 Members' statements? Members for Toronto's St Paul's? Let's talk salaries. The Premier of Ontario makes $280,974 a year. His cabinet ministers make roughly $166,000 a year. The base salary for MPPs here in Ontario is $116,550 a year. And while some MPPs are single parents caring for children with disabilities, essential caregivers, soul wage earners, or what have you, there is no shortage of MPPs here who are independently wealthy speaker. Not one of us in this legislature loses a single day of pay when we are away sick or tending to a sick child or family member. We do not have to fear homelessness, job loss, or evictions because we need time off to heal. Why should any worker in Toronto St Paul's or across Ontario not have the same access to health and healing that their own Premier at every MPP in Ontario has? COVID-19 is an unprecedented public health, infectious disease emergency. I reckon if there was ever a time for this government to demonstrate a real commitment to workers' health and safety, the time is now. Will the Conservative Government have bill tooth or 39? MPP Sattlers, stay home if you are sick act and ensure that all Ontario workers can get access to paid sick days and paid sick leave today so we can help save lives. Yes or no? Thank you very much. Member Statements, the Member for Milton. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was proud to host a virtual community meeting last Friday to discuss the issues and concerns the community has raised to do with Reed Road Corrie in Milton, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, previously the residents have filed well over 1000 objections and requested a proposed Corrie site be made subject to environmental assessment with environmental concerns ranging from issues resulting from blasting below the water table, fly rock and potential damage to local ecosystem. Mr. Speaker, these efforts have resulted in a commencement of the process for an environmental assessment. A big step forward to examining the potential environmental impacts a Corrie could have in our community in Milton. Our government is now seeking comments through the environmental registry of Ontario and I'm encouraging all Miltonians to submit their technical comments, Mr. Speaker. It's an opportunity for us to provide feedback and comments online, Mr. Speaker. As always, I remain committed to being a strong voice for Milton and I'm proud to be back at Queen's Park today to ensure that Miltonians continue to be heard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member Statements, the Member for University-Rosdale. Thank you, Speaker. Today I recognise Karima Marab in the Ontario Legislature. Karima was a leader in the struggle for the independence of Baluchistan from Pakistan. Facing terrorism charges and death threats for her activist work Karima came to Canada and was granted political asylum. While abroad, Karima continued to advocate for the Baluchistan people. She spoke at rallies, attended international conferences and was named BBC's top 100 most influential and inspirational women. On December 20, Karima went missing. Her body was pulled from Lake Ontario the following day. This is a tragedy. Karima is the second Pakistani dissident to be found dead abroad in the last year. Others living in exile say there has been an increase in threats including Karima who received threats leading up to her death. Human rights groups are calling for a full and independent investigation into Karima's death and so am I. We must also recognise Karima as a celebrated human rights activist that she was. Her work will live on. Thank you. Member Statements, the Member for Berry and Isfill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to tell the House about keeping up with the Richardson's. As you know, Mike and Jennifer Richardson in Isfill are always going above and beyond to build resiliency in our community, strengthen the fabric of our youth in our community and of course supporting our local businesses. It is keeping up with the Richardson's that started the lighted up Innisfill competition where over 100 houses participated decorating their homes in various holiday lights and they raised over $2,000 for the Innisfill food bank and Christmas for kids. But that's not all, Mr. Speaker. When families were looking for something to do in Innisfill that keeping up with the Richardson's clan they put together a Discover Innisfill car rally and scavenger hunt so that parents have something to do that is safe and productive with their children showing them the landscapes of Innisfill and all the hidden gems. And now her last venture has been Innisfill. Yes, Mr. Speaker. That is full because we all want to make sure that our timings are full supporting our local businesses and it is a campaign to support our restaurants from February 9th to March 15th. It's an online Facebook page that provides local residents with an opportunity to order food from their local restaurants with different prizes and discounts and what not. So I want to give a few shout outs to local businesses that are participating and have supported our community like the Harbour House Grill, the Last Shot Bar and Grill, the Parlor Ice Cream Shop, of course the Stone Grill, we've got Davidson's Dining, Johnny Burger and of course we've got Stacked and we've got the of course fork and plate all businesses that are standing up and showing the interior spirit. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the Member for Timings. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Firefighters are yet another breed of people throughout this whole pandemic who are out there on the front line putting their lives in danger as they rush into fires but also dealing with medical calls and others. Imagine their surprise when they found out in January that the government unilaterally decided to shut down the fire college. The fire college is an essential part of what we need to do in order to give the firefighter the tools that they need to be able to do their job safely and to be up to date with the latest technologies when it comes to being able to fight fires and do the other work that they do. The government says, don't worry, we're going to put it online. You can go on a computer and you can do this training and in some cases they might be able to but there's a whole bunch of training that happens at the Gravenhurst Fire College that you can't move to a campus somewhere outside of Gravenhurst because of the actual physical plant that they have in place that allows them to replicate fires, to crawl through burning buildings, to deal with smoke inhalation, to deal with what happens when a train derails. All of those things are done at the fire college. Why would we now, in the middle of a pandemic, decide to shut down a fire college that gives our firefighters across this province the tools that they need to keep us safe and to make their jobs a little bit safer? I call on this government to rethink what they're doing because much of what's going on at the fire college cannot be replicated somewhere else and this is a very short-sighted decision. Member Statements, the member for Durham. Thank you, Speaker. I rise today to share about a recent announcement I made and don't worry, Speaker, I respected public health measures and did the announcement via Facebook Live from my home in Oshawa. On January 11th, I announced on behalf of the Minister of Health that our government is investing $2.5 million in the Bowmanville Hospital to go towards planning its redevelopment and expansion. While we've invested over the last year in urgently expanding hospital capacity as quickly as possible in the fight against COVID-19, recently announcing in December 64 new beds across the Lake Ridge Health Hospital Network, we also must continue longer-term capacity planning in our region. Speaker, since 1996, over a span of 25 years, Clarington's population has grown by almost 50%, but it has been over 30 years since the Bowmanville Hospital had its last expansion. The funding announced will be used to offset the costs of planning the renewal and expansion of the hospital's infrastructure. In addition to the redevelopment project, our government's also supporting the development of an interim helipad for the Bowmanville Hospital. This interim helipad will improve how Lake Ridge Health safely transfers critical patients to and from the Bowmanville Hospital while the redevelopment project is completed. Planning for the redevelopment of a hospital is a lengthy process and I'm committed to working with Lake Ridge Health and the Bowmanville Hospital Foundation to advocate for this project through to its completion, Speaker. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the Member for Waterloo. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. This government's resistance to a Made in Ontario sick lead program defies all logic. Public health experts, mayors and small businesses all have described paid sick days as essential to slowing the spread of COVID-19. The Premier claims everything is on the table, except for this one measure that would keep workers safe and businesses open. This PC government stands alone in the refusal to embrace this public health measure. Small business leaders are the latest to try and get this government to understand why paid sick leave is actually good for business. Helman and Sarri of Cambridge says if one of my staff members ends up feeling unwell and potentially has something that's transmissible, I really don't want them to bring it to work. That would be disastrous for my business. The Better Way Alliance argue that paid sick leave needs to be provincially mandated to ensure that all businesses, especially the giants like Amazon and Law Blas, are required to comply. We now know that 67% of COVID-19 outbreaks happen in workplaces in areas like Peel where essential workers are part of a major manufacturing and distribution network. One in four workers reported that they went to work with COVID-19 symptoms because they had no choice. The well-being of workers directly impacts our economic recovery. We cannot afford another shutdown today past Bill 239 as proposed by our London West colleague. Put paid sick days on the table. Show some leadership and courage for the essential workers in this great province. Thank you. Member's statements. Member for Perth Wellington. Thank you, Speaker. I've found the best ideas do not come from Queen's Park. They come from the people I represent. That was again the case last week in the pre-budget consultations that I organized in Perth Wellington. I believe it's essential that the government hears our local priorities and concerns. We heard from municipal officials, businesses and organizations throughout our writing. Their presentations covered a lot of ground. We heard about the ongoing challenges in healthcare and long-term care. We heard about slow internet speeds and connectivity. We heard about the need for more affordable housing in our communities. We heard about the ongoing challenges due to COVID-19. The arts, tourism and culture industries, accommodations, food and beverage and retail have all been especially hit hard. We heard about the need for local processing capacity and good rural infrastructure. We also heard about the need to supply family and social services and the importance of access to childcare. And finally we heard about mental health and the toll the pandemic is taking. Timely and accessible mental health support for every person, business and organization in every corner of our writing is absolutely essential. I know our government is aware of these issues and is working hard to address them, but these hearings tell me we need to do even more. I want to thank the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance and the MPP from Mississauga Lakeshore for joining us and hearing us. And I want to thank everyone who took time to participate in these sessions. I am proud to represent you and to support your good work. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. The next Member's Statement. The Member for Northumberland, Peterborough South. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's great to be back here in the legislature. Mr. Speaker, throughout the global pandemic we've witnessed so many stand tall in their local communities exhibiting the true Ontario spirit. I'd like to take a moment to highlight a local hero, Port Hope Police Officer who has been one bright in our community for decades. Port Hope Police Constable Tammy Staples has been a police officer since 2007 and last week was nominated for the 2021 Police Services Hero of the Year Award. Constable Staples has gone above and beyond in her years of service and is known throughout our community for her warm smile, her huge heart, and specifically, Mr. Speaker, for her willingness to go above others. For the past six years, she's served as Community Services Officer for Port Hope and was nominated for the Hero of the Year Award for her work delivering school programs to children in our community. She's worked with a number of great causes like rebound children in youth services, the Special Olympics, Coldest Night of the Year, seniors programs, and Tammy's jammies. Her pajama drive raised over 400 pairs of pajamas for children in need for a season. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank Constable Staples for her work. It's often the quiet work that goes unnoticed. That is the truly most impactful work in our community. And for that, I'd like to thank Constable Tammy Staples for all she does for the community of Port Hope and beyond. Thank you. That concludes our member statements for this morning.