 And now we're going to start with member statement. Thank you, Speaker. I'd like to acknowledge today the passing of one of Whippy Oshawa's great constituents, Ross Batten. Ross was born on July the 5th, 1944, and spent much of his life in Ashburn, Ontario, just north of downtown Whippy. So Hamlet in the northern portion of my riding. And Ross distinguished himself in the community as a town of Whippy Councilor for 13 years. And had a region of Durham Councilor for three years as well. And in addition to his presidency of the Brooklyn and District Kinsman Club Speaker, Ross served for 15 years as a director and then chairperson of the Whippy Hydro Electric Corporation. Former MP and Whippy resident Judy Longfield said that Ross was always well prepared for business meetings and was consistently fair in his examination of the issues that came before the board and in his capacity as the chairperson of the Planning Development Committee at the town of Whippy. He always viewed the big picture and constantly acted in the best interest of the stakeholders and the constituents that he served so well. Jerry M, a former regional councilor that I served with and a good friend of Ross's, told me about a later moment in his political life. Jerry and Ross were partners in a boat building and race across the harbor challenge during Whippy's Harbor Day Festival many years ago. After constructing the boat and successfully practicing on a placid pond in Ashburn where Jerry and Ross both live, the actual event in the harbor was anything but placid speaker. The two some did not fare so well when confronted with winds and highways in the Bay of Whippy Harbor. Their boat turned into a submarine very quickly that day. Ross Batten was truly a kind and decent man. Speaker and our thoughts go out to his wife, Diane, children Bradley and Deborah, his sister, Judy, and his grandsons, Ryan Craig and great-grandson, Lucas. A community leader, a planner for a better future within the town of Whippy in the region of Durham, and a proud father, Ross Batten will be recalled fondly, Speaker. Thank you very much. And Windsor, the comrade. Thank you, Speaker. Allow me to brag for a moment about a team of four Ontario paramedics who are training for an international competition next month in the Czech Republic. 30 other teams from around the world will be there. It's a grueling competition. It takes place over 24 straight hours starting at 6 in the morning. The teams are thrown into a dozen life and death situations. Only two teams from Canada were invited to compete. One is from BC. They are last year's international champions. Team Ontario members come from Windsor and Essex County. Captain Chris Kerwin comes from my riding of Windsor to Cumpsey. He is joined by Lance Hoover, Nick Montalione, and Slav Pulsar. Mr. Pulsar is from my riding as well. While Mr. Hoover lives in Amersburg and Mr. Montalione is a resident of LaSalle, both towns are in the riding of Essex. Mr. Kerwin is only 27, a graduate of the paramedic program at Windsor St. Clair College, as are two of the other team members. And, Speaker, Team Captain Kerwin will be graduating from the University of Windsor this spring with a Bachelor of Science degree. They are all extraordinary young men. I think it's great that Canada has an Ontario paramedic team in this international competition, Speaker. And as I said, it's in the Czech Republic, and you can check out the two Canadian teams at teamcanadaeastwest.com. Good day, Mr. Dinos. Thank you, Madam Chair. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and celebrate the achievement of Royal St. George's College and their student as they recently held their Foundation Year End Projects. The Foundation Year End Projects challenged Gray Nye, Royal St. George's College students to address social and environmental issues in our community. Students learn about the principles of social entrepreneurship and apply them to creation of innovative solutions that address an issue of their choosing. The resulting student-led initiatives, including a children's book that aims to combat racism in schools and online educational resource hub for at-risk youth, a program to recycle used milk bags into a waterproof sleeping mat for the homeless, and the creation of a podcast that focused on increasing youth engagement in politics. Madam Speaker, I'm very impressed with the innovation and the creativity of these students. Their ability to identify these issues in our community and creative solution is truly remarkable. I commend the students at Royal St. George's College for their hard work and courage of taking on important social issues. Thank you very much. Here, here. OK. The member from First Coalition. Thank you, Speaker. On Friday, April 1st, the First County Federation of Agriculture held its annual Federal Provincial Forum. It's been an honor to attend the forum each and every year since I was first elected in 2011. This year was no exception. Representatives from the PCFA, commodity, and farm groups presented their ideas and concerns. I want to highlight just a few. The need to better support rural infrastructure. Skyrocketing energy costs and how the government's cap and trade will push fuel costs even higher above our competitors. The social license to farm and the need to bridge the knowledge gap among those without a farming background. A regulatory system too often influenced by special interests or political pressure rather than science. And farmers' success in reducing carbon emissions by producing more with much less than they did in the past. For that, they don't get the credit they deserve. I want to share an important statistic, which we heard at the forum from PCFA President Joanne Foster. In Ontario, there are 158,000 jobs in the farm sector, representing $8.1 billion in wages and salaries. 58% of these jobs are in rural areas. Let's never lose sight of just how important this industry is to committees across the province. I want to thank Joanne as well as Agnes Denham and everyone at the PCFA for organizing the annual forum. Thank you, Speaker. Members from Agoma, Manitou. Well, thank you, Speaker. Today I'd like to highlight the young man from Elliott Lake who's about to have his dream finally come true. 29-year-old Corey Jarvis recently qualified to compete for Team Canada in wrestling at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jarvis competed in the Canadian trials in Edmonton in December, defeating Venezuelan wrestler to win a spot on Team Canada. Jarvis began his wrestling career in grade nine in Elliott Lake Secondary School after high school. He moved to Guelph where he continued to practice his sport. He made Team Canada and began competing on the international circuit. What is most remarkable about Jarvis is his passion, dedication, and perseverance despite several challenges. This was the third time, Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Speaker. Jarvis has tried out for the Olympic team. In both 2008 and 2012 he came in third and needed a second place finish in order to secure a place on the team. Jarvis did not give up and continued to train and compete and now he has officially secured a place on the Canadian Olympic team. As one can imagine, the time and dedication to a sport can be very costly endeavor. To help Corey with these costs, please see my Facebook and contact information. As MPP for Algoma Manitoul and I can say that we are so proud of you, Corey, for the past accomplishments and there will be a city, a writing, province, and country behind you cheering. Best of luck to you, Corey, and now go kick some butt. I'll go with Manitoul in style. Thank you, Madam Chair. Now I often stand before you and members of this House to share news with you about great initiatives and events that are happening in my riding of Kitchener Centre. But today I want to alert you to a remarkable event that's going to happen right here in the Ontario Legislature. That's with your approval, of course, and that is that the Deputy Premier will soon be wearing the red, white, and blue of the Kitchener Rangers. Tonight marks the third game in the OHL Western Conference semi-finals between the Kitchener Rangers and the London Knights. To mark this occasion, the member from London North Centre and I have made a little wager. The losing representative is going to have to wear the opposing team's jersey at the end of the series. And Madam Speaker, I'm feeling pretty confident in this wager. How could I not? The Rangers have made it to the Memorial Cup tournament six times. They've won seven division titles. Over the years, the Rangers have 145 alumni who've played in the NHL, five among them elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, with such names as Bill Barber, Larry Robinson, and Scott Stevens. Now tonight we're going to see the Rangers face off against the Knights again, this time in the great city of Kitchener. And Madam Speaker, I look forward to continuing this friendly discussion of the Rangers' supremacy over social media with the Minister from London. Too bad she's not here right now. I hope that you will join me in cheering on these teams in the coming week. Go Rangers! Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Speaker, last Friday I had the privilege of meeting with past and present students as well as their families from here in Bruce who are fully supportive of both Robarts and Amethyst demonstration schools. And it was heart-wrenching listening to them and having them plead to us to make sure the government opens their ears and hearts as to why this type of school is so, so important to grade seven and eights throughout Ontario. And, you know, there was a footnote to it. They feel absolutely appalled that this government has chosen to cap enrollment, to wither down the number of students at the school. And it reminded me very much of what happened with the Blue Water Youth Detention Centre. Exactly the same thing. But most importantly, I want to leave some quotes with everyone in the house today. Rosie, she is an amazing little grade seven and she feels that Amethyst is building her confidence and her hope. Another student actually said, you know, it's important that the Premier realises that I may sit in a room full of classmates, but I feel alone because I have to learn differently. That is not inclusion. They want to be amongst their peers, Speaker, so that they can learn together and excel together as opposed to being felt, being made to feel that they're different. Ladies and gentlemen of the House, we need to do right on Thursday and support our demonstration schools. Speaker, today I rise to speak to an important issue in my riding of Etobicoke Centre. The Toronto District School Board is considering the sale of Silver Creek Public School. This is a very concerning development as the property includes green space important to our community and is home to two incredibly important organisations, the Etobicoke Children's Centre, which provides invaluable services to children, youth and their families who experience challenges related to mental health and autism and serves over 1,000 children and their families every year, Speaker. Silver Creek Preschool serves approximately 70 children, most of whom have severe special needs. These services are vital to some of our most vulnerable children to our community and we must protect them. I've been working closely with members of the local community, including the Friends of Silver Creek School and the Richmond Gardens Ratepayers and Residents Association, the Leaders of Etobicoke Children's Centre and Silver Creek Preschool, as well as our local councillor and TDSB trustee to find a solution. I have met with TDSB representatives and spoken in our community and in this legislature to advocate for the protection of these services. I've also been working with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Children and Youth Services to advocate for Silver Creek and determine what the provincial government can do. I am pleased to report that this has led to the Government of Ontario responding to the TDSB in writing to express initial interest in the Silver Creek property. Essentially, the provincial government has stepped up and shown a strong desire to protect these crucial services within our community. Although there is still a lot of work to be done, this is certainly a step in the right direction. I rise in the House today, Madam Speaker, to thank the Friends of Silver Creek, to thank members of my community for their passion and dedication to this cause. Let us hope that the TDSB does not sell the Silver Creek property, but should it do so, I will continue to do everything I can to protect these essential services in Etobicoke Centre. Thank you, Speaker. All right, the member from Ottawa South. Speaker, and I hope to rise today and speak about a wonderful event I was at on Saturday night, the World Lebanese Cultural Union. But sadly, I rise today to express our support to the students and the families of the Al-Bait Islamic Education Centre in Ottawa. On Monday morning, students, parents and teachers arrived to discover hateful messages spray-painted on the school wall. The students at Al-Bait are young, and these messages create fear. To the families of Al-Bait, I want you to know that my colleagues and I, on all sides of this legislature, strongly condemn this act. It is heartening to know that the school's neighbours quickly came to show their support, and Madam Speaker, indeed across Ottawa, there have been countless expressions of support of the Al-Bait School and the families it serves. Here in this province, our strength is diversity. It is what has built our province up. I want the families to know that we stand with you and condemn this act and any other act inspired by hate. Thank you, Madam Speaker.