 Good. Therefore, it is now time for Members' Statements, the Member from Hurr-Umbres. Thank you very much, Speaker. It's my pleasure this afternoon to invite everyone here in the House and for those of you watching to the 100th International Applying Match and Rural Expo. It's being hosted in Huron County this year near the village of Walton, and this is a wonderful way to come and embrace the very best of rural community as well as have an increased awareness and have a better understanding of food production in Ontario. This match is historic for many reasons. It's the 100th match, but for the first time in many years the inside and outside exhibitor space has been completely sold out. We have a record number of competitors in the plowing competitions, and there's so much to be offered. The local host community has done such a beautiful job pulling a program together. They've had 40 volunteer committees working diligently for the past three years to make sure there's something for everyone. And to give you an example, you don't want to miss the competitive plowing. There's going to be motor cross exhibitions. There's going to be dancing tractors, which you don't want to miss. There's going to be live music. We have the Mudmen, Next Generation Lehi, which for those of you who might put pieces together. That's Natalie McMaster and Donnell Lehi's family. Eric Ethridge, George Canyon. We have amazing exhibits that showcase not only the best of our countryside but our coastline as well. I look forward to seeing all of my MPP colleagues on opening day. It's going to be a match that truly is historic as I mentioned before. Thank you. Further member Saban, the member from Nickelbelt. Thank you, Speaker. Today I am so pleased to invite everyone to the 50th anniversary of the NDP in Nickelbelt. It all started 50 years ago in 1967 when Eli Martel was elected for what was then Sudbury East became Nickelbelt. He served for 20 years until his daughter, Shelley Martels, was elected in 87 and also served for 20 years. I was elected in 2007. Floyd Logren also represented Nickelbelt for 27 years. Do you know of any other riding in this province that have stayed in the same hands for half of a century? Well, we don't, but we are very happy to be able to celebrate with friends and foes. Local actors and performers, Steph Paquette, will bring us back to 1967 with the peace and love movement and the bell-bottom pans all the way to present-time tweets and Instagram. You will enjoy 50 years of music, arts, movie, a bit of politics, I must say, and lots of laugh. Former leaders Stephen Lewis, Michael Cassidy, Howard Hampton will all take part, as well as current NDP leader Andrea Horvath and many of my MPP colleagues that are here. The celebration is on October 14. It's a Saturday at the Steel Hall in Sudbury. You can see me for ticket or call 705-692-1097. It will be a great party. Hope to see you all there. Thank you. Thank you, Speaker, and I'm pleased to rise today to speak about the anniversary of a great festival that happened in my community of Davenport. This past June, the Big On Bloor Festival of Arts and Culture turned 10 and marked this milestone with an expanded program that drew thousands of people from all across the city to come and experience Bloordale. Big On Bloor remains a festival that celebrates Davenport as one of the most artistic writings in the province. In fact, there were over 100 artists from around the world who participated in this year's festivities, with live music, performances of dance and theater, murals, and a brand new outdoor art fair. The neighborhood was alive and showcased all of the great art and culture that Davenport has to offer. And art wasn't the only thing that brought people together to Bloordale in Davenport. Over 100 shops and vendors lined the streets showcasing the fantastic food, beautiful jewelry, and delightful arts and crafts that are made in our community. I want to thank the organizers, volunteers, and sponsors who helped to make this festival such a success. It truly is a testament to the Bloordale community that big gets bigger and better every year. I invite all members from across the province to join us next year in my writing of Davenport to shop, eat, and experience, and enjoy Bloordale. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Member for Perth Wellington. Thank you, Speaker. I am happy to report that the Ontario Energy Board has approved natural gas to service more of Perth Wellington. We're told that natural gas will come to Melbourne later this fall and to Rostock and Workburg by the middle of 2018. It may have taken a while, but it's still good news. I want to acknowledge the township of Perth East, Mayor Boggman Millen, Council, and staff for making it happen. Years of hard work are paying off. I would also like to thank Union Gas for advancing this proposal with the Ontario Energy Board and working with the township to overcome obstacles along the way. I was pleased to support this proposal from day one. We wrote to the OEB, the MOE, and the Ministry of Economic Development, Employment, and Infrastructure, and to the Premier. This is why this is so important. Along with propane and diesel fuel, natural gas is a vital part of our energy mix, especially for those of us living in rural and small town Ontario. So to extend service to Perth East is just common sense. It will lower energy costs for hundreds of residents and business owners and make our community a more attractive place to invest. It is encouraging that this government is coming around to the benefits of natural gas. Until recently, they wanted to ban natural gas altogether under their so-called Climate Change Action Plan. Again, I congratulate the town of Perth East and everyone involved in a successful application. Thank you, Speaker. Two weeks ago today, Windsor and Essex County once again faced an incredible amount of rainfall that resulted in a lot of our constituents' homes flooding. A number of basements were flooded. Right now, it is up to 6,000 and still counting. By comparison, last September, there were about 3,000 homes that were flooded. Officials are warning that there could be further delays with garbage collection. Although over the weekend, we did see 26 garbage trucks come in from Toronto, so we have to thank Toronto and other municipalities who have collaborated with Windsor and Essex County to send the extra garbage trucks down our way. More than 4,000 tons of garbage has been hauled away, and this is only some of the garbage so far. They're having a difficult time keeping up as more and more people have to rip out items from their basement and put them out at curbside. We've seen an increase in the number of rats that are out in the neighbourhoods now, and they're thinking it may take up to five more weeks in order to complete the collection just from the flood. Many of these homes were flooded because of sewer backup, and unfortunately, under the disaster recovery assistance program through the province, they will not be covered to have any of their belongings replaced and their private insurance either will not cover it or they had their private insurance taken away from them after the last flood. Our municipalities spent a great deal of time with other municipalities trying to coordinate garbage pickup. It would have been nice if in the future the four different ministries that were contacted would have helped coordinate the effort. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Five years ago this Friday, a constituent of mine, Jayesh Prashapatti, who was working at a gas station at Rose Lawn Avenue and Marley in my area, was tragically run over, dragged to his death while doing his job, and he left his wife and an 11-year-old son. Finally, the police made an arrest of the accused who had been on the run for a number of years, and this week the trial of the accused begins down the street on University Avenue, and all this could have been avoided if the minimum wage worker was paid properly, didn't have his pay taken, didn't have the stolen gas taken out of his pay, and if there was a system of prepayment at the pump, which in British Columbia has totally eliminated gas and gas. So, let us hope that the death of Jayesh Prashapatti is not in vain, the justice will be served, and that finally we come to our senses in this province and protect vulnerable minimum wage workers who risk their lives when they work at a gas station. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Further member States, the member from Nippison. Thank you, Speaker. The opioid crisis in Ontario has hit my riding as well as many others very hard. We had 15 fentanyl-related deaths, which thankfully have been curbed since the introduction of the patch-for-patch program, the focus of my private members bill, which was adopted into law back in 2015. But clearly, more must be done. The town of Madawa passed a resolution recently backing a call seeking provincial support to deal with the opioid crisis on a local level. Their resolution called for the province to, quote, enhance our local response by ensuring all places that support vulnerable people, as well as first responders, have access to naloxone and training in its use. It echoes the call from our caucus and our leader Patrick Brown for a, quote, provincially funded public opioid education campaign. The town of Madawa notes Ontario has witnessed 13 years of increasing deaths due to opioid overdoses and numbers show a 19% increase in 2016. Communities across the province need support. We are eager to see how the government's response translates into action and help at the local level with this crisis. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. Further member statements to Chief Governor Whitman and the member from St. Catharine's. Mr. Speaker, a welcome, as I'm confident many of the Niagara Peninsula will, the introduction of Bill 139, Building Better Communities and Conserving Watersheds Act. In the aspect of conserving watersheds, we will be requiring municipalities to consult with the public when considering amalgamating conservation authorities. We are going to enable municipalities to set the term of a member's appointment and replace members as appropriate. We're being assured that there's much more accountability taking place than was the case in the past, and this was brought about as a result of extensive consultations undertaken by the ministry to ensure that that, in fact, would happen. The information was available and the public had input. To our proposed changes to the Conservation Authorities Act, we're aiming to strengthen oversight and accountability to ensure decisions about Ontario's natural resources are made in accordance with modern expectations for participation and transparency. Oversight of conservation authority operations is a responsibility of the Board. However, there are situations where ministry review is necessary. We're proposing to enhance the ministry's authority in these situations by enabling the minister to require a conservation authority to disclose or publish information on program services or operations. This would help shed light on perceived issues with conservation authority decisions and ensure access to information. We're also requiring the broadness scope of their bylaws to include codes of conduct and conflict of interest guidelines. Thank you. Further members' statements? The member from Foran Hill. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I just want to talk today a little bit about it's called the Giving Tree, and it's based in Unionville. It's to raise awareness of children about their community and to advocate any of their concerns. They're having the second annual celebration of hope this Saturday, 9 a.m. at the Millennium Bandstand in Unionville. It's going to be a busy time in York Region. It's also the Thornhill Village Festival, and people can walk over, ride their bikes over. There won't be parking in the middle of the festival as usually, so try to make it over without a car if you can. I would just want to say that kids in York Region have gotten very engaged, not just through their schools, but through community groups like this. Shanta Sandarison is the founder of the Giving Tree, and I asked her, and she did get the name from one of my favorite Schell Silverstein books. You guys may recall the Giving Tree, and it's about the circle of life and a tree and giving back to a little boy. So these children, I'm just going to give one example that there was a pond in Unionville that had been a skating destination for decades, and Markham City Council decided to stop skating because of liability concerns, and the kids went and spoke at council on their own behalf and got the skating band lifted. So I'm really proud of the kids, and there's going to be an unveiling of a tree stump seat that it's from a tree that was cut down by a developer, and they're raising awareness this Saturday about the fact that many trees do get cut down when there's construction in our communities, and it's very important that we replace these trees. So thank you very much for the time to highlight it, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. I thank all members for their statements. It's therefore now time for reports by committees.