million tourists every year. Our region is growing. And so is demand for better transit options. Our readership keeps climbing. Last year alone, a wall up in 67% increase. Over 630,000 people hopped on and off our GOAT station. An increase of 377,000 in 2022. We need to ease the traffic on our highways, protect our environment, help support tourism and give commuters a break. I raise this numerous times with different governments and the CEO of Metrolinx. I will continue advocate for increased service to Niagara Falls which it deserves and it needs. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the Member for Carlton. Mr. Speaker, March is Persian Heritage Month in Ontario. And this week there will be celebrations here and around the world for Norus. Norus, which means new day, falls on spring equinox each year, also known as the first day of spring. It is based on the Iranian solar history calendar and it marks the Persian New Year. Its origins are in the Iranian religion of Zoroastrianism and it has been celebrated for 3,000 years, making it one of the oldest festivals in human history that is still celebrated today. On Norus, millions of Iranians from around the world and all walks of life, irrespective of religion, age, language, gender, race, ethnicity or social status gather together with family, friends and loved ones to celebrate the new year. The celebration marks the rebirth of nature, symbolizing the triumph of good over evil. Norus represents much of what Iranian character, history and culture is all about. We eat traditional food including a fish and rice dish called Savzi Polobomahi. We give gifts also known as 80s to children. More than 300 million people around the world celebrate Norus and it is no small celebration. Imagine Christmas, New Year's Eve and Canada Day rolled into one month long holiday and then add delicious food, street dances, fire shows and a lot of loud banging on pots. To everyone celebrating Norus in Carleton, Ontario, in Iran and around the world, I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Norus firus javitsha. Thank you. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the member for Oshawa. Thank you, Speaker. 2024 marks 100 years of the city of Oshawa. However, our roots go much deeper than that. The earliest known settlement was in the 1400s when the Wendat settled near Harmony Creek. The story goes that Oshawa meant where we must leave our canoes. And Oshawa was known as the carrying place where goods and canoes were carried north to Lake Skugog. It was a busy place of intersections. By 1850, Oshawa had become a growing village. By 1914, the McLaughlin Carriage Company was the largest carriage maker in the British Empire, and the McLaughlin Buick was the first car built in Oshawa in 1908 under the GM umbrella. General Motors of Canada was born in 1918 with Sam McLaughlin, its first president. 100 years ago, Oshawa achieved city status on March 8, 1924. From canoes to carriages to cars, Oshawa was on the move. Oshawa was the home of labour. In 1928, 3,000 striking auto workers voted to form an Oshawa Auto Union. But in 1937, the UAW-222 local was born out of another massive strike. CAW and now Unifor Local 222 has been the heart of Oshawa labour ever since. Oshawa was the hometown of Ed Broadbent's local and national legacy. Oshawa is an academic centre with three post-secondary institutions. It is a centre for healthcare, sports, arts, music and culture, and the hub of business, creativity and diversity. As it has always been, Oshawa is a place of intersections, innovation and possibility. So happy 100th birthday to the city of Oshawa. Thank you very much. The member for Brampton East. Thank you, Speaker. Today I'd like to congratulate the Punjabi Arts Association on 30 years of success in arts and theatre. The Punjabi Arts Association is known for bringing attention to serious community issues in a manner which is relatable and entertaining. And over the weekend, I had the opportunity to see their later theatre production, CID, bringing bizarre 911 calls to centre stage. The play was a 90-minute comedy drama focused on the critical issue of non-emergency calls flooding our 911 call centres. Through creative storytelling and humour, it shed light on the real-life consequences of these calls emphasising the importance of responsible use of emergency resources. I want to extend my sincere appreciation to the Punjabi Arts Association for the dedication of using arts and theatre as a tool to address social issues for social awareness and change. Speaker, residents do their part in ensuring these critical services are being used properly. And our government under Premier Ford's leadership has invested $208 million to modernise our emergency response system. This investment is helping municipalities and emergency response centres transition to new emergency communication systems known as Next Gen 911. Once fully implemented, the new system will make it easier to provide additional details about emergency situations such as making a video call at the scene of an accident and giving people the ability to text 911 when requiring immediate help from police, fire, or ambulance services. Under Premier Ford's leadership, we're committed to making record investments to modernise and improve government services across the province. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you very much. Member statements. The Member for Orleans. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Life in Ontario continues to get more and more expensive. Families across the province are facing higher grocery prices, higher hydro rates, higher property taxes, and this government continues to fail to act. The government has failed to control hydro prices and families are paying more. The government has failed to support municipalities, even pushing more and more costs onto them in order to benefit their friends and insiders, and families are paying more. The government has failed to take concrete actions like removing the HSC from essentials like home heating and families are paying more. Medical practices are charging fees for service, and so families are paying more. There is virtually no area of family budgeting where the increased costs are not directly tied to the actions or inactions of this government. All while this government continues to reward their friends and supporters with contracts, public appointments, regulatory changes to help them earn record profits, often off the backs of taxpayers. As the government continues to focus on helping their friends and supporters, many families have begun to cut out the little extras they've worked so hard for. Too many families have begun to cut back on what many of us would consider to be essentials. It's time for the government to put families first and focus on regular, everyday Ontarians, not only their friends and supporters. Thank you very much. Member Statements. The Member for Lanark Frontenac, Kingston. Thank you, Speaker. This government recently announced capital funding to non-profit organizations across the province to ensure communities have safe and ready access to vital programming, activities and spaces. Once again, I would like to thank the minister and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport for the work they do along with the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Everything from purchasing equipment and building new spaces to retrofits or repairs. Speaker, last month I spoke to a few of a total of 12 organizations in my riding of Lanark Frontenac, Kingston that received funding and I'd like to mention a few more this morning. Organizations like the Southern Frontenac Community Services in Sydenham who are using their funding to add to their new building and increase capacity to serve their clients and deliver programs. The McDonald's Corners Agricultural Society are putting their grant toward renovations to their buildings and create an emergency shelter for the community. Lanark Highlands will renovate the infield at the historical Clyde Memorial Baseball Diamond. Ball and hot dogs are part of the Highland Culture and the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum will create an accessible kitchen to allow the museum to expand its capacity to host community partners and events. Speaker, this government will continue to help build healthy and vibrant communities throughout Ontario by strengthening the impact of our social programs and services keeping people healthy. And once again, congratulations to all the organizations in my riding that receive funding and thank you for all their contributions to the people in your community. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the member for Etobicole, Lake Shore. Well, thank you Mr. Speaker and spring is in the air and I'd like to highlight that it's been an absolute pleasure over the last week knocking on doors and getting to hear some of my constituents what their thoughts are and seeing the kids and their smiley faces. And it reminded me of an event I attended last February or just past February. It was a graduation ceremony for recipients from a local college and it was recipients from the Black Youth Action Plan. Now graduating from the Canadian College of Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals, this talented and smart young professionals are helping to improve black youth representation in the health sector technologies and they just didn't graduate from school, they were going to work the next day. So congratulations to all those graduates. And I'd like to thank Umbreen Akkar, Jadain Bhattai who's the Senior Administrative Officer President Syed Hussein all from the Canadian College of Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals for inviting me to join them in the afternoon. You know Ontario's health care field has some of the most innovative and hardest working professionals in the world and with funding like the Black Youth Action Plan it pays dividends in both recipients lives as well as the end user in the health care system. Now because of the great success of this program and on behalf of the Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism Michael Ford, I had the pleasure of announcing a further funding for this program for the College of $600,000. This is great news for those communities and I just want to congratulate the workers once again. Thank you very much. That concludes our Member's statements for this morning.