 It's time for member statements to member from Leeds-Grenville. Speaker I rise with sadness to celebrate the life of Elaine McClintock who passed away last week. Elaine left the world a much better place for her time in it. She cared for her community with the same passion and commitment she displayed in her nursing career. Elaine volunteered for and helped many lead many organizations and all were made stronger by her involvement. She and John, her beloved husband of 58 years, founded the Leeds-Grenville chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society in 1965. John suffered from MS and was blessed to have Elaine by a side. Together they raised hundreds of thousands for local support services and research. Elaine was also a tireless champion for accessibility and equal opportunity. She and John helped found the non-profit education for quality accessibility and became the go-to experts for business and government. The physical improvements to our community from their work are countless but equally important is how they changed attitudes. They opened our eyes to the barriers seen and unseen that people with a disability face every day. That's a tremendous legacy and Elaine is dearly missed by the many whose lives she made better. Speaker it was an honor to call Elaine a friend and today I ask everyone to join me in celebrating this remarkable life and expressing condolences to John, their sons Mike and James and the entire family. Thank you Speaker. Thank you. Further member statements? The member from Hamilton East, Stony Creek. Wait a minute now let me let me ask a question. Okay I'm just wondering if the member had a moment. Are we good? Member from Hamilton East, Stony Creek. Thank you Speaker. Speaker the persistence of deep poverty in this province is a scandal. Low-income Ontarians are being crushed by hydro and rent increases. Working people can't pull themselves out of poverty because they do not earn a living wage and Ontario desperately low social assistant rates leave families hungry, under housed and sick. One in five children in my city of Hamilton live in poverty. 80% of Hamilton's 20,000 food bank users are spending half or more of their monthly income on rent up from 49% just one year ago. These people are at extreme risk of homelessness. We need more social and affordable housing. We need a $15 minimum wage and we need social assistant rates that meet people's basic needs. This is what Ontarians need from this budget. The time to act is now. A year ago today I introduced legislation to the social assistant rates to the actual cost of living in different Ontario communities. Twice my bill has passed second reading and for the second time it is stalled waiting in committee. People across this province are asking the government to back bill six. When the government act the government must act now. The minister responsible for the poverty reduction strategy and 24 of his colleagues voted for bill six at second reading in September. It is imperative that they back up their votes with real action. Get bill six committee hearings now and I must also add on the first time my bill went through there were even more liberals that stood up including the premier backing this bill but it's still sitting in committee. Something's wrong. Thank you. Thank you. Members statements the member from Durham. Thank you speaker. This morning I had the pleasure of speaking at the Clarendon Board of Trade which is located in my riding of Durham. It was an honor to provide an update to my constituents on the projects that are on the way in Durham as well as answer any questions that they had. Mr. Speaker I was thrilled to share an update on the GO train eastward extension. Something that I know my constituents are very excited about. I too am looking forward to this extension. It's going to improve commutes drive local economic development and improve the quality of life for Durham residents. Mr. Speaker I was also able to share how we will see the benefits of the $19 million investment towards greenhouse competitiveness and innovation initiative right in our community. Agriculture is hugely important for Durham way of life and the provinces greenhouse sector will be able to grow in size innovation and productivity. Among other product project updates I was able to also share how our government is investing $50 million into Ontario colleges. Our colleges and Durham College specifically provides students with fantastic learning experiences and job ready skills. So it was a pleasure to be part of this investment announcement. Mr. Speaker it's always a pleasure to meet with my constituents and provide them with updates on how I'm serving the ride in of Durham. Thank you again to the Clarendon Board of Trade for having me this morning. Thank you for the member's name. It's the member from Haldem and Norfolk. Last weekend I attended the annual meeting of the Long Point Waterfalls Association held at Delta Waterfalls Hunting Heritage and Conservation Center it's a former youth ranger station. The Long Point Waterfallers co-managed public hunting in the provincial park. They put in hundreds of volunteer hours coupled with significant public and private grants improving wetlands in the park. Delta Waterfalls are moving their Canadian headquarters to my riding because Norfolk contains some of the best waterfall habitat in North America. At the former ranger station Delta Waterfalls hosting Heritage Hunt days for apprentice hunters they're hosting 100 safety courses and are looking and having students use the property. All part of a significant long tradition of wildlife conservation down our area. The concept of hunter supporting conservation isn't unique it's the North American model of wildlife conservation many success stories the reintroduction of the wild turkey elk for example and the contributions of hunters to conservation. We're now celebrating this week through National Wildlife Week a week that was to commemorate the birthday of Jack Miner internationally recognized conservationist and a hunter. Thank you. Thank you for the member students the member from Essex. Thanks speaker I want to give a shout out and congratulate the 2017 Officer Boys Hockey Champion from Bell River Bellver Nobles from my hometown. They are Kagan Daherty between the pipe speaker Kagan Daherty Patrick Tippity Shane Lafret the D-men are Dylan O'Neill Nevin Navaco Colton O'Brien Davis Edmonds and the forward the grinders are Owen Mironick Colin Conner Dumbinsky Andrew Thomas Dawson O'Neill Riley Hammond Isaac Hertz Drew Denimie Colton Candido Logan from McFarland Eric LaRue Cody McFarland Ryan Nicholson Hunter Bailey Kagan McGean and Reese Robertson speaker last month they competed in the officer championship in Fort Francis and by all account speaker was an epic final game they were the they were seated at fourth place it was a Cinderella story speaker they came up from nowhere they came from behind to to win in overtime the Nobles scored with 77 seconds left in regular in regulation time and captain Cody McFarland netted the only goal in the five-round shootout to give Bellver a 3-2 win over the number three seed Hamilton St. Mary's Crusaders in the goal in the gold medal final speaker shout out to Cody McFarland who's obviously a sniper shout out to the coaches Dave Bracken Mike Smith who is my son's coach this year he did a great job Justin Pacino Austin Jennings and a special shout out to Ray Bracken who is the the the spirit of hockey in Lakeshore and Bell River for many years he was one of my coaches he epitomizes coaching and volunteering he's an educator himself and he's the reason Bellver hockey has been so successful over so many years great job way to represent boys congratulations for those old timers out there foster you it has nothing on you that's it appreciate that member statements the member from Kingston in the island thank you mr. Speaker it is always a pleasure to rise in this house to share the great research and community initiatives taking place in my riding this past Friday I was invited to visit the Queen's psychology part department by Dr. Christopher Bowie I was thrilled to be joined as well by Dr. Silvan Roy the president of the Ontario Psychological Association and the CEO Dr. Jan Kaspersky I had the pleasure from hearing from psychology students and several clinical psychologists working in the community it was a great opportunity to discuss the work that is being done to address mental health in our community and across the province from the fields leading experts and students students educators researchers and legislators are working together to develop an innovative forward thinking approaches to overcoming some of the challenges in areas such as child development insomnia to end depression through neuroscience as a result the team has made an incredible difference in our schools our hospitals and even in our justice system they are passionate advocates who have earned a reputation for delivering high quality care I appreciated the opportunity to see the next generation of clinical psychologists the students show that same level of community involvement as their mentors among the students projects that were presented Queen's students Jackie and Joyce organized the got your back initiative which provides students experiencing mental health challenges with peer support while educating all students on campus about what they can do to support friends during periods of crisis thank you as a huge advocate for mental health I offer my warmest gratitude for your incredible work thank you thank you further member statements thank you speaker last week nipissing university hosted their fourth robotics competition the four inspiration and recognition of science and technology were first in north bay the event brought in 27 teams of talented individuals from high schools all across Ontario teams match up with some of the world's most cutting edge technology companies to build some truly amazing machines in just six weeks students put together robots designed to compete in high intensity robotic sports the competition tests teams members intellect creativity and overall strategy the first organization inspires our youth to take an interest and pursue careers in science technology and engineering this year's competition saw its fair share of impressive builds but in the end north bay's very own team 1305 came out on top this is the first time a team from north bay has ever swept the competition their outstanding performance has earned them and their robot entitled Clark a spot at the Ontario district championship this coming weekend I wish them the best of luck and I hope to see team 1305 and Clark at the world championships later this month thank you speaker thank you for your member statements the member from the republican north recall Canada unfortunately also experienced an unfortunate event on january 29th 2017 there was a shooting of six individuals in the mosque at the Islamic centre of Quebec in Quebec City six individuals lost their lives I understand others were shot injured 17 children were left homeless sorry fatherless because of that particular incident we'll be welcoming speaker tomorrow in the legislature of Ontario the leadership of the Quebec Islamic centre which will include Imam Hassan Gie who gave a Martin Luther King level funeral oration to Canada and also Mr. Al-Rawani the president of Islamic relief Canada as well as Dr. Benesa manager of the Islamic relief of Canada for Quebec and Mr. Yang we present of the Islamic centre of Quebec to be followed speaker there is also held by the consulate general of Pakistan and the his excellency Imran Siddiqui an exhibit to which all members and I think of almost 300 members of the public are scheduled to attend of Islamic calligraphy I understand that 40 artists their works will be displayed in rooms 228 and 230 the premier of Ontario is scheduled to arrive at approximately 130 to 2 p.m. and I understand other leaders from other parties and indeed all members of the legislature are welcome thank you speaker thank you for the members statements the member from Chatham can ask you speaker as a new official opposition critic for tourism culture and sport it's my pleasure to highlight achievements and on terriel sports and in that spirit I would like to congratulate that Kent Cobra's from my writing of Chatham Kent Essex for winning the Ontario Minor Hockey Association Bandem AE Championships speaker Kent won a hard fought victory in Tilbury tying the series at five points and sending the series back to Brampton where the Cobras conquered the Brampton 45s and over time to win the championship this was a series they were not expected to win but the Brampton 45s are a powerhouse but the Kent Cobras stepped onto the ice in Brampton's championship banner filled barn and were not intimidated after Kent goal was disallowed the team still trailed two to one with just six minutes to play what happened then with 29 seconds left in the third period Matthew Cunningham scored the tying goal to force overtime wow and in true Cobra fashion Dakota Van Gulten struck quickly needing only 58 seconds to score the thrilling overtime winner in the voice of Leafs radio play by playing out to Joe Bowen holy Mackinaw what a goal I'd also like to commend my neighbor and forward Dylan Holly for representing our street proudly this season he will be the hottest road hockey free agent on the block this summer sign them up each and every Kent Cobras should be proud of their team's accomplishment congratulations Kent Cobras thank you very much Don Cherry I thank all members for their statements and