 It is now time for Member Statements, the Member from Carleton, Mississippi Mills. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk to you about Visak Day. Visita Siren Lila-Retna is a valued member of my constituency. Originally from Sri Lanka, he came to Canada in 1988 and has lived in my riding of Carleton, Mississippi Mills for 10 years. He is a proud and hard-working advocate for the Buddhist and multicultural community in the Ottawa area and successfully founded Visak Day in Ottawa in 2013. Visak Day is the celebration of Buddha's birthday. As part of the celebration of Visak Day, I ask people of all faiths to join me at Ottawa City Hall on May 2, 2015 at 12 o'clock noon to celebrate the basic human values of compassion, kindness, and the spirit of forgiveness. Thank you. Thank you for the Member Statements, the Member from Kitchener, Waterloo. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm proud to rise today to speak about International Women's Day, which we will be celebrating this Sunday, March 8. While it is important to take time to celebrate the achievements of women, it is just as if not more important to recognise the efforts of those in our communities who are working hard to combat, among other injustices, violence against women. So I want to acknowledge members of the University of Waterloo's Sigma Chai for making a public video calling out male violence against women on campuses and discouraging being a passive bystander. I also want to acknowledge the Faculty of Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University who are hosting a two-day symposium featuring Tatiathya Fazladi Day, founder of the Stop Telling Women to Smile campaign. And I want to commend Rama from Eastwood Collegiate, who has created a Friday Girls' Group for students who are not only new to the country, but also new to attending school. The work of each of these groups is very necessary, and I commend their efforts. As members, we spend so much time in this legislature away from our communities that staying apprised of our local news is of the utmost importance. This week, the front page of the Waterloo Records local section has been dominated by stories of violence against women. Kate Lynn Reid is missing. The police fear her for her safety. A man was sentenced this week for secretly filming women while they were in the washroom of his workplace. Mary May's murderer was sentenced this week minutes before she died. She called her landlord to help him with what was happening. She had asked for help from her landlord, her city councillor and the police. She was killed by her roommate. The trial for the 2007 murder of Denise Bourdieuil still has not reached conclusion. Her family has not had closure for eight years. And 2015 women are still far too likely to die at the hands of their intimate partner. We can do more, we must do more. And on International Women's Day, we must stand together on this issue. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker, it's my pleasure to congratulate the United Way of Cambridge and North Dumfries on their spectacular campaign and results for 2015, which I was really pleased to celebrate with them at their annual community achievement night last week. Last Thursday, the Holiday Inn in Cambridge graciously donated the space and sponsored the event, which celebrated all the best in people. It thanked donors to the United Way campaign, community volunteers who make such a difference and the social service agencies who work daily to improve people's lives. The event features an awards portion for some truly deserving candidates inspiring people who give so generously of their time like food bank and community centre volunteers and to companies and individuals who contribute their funds to empower programs. There are awards for action, such as the action taken by social services who support thousands of our citizens. The night culminated with the inspiring words of motivational speaker Bill Carr and announced the incredible $2.28 million that they raised this year which will help thousands of our local residents. Speaker, the United Way and the support that they provide to our citizens works hand in hand with the role that our government plays in supporting all Ontarians. Many folks came out last Thursday making me very proud to represent this great community of Cambridge here at Queens Park. My thanks go out to Ron de Heneac, CEO of United Way and to Board Chair Jim Ramsey and their volunteers for the evenings and the campaign's success. Thank you. And to students from Heliburton, Cork to Lake Sprock. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week a number of the municipalities located in my writing of Heliburton, Cork to Lake Sprock attended the Roma-Ogra conference. They arrived again looking for answers on a number of issues facing them but left feeling their hands were tied. Heliburton County came to discuss the new OPP billing model which has been described as fair and equitable for all municipalities. However, the numbers are in and as expected, the OPP billing increases will be hitting taxpayers hard. The formula will nearly double Heliburton County's collective OPP bill without any service increases from approximately $3.3 million to approximately $6.3 million. This year alone residents will be looking at tax increases of nearly 11% causing serious hardship to property owners. Despite the county's best efforts in lobbying the government, the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services failed to follow up as he had promised with the County of Heliburton before finalizing the proposed OPP billing model. Time and time again this government has shown a lack of respect for fairly punished municipalities because of the perception they have deep pockets due to the ability to raise property taxes. This also rings true when discussing joint and several liability which is an important issue to all municipalities. Despite previous statements the government would fix this, they have reneged on that. It was passed by all parties in the legislature a resolution calling for insurance reforms but now this has left all municipalities on the hook. I appeal to the government to work with their partners in the municipal sector. Thank you, Speaker. The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention has just wrapped up in Toronto PDAC for those in the industry and everyone knows anybody who is anybody in the industry has participated in PDAC. Our area in North East Ontario, although we've got a rich mining heritage and a solid industry right now and a very prosperous looking future, we weren't very well represented. This was identified by a couple of our local municipal politicians in the street of Tarrifazette of Elk Lake and Mayor George V of Lasford and they had the vision four years ago they rented a space offsite. They found some local companies who are willing to participate specifically in our arc fabricators in Erleton and story environmental and that little offsite space has morphed into this year one of the premier exhibits at PDAC. There were 55 exhibitors in the Northern Ontario Pavilion. The funding was from FedNor and they truly did his proud and all the participants were very happy and I'd like to send a special thank you and note of appreciation to the organizers of this year's show Marla Trombley and James Franks and the rest of the team. They did a fantastic job and it was really nice to see among those 55 participants nor arc steel fabricators and story environmental. They were still there. They were there at the start of the conference and Mayor George were there as well. Congratulations. They did us proud. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. Member Stevens. Member from Halton. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, International Women's Day is quickly approaching and I'm pleased to rise today and share my experience at a fundraising gala I attended last night in Oakville. The dinner party co-hosted by the women of Halton Action Movement and the Zonta Club of Oakville brought together a hall full of intelligent, powerful and inspiring women and men for a night of food, entertainment and stimulating conversation. The event was a huge success with proceeds going to support two very worthy causes the sexual assault and violence intervention services and Canadians in support of Afghan women. The highlight of the night was a surprise performance from the keynote speaker Polaris prize winning Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagak. She captivated the audience with her incredible vocal abilities and stories of her traditional upbringing in Cambridge Bay. It was the perfect cap to an evening highlighting the importance of gender equality and the impressive contributions that women have made to our society. Speaker, Ontarians should be proud of the strides we've made towards gender equality but our work is far from done. We must continue to push for the full empowerment and participation of women in communities here and around the world. The full and equal participation of women in the political and economic landscape is a central pillar to democracy and justice. An event like the dinner party is a wonderful reminder of that. Thank you very much. Thank you Mr Speaker. I rise today to call for an immediate and full review of the unregulated practice of private safety training companies operating in the province conducting single-skill training courses such as firefighter ice rescue training. On January 30th, 2010, Point River Ontario volunteer firefighter Gary Kendall lost his life while participating in an organized ice rescue training exercise. And again on February 28th of 2015, Adam Brunt of Bowmanville Ontario, a firefighting student at Durham College also perished while taking part in a similar ice training exercise. In the aftermath of a tragic accident in Point River, the Ministry of Labor prosecutor called for a coroner's inquest with recommendations so this sort of accident never happened again. No inquest was ever conducted, Mr Speaker. The loss of Mr Kendall and Mr Brunt are tragedies that cannot be undone. Action must be taken by this government and this minister now to ensure that no other family or community suffers the loss of a loved one in the same manner again. I call on this government to immediately launch a formal inquiry into the practices of private companies providing emergency response training and to develop formal guidelines for courses considered single-skill training that currently lie outside of provincial legislation. Thank you again Mr Speaker. Thank you. Thank you Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker today I rise to speak about the Brampton A's. The Brampton A's are a Canadian professional basketball team that play out of Brampton's Powerade Centre. In their several seasons of 2013-14 head coach David Magley led the A's to an outstanding 27-13 record finishing second place in the league. Mr. Mr Speaker last week I as well as a number of members of my community and my team went out to honour, had the honour of attending a Brampton A's game against the Moncton Miracles. The Miracles definitely needed a miracle as the A's set a franchise record of 130 points on route to a 31 point victory. The in-game van experience provided was tremendous and the talents of the players was evident on the court by the product. Mr. Speaker what's even more impressive is their efforts off the court. The Brampton A's players and their staff have become actively engaged in the community through school tours, camps, clinics, personal appearances, speaking engagements and serving food to those less fortunate. They are committed to becoming a vital member of the Brampton and the Peel Regional Community. Mr. Speaker today the A's will face off against the London Lightning's in their first playoff game of the season at the Powerade Centre. They will also be honouring International Women's Day as a team. They're going to have set up a reception prior to the game. Mr. Speaker I encourage all my fellow residents of Peel and its surrounding communities as well as my colleagues in the house to attend and show support for the Brampton A's. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you Mr. Speaker. I will now spell some of the rumours that I'm hearing about Trenton Memorial Hospital in my right and north I'm in the West. The member from Prince Edward Hastings throughout some numbers yesterday. Let me give you some actual facts about these staffing changes. TMH will be reduced by 20 registered nurses speaker. Seven positions are already vacant and eight are part-time. And Mr. Speaker the member from Prince Edward Hastings forgot to tell the staff that will be hired. Yes, TMH will be adding to its staff. It's going to be adding 25 registered practical nurses and personal support workers. That's 15 full-time and 10 part-time staff. This new staff will provide more hours of patient care, care at the appropriate level needed for each individual patient. Our rents will now be dedicated to work within the expanded training. Our PNs will care for patients in their level of expertise. And PSW speaker will provide patient care within their skill set. Mr. Speaker, this means more staff and more hours of patient care. And the next step is underway speaker Mayor Jim Harrison and some counselors along with John Smiley, Mike Cowan, Frank Berry and Betty Kloss. These are community leaders speakers. They are going to work together with Quinty Healthcare to develop a local health care plan for TMH and the community. I commend these people for their dedication and enthusiasm to create a positive plan to move forward in the city of Quinty West. Thank you Speaker. Thank you. I thank all members for their statements.