 It is now time for Member Statements, a member from Huron, Bruce. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. I rise today to discuss an important topic to Ontario's future, and that is rural health care. And it's my understanding, specifically during the bear pit session yesterday at Roman Good Roads, we heard a lot from municipalities with regards to the importance of rural health care. But there's two hospitals in my riding that require attention by this government. The South Bruce-Gray Health Centre, specifically their Chesley Restorative Care Unit, as well as the Concern Hospital. First, the RCU, the Chesley Restorative Care Unit, is part of a 10-bed approach to help patients regain their independence after acute phases of illness with the expectation that they would be able to return home. The closure of this unit, scheduled for spring, will push patients and they'll have to remain in hospital for a longer period until their discharge or until a bed in a long-term care facility becomes available. This will end up costing more in the long term rather than getting patients back home and improving the quality of life. The Restorative Care Unit is a model that should be followed by this government. And secondly, the Concern Hospital. I've spoke about this situation before. In 2008, they were promised dollars by the Liberal government. In August 2011, this community had a carrot dangled in front of them with the promise of a new hospital build. And now today, in 2015, nothing has come to fruition. Just today, Concern and Cure and Kids Laws approached the minister to say, please help us, our hospitals, in disrepair. We need this government to focus on rural health care. Thank you. Thank you. Member Statement. Member from Windsor West. Thank you, Mr. President. Dana Belly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My writing of Windsor West has to offer when it comes to building partnerships in our community. She's the owner and founder of Art Indeed, an organization that provides a wide range of holistic based art programs at her studio and community organizations across town, including the Alzheimer's Society of Windsor and Essex County. Alzheimer's, as many in this chamber know, is the most common form of dementia and is both devastating and incurable. Speaker, I'm proud of the work Art Indeed is doing with the Alzheimer's Society of Windsor and Essex County. I recently toured the society and was impressed by the quality of services that are offered like education and counseling for people suffering from Alzheimer's and related dementias along with their families. Last year alone, the society offered over 3,000 counseling sessions, 110 support group meetings and distributed over 7,000 information packages, all while self-funding 35% of their annual budget. With the number of people suffering from dementia expected to double in a generation, I'm thankful for the creative partnering of Art Indeed and the Alzheimer's Society. I think all members in this chamber will agree that we should help foster these relationships as we search for ways to fight and live with Alzheimer's and related dementias. Thank you. Member Stenitz, the member from Halton. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to rise today in the legislature and acknowledge some very special Ontario talent that gained international recognition on the world's biggest stage over the weekend. Like many people throughout the province, the country and across the globe, I tuned in to watch the Oscars on Sunday. And while some may have been watching the stunning dresses, outstanding music and really inspiring performances, it was really the awards that were being handed out that drew most people's attention. I'm pleased to say that our province was very well represented in the winners' circle. You see, Director Chris Williams, who was raised in Kitchener and later attended the animation program at Sheridan College in Oakville, took home the Oscar for best animated feature for Big Hero 6. Not to be outdone, Craig Mann, born in Oakville, won a best sound mixing Oscar for his work on the film Whiplash. Speaker, it's clear that these Oscar victories were both very well deserved. To have local talent succeed at the highest levels is inspiring and something we should all celebrate. I want you to know that this is a reminder of what can be achieved with hard work, passion and determination. Their outstanding success reminds us all that we must continue to support local talent and ensure that we are doing all that we can to help Ontarians realize their full potential. I'd like to congratulate both of these local artists and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Member Stevens, the member from Kitchener, Connor Stolgoff. Well thank you, Speaker. I want to thank the Canadian National Institute for the Blind for coming to Queen's Park today. And thank them for all they do to support blind or partially sighted Canadians and helping them build the confidence and skills to go about their daily lives. I've always been a strong advocate for the work CNIB does. Whether that be providing audio books or hard copy books written in Braille, giving peer support for those that feel depressed or angry with their vision loss or teaching CNIB clients tips on how to complete tasks many of us take for advantage in our daily lives. I personally struggle with care of the conus, a degenerative disorder of the eye where the cornea thins and changes shape to a more cone like structure causing substantial distortion of my vision. Luckily I have a way to deal with my eye condition using special contact lenses. I understand the struggle many Ontarians face and how critical post vision loss rehabilitation therapy is to our health care system. As a member of this legislature, I look forward to working with CNIB as they move forward on their path to change to ensure our vision care in Ontario's health care system supports our aging population and those who need special vision care. I welcome all MPPs and their staff to the reception this evening in the dining room from 6 to 8 p.m. and speak with those from CNIB so you can learn more about the important support they provide across Ontario and throughout Canada. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. I like to use my time to highlight something I see happening across my riding and across the province. We're seeing people really starting to support their local communities by buying local. Returning to local farmers markets, local wineries and local workers to highlight a few examples. They're even going on stay occasions where they stay at home and see their local sites and entertainment, giving back to their community and the tourist sector. I've been calling on communities to buy local for years. I'm very happy to see so many people are supporting that initiative. In my riding, I like to commend Dan Patterson, President of Niagara College, for opening up the pre-qualifying bid process, so bids for local contractors. This kind of thing creates an opportunity for skilled tradespeople who live and work in Niagara by expanding the list of pre-qualifying bidders they are able to include two local companies. By making room for locals and supporting our local electricians, construction workers and builders, we're making sure good, decent jobs get back into our community that will come from this. I like to see this trend continue, especially with our new hospital in Niagara Falls. Mr. Speaker, I like to see this province buy local and support our local wineries and our local arts and culture across the province. By taking into account areas where there's high unemployment and by focusing on buy local strategies, we can put good, hard-working Ontarians back to work. Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to stand in the House today to celebrate a remarkable person from my riding of New Market Aurora. On February the 15th, I had the opportunity to present a long-time Northern York region resident, Della Taylor, with a certificate to honor her 100th birthday. Della was born on February the 9th, 1915, on a farm near the beautiful hamlet of Lloyd Town, not too far from my riding and in the township of King. This was a significant year, not only for Della and her parents, but also for the shaping of Canada's future, for it was the early days of the Great War which forged our nation's early identity. Della's strong constitution was built on the family farm where she learned not only how to run a household, but also how to run a farm. It was on this farm that she met her future husband, William. With the 1930s came the Great Depression, yet Della and William did not let that stop them from marrying in 1934. That union resulted in three children, William, Barbara and Bernard, as well as five great-grandchildren and 12 great-great-grandchildren. Mr. Speaker, these are the people who, reaching 100 years of age, is a great milestone. And through their hard work and selflessness and determination, this generation was witness to a country coming of age. And we thank Della Taylor and her friends and her family for building a fantastic province and a fantastic country. Della Taylor, we thank you and happy birthday. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, the members from Prince Edward, please, thanks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the member opposite was earlier referencing Sunday Night's Oscar Awards, and quite a show it was, as the red carpet was rolled out in Los Angeles, and they handed out the Oscars in California. Well, there's a big event this weekend in Belleville. They'll be rolling out the green carpet for the fourth annual 2015 Belleville Downtown Dock Fest. And who knows, we may have some future Oscar winners as a result of having their films on display this weekend in downtown Belleville. And by the way, Lady Gaga was great on Sunday Night doing the sound of Music Medley. I loved it, loved it. But I digress. The International Documentary Film Festival kicks off with the screening of Keep On, Keepin' On on Friday Night at the Empire Theater. And the film tells the story of an unlikely mentorship between jazz legend Clark Terry and Justin Coughlin, who's a young piano prodigy. And Coughlin is actually going to be on stage at the empire as well as the film is being played. And then he's going to Centennial Secondary School, and he's going to be meeting with 150 music students from nine local high schools in the region and talking about the film and just talking to them about music. So the film festival, while it's a great opportunity to show 50 different documentaries over the three-day festival, it's also an opportunity to engage young people. And I think that's what this is all about at a number of different locations throughout Belleville's core. The Doc Fest offers local filmmakers, as I mentioned, an opportunity to show off their work. 14 local filmmakers will have their docs hit the screen, including Belleville's Aaron Bell. And the story that he's telling is Crawford family of champions, and Floyd Crawford moved to Belleville in the 1950s. He became the captain of Belleville's McFarlane's hockey team that went on in 1959 to win the world championship. But the big story is the offspring, there are nine of them who have gone on to incredible things, including Mark Crawford, who won coach of the year in the NHL in a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche. So congratulations to everybody involved in Belleville's downtown Doc Fest, and I look forward to hitting the green carpet on Friday night. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Member Stavitz, the member from Davenport. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'd like to take this opportunity to recognize an organization doing tremendous work in my riding of Davenport. In January, I visited Safe Haven Project for Community Living, a respite center providing care for children with multiple disabilities and complex medical needs. For over 25 years, Safe Haven's doors have been open to help children from zero to 18 with special needs in Toronto and central Ontario region. Safe Haven provides a unique service as it recognizes that very rarely do children with special needs fit into exclusive silos of care. Children at Safe Haven are treated for numerous conditions and many aren't able to walk, see, or hear. Safe Haven is equipped with high quality, trained, and very motivated staff with expertise in dealing with children with many complex ailments. And children at Safe Haven are granted a room equipped with specially designed beds to suit the needs of the specific child. And importantly, families remain involved in all aspects of their child's life at Safe Haven. When I tour their great facilities at Safe Haven, I met with many of the children as well as several dedicated staff members, including Beverly Gordon and Kimberly Godwa. Beverly started Safe Haven 25 years ago and will be retiring in March. I'm proud to say that our government has generously supported the important services provided at Safe Haven. The Ministry of Children and Youth Services has provided over $200,000 in out-of-home respite funding as well as money to facilitate renewing the building this year. Mr. Speaker, I am humbled to represent this fantastic organization and I look forward to assisting them any way I can. Thank you. Thank you. Member Stevens, Member from the Kitchener Center. Mr. Speaker, this past Sunday I was honored to be invited to speak at the Kitchener Majeed to a large gathering of my constituents in the Muslim community on a very serious issue, and that is domestic abuse. This is a deeply disturbing issue that affects many families and crosses all boundaries, no matter the social, cultural, or economic context. Violence and harassment against women should not be tolerated, and for women who find themselves in these circumstances, they need to know that there is help for them. This is the message that I delivered to the gathering. In 2013, our government introduced the Domestic Violence Action Plan, which included $14.5 million in increased funding for women's shelters. Mr. Speaker, within some communities, it's very difficult for women to leave an abusive relationship as they face shame and isolation. Although they've done nothing wrong, they're accused of dishonoring their families by going public with the abuse that they're living with. I was recently asked to chair the select committee on sexual violence and harassment against women. Our job is going to be to address prevention and consider ways to shift social norms and other barriers that prevent people from coming forward. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the people who attended the event at the Kitchener Majeed for being courageous enough to want to talk about domestic abuse, and I say let's keep the conversation going. Thank you. Nice. I thank all members for their statements.