 It is now time for Member Statements and I recognize a member from Ottawa Centre. Thank you Speaker. Lately we're used to hearing stories about economic hardship, businesses without customers and workers without jobs, but what I'm not used to hearing about Speaker in Ottawa are examples of employers who are using this moment to throw workers under the bus. But unfortunately that is what's happening at the Ottawa Sheraton Hotel. This week Speaker without a letter, without a phone call or without an email management told workers in this hotel that they were terminated. Terminated 70 family supporting jobs, speaker jobs that sent kids to school allowed people to retirement and dignity gone. The union was trying to extend recall rights in this workplace so workers could come back once the pandemic was over and tourism was up and running again. But the offshore company that manages this hotel speaker has decided to treat workers in this place as if they're disposable. Well I have a message for Ketsing Investments. If you think you can throw workers at the Ottawa Sheraton Hotel under the bus and face no consequences, you are wrong. Effective immediately, I am supporting the boycott called for at the Ottawa Sheraton Hotel by the union in this workplace, Unite Here Local 260, and I am going to be contacting my friends in government, the union movement and other community organizations to stay away from your hotel until those recall issues are put back into place. Those workers made your hotel successful. You owe them the respect to make sure they can continue making the Ottawa Sheraton Hotel a success. Do the right thing Ketsing Investments. Do the right thing by your workers who make this hotel great. Thank you very much. The next statement, the member for Mississauga Lakeshore. Thank you Speaker. Over the last month I was honored to host a virtual pre-budget consultation in Mississauga Lakeshore. We heard an incredible range of ideas and priorities from community leaders who are dealing with the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 in healthcare, in long-term care. We were joined by Bayshore Healthcare and Alba Medical. We welcomed many small businesses from fired up to Stone Hooker Brewery, Hub Climbing and I Create Art Studio. Told us about the devastating economic impact of COVID-19 but also shared constructive ideas to help ensure a safe reopening and a strong recovery. Representatives from Hart House Hospice, Dorothy Lay Hospice and the Canadian Grief Alliance spoke about the unique challenges they're dealing with. The Mississauga Senior Council presented their ideas to make life easier and my Youth Advisory Council including students from UTM, Ryerson and Guelph spoke about their adapting with e-learning. I would like to thank the Minister of Finance for joining us to listen to the people in Mississauga. Speaker, as the member from Perth Wellington said, the best ideas don't come from Queen's Park, they come from the people we represent and that was certainly true again this year. So again, I'd like to thank everyone who attended or even just made a submission online. I know that your feedback has been invaluable to helping to shape the 2021 Ontario budget which will be heard more about later on today. Thank you. Thank you very much. The next statement, the member for Algoma Manitoulin. Thank you, Speaker. I want to thank the members who have reached out from Algoma Manitoulin to me to raise their concerns in regards to the government's rollout of the vaccine. Many communities in Northern Ontario, particularly in Algoma Manitoulin, the information they're receiving from this provincial government does not match what is happening on the ground in northern communities. Vaccines are late coming to Northern Ontario and very slow coming out in dribs and drabs. Here's an inquiry that I got from a resident from Manitoulin Island. Her name is Pam. I'm writing to you as I am very concerned about the length of time it's taking to vaccinate our population. Our island has a large seniors population and with that, and with the long weekend of May coming, we are very concerned. That is, we need far more vaccines here to get our aging population vaccinated. There's another message that I receive from John. John's from Elliott Lake. As you know, Speaker, Elliott Lake is comprised of many seniors. It's built on seniors' population. At this rate, he says, he thinks that at this rate has been received vaccines were weeks away from completing the vaccination to our residents. 80 plus while southern Ontario people are starting to get the 75 plus. This is the confusion that people are seeing across Algoma Manitoulin is we're not getting the vaccines in Northern Ontario. We're not asking for more, but we're certainly asking for an equitable distribution of the vaccines so that Northerners can get their fair share of vaccines. Thank you very much. The next member statement, member for Etobicoke Lakeshore. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And Speaker, I rise this morning bearing sad news from the mimical community in my riding of Etobicoke Lakeshore. Natalia Bolto of San Remo Bakery, a family-owned staple in our community for over 50 years, recently passed away from COVID-19 at the age of 75. Natalia was a loving husband, dedicated father, supportive no-no, and a true local champion. Natalia immigrated to Canada from Italy at the age of 15 where he began working at the bakery in Little Italy. He later opened San Remo Bakery in 1969 alongside his brothers. Natalia became a sole owner of San Remo in the 90s and his sons Rob, Nick and Eddie, have carried on the legacy. Although he retired, he could always be seen around the bakery as it was his passion. He was an incredible baker, and he said the secret to baking was putting a pinch of love into everything, which comes to no surprise as you can taste the love and dedication in every pastry or a doughnut. Natalia was hardworking, resilient, and resourceful. He created lifelong relationships with those who frequented the bakery. He is loved by all, but most importantly, he is loved by his family more than anything. This is a devastating loss for both the family, the mimical community who could feel the passion and the loss when they all lined the streets around the bakery to say goodbye to the friend of our community and a presence that was larger than life. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the member for Brampton East. Thank you, Speaker. It's always a pleasure to rise in this house. Brampton is a city of over 600,000 people, yet we only have one hospital that is chronically overcrowded and underfunded. People in Brampton are genuinely afraid to attend the single hospital in our city. They're afraid of facing long wait times. They're afraid of being treated in the hallway. They're afraid of not getting the healthcare support that they needed at their desperate time. It's so bad at Brampton that a healthcare crisis was declared before COVID-19. Now, at a time of crisis, you don't drag your feet. You act decisively to fix the issue, and that's why the NDP is calling on the conservative government to build another hospital in Brampton. But now is not the time for half-measures. Brampton, at this point, needs a permanent solution to address our healthcare crisis, and that's why the NDP is demanding that Brampton Civic gets properly funded, that Peel Memorial gets converted from a health centre into a full hospital, and also that we build a third hospital in Brampton. Brampton does not deserve anything less than that because Bramptonians deserve to live in a city where they're not afraid to access healthcare. They deserve to live in a city where they're not afraid of being treated in a hallway. Brampton has been left behind for far too long. Enough is enough. The conservative government must act now. They must act now to fix Brampton's healthcare crisis and ensure that people in Brampton can access healthcare in a dignified and respectful manner. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. Member Statements, the Member for Milton. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to announce that our community of Milton will be receiving 416 new long-term care beds as part of our government's historic investment of $933 million. Speaker, this is a tremendous announcement for our community of Milton. This is in addition to the 192 beds that have already been previously announced for Milton. Now, 224 new spaces for Milpont Manor and 192 new spaces for exelegant care. They will also offer services to the Muslim community in Milton. Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House are delivering results each and every single day. That's 608 new long-term care beds for Milton, alone, Mr. Speaker. Now, let's compare that to the embarrassing record of the previous Liberal government who only built 611 new spaces in the entire province, Mr. Speaker, between the years of 2011 and 2018. I'm proud to be part of a government that prioritizes our seniors and takes action to support them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The next Member Statement, the Member for York Centre. Last Tuesday, the Premier said that there is no politician who would disagree with the Medical Officer of Health because doing so would amount to tying a rope around your neck and going off a bridge. You see, the reason we're in lockdown is not science, but political science. And there's no one that's been harmed more by Doug Ford's politics than Ontario's children. Children are traumatized after being home for months against the advice of most doctors. I'm going to interrupt the Member and remind him that he's got to refer to other members by either their ministerial title or by their writing name. Can resume. But there's no one that's been harmed more by the Premier's politics than Ontario's children. Children are traumatized after being home for months against the advice of most doctors out of public health. They're almost at no risk and they rarely transmit COVID. But this government continues to inflict harm on our kids at school when they're forced behind plexiglass, gagging into silence during lunch, confined to a box drawn on asphalt and forced to wear masks outdoors. Where is the science? What science is leading to this cruelty? But after school, the trauma continues. Sports, athletics and dance are cancelled. Parents tell me how their depressed kids are bursting with energy but taken out at the kitchen table. In addition to eating disorders, they develop anxiety. Shutting down kids' sports is terrible for kids' health and mental health. According to Dr. Watson of Wisconsin, there's truly no documented incidence of transmission between athletes. But why not let kids practice slap shots or skating skills or work on their dribble and free throws or dance in their own space? Why are you making up stuff in an attempt to distract from your failure to protect wonderful seniors? Ask the Member to withdraw his unparliamentary comment. Withdrawing. You're scaring children into being afraid of normal life and you're ruining their health and mental health. Stop doing it. Let kids be kids again. Let them live again. Bring back sports and bring it back now. Please. Thank you. The next Member's statement. The Member for Markham. Thank you. I rise today with a heavy heart to make this statement. After the British left in Sri Lanka in 1948, the Sri Lankan-Chinkali Sovanistic Government started their anti-democratic operation with a series of pogroms, ethnic cleansing, colonization of Tamil traditional homeland and genocide against the Tamil. This lead to the death of hundreds of thousands of Tamil and brutal massacres of innocent women and children. In response, the Ilam Tamil have resisted passively for years. In 2009, in the final stage of the war, Sri Lankan armed forces suppressed the Tamil resistance, massacring more than 147,000 people. Sadly, the Office of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights Council denied the justice for the Ilam Tamil people by refusing to recognize the Tamil genocide. On March 14th, work for the justice group, rectified kilometer for burial in cold weather during this terrible pandemic, which took place in Queen's Park on March 18th last week. They plead to the Canadian Prime Minister, Secretary-General and the Khai Commission of UN, UNHRC member countries to intervene and protect the Tamil from the on-going genocidal activities in Sri Lanka. UN report warned that the failure of Sri Lanka to address fast violation has significantly heightened the risk of human rights violation being repeated. Mr. Speaker, over 300,000 Tamil Canadians proudly call Ontario as their home. Each have a story to tell about their loved ones. They have a faith in us to take their voices to the federal government. I completely request this House as the federal government to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Code which can appoint a country-specific rapporteur for Sri Lanka to monitor and report to the international community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Next member, Davenport. Good morning, Mr. Speaker. It's always a pleasure to stand here in the House of my community, the great writing of Davenport. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, about a week ago I had to write a letter to the Minister of Health about an issue that's very deeply concerned to my community. Years ago, members of the Portuguese-speaking community in the GTA came together with mental health providers to address the lack of mental health and addiction services in their language available throughout the GTA. A community mental health program was developed with a psychiatrist supervising a bunch of clinicians. It's operated out of the University Health Network Western Hospital for many years now. It serves about 1,000 patients a year. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks ago I learned that they're not taking referrals anymore and, in fact, we believe this program is being shut down. Mr. Speaker, I wrote to the Minister of Health a week ago. I have yet to receive a response at all. No calls, no emails, no letters. People in the community are deeply concerned about this and I will add, Mr. Speaker, we have learned that the Spanish-speaking program and the Chinese language program are also at risk. When will this Minister of Health step up and please protect this community? These are many of our frontline providers. People are experiencing trauma, addiction, mental health issues. We need to make sure they receive these services in their language. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the member for Don Valley North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm deeply troubled by the recent of brutal assaults and senseless murders targeting Asian businesses and communities since the pandemic. Some people think horrific acts of racism happens only in the United States. The fact is, according to the Vancouver Police Department, the city has seen a 717% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes from 2019 to 2020. Speaker, people feel frustrated during the pandemic but it's not the fault of the Chinese or Asian people that the first case happened to be in China. On behalf of my constituents in Don Valley North, I call upon all Canadians to speak out and act against any form of racism. Those few who maliciously stir up hatred against the Asian community on social media must be held accountable for the rhetoric that fuels the frames of viral anti-Asian racism that creates division within our society. Along with disturbing incidents of racism, I also witness the spirit of encouragement and support for Asians experiencing racism and violence. Speaker, I'm confident that the Canadian spirit will sign through these dark times to inspire us to counter the hatred with Canadians and to commit the peaceful unity for all Canadians. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.