 Member statements. Member statements. He's a minister. Point of order. Minister. If you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to allow members to wear gold ribbon lapel pins in recognition of September being Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Mr. Flack is seeking the unanimous consent of the House to allow members to wear gold ribbon lapel pins in recognition of September being Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Agree? Agree. Member statements. I recognize the member for Cambridge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Excuse me, I've got a cough. Some of my writing of Cambridge was truly one of celebration. In July of the first, my wife, Suzanne, and I had the pleasure of taking part in the Canada Day Parade. It was amazing to see thousands of children and adults line the parade route to celebrate our country's 156th birthday. It was a commitment of sponsors, organizers, volunteers that make the Cambridge Canada Day Parade celebration one of the biggest and best in the entire country. And it was truly an honour to be part of it. The parade, as well as the celebrations, was followed by an event in Riverside Park and was an opportunity to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the City of Cambridge. Later that month in July, my community hosted the Cambridge Scottish Festival. Year after year, thousands of residents and visitors descend on Churchill Park to celebrate everything Scottish. The pipe bands, dancers, athletes and vendors do a wonderful job of highlighting their Scottish culture and heritage. Finally, the much anticipated grand opening of the Gaslight District took place in late July. Literally, thousands of people of all ages attended the free three-day event to witness the transformation of this historical Grand Ave property. It was amazing. As a member of Parliament, I am proud of this development and happy to see so many people near and far experiencing everything that we have to offer. Thank you. Thank you. Member Statements. Member for Ottawa Centre. Thank you, Speaker. Last Thursday, I left Ottawa at 6.30 in the morning on my bicycle bound for this place. We called it the safety ride. Our goal was to get here in four days and I'm proud to say we made it with the support of colleagues and friends along the way. We stopped in Kingston, in Brighton, in Oshawa, in Scarborough and we ended here on the front lawn of the legislature. Our goal was to hear from people and families about vulnerable road users. And to talk about our private members bill, we're working on Bill 40, the Moving Ontarians Safely Act. Speaker, as we stopped in community after community, we heard stories that I will never forget. I talked to Anita Armstrong about her daughter, Serene Armstrong, who is now 14 years old and will live the rest of her life with a critical brain injury after being hit as she crossed the street in Ottawa by a driver who fled the scene. We met with Jess Speaker and Meredith Wilkinson, two cyclists in this great city of Toronto who have critical lifelong injuries after being hit in our streets. I talked to Chris, a paramedic, who was responding to an urgency at the side of the road and whose paramedic bus was hit by a driver who was driving recklessly. Speaker, the unfortunate reality is that the number of pedestrians and cyclists and other vulnerable road users being killed is not going down. Today, statistics bear that 20 vulnerable road users will be brought into emergency room departments after being struck down by a careless driver. We have to change our laws and urge members to support Bill 40. Thank you. Thank you. Member Statements, the Member for Mississauga Malton. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, sports is so much more than a game. It is a means to inspire collaboration, confidence and teamwork. When I got elected in 2018, I was shocked to know that we have two high schools in Malton and both lacked much needed sports facilities. Fast forward, colleagues and the resident of Mississauga Malton, I stand here today to share with great joy and gratitude that Malton has two high schools and both have approvals for new track and field facilities. Thank you to Miss Premier Ford and Minister Lache for your leadership and providing tools for local youth to unleash their potential. Your support means a world to me for making my dream come true. The construction of track and field at Lincoln, Alexandria is already underway and the track and field facility at Ascension of Our Lord secondary school stands approved with funds released to make it a reality. With the support of local councillor Caroline Parish, trustee Thomas Thomas, parent council chair Flavian, principal Kylie Richardson, all the staff and the parents. The youth of Malton will now have the tools to repeat the history of achieving gold medal at the Olympics. Once again, Mr. Speaker, it has proved that working together is the best way to achieve anything. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much. Member Stevens, the member for Hamilton Centre. September 30th is the national day for truth and reconciliation, an important day for all settlers across so-called Canada to reckon with the ongoing colonial impacts of colonization on Indigenous communities across Turtle Island. As the MPP from Hamilton Centre representing a riding on Haudenosaunee and Oshinaabe territory, it is important for me to name in this house the current impacts of colonization today. In Hamilton Centre, Indigenous people represent a disproportionate number of houseless community members and there is actually an encampment of mainly Indigenous people in Victoria Park in my riding. Parts of Six Nations still does not have access to clean drinking water either, a direct result of colonization. It is embarrassing that we are on stolen land and the rightful owners of this land do not have access to what they need in order to survive. I call on this government to end the boil water advisories in this province to give land back to listen to the demands of grassy, narrow First Nations and to stop putting profit before the lives of people in this province. I will be at Gage Park on September 30th in celebration and in reflection with Indigenous community members and I ask that everybody do the same on this day. Thank you. Thank you very much. Member's statements. The Member for Scarborough, Agent Corrie. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On June 19, 2023, after years of delay and failed promises, the Brighton Town Neighborhood Centre, BNC, became a reality. It was my pleasure and honour to join the Premier at the groundbreaking ceremony. It was a historic day for Scarborough Agent Court and the Scarborough residents. Once completed, this critical hub will provide vital health and social service and job opportunities to our residents. The State of the Art building will provide the space for community organisations such as Care First Seniors Association, Hong Fook Mental Health Association and Seniors People Living Connected. These institutions will provide mental health services, health and fitness support, licensed childcare services, much needed seniors healthy active living programs and health promotion. The facility will also have an indoor pool and gymnasium. The Scarborough Health Networks Dialysis and Chronic Disease Clinic will have 45 dialysis treatment stations and nine home training stations. All these services will provide our residents and families with a healthy living to enhance their well-being and improve their quality of life. People of all ages will benefit from this facility. I am gratified to deliver on my campaign promises. Thank you to the United Way YMCA Scarborough Health Network. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the member for London Fanshawe. Thank you, Speaker. By an overwhelming majority, most a common issue in my office we hear is about housing. Regardless of whether the dream is of ownership, renting, so many working in Terence still find it almost impossible to find a safe, affordable place to live. Beyond that, the situation is much more grim for those most vulnerable members of our community who are literally dying on waiting lists for placements for rent, gear to income housing. My staff work with homeless individuals, low-income seniors, families on a weekly basis, desperately struggling to find affordable housing. One of my constituents, Rodrigo, has been on the social housing waiting list for three years. He is sick with cancer, has epilepsy and diabetes. His wife has fibromyalgia. Despite having urgent status, he is still languishing on the wait list with no end in sight. He is an ODSP recipient but cannot find an affordable place to live with the confines of the meager ODSP allowances. The housing crisis is mentioned daily in this building, yet the government refuses to take meaningful actions that would help people like Rodrigo. Ontarians deserve real rent controls, policies to increase the supply of affordable co-op and subsidized housing, meaningful improvements to the landlord-tenant board to provide tenants and landlords alike fair and timely access, and increase the social assistance rates to give people a livable income. This government needs to commit to policies that will help those in need instead of focusing on solutions to help their insider friends. Thank you. Member Statements, the Member for Hastings, Lennox and Addington. Mr Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise today and speak about the wonderful community of Bankcraft and the amazing community members there for bringing new diagnostic care to Quinty Health North Hastings Hospital. The Back the Cat initiative, as it's known locally, launched a grassroots community project to help rates funds for a new CT scanner in Bankcraft. Starting last April with a goal of $2.8 million. And in that short time, I'm incredibly proud to say that they have achieved 99% of that goal. In fact, that they've already started construction of the space in anticipation. This is incredibly exciting for a community of only 4,000 people. I have to thank the Minister of Health for approving the installation and supporting the effort by approving the operating costs for the CT scanner. These services will improve the lives of people in North Hastings County for years to come. Anyone in North Hastings requiring a CT scan right now has to travel more than two hours each way to the nearest scanner. And for many of these trips, they need to use an ambulance and have a nurse travel with the patient. This CT scanner will provide not only faster and more comfortable patient services, allowing the family to stay with them. It will also result in literally hundreds of thousands of dollars of savings. Thank you very much. Member Statements. Member for Ottawa, Vanier. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Located in my writing, Beachwood Cemetery is Canada's national cemetery and has been serving Canadians since 1873. It is my pleasure to rise today to congratulate Beachwood Cemetery on its 150th anniversary. I had the privilege to participate in two great events to commemorate this anniversary. One was an appreciation gala with 150 special guests and the burial of a time capsule to be open in 150 years. Of course, I won't be there for that one. Beachwood has been a feature of Ottawa and continues to be the final resting place for many Canadians, members of the armed force, veterans, RCMP and Ottawa police, as well as countless cultural and religious communities. This is a very important cemetery in our community because whether it is a guided visit of the site or other events or organization in order to collect food for the food bank, this cemetery is actually a place that needs to be discovered. It has been an important landmark for both Canada and the City of Ottawa with a long-standing focus on community, dignity and remembrance. Beachwood has seen Canada become the country it is. I am proud that Beachwood is part of my writing about Ottawa, Vanier, and I'll be there this weekend for the truth and reconciliation day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member statements, the member for Bruce Gray Owen Sound. Thank you, Speaker. Colleagues, this morning I'm very pleased to rise in this house to tell you about an historic day for Bruce Gray Owen Sound, the opening of the newly constructed Markdale Hospital. September 14th was a beautiful morning in Markdale, as most are, and it was so great to welcome the Premier and Minister of Health to our community. The new Markdale Hospital is an absolutely stunning model for state-of-the-art healthcare. The rooms are spacious and beautifully equipped, the hallways are wide and the ceilings are high, and there is high tech equipment everywhere. Thank you, Premier, Minister of Health and our PC team for your commitment to build new healthcare infrastructure all over Ontario. Thank you, Centre Gray Health Services Foundation, Darlene Lemberte, Harvey Fraser, the Board of Directors, and especially our Markdale and Gray Highlands communities for your incredible support to the hospital. Thank you, Brightshore's Health System, CEO Gary Sims, Board Chair Joanne Fluelling, the management team and the entire board for your leadership in delivering this beautiful hospital. Thank you, Bill Walker, our outstanding past MPP for Bruce Gray Owen Sound for your determined efforts to make this project a reality. Thank you to the incredible team at Bird Construction for delivering this project on time, on budget. Thank you, Mayor Paul McQueen, Deputy Mayor Dane Mielsen and Curt and past members of Council, colleagues. This is the future of healthcare in Ontario, and it was great to see it on the morning in Markdale. Thank you very much. Thank you, Member Statements, the Member for Ajax. Thank you, Speaker. Today I rise to highlight the closing of September as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, a time when we come together to raise awareness and support for those affected by this disease. The Walnut Foundation and non-profit charities at the forefront of this advocacy tirelessly work in to educate and provide vital support for Prostate Cancer. In June, I had the honour of participating in the ninth walk of the path Walkathon along with Minister Parza and Ivan Dawns from the United Painters Allied Trades who exemplifies the power of community advocacy. Speaker, one in eight men will face Prostate Cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. Black men are 76% more likely to be diagnosed and 2.2 times more likely to succumb to this disease. However, it is imperative to understand that early detection make an overwhelming difference in this disease. For those in the higher risk groups, continual vigilance is very important. For you, your tests are covered fully by OHIP. I encourage all men to take charge of their health, schedule your annual physicals and engage in candid conversations with your doctor and family. Prostate Cancer is not the end. Remember, a diagnosis is not a death sentence. Early testing holds the power to save lives. I encourage you to be proactive and have hard conversations and get tested today. In closing, let's recognize the invaluable work of organisations by the Walnut Foundation and Ivan Dawns, whose unwavering dedication provides support for those impacted by this disease. Thank you. That concludes our Member's statements for this morning.