 therefore it's time for members statements the member from Whitby Oshawa. Thank you speaker I rise today to speak about girls incorporated of Durham and the issues that young women face in our communities are real and profound bullying sexual harassment of violence all have severe negative physical and mental health consequences girls incorporated of Durham is a local charity in my community serving 1600 young women each year and dedicated to supporting mentoring and guiding young women in a safe environment the staff and volunteers deliver in school and community-based programs that tackle self-esteem bullying sexual assault and healthy relationships speaker girls incorporated of Durham also works to improve the conditions in which all young women live by advocating for legislation and policies that improve their chances to succeed speaker girls incorporated of Durham seeks to inspire all young women to be strong smart and bold to reach their full potential and I want to recognize the outstanding work of staff and volunteers and the effect they have in the broader region of Durham community thank you speaker thank you thank you Mr. Speaker two weeks ago this house passed my motion which was to put a gender lens on any budget that comes forth and this is what that means and this is what we expect to see this afternoon because poverty has a woman's face in Canada and in Ontario we want a minimum wage that's at least $15 an hour we want affordable childcare now and we want public affordable childcare now not after the next election now we want housing we want affordable housing and that means doing the repairs on TCHC housing but also new bills we need that because again homelessness is a woman's issue we need a rise in social assistance rates because again most women single-headed families the face of poverty is a woman's face they need that raise and again Toronto is a child poverty capital of Canada which means it's the woman's poverty capital of Canada we need that address and we need equal pay for equal work if Iceland can do it we can do it right here in Ontario and I would say Mr. Speaker that we do not get what we're asking for if we do not have a gender lens on the budget then this isn't a democratic budget it's not a budget for everyone it's only a budget for men that's not democratic that's patriarchal we need a gender lens thank you thank you thank you Speaker some 167 years ago in Massachusetts a special church service was dedicated to children first named rose day then flower day that special day is now known as international Children's Day Children's Day was first declared a national holiday by the Republic of Turkey in 1929 today international Children's Day is observed worldwide it focuses attention on the rights and potential of children it stresses the duty of governments companies families and communities to protect defend and enhance the conditions and environment in which children are born raised educated and cared for in southern Ontario the Turkish Society of Canada leads in celebrating the potential of young Ontarians each April international Children's Day attracts thousands of attendees to Nathan Phillips Square to showcase music dance song and art by children congratulations to the Turkish Society of Canada for organizing International Children's Day and to its enthusiastic core of volunteers special recognition goes to President Nalan Gokaj and to our Mississauga residents Vice President Cenk Sayin and Director Ruchan Akok thanks also to Turkey's Consul General Erdini Shen for the consulates ongoing support I was pleased to attend again this year I was I give thanks for my own special welcome and that given for our extraordinary family member Merlin thank you Speaker thank you for the member statements the member from Kitchener Conest, thank you I rise Speaker to continue to grow speak to the growing problem of the opiate crisis here in Ontario today I'll table my bill the illegal pill press act which would enact measures to combat the use of pill presses and other pharmaceutical equipment by criminals who flood our communities with illegal counterfeit narcotics in my consultation I heard many heartbreaking stories speaker from law enforcement crime prevention advocates and medical professionals on the impact of opiate use in the province the illegal pill press act would make it an offense with jail time to possess a pill press without authorization under the act health Canada has indicated that just two milligrams of fentanyl is a killing dose and RCMP officers are finding pills on-site bus containing up to six milligrams of fentanyl as we know from the Ontario Drug Policy Network two Ontarians die every day from the opiate overdoses and of course this is unacceptable these death machines can turn out 18,000 pills an hour and from basements and warehouses laced with doses of opiates like the fentanyl that is destroying so many lives in our province drug dealers are not pharmaceutical companies they don't care about quality control or patient safety any one of the pills they can produce have a daily hotspot fentanyl using these pills are playing Russian roulette with your life speaker there is no defensible reason for an individual to possess one of these machines we need to punish these criminals to protect our society to protect our communities and to protect our loved ones of course I want to thank our leader Patrick Brown the PC caucus for their support and I hope others will support the illegal pill press act thank you further member statements the member for Bramley Gore-Multon thank you very much mr. Speaker I want to share with you the story of Jamie Lee ball you might have heard the story of Jamie Lee ball in reported in newspapers recently just last month Jamie Lee ball was admitted to the hospital Brampton Civic Hospital in my in the region appeal when she was admitted she had felt some internal pain some pain in her stomach following an operation she was admitted and was kept in the hallways for five days while she was quote screaming in pain an ER doctor confirmed that she was indeed bleeding internally and that she would need an IV in addition to perhaps a blood transfusion for five days she was kept in the hallway with on a stretcher with no pillow and just three thin sheets of separating her from the public this is completely unacceptable and the reality is this is just the norm now in the province the Brampton Civic indicated they can handle 250 patients per day but last month they had on average 357 per day this is a direct result of a government that's cut hospital budgets for over five years their direct cut of this budget has resulted in a health care system that is eroding we need a government that's committed to funding proportional to inflation and population growth this government is not shown that they care the people of this province deserve better and new Democrats will deliver thank you mr. Speaker I want to make Ontarians aware of an extraordinary program that's starting my writing of Ottawa venue that I have the great honor of represent the dragonfly program for people with Elmer's see drum dance which offers incredible dance programs to all sectors of society children adults people with disability as the artistic director says she thinks the world is a better place if people know how to dance it was therefore very natural for this very proactive school of dance to host dragonfly program which for the last 10 years provides life skills training for learners with down syndrome it supports them in their schooling math literacy photography dance and really it's based on the best educational policies and practices from around the world the latest initiative is to have an entrepreneurial forum that will take place in June and the forum is designed by the school of dance with the learners with down syndrome indeed they know all these learners want to be autonomous and they know what they want to do but often they are told they put in places in jobs where people think about what they could do and this the entrepreneurship forum will allow them to gain life skills and career opportunity for them designed by them indeed there's going to sell photographs that have been made on postcards by by the learners I just want to salute these fabulous students in Ottawa venue thank you thank you mr. Speaker to separate church bombings in Egypt killed 42 people and injured more than 100 this past Palm Sunday the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the deadly blasts which took place on one of the holiest days for the Christian church this was yet another example of persecution resulting from a historical campaign of persecuting Coptic Christians based on their faith more than a hundred Coptic Christians have been killed in Egypt since 2011 more than in the previous 10 years combined radical extremists have painted marks on Christian-owned businesses to indicate potential targets and warn people not to make purchases forcing many of their shops to close down violence against Egypt Christians in Egypt has been on the rise but unfortunately it is not the exception across the world an average of 332 Christians are killed each month in 214 churches and properties destroyed Christians are the most persecuted group in the world St. John the Evangelist Church here in Toronto experienced an act of arson on the morning of Easter Sunday persecution occurs everywhere I want to raise awareness of these hostilities because few people recognize the reality of Christian persecution the ongoing persecution of Christians in the Middle East has already forced thousands of men women and children to flee for their lives it is no exaggeration to call this targeting of a faith-based group a modern attempt at genocide we must remain vigilant and condemn hostilities based on religious affiliation wherever they occur no one in the 21st century should face violence and the threat of death because of their faith it is too easy to believe that such violence could never happen here in Ontario but if we ignore persecution in other countries individuals can bring it here also thank you thank you mr. Speaker I'm honoured to rise legislature and share some personal thoughts on the late Ron Moser the former city councillor who passed away earlier this month I first met Ron 1988 we were actually elected on the same day November 14th at that time there are many new phases on Scarborough council including my colleagues from the Bass Bucke soon Shreene Shaw, Fran Johnson, Paul Maschinski and myself in fact six of the 14 new councillors on Scarborough city council were new rookies we were sworn in together on December 1st of that year and to this day I remember the infectious smile that he always had on his face didn't take long for us to become close friends Ron was always on his mobile phone and when he when I asked him why he spent so much time on his device he was simply explained to me I needed to stay in touch with my constituents he became known and famous for holding appointments with constituents every day that began at 7 a.m. usually with us city staff in tow he was the first advocate for the creation of the Scarborough park and leaves behind an incredible legacy in his community my thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Heather there are three incredible children Tammy Cindy and Selena grandchildren Colin Brooke and Logan and sudden-laws Mark and Jeff I'm proud to consider Ron a dear friend and I'll miss him dearly thank you speaker thank you for the number of statements the number from for you thank you mr. Speaker last Monday we celebrate the play out order here at the legislative assembly of Ontario and I would like to say that we had many recipients of this order a gate in Gervais Madeleine Mayor mrs. Mayor Marcel Gibro Sylvie Landry Gérard Malor and I nominated Thierry Lassure and Thierry it's been 15 years 25 years rather that he served the association world in education culture and francophony and I would like to explain that mr. Lassure is one of the ambassadors for the francophone community and received his honor for his work and his engagement in serving the french-speaking public within the metropolitan police of Toronto also at the police forces college and many other organizations I would like to say too that he explained to me that anglophones are francophiles and francophones of culture and it's true thank you mr. Speaker I thank all members for their statements just before we move on to the next section of routine