 It is now time for member statements. I recognize the member for Scarborough Southwest. Thank you, Speaker. I rise today to recognize the great work our local business associations, namely the crossroads of the Danforth BIA and the Scarborough Business Associations, have been doing to support and advocate for our small businesses in my riding of Scarborough Southwest. I joined the leader of the official opposition to meet with these BIAs a few weeks ago. And they shared with us the struggles the local businesses are facing and the work they're doing to help local businesses get through this pandemic. It is clear, Mr. Speaker, that these businesses need support, need more support from this government if they're to keep their doors open after this pandemic, especially as we head towards a second wave. Last week, the Ontario NDP presented an updated plan on how we would support small businesses. And I am proud to stand by this plan that proposes exactly what the business communities have been calling for. The updated measures include a ban on commercial evictions, a no-strings-attached rent subsidy of 75 percent, which would be a significant improvement on the CCRA, a utility payment freeze, a limit on food delivery fees to help our restaurants, a mandate to reduce commercial vehicle insurance rates, and preventing insurance companies from denying business interruption insurance. Mr. Speaker, businesses in Scarborough, Southwest and across this province need our support urgently. So I call on the Premier and his government to take the necessary steps and adopt our safe Main Street plan and protect the backbone of our economy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Member Statements, the Member for Haldeman, Norfolk. Speaker, on Simcoe and assist those without a home, those suffering from mental health problems and with addiction to narcotic analgesics, I was very pleased to have my colleague Steve Clark, Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, join me in Simcoe to announce over $3.1 million through our Home for Good program. This funding will renovate the downtown Simcoe Norfolk Hotel into a three-story, 50-unit hotel residence, supportive housing, and when completed, the complex will include seven accessible units, community space and commercial units at street level. We congratulate all who have been involved with the Norfolk Inn renovation, the team at Indwell, shoulders construction, the broader business and social service community, volunteers and the fundraisers. Haldeman, Norfolk County and the Haldeman, Norfolk Housing Authority continued to lead in providing quality affordable housing. Speaker, homelessness is a serious issue and those experiencing homelessness often have complex needs. This is a critical project to help provide some of the most vulnerable members of our community with a roof over their head, access to programs to stabilize their lives, find employment and become contributing members of our society. Thank you, Speaker. Member Stevens, the member for Thunder Bay Attic-Holken. Thank you, Speaker. Last Wednesday, I was saddened to learn that a student at a coal grond Morgan in Thunder Bay tested positive for COVID-19. My heart goes out to the student, the parents and all those affected. And when I saw this news, all I could think is this conservative government needs to get its act together. They had no plan. We knew all summer a second wave was coming, yet where were they? For parents in my riding, no plan means there are no good choices. Parents can send their children to school where cases are rising. At the same time, fewer people are allowed to get a COVID test and there are a few resources. The other option, keeping children at home, requires internet. In many parts of my riding, there is no internet, or no high-speed internet, or it's simply unaffordable. Barbara Sacksburg, copying me on a petition from Oliver Papoonge, sent to T-Baytel about the lack of internet service. T-Baytel responded that they are waiting on this government to decide if they will fund high-speed internet to 1,752 addresses. So there you have it, on COVID testing, on education choices for parents, and on rural internet, this government needs a plan. Enough is enough, and now is the time to act. Thank you. The next statement, the member for Brantford, Brant. Thank you, Speaker. Today I am pleased to rise to bring attention to a very special anniversary for one of my constituents. I just want to apologize for being six months late because of the delay with COVID. Dr. John Van Der Toon is a concert organist with an exceptional talent. He has distinguished himself not just by his organ skills, but also by the fact that he can play so well while being blind from birth. Dr. Van Der Toon began his career at age 12. Since that time, he has studied around the world with some of the greatest organists and performed in some of the most noteworthy locations. He honed his craft at a young age in places such as Paris, Amsterdam and the United States, and right here at home in Canada at the University of Western Ontario in London. He is known as an outstanding recital organist and memorizes his repertoire from Braille or by ear. Again, he has performed in locations around the world. He is now this year celebrating his 50th anniversary as a concert organist. To clarify, it has been 50 years since his first complete organ recital at age 12. This is certainly something to celebrate. For the past 50 years, we have been fortunate to have the music of Dr. Van Der Toon standing sounding throughout churches and concert halls in Canada and around the world. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you, Member Statements, Member for Hamilton Mountain. Thank you, Speaker. Over the past few weeks, we've watched the government's awful school reopening plan unfold. We've seen the government vote against our motion for safer, smaller class sizes that would have capped class sizes of 15 students. And now we're seeing COVID-19 cases rising fast. We have 240 confirmed cases in dozens of schools around the province. In Hamilton, I have heard from the, from many parents who feel their child is at risk of falling behind. I've also heard from parents of special needs children not getting the one-on-one support their child needs and educational assistance that support these kids have told me that they are stretched much too thin. Teachers and education workers are burning the candle at both ends, trying to provide in-class and online learning and ensure that students don't fall behind. Further in Hamilton, school buses are being rationed. The boards are rotating buses, bus schedules, because this year we have canceled 17 routes due to a shortage of drivers. And these buses are packed full of kids, so cohorting and distancing isn't possible. At the end of the day, parents and students are feeling the impact. They're wondering, where is the government? As cases of COVID-19 are on the rise again, why won't this government shrink class sizes like the experts recommend? Families should never have to choose between their kids' safety and their education, but that is exactly what this government is forcing them to do. Thank you. Member Statements, the member for Perth Wellington. Thank you, Speaker. On Friday, the United Way, Perth Huron, held their semi-virtual campaign kickoff event. The video presentation featured campaign co-chairs Martin and Katherine Ritzman. Along with Executive Director Ryan Herb, they spoke about some of the in-unignorable issues we face. They share stories about these experiencing poverty, homelessness, and social isolation. These issues are really about people, people in our community who are experiencing hardship. Meeting their needs takes effort and leadership. We have that in the United Way and all the organizations they support. It also takes financial resources. As part of Friday's event, the United Way announced its most ambitious local fundraising campaign goal ever, $1,762,200. Ryan Herb gave a few examples of the kind of help they can provide. We want to be able to help people who might be experiencing a challenge right here. Right now, he said, maybe they need a bit of help paying their rent. Maybe they need a bit of help with paying for that car repair bill so they can get to their job and don't lose it. In response to last year's fundraising goals, the community stepped up. Workplaces of all sizes, hundreds of them, made donations. Let's encourage each other to do it again this year. I'm confident we will do it again, but because that's the kind of community we are. The need is great, but so is our collective capacity to give to everyone involved in the campaign. Thank you for making our community stronger. Thank you, Speaker. Next, the member for Brampton North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My motion calling on the province to provide assistance to Peel Public Health past last week. And the government so far has failed to deliver the help that should have come by now. Help that would have supported more testing, more community outreach, and more proactive work space workplace inspections. What we need is unrestricted funding of the provincial component to hire various staff that can continue to supports, and I'll name the staff that we require, six full-time equivalent public health inspectors, 10 case and contact managers to support COVID now, but also to support other communicable diseases once the pandemic is over, particularly given the backlog to date and concerns of spread as well. Having more permanently would allow flexibility between the COVID response and other infectious diseases. We require eight immunization coordinators to support influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations. One analyst, one coordinator to support harm reduction efforts we have seen opioid overdoses also surge during the pandemic. Additional data coordinators, epidemiologists and analysts all to support public reporting of data, public education around what we are seeing in respect of clusters. So long story short, Mr. Speaker, at least 26 full-time equivalents is what we need, which would come up to a commitment of around $2 million from the province. All of this would go to supporting the continued control of COVID rollout of mass immunization program as well as protecting against influenza. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. The next member's statement, the member for a topical lakeshore. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year at this time I had the privilege to speak at the National Peace Officers Memorial Run kickoff. The event was held right here at Queens Park. The memorial run honors the hundreds of police and peace officers who have died in the line of duty. Last year's event saw runners start here at Queens Park and run along the 460 kilometer route to the Canadian police and peace office memorial in our nation's capital. This year the event was canceled in Toronto due to COVID-19 restrictions and a muted ceremony was held in Ottawa. This is a chance to reflect and honor those peace officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their community. This year four more names were sadly added to the honor roll including that of RCMP constable Heidi Stevenson who died in the shooting rampage in April in Nova Scotia. Every day peace officers face challenging circumstances, difficult decisions and complex workloads. Often their work is silent, preventative and unseen. And sometimes their jobs require them to put themselves in harm's way to keep others safe. It's heartening to know that we can always count on our frontline responders to keep us safe. Thank you to all our police and peace officers for your service to your country and to your community. Thank you. Thank you very much. The next member's statement, the member for Ottawa West and Appian. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. For those of us who are from Ottawa, we will remember the late Max Keeping, our former CTV Ottawa news anchor for many, many years. And Max was well known in our community for always bringing us together in our moments of greatest challenges. And throughout the COVID-19 pandemic we have seen that in the city of Ottawa his legacy lives on. At the onset of the pandemic the United Way of Eastern Ontario under their CEO Michael Allen brought together all of the community organizations and agencies across Ottawa on a COVID-19 community response table. I was honoured to sit on that table as the provincial government's representative alongside these representatives of agencies, different levels of government and local businesses. And just as Max taught us during this incredibly difficult period the community rallied. We made sure that different agencies, businesses and political leaders were working together to tackle the challenges of gender based violence, mental health issues, refugee supports. And we saw some really fantastic innovative solutions come out from all of that. So on behalf of the government of Ontario I would like to thank the United Way of Eastern Ontario for their leadership. Thank all of the agencies across Ottawa who have been valiantly working together to address this challenge. And to the people of Ottawa I want to say thank you. I know that Maxkeeping is smiling down on all of us. Thank you Mr. Speaker.