 It's now time for a member's statements. Member for Kingston and the Islands. Thank you again Speaker. It's my pleasure today to welcome members of the Ontario Basic Income Network to the Legislature for their first basic income lobby day. At its core basic income is the right to self-determination beyond circumstance and that is a powerful idea. The challenges we face be they climate, be they automation, require solutions that match their nature and scale. Ontario pilot recipients embrace the agency making choices that address specific needs. A report by Basic Income Canada Network stated, overall results show that given genuine choices recipients make the most of them. Their decisions were based on unique personal circumstances. Recipients paid down debt, got teeth fixed, others went back to school, enrolled their children in recreational programs or put money aside for future needs. Almost everyone ate better. Stockton, California is eight months into an 18 month project and participants are mostly using it to pay for food, clothes and utility bills. The Mincom experiment in Manitoba saw a statistically significant decline in hospitalizations among recipients compared to a control group. It gives agency to people who have very little otherwise and it does not make people settle. It makes families safe to reach for a better future. The results from every pilot indicate its promise. Speaker, Basic Income is an idea whose time has come. The challenges we face cannot allow us to think any smaller. Thank you. Member Statements. Member for Perth, Wellington. Thank you, Speaker. Speaker, Ontario faces a growing problem. The shortage of skilled workers. One in five new jobs in Ontario over the next five years is expected to be in the trades. Mr. Speaker, businesses from one out of my riding to the other are in desperate need of skilled workers. We must do more to encourage young people to join this growing profession. The technical training group in my riding of Perth, Wellington is doing just that. This past Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending the real deal on skilled trades at the Stratford Rotary Complex. This is an event organized by the technical training group to encourage young women to join the trades. I want to thank Mark Roth and Mark Flanagan for all they do in promoting the skilled trades. Mr. Speaker, only 4% of trades people in Ontario are female. The real deal on skilled trades is a networking event for female students in grade 8 to 12 from across Perth and here in counties to learn about potential careers in the skilled trades. I had the opportunity to meet with women already in the skilled trades or apprenticeship programs. They met with engineers, carpenters, iron workers and welders to just name a few. Through information boost and interactive experiences, students learn more about the wide range of trades that exist in Ontario. Mr. Speaker, the skilled trades offer an exciting, rewarding and profitable career, one with opportunities for all Ontarians. Together we can ensure more young people, especially women, choose a career in the skilled trades. And I am pleased that the Associate Minister Dunlop is promoting the skilled trades to our young women. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you, Member Statements. Member for Niagara Falls. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I'd like to talk about an event that happened in our family 13 years ago and forever changed our lives. My wife was hit on by a drunk driver. I think it's important for us, particularly during the holiday season, to remember how much damage someone can cause when they decide to drink and drive. Especially when we have a government that continues to prioritize increased access to alcohol. In the last two days, drunk driving accidents have killed two people in Niagara and St. Catharines. And last week, my wife, for the first time since the accident, wrote about it and this is what she said. 13 years ago today, I was hit head on by a drunk driver on my way home from work. It forever changed my life. Although I preferred the focus and all the positives in my life, I have both physical challenges and emotional scars that I live with every day. I have never posted anything about my accident, but something is eating away at me. Every week or two, the Niagara Regional Police post a list of people charged with impaired driving. The number of the people vary. However, there's usually at least a half a dozen. And this was a recent headline. 18 people charged with impaired driving between October 21st and November 3rd. And let's face it, these are the only ones who get caught. Drunk driving can kill. I am fortunate to be alive, but I'm living a different life from the one that I would have had, had led without the accident. When are people going to realize a devastation such a poor chase can cause? Accidents like my wife's are preventable. The Ford government needs to stop making it easier for people to get alcohol 24-7. Let's work together instead to keep people safe and our roads safe. Thank you. Thank you very much. Member Statements, member for Ottawa West-Napien. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This past weekend, the Napien Sailing Club in Ottawa West-Napien hosted its annual awards night, honoring top racers from the past year. With 2,000 members and 800 boats, it is the largest sailing club in Canada by trips and anchored boats. The club also helps developmentally disabled young adults through their ABLE sale program, which includes training, regular sale, and participating in racing. Our government was proud to support their good work with a $70,500 Trillium grant, which helps with the cost of boats and programming. Volunteerism is a key component of the Napien Sailing Club. Nominations for their Volunteer Achievement Award close on November 30th. If you know anyone who has been an outstanding volunteer, please be sure to nominate them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much. Member for Spadina, Fort York. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last night, I attended a meeting of the Alliance to End Homelessness. And it's a partnership of social service agencies and businesses. And their goal is to bring an absolute end to homelessness. We are in a homeless crisis, both in this province and in the city. In the city of Toronto, homelessness has more than doubled over the last five years from 4,000 people to more than 9,000 people. And there's also, we heard from people last night talking about hidden homelessness. People who are couch surfing for months on end because they don't have adequate housing. The group is taking some important steps, but they can't do it alone. This government has cut funding to the homelessness, to the homelessness, to end homelessness. They've cut the basic, cancelled the basic minimum income pilot. And they've reduced the proposed increase in Ontario Works, which was supposed to go for an individual from $725 to $745 a month. They've decided that $745 a month was too exorbitant. So they capped it at $735 a month. You cannot buy, rent a room in the city or anywhere in most parts of Ontario for $735, let alone the housing allowance of that. We need to take a different approach. I salute the businesses and the community groups that are organizing this Toronto Alliance to End Homelessness. I think that we need to, to this government to change course and actually address homelessness as a home and having a home as a basic human right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member Statements, the member for Flamborough Landbrook. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I am absolutely thrilled to be able to rise today to brag a bit about my hometown, Hamilton Tiger Cats, who are advancing to the 107th Grey Cup this coming weekend. The Tiger Cats absolutely dominated the Edmonton Eskimos 3616 and Sunday's East Division final, and their victory was in front of a record-sold-out crowd, all wearing black, more than 25,000 fans at Tim Hortons Field, thrilled by a flyover by the legendary Lancaster Bomber. The Tiger Cats will face the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in this Sunday's Grey Cup Championship game. The team, by the way, finished to top the East Division with a CFL Best 15-3 record. This was also the Tiger Cats' strongest season in team history. Grey Cup excitement, Mr. Speaker, in Hamilton is absolutely exploding. The Tiger Cats lost hoist of the Grey Cup in 1999 in the championship game, and the club's success is even more incredible given that, and you might remember this back in the late 80s, owner Harold Ballard threatened to fold the team in face of steadily declining attendance. Well, guess what? The Tiger Cats fans are rabid in their support. Excitement is building. Football will continue to be crazy in Hamilton as we prepare to host the 2021 Grey Cup. So join me in wishing my hometown team the best of luck this Sunday. What do we say? Oskie Wewee. The member for Nickel Belt. Thank you, Speaker. Today, I would like to talk to equity of access to care for people who have multiple sclerosis. Northern Ontario has the highest rate of people living with multiple sclerosis. If you look at the standard of care for people with MS, usually you will see your family physician, your neurologist, and be referred to a specialized MS clinic. That's a clinic that will be made out of an interdisciplinary team where you will have neurologists working with physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, social worker. They work as a team. You see them, they support the patient, they support their family, they support their caregiver, and this is how you get the best care. Unfortunately, although we have the highest rate, we have no such specialized clinic. And there are many, many people whose outcome, whose possibilities for life are really, really curtailed because of this. Very few people living with multiple sclerosis are able to make the long journey down south on treacherous Highway 69 with the snow and everything to get the care they need. So they go without. I would like the government to understand that when a health services is available to people of Ontario, they have a responsibility to make sure that it is equitably available to all. And that means bringing one of those specialized MS neurological clinic to Sudbury, which is the hub for northeastern Ontario when we talk about healthcare. I hope their request will be listened to and acted upon. Thank you, Speaker. The member for Northumberland, Peterborough South. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Speaker, I'm pleased to rise today to highlight agriculture and agricultural funding and my riding. Mr. Speaker, agriculture plays such an important role in Northumberland, Peterborough South. It's a number one employer. And I think of the rolling hills in Northumberland right up to Autonomy South Monaghan and over to Ashfordville, Norwood. Agriculture is key to Northumberland, Peterborough South and our broader economy. I'd like to highlight crosswind farms in my riding. Mr. Speaker, it's a small farm. Cindy and Kevin run it. It started in 2007. It's a goat farm. And they received over $71,000 in cost sharing funding that will improve their operations so that they can grow their business, boost the province's economy and bring more safe, high quality Ontario agri-food products to local and international markets. The funds will go towards purchasing and installing new automated pasteurization equipment to automate current manual processes to allow production of new and more products to enter into market. Mr. Speaker, agri-food businesses will receive more than $6.8 million in cost sharing funding as a part of this announcement and will contribute to over 100 projects around Ontario. I'm really proud of the work at Crosswind Farms and the broader agricultural sector in my community. And I'd like to congratulate both Cindy and Kevin for their hard work that they're doing, the remarkable work that they're doing. And I can't wait to get up to Crosswind Farms to try some of the new cheddar. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member for Mississauga East Cooksville. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise in the House during Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week to talk about an issue that is dear to me, cyberbullying. Mr. Speaker, our province has seen an increase in the number of cases of cyberbullying. Sometimes the effects of cyberbullying can cause a life. As a father and parliamentarian, I want my children and everyone in this great province to be protected and empowered against all forms of bullying, especially cyberbullying. Cyberbullying consists of electronic communication that directly or indirectly causes or is likely to cause harm to another individual's physical and mental health or well-being. It can include intimidation, threats, and harassment. It can have significant and lifelong negative effects on children and adults. Mr. Speaker, one out of every five teenagers has been the target of cyberbullying. And one out of every six has been a cyberbully at some point in their lifetimes. There is so much work that needs to be done on this issue, especially at the grassroot level. This past year, I have had the opportunity to speak to many stakeholders, including members of the Peel Regional Police, who all agree that more needs to be done to stop cyberbullying. Mr. Speaker, together, we can stop cyberbullying in Ontario with more education, not just for our youth, but to all on the dangers. Lastly, I want to thank the minister and our government for working hard to protecting Ontarians and our future generations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much. That concludes our member's statements for this afternoon. Reports by committees.