 It's time for Member Statements. I recognize the Member for Muskegawak James Bay. Good morning, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to ask the Minister of Environment to say no to the De Beers, Canada landfill proposal at Ottawa Piscat First Nation traditional territories. De Beers, Canada wants an approval from Ontario for a third landfill at the old Victor mine site near Ottawa Piscat. While De Beers shut down the mine in 2018, it's now trying to leave behind 100,000 cubic metres of materials. That's about two CN towers of demolition and organic waste. Speaker, what's really concerning about this is that De Beers has not consulted without Ottawa Piscat and that much of the mine waste is recyclable. To add insult to injury, De Beers is using the COVID-19 as an excuse for not taking responsibility to transfer the repurpose of waste accordingly. Canada mining industry is known for its ethics and sustainability, but De Beers' current intentions are at odds with the reputation of our industry. Speaker, Ottawa Piscat's chief and council are asking the Ontario government to do the right thing and reject De Beers' proposal to ensure that this multinational corporation transport this waste out of the sensitive wetlands and watershed of Ottawa Piscat. Thank you. Thank you very much. Member statements, member for Eglinton Lawrence. Speaker, I am very proud that this week Ontario became the first province in Canada to adopt the working definition of antisemitism as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance at their Bucharest plenary on May 26, 2016. Under this definition, antisemitism is defined as a certain perception of Jews which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and or their property toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities. Speaker, the first step in addressing a problem is identifying it and calling it out. Make no mistake, antisemitism continues to be a real problem. According to the Toronto Police Service's annual hate crimes report, 32% of the recorded hate crimes in our city last year were targeted at Jews. Clearly, we still have lots of work to do, but this is a major step forward. I want to thank everyone who helped to make this happen, including those in the Jewish community who raised awareness of this issue for so long, and my colleagues in government who worked to push this idea forward. And I want to make special mention of the member from Branford Branch, with whom I co-sponsored a private member's bill to accomplish this very goal. Together, we will stand united with Ontario's Jewish community and stand firmly against hatred and antisemitism. Thank you. Member Statements, the member for Niagara Falls. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today as the MPP who represents Chippewa, where Betty's restaurant is located. I've seen the backlash caused by the story about the member from Niagara West this week. I want to add my voice on behalf of my community. I know the restaurant. Joe is a friend of mine. He's a good man, a good father, and a great community leader. I know that he's doing everything he can to keep Betty safe and his staff safe. To anyone listening, I want you to know that Betty's is a wonderful restaurant and to encourage you to continue to support it. I want to ask the people to stop holding Joe responsible for what happened. You must understand that Betty's is a restaurant that was overjoyed to have an MPP from Niagara West there along with his family. I'm going to share some statements Joe's wife Bernadette posted due to the backlash Joe has received because of the member of Niagara West's poor choices. And this is his wife. I can no longer tolerate the cruel, nasty, and threatening comments and phone calls my husband Joe or his staff has been receiving these past few days. Honestly, we're all losing much needed sleep over this situation. To attack the character of my husband is both ignorant and hurtful to not only him but to our entire family. For those of you who've made all these terrible comments about my husband without even knowing him, let me tell you he is a man of integrity and a well-respected man in our community. Speaker, Joe and his staff should never be put in this position. I want to say before this House, Joe is a good man who has experienced the unimaginable loss of his daughter this year. I know Joe and his staff tried their best to enforce safety guidelines. Be kind, wear your mask, and help you join me in supporting the staff and the owner of Betty's. Thank you. Member statements, a member for Thornhill. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I want to share a great initiative brought forward by a Thornhill grade 12 student who attends the country day school in King City. Sophia Jaffee realized that many students are struggling during this pandemic to adapt to the new reality of remote learning, so she created a website, elearn.fyi. The site is a database of more than 300 online learning tools, including a civics curriculum founded by Sandra Day O'Connor, a former Supreme Court justice, plus some engineering lessons on how to build a robotic arm. One of her main goals was to get tools from trusted sources while aiming for a wide variety of topics and making the platform as user-friendly as possible. The platform has been described as the Wikipedia of online learning. The materials are categorized by grades, subjects, and descriptions. Users can find any type of material on her site from bedtime math for kids in junior years, civics programs, and pre-university courses for those at the end of high school. She was featured on CTV, CBC, the Toronto Star, the New York Times, CJD, and the Heshinger Report. Her friends and even teachers began using her site to access learning material, and it was confirmation that it was such a great success. So she wants all levels of government to work together to create what she's calling the Netflix of online learning, and I want to thank Sophia for being such a great example of what happens when you use your own experience and struggles to make a difference for others. Congratulations. Thank you. The next statement, the member for University of Rosedale. Thank you, Speaker. We're in the middle of the worst pandemic we've had in 100 years. Yet the Premier is choosing this moment to propose to weaken the laws that keep kids safe in childcare, by allowing operators to group infants and toddlers together, by reducing staff to child ratios for small kids, and by lowering the qualification requirements for staff. This is why childcare operators and advocates in my writing had to say in response, frightening, disturbing, not planned by someone who works with children. We have enough to worry about now with PPE and following all health guidelines. To have something like this come along at a time when the sector is very vulnerable, very distracted and not able to mobilize, I think is opportunistic and sneaky. That's last quote is Carolyn Ferns, a leader in the field. Children have died in poorly regulated childcare settings. These rules exist for a reason. Premier, instead of weakening childcare, let's strengthen childcare. Invest in public and non-profit universal childcare so there's more spots. Make childcare affordable so parents can access it, including single parents. Increase the wages of childcare staff who look after our kids, but right now many of them aren't paid enough to afford childcare of their own. These are frontline workers and they need your help. By investing in childcare, truly investing in childcare, you help our kids learn. You help the sector survive. You help parents, especially women, have the opportunity to return to work and contribute to a real she recovery. Next statement, the member for Don Valley West. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I think we can all agree that the COVID pandemic has tested our strength as individuals and as a society. It has separated us from one another and for many, many people, it's forced them to stop taking initiative or to scale back expectations of what is possible. But for another group of people, Speaker, it has done the opposite. There are people in all of our communities who have been spurred on by the pandemic to reach out, to continue to advocate, and indeed to find new ways to support the people around them. And today I want to acknowledge all of those people. In the beautiful riding of Don Valley West, there are hundreds of these unsung heroes. They are moms helping other moms getting kids to school. They are neighbors bringing food to an elderly friend or maybe a neighbor who has become a friend. They are women sewing masks and young people delivering groceries. Amir Sokara, an organizer and entrepreneur, has created an army of young people and donors who stock food and deliver it weekly to families in the Thorncliffe neighborhood and beyond. Susan Wright and Michelle Delaney have worked their magic with Thorncliffe Park residents to create a community harvest from gardens on the green space at the foot of their high-rise homes. Doug Farley is undeterred by COVID in his fight to be a voice for environmentally sound development in North Toronto. Masood Alam continues to work to support and inform tenants who are fearful of losing their homes. Speaker, our communities are strong, but they are struggling in this pandemic. I just want to say thank you from my heart to all the people who fill their days with kindness, reaching out, being brave enough to start and to continue the work that makes us who we are, a caring and generous society. Thank you very much. The next statement, the member for Milton. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to rise today to recognize Country Heritage Park in my great writing of Milton. Country Heritage Park is a theme park rooted in farm food and rural lifestyle heritage defining features in our community. Given the uncertain nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, Country Heritage Park has been there for our community, helping to make the new normal life a little bit more ordinary. When COVID-19 meant our farmers market might have to be canceled, Country Heritage Park worked closely with my office, the Milton Chamber of Commerce and Halton region's public health unit to bring the farmer's market to its new temporary home at Country Heritage Park. Not only did the market do exceptionally well throughout Ontario's safe reopening during the summer, but vendors and farmers reported exceptional sales along with the feeling of safety that would not have worked anywhere else. This had a direct impact on the recovery of our local farmers and small businesses, Mr. Speaker. What's more, Speaker, this all was done for free by Country Heritage Park in order to give back to our community wanting desperately to feel a sense of normalcy during these unusual times. I want to thank Jamie and the Country Heritage Park team for making a real positive difference for our community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member Statements, the Member for Toronto Centre. Thank you, Speaker. Once again, this government is shamelessly meddling in the work of our municipalities and trying to avoid the local planning process and push through their own agenda. Last year, the Premier promised to respect mayors and municipal councillors. But just last week, City of Toronto staff and city councillors were surprised to learn about Minister's Zoning Orders on three sites in the West Dawn Lands neighbourhood. These orders limit community input. They prevent the city from studying the impact of these developments and jeopardize urgently needed affordable housing units and community benefits. Toronto Centre desperately needs more deeply, deeply affordable housing. Almost half of the residents in my riding live in core housing need, which means they're spending more than 30% of their income on their rent. And the waitlist for community housing is decades long. And I'm hearing from more and more people every single day who are on the verge of being evicted and becoming homeless. Local planning should be driven by local communities and the long-term public interest, not dictated by the heavy-handed orders that we have seen come down from this province. Residents deserve an opportunity to have a say in how their community grows. Cutting the public out of the planning process ultimately undermines public support for new developments, even if those projects help us build more equitable neighbourhoods. If the Premier is truly committed to working in partnership with municipalities, why? Why did he issue these orders without consulting city councillors and local residents? Thank you. Thank you. Next statement, the member for Flamborough, Glenbrook. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise this morning to pay tribute to David Braley, who passed away this week at the age of 79. David Braley was a titan in Canadian business. An avid sports enthusiast and as a CFL Governor, David Braley was credited with saving the Canadian Football League. At the time of his death, Braley was the current owner of the BC Lions. But he was also a former owner of both the Hamilton Tiger Cats and the Toronto Argonauts. David Braley took three CFL teams facing bankruptcy and by demanding financial accountability, he turned those failing organisations around. In 2012, he was elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. David Braley was raised in Hamilton. He graduated from McMaster University. His love of the city and its people was demonstrated by his generosity and supportive causes that helped the needy and most vulnerable. Braley's philanthropic contributions are far-reaching. He left his mark on our city. He donated tens of millions of dollars to support and enhance health care and education in Hamilton. Numerous institutions across Hamilton are named in his honour, including an Athletic Centre and Health Sciences Centre at McMaster University, an Athletic Centre at Millhawk College and the David Braley Research Institute at the Hamilton General Hospital. He was chairman of the 2003 World Cycling Championships in Hamilton and instrumental in getting federal support to build what is now Tim Horton Field. He was also a member of the Canadian Senate. He had numerous friends. He was a friend of mine. David Braley will be missed. Thank you. Members' statements? Member for Lenox, Addington. Sorry, Hastings, Lenox and Addington. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I personally remember and quite frankly will never forget a moment many years ago, we're running a large ball tournament and community summer fast. Late in the day, I received a call. It was from a local OPP officer, Walter Soxons, affectionately known to all of us as Uncle Wally. He was escorting a young man running across Canada. He asked if the young man could speak to the hundreds of people gathered. And of course, I said yes and shortly thereafter he arrived. At that point, I shoot the band off the stage and introduced the young man, relatively unknown at that time, Terry Fox. But in mere seconds from when he started speaking, incredibly, the entire boisterous crowd went completely silent. It was truly, truly one of the most inspirational moments of my life. When spontaneously, people started passing their hats in short of Terry and his goddess. I have a picture of that moment in my office displayed with pride. But fast forward down to this year when Walter Soxons son Jeff and grandson Tyler ran the same segment where their dad had escorted Terry. Walter himself ill with cancer and his wife Elaine were waiting when they arrived and delivered over $10,000 in pledged donations. I should note that in 1980 only two out of 10 people survived that kind of cancer. Now in large part due to Terry's mission, eight out of 10 people survived. Great strides have been made, but there's so much more to do. So today I would like to express on behalf of a grateful community. A sincere thank you to Walt, Elaine, Jeff and Tyler for their tremendous dedication to the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope. That concludes our member statements for this morning.