 Member statements. Member for Spadina, Fort York. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's with regret that I I rise to make my member statement today. Two days ago, there was a terrible incident in which a man who appeared to be drunk confronted a family at the jackalate and ferry terminal in my riding. The man repeatedly said, you don't tell me what to do in my province. He continued to move in and pushed the family and repeatedly said the words in my province. I want to thank the family who was confronted in this abhorrent way. They moved their child to safety, called the police, and remained calm as the man became louder and more belligerent. I understand the police are investigating. To the family, I want to offer my sincere apologies. The attitude demonstrated by the man who attacked them do not reflect the values of the people of this province. The strength of this province has been built on the diversity of the people who live here. Such intolerance and belligerence has no place in Ontario. To the man who behaved in such a shameful way, I say to you, this is not your province, this is our province. Your values are not the values of this province and your behaviour is unacceptable and embarrassing. Your intolerance and belligerence will not be tolerated. From the first welcome that was given to us by the First Nations people of this land, we have built a diverse and united community. Ontario's strength lies in celebrating and supporting the diversity of our backgrounds and welcoming each new generation of people who will come to call Ontario home. Thank you. This is a member for Glen Gary Prescott Russell. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our communities at Glen Gary Prescott Russell are wonderful to live, work and raise a family. Our volunteers, our social clubs, our local enterprises and our people are unique, which gives us an excellent quality of life. Mr. Speaker, we now have the proof following the publication in the McLean magazine of the best places to live in Canada and where to buy house in their top ten. Glen Gary Prescott Russell not only had one municipality but two and one of them was in the first place. The municipality of Russell, where I sat as a municipal councillor before my election as MPP and the municipality of La Nation were part of the top ten in Canada. The other factors were the ease of travel, the low crime rate, taxes and even the weather. I'm so proud of my riding and I'm encouraging my colleagues and all Ontarians to come and visit us and see themselves what we have to offer. Mr. Speaker, Ontario is open for business and Glen Gary Prescott Russell is proud and ready to pave the way. Thank you Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge we are on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit River and Nishnabek, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat peoples and that my riding is on the traditional territory of the Ojibwe people of Fort William First Nation signatories to the Robinson Superior Treaty of 1860 and the Lacta Malac First Nation. The riding of Thunder Bay Attic Hoken is a beautiful and natural landscape and extremely and has extremely hardworking, generous and talented citizens. Like all ridings we have had our troubled times. Racism is and needs to be addressed and we are addressing it Mr. Speaker with determination, with many chances for open dialogue, education, art and dedicated committed leadership. When going door to door during the campaign the number one issue was health care. Wanting a hospital that is not in constant gridlock, access to doctors and other health care professionals and much needed mental health and addiction services. I hope that after four years in this legislative assembly we can look back with pride at our behaviour in this chamber, at our progress for a better Ontario for all people, an Ontario where no one is left behind and where justice, opportunity and kindness prevail. Thank you. For statements, the member for Aurora Oak Ridge is Richmond Hill. Thank you Mr. Speaker I would like to bring attention to a great cause that brings people together from all over the world. The Sri Chinmoy One Nest Peace Run. Founded in 1987 and travelled to over 150 nations and territories, the peace run does not seek to raise money or highlight any political cause. Rather the peace run provides an opportunity for people to give expression to their own hopes and dreams for a more peaceful and harmonious world. It is a global torch relay that embodies humanity's universal aspiration for peace. Passing the torch from one person to the next unites us in hopes, dreams and our common aspirations to offer something positive to the world. Mr. Speaker, the torch has been carried over 395,000 miles. Indonesia, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Cambodia, Armenia, Australia are just some of the 150 countries that the torch has travelled to. I met the participants of this great initiative last weekend and I invite everyone to get involved and take part in this great and symbolic activity. Also Mr. Speaker, I would also like to bring everyone's attention to another great event taking place in the great town of Richmond Hill this weekend. The three-day outdoor Richmond Hill Ripfest is taking place this weekend. Ripfest features professional rip teams travelling to Richmond Hill from all across North America. Ribbers cook and compete for various best titles including best sauce, best ribs and decided by honorary judges. Ripfest is taking place at the Richmond Green Sports Center and Park from Friday to Sunday. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you Mr. Speaker. I want to share with my colleagues today a bit about my home community in Regent Park and about some of the fantastic events that our community members are putting on throughout the summer. Regent Park has certainly gone through a significant number of changes in the past few years. It's no secret that we are living and breathing Canada's largest social development project but there are things that haven't changed in Regent. The way our neighbours support each other, the sound of children playing on the playgrounds until late into the evening and a vibrant community where there's always something to do. Throughout the summer, every Wednesday night, we host both the Taste of Regent Park and the Regent Park Film Festival. Families pour out of the buildings and into the park where kids can make smoothies in a bicycle powered blender. Families can enjoy a pay what you can community meal or indulge in a special treat of the week baked in our very own wood-fired community bake oven. Yeah, it is. Last night, Council Fire Native Cultural Center made us Indian tacos in the bake oven and I have to tell you Mr. Speaker, if you've never had an Indian taco, you're certainly missing out. Then after dinner, we gather under the stars and we enjoy the weekly Film Fest. Next week is the animated film Cocoa and I invite all of my colleagues in the legislature to pop on by, it's only a short streetcar ride on the college car. So I'd like to thank and recognize the amazing community partners that put this event on, including the Friends of Regent Park and the Regent Park Film Festival. Thank you. Thanks to the member for Don Valley East. Thank you Mr. Speaker. I wanted to take a moment to recognize an important program that's taking place in my community over the course of the summer and it's called Common Table Market located in Flemington Park which is the neighborhood I grew up in which is part of the new Don Valley East. But before I do that, I just want to take an opportunity to thank the residents of Don Valley East for having confidence in me by electing me. This is the sixth time I was elected. Three times as a trustee and three times as a MPP and I just want to say thank you to the residents of Don Valley East. Mr. Speaker, this incredible initiative, the Common Table Market is an incredible project that's put on by the Flemington Park Ministry and it's an effort to make sure that people in the community have access to healthy nutritional food. There's over 170 families that access this program that are registered and I had the opportunity last week to join many of the families as they came to choose different vegetable choices and fruit choices and to leave with a basket full of food so they can go home and share that with their family. Mr. Speaker, it's important that families have access to nutritional food especially young people as they're growing and as their brain is developing it's important that they get nutritional dense food so they can reach their full potential. So I just want to say thank you on behalf of all the residents of Don Valley East to the Flemington Park Ministry, its organizers, its donors, its volunteers for everything they do to provide good access to good nutritional food in Don Valley East. Members statements? Members from Cambridge. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Last weekend on Friday, July 20th and Saturday, July 21st the beautiful riding of Cambridge hosted the 43rd annual Scottish Festival. You may remember Mr. Speaker that I mentioned this Scottish Festival in my inaugural speech last week. The Scottish Festival was first started in 1975 by Duncan McLaughlin. The games were an instant success and were initially held near the village of Aire. In 1987 the games were moved to Churchill Park and have been held there ever since. Last weekend hundreds of people including myself enjoyed everything the festival had to offer. The drumming and piping competitions, learning about different clan families and clan alley, highland dance and of course the heavy events which included the caber toss and hammer throw. And of course scotch-tasting for those who are interested and I will not say if I participated or not. I would like to extend a thank you and congratulations to the clan chief in Nathan McDonald and the volunteer board of directors Duncan McLeod, Liz Cairns, Marys Leach, Liam Curtin, Chris Geese, Dave Howell, Alicia McLeod, Taffy McLeod and Karen Clark who put this amazing event together year after year and helped to keep Scottish heritage alive and well. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you Mr. Member for Niagara Falls. Thank you Mr. Speaker. I want to thank you for allowing me to rise today and talk about an incredible day we had on running the 83rd Prince of Welles Stakes Tuesday in beautiful fornary racetrack. Our successes keep going and this year we surpass expectations. Broadcast live on TSN 1, 2, 3 and 5 and around the world. Tens of thousands of people watch Wonder Cadot won the big race and Mark Cassie one of the best trainers in the world said that he loves the fornary racetrack. In one day we saw $1.9 million wagered an increase of 34%, $77,000 in food and beverage sales. Of course, the biggest support always comes from the community. We had 15,000 spectators and thousands of people watched the concert after the race and this is a point that's important in this. The concert was incredible. As many as you know it rained on Tuesday so they took the concert that was going to be outside by the track indoors. They took it indoors and what they did is they took it where the slots used to be. Thousands of people were inside where the slots were going to be, where they used to be and what happened is everybody looked around and they said, why don't we have our slots here? Why is the slots not back in a fornary racetrack? The band's plan, everybody was dancing including myself by the way. I'm not going to illustrate that now but the important part here is it was promised by Premier Ford that the slots would come back to Fort Erie and by doing that we could create 250 jobs immediately and help the economy in Fort Erie. So I'm saying to the Conservatives promise made, promise kept, bring the slots back to Fort Erie. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the Member for Brampton South. Thank you Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity to talk about a great initiative that happens in my riding every year. This past weekend a hockey for humanity hosted their annual ball hockey tournament at South Fletcher's Sportsplex. From July 20th to the 22nd hockey players from across Ontario took part in this tournament. As one of the co-founders five years ago I'm proud to say that the Coleslaw Cup has quickly become one of the largest charity ball hockey tournaments in Ontario. A hockey for humanity was founded on the principles of selfless service and service to the community. Every year all the proceeds of the tournament are donated to local charities. Past year we donated money to the right to play. We've also donated money to charities like President's Choice Children's Charity as well as Coleslaw 8. This year the tournament donated the proceeds to Corkbrook an organization that supports individuals and families with developmental disabilities. Their mission is to offer meaningful opportunities for the personal development for individuals with varying levels of abilities. I'm very proud of all the organisers and the volunteers that put so much effort into making this tournament successful. Thank you. Member's statements. Member for Barrie Innisville. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to recognize Jeff Rutledge who is with us today. He's from Innisville from part of my riding. And I wanted to make a statement about Barry Rutledge who does so much for his community. Whether it's helping with the annual Innisville Pitchin Day where the community gathers together to clean up litter or whether it's working to launch an interactive trail or riding around in the fabulous rotary train at local parades. Barry Rutledge is there. As a former OPP officer, Barry and his wife Lynn are always striving to make their community an even better place to live. And every so often he gets together with his former OPP colleagues and they go out for some beers and some wings. But most recently he had some bad indigestion after going out for some beers and wings. And he thought nothing unusual, maybe a day or two, feeling came back after two days. And in his calm and collective fashion he went to his wife Lynn and said not feeling so great, can you take me to the hospital? Well it's a good thing that they did go to the hospital because it turns out as he suspected he was having a heart attack and within minutes of arrival to the hospital it was confirmed. He was transferred to Southlake Hospital where he was given two stints for his recovery. And after that recovery he did join the YMCA Healthy Hearts and joined a cardiovascular program in order to give him the strength that he needs to spend time with his newly born grandchild who just turned 10 months yesterday. So I just wanted to say Mr. Speaker, everyone here, do take care of your cardiovascular health, do what Barry Rutledge did and go to the YMCA, make sure you take your heart health into consideration. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes the time we have for member statements this afternoon.