 member statements the member for Niagara Falls thank you mr. Speaker this week I rose in the legislature and told this government they must act to fix one of the biggest issues facing my community housing since then I've been inundated with messages from the people of Niagara telling me their stories both those renting and looking to enter the housing market heartbreaking stories of people leaving their families and their towns they were raised in because they can't afford housing there's no denying it this is a crisis and it's a responsibility of all levels of government to address it it's not complicated it takes political will and determination present a policy solution we can take concrete steps today to ease this crisis and assure communities like Niagara aren't torn apart by unaffordable housing market we can start by making renting more affordable and providing those with renting security like ending the unfair rent evictions we can we can help first-time home buyers get into the market by assisting with their down payments home ownership provides stability financial security and it shouldn't just be a dream for young people in this province and ultimately we must take on greedy billionaires speculators flippers and bad developers to cool the completely unstable housing market too many young families renting are going to bed at night wondering if they'll ever own a home of their own too many seniors are wondering if they'll be the next victim of rent evictions struggling to find housing on a fixed income we can't let the current and past government's failures drive us into even more of a housing crisis is someone in our community is facing a house housing insecurity that's a failure we must all address thank you member for Niagara West thank you mr. speaker an important project which has united local residents in Niagara West is the redevelopment of our West Niagara Hospital a campaign which has brought together neighbors businesses municipalities and frontline care providers in our community I'm excited to provide my community with another update and an important step forward in building our new hospital infrastructure Ontario and Hamilton health sciences recently announced the three teams pre-qualified to undertake the rehabilitation project selection criteria includes design construction capability experience qualified personnel and financial capacity to undertake a project of this size and scope the pre-qualified teams for the hospital build our amico saser alliance elaston infrastructure health care and pomeru health care partners a request for proposals is expected to be issued to these pre-qualified teams in the summer of 2021 and once submissions are received infrastructure Ontario and Hamilton health sciences will evaluate the proposals select a preferred team and then negotiate a final contract the successful team is expected to be announced in spring of 2022 a fairness monitor will oversee the entire procurement process this is good news for the constituents of Niagara West speaker as we are eagerly awaiting of the opening of our new hospital I want to assure residents in Niagara that the government of Ontario remains committed to making sure this build is completed in a timely way we will not stop fighting for this expedited build until the new doors of our hospital open I want to thank our provincial and municipal partners including the leadership of premium forward on this important project as well as the passionate volunteers and local front line providers involved with the save and rebuild campaign together we will build our new hospital the member for Parkdale high park speaker people are tired frontline health care workers essential workers parents teachers students children the list goes on we're tired of this government shoot from the hip policies and handling of the pandemic I got my vaccine last week thanks to Vax hunters someone happened to see the tweet texted it to me luckily I didn't have any more meetings grabbed my kid hopped into the car drove 30 minutes and got into a line with about a thousand other people so many things had to align and still it took three hours why is it that we have to go on a vaccine hunt these are realities we didn't need to face this pandemic as hard as it is then on top of that this government makes life unnecessarily difficult by closing outdoor amenities for everyone how did you come up with such an irrational policy the science and the data doesn't support it the people don't support it did the premier just wake up one morning and think let's close the only thing people can do safely during the pandemic please we'd like to hear the logic behind it the chair of the science table himself said that closing outdoor amenities was not recommended in fact the opposite Toronto Public Health is asking the province to open outdoor amenities and sports it's low risk and good for mental health finally speaker i want to say we really want to see a plan for a safe return to in-person learning i've given up for the rest of the school year but come september we want our kids back in school no more last-minute announcements no more just winging it you've got plenty of time don't mess it up again and thank you but i remind members to please make their comments through the chair not directly across the floor member statements the member for peterborough core thank you speaker this week is national nursing week in canada and yesterday was international nurses day in a normal year many of us would talk about appreciating what a nurse does or how the nurse made us feel when they helped us this year's a little different though speaker joce patterson was my mother's youngest sister the godmother of my daughter and a nurse at prhc in peterborough right up until she was diagnosed with glioblastoma in fact they discovered the brain tumor while she was working that's how much she loved her job a section of prhc has been named after her because of the care she provided my sister started as psw became an rpn and then went to o u it while we're well nursing full-time and became an rn she's been in rn for a number of years now at prhc the ccac the lin and returning back to prhc because of covet she's been redeployed to a gta hospital and is currently nursing patients with covet 19 i haven't seen my sister since last summer because of covet but we talk frequently on the phone and i hear the pain in her voice like other nurses she's doing everything possible so those patients can go home speaker if we want to show our appreciation to nurses this week follow the health guidelines so that no nurse has to watch someone fight to breathe remember for london north center throughout the pandemic we've been told to stay home but what about those who are struggling to keep a roof over there or have no home at all according to the london housing stability report there is no available vacant rental housing that is affordable for londoners with low to moderate incomes this means that more and more london families are being pushed out of their housing with nowhere else to go tragically london lost four people in just four days due to chronic homelessness earlier this month these are our neighbors and they should still be with us today we simply can't afford to lose one more person to homelessness london programs like wish coalition have stepped up and have done phenomenal work trying to ensure londoners are safe supported and housed during the pandemic but they can't do it alone for decades successive governments have made the housing crisis worse and worse by cutting and capping funding for municipal homelessness prevention programs no one in Ontario should be denied the basic human right of a safe place to live especially during a pandemic it's time the provincial government invested in affordable housing again so that people can find housing that meets their needs the time to act is now thank you thank you member statements the member for Ottawa south thank you very much mr speaker on friday may 14th is children and youth in care day and there are approximately 12 000 children youth in care in Ontario they're living with extended family group homes foster homes and they're amongst the most vulnerable group in ontario many are survivors of violence and abuse some are refugees some have developmental disabilities and these kids there are responsibility as legislators so you've probably heard me say a few times in this chamber my dad used to work with the family court when i was young so he looked out for kids who came from broken homes who got into trouble with a law or who are truants and he always made sure that none of them got left behind and he took his responsibility for these kids just like he took his responsibility for the three of us at the time my sisters and I and that's the same thing that we have to do with these kids there are responsibility that's the mantle that we take when we come here so today we celebrate their strength and the resilience will also pledging to protect and support their growth and help them thrive so i want to just say thank you to the ontario association of children's aid societies for your ongoing advocacy and unwavering support for our children and youth in care thank you thank you member statements the member for Perth wellington thank you speaker speaker the signed wars are raging trevor court owner of speedy glass enlist will fired the first shot his target the dairy queen next door trevor wrote on his business marquee signed hey dq want to have a sign war it didn't take long for aamie hamilton owner of the dq to fire back you bet your glass we do the enlist will and surrounding communities throughout perth wellington hundreds of businesses churches charities and other organizations soon joined in atwood presbyterian took aim at dq hey dq our son our sundays are the best in millbank and amaze didn't mince words are you two chicken to get broasted by an out of towner the war is heating up and the world is taking notice the bbc and the washington post have covered it the bbc quoted trevor of speedy of speedy glass there's businesses that compete against each other that are poking fun at each other and people are laughing together again smiling at each other it's brought our community very close to the last seven days and he's right this is still a stressful time for people in a tough time for local businesses we need reasons to come together we need reasons to smile in the sign wars there are no losers even so i want to remind everyone that they stay at home order is still in effect so please stick to inside jokes thank you member statements member for hamilton mountain thank you very much mr. speaker tomorrow is youth in care day a day where we recognize the challenges youth in care face and honor their resilience it is also a day for us legislators to remember our obligation to the 12 000 youth in care in Ontario we all know these youth have had a difficult time during this pandemic this government canceled safety regulations like in person home inspections police checks and they increase the limits of kids per foster home these young people also lost their child advocate to the government's cuts despite these challenges that they face young people with lived experience have stepped up to push for better they fought to put a moratorium on youth aging out of care during the pandemic and they won they've been pushing for a ready readiness-based system for leaving care and they finally have the government's ear kudos to Cheyenne Ratman and to the Ontario Children's Advancement Coalition for the great work on that issue and some groups like youth empowering youth are stepping in to fill the void by the cut to the child advocate's office so i am encouraged by these young people who are pushing for change i've met so many of them in my past 10 years as the critic for children's services and i've watched them grow up i want them to know that new democrats are with you and i am so proud to honor you today and every day thank you member statements to member for flamberl glanbrook good morning mr. speaker i would like to extend birthday greetings to miss audrey johnson who celebrates her 104th birthday this week audrey is currently living at bathony lodge in unionville but she lived in capriol until she retired to move to southern Ontario to be closer to her family audrey worked with my mother in administration for national steel at the moose mountain mine outside of capriol while a resident of the town she could be found volunteering at any number of community events her sense of civic duty continued after retirement as she was a hospital volunteer at her local hospital in southern Ontario she retired from volunteering at the age of 100 that's also when she gave up her driver's license because she said she was getting a little tired but then she started volunteering at the nursing home but before she retired she received her 50-year volunteer pin for her years of service we should all aspire to be like audrey even though through times of tragedy such as the loss of her very young daughter audrey and she is a picture of calm of grace and of class she has worked hard and has always given back to her community so on behalf of the Ontario legislature all your neighbors and friends in capriol your friends and family audrey a very happy 104th birthday member statements the member for barry anisville thank you speaker as many people in the legislature know the second tuesday of may every year marks action the provincial day of action on litter it's our government's way to continue its strong effort to reduce the amount of waste going into our landfill and making sure that we reduce litter and our waterways including our lakes and our rivers we know that by bringing awareness to the impacts of waste on our environment and encouraging people to take action at home and in their communities this work will ensure we keep our environment clean and healthy for future generations meaningful change happens when we individually become more aware of our own actions when we all work together even the smallest individual acts of change have substantial benefits and our communities prosper socially and environmentally the provincial day of action may be just one day but every day must be considered an opportunity for us to make impacts and improvements to reduce our impact on the environment that is why the day of action on litter is so important because we all know that improving our environment starts at home in my own writing of barry anisville i'm proud to see so many dedicated individuals and organizations who have taken the initiative to clean up litter around our lake and green spaces not just on the day of action on litter but throughout the whole year in 2020 youth for lake simcoe founder zoe completed six cleanups collecting nine recycling bags 8.5 garbage bags and they continue to advocate and promote the day of action on litter by encouraging all interians to get involved and get outside and help be the change local charity group barry uh barry unite has also done cleanups clean up barry and they're tackling the 10 worst places in in barry to clean up so i want to thank all of them for taking action on litter thank you point of order the minister of children community and social services thank you very much mr speaker for recognizing me this morning i just wanted to point out that a very important person in the legislature uh was born on this day may 13th of 1970 i'm not sure if it was a friday or not but he is our government house leader and he only wants one thing for his birthday and paul colander would like to answer as many opposition questions as he could today in a moment he'll get his chance leader of the official opposition has a point of order well thanks speaker and i want to wish congratulations and happy birthday to the government house leader but also to uh brethen sing the mpp for brampton east it's his birthday today as well so happy birthday to both of you happy birthday point of order the leader of the opposition thank you speaker now on a more solemn point of order i seek unanimous consent for the house to observe a moment of silence for the 187 ontarians who have succumbed to COVID-19 over the past week under the opposition is seeking the unanimous consent of the house to have a moment's silence now for the 187 ontarians who succumbed to COVID-19 over the past week agreed agreed members will please rise thank you very much members will please take their seats