 Thank you. It's now time for Member Statements, the Member from Sarge-Eleptin. Thank you, sir. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to inform this House of a very special recognition that was made recently in my hometown of Petroa, Ontario, in which I was able to be there as well at the time. Mr. Speaker, on March 31st, 2015, Petroa resident Mr. Ted Paisley was awarded the French Republic's Legion of Honor Medal at a special ceremony, which I had the good fortune to attend at the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 216 in Petroa. The Legion of Honor, Mr. Speaker, is the highest decoration in order of merit bestowed by the French government, and was awarded to Mr. Paisley in recognition of his significant contribution to the liberation of France in 1944. During World War II, Lance Corporal Paisley, who enlisted at age 16, was a motorcycle dispatch rider with a Canadian 4th Division and participated in the breakout from Cannes, the closing of the Fallet Gap, the capture of Cannes, and the capture of Coussi and Abbey d'Ardennes. His unit was engaged in the attack on Verrier Ridge, the operation to seize Breteville Surlais, and the operation to capture Fallet. He also fought in Belgium, Holland and Germany, and was in Germany when the unconditional surrender of the German army occurred. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to Mr. Paisley. He is truly deserving of the special honor and our unwavering gratitude, and now is addressed as Chevalier Ted Paisley. Merci. Thank you. Members, statements? The member from Windsor to Coussi. Speaker, today is World Autism Awareness Day. In Ontario, support is provided for children with autism until they turn 18. Wouldn't it be great and magical and fantastic if autism was cured on everyone's 18th birthday? Obviously, that will never happen. Many of us have heard about the family in Ottawa. They could no longer care for their severely autistic son, so they left him at a government office. In recent weeks, my Windsor office heard from a mum with an autistic child. Her first email came to us with the subject line in need of help from a struggling mum. Chassidy Theorette is a single parent with three kids. One of them, Cecilia, is autistic. Cecilia will be returning 18 later this month. The plug will soon be pulled on her provincial support system. Cecilia needs care 24-7. Chassidy can't work outside the home because she cares for Cecilia. Without the financial help that she used to receive, the family will suffer. Group homes cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why not pay the primary caregivers to keep autistic adults in the family home? Speaker, people with autism have feelings just like everyone else. They may express it differently, but they too feel love, happiness, sadness and pain. As we commemorate World Autism Awareness Day, let us join our autism families and look for ways that the government can improve their quality of life. Let's open our minds and our hearts to ensure new opportunities are put in place as they pursue stable and meaningful lives with dignity and respect. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in 2013, the Ontario Legislature passed a bill to recognise April as Seek Heritage Month. April is a time when Sikh Canadians celebrate Vasaki, a day that marks the establishment of the Kalsa and the Sikh Articles of Faith. By proclaiming the month of April to be Seek Heritage Month, we acknowledge the significant contributions made by Ontario's Sikh community to our province's social, cultural and economic fabric. In fact, just last night I joined the Premier and many of my caucus colleagues at a reception to mark this special occasion. It was a memorable evening. It was also a reminder of our province's incredible diversity. In my writing of Halton, for example, the Sikh Cultural Association has had a strong and active presence in our community for close to 20 years. In addition to offering religious services, the Association provides important cultural and social supports to Halton Sikh residents, including Punjabi classes, traditional music lessons, translation services and granting access to a library. The Association also contributes to our local Canada Day festivities and supports the Red Cross Salvation Army food banks and offers shelter to the homeless. Speaker, the Sikh Cultural Association is an inspiring example of an organisation working tirelessly to strengthen our province's cultural richness while giving back to our local community in many ways, including SEVA. There's no question that Ontario's Sikh community plays an important role in our province. Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. And bless you, Speaker. April is Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Month, more commonly known as Be A Donor Month. I want to recognise the efforts of the Trillium Gift of Life Network who were able to register over 254,000 individuals to become a donor and tissue donor last year alone. More than 3 million Ontarians, almost 27%, have already registered their consent to donate organs or tissue after their death. It's an important milestone we can celebrate, but we need to do more. The good news? Last year, 265 organ donors saved more than 1,000 individual lives because of a transplant. A new record. As we know, one organ donor can save up to eight individuals. The challenge, the reality is today in Ontario, there are still over 1,500 people waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. This Easter weekend, many of us will be with our families. Potential donations have been lost because family members were not aware of their loved ones' wishes. Talk about the importance of signing up at beadonor.ca with your family and why organ donation is important to you. While organ and tissue donation has increased significantly in Ontario, a person still dies every three days because there are not enough donors to meet the need. Trillium Gift of Life Network, Ontario's organ and tissue donation and transplant agency is marking Be A Donor Month throughout the province with awareness-raising events being held in cooperation with local advocacy groups as well as many organ donor registration drives, including 25 being held across Ontario hospitals. It only takes two minutes to register online at www.beadonor.ca or at your local Service Ontario Centre. Let's all do our part and register to Be A Donor. Thank you, members. Thank you to members from Niagara Falls. Earlier this week I was happy to attend a press conference with Uniform President Jerry Diaz, Uniform Economist Jim Stanford and the leadership from all the GM Ontario locations on the importance of the auto sector in this province. They were here to deliver a report on the damage that would be done to Ontario if the GM plants in Oshawa and St. Catharines are closed. The case they made is undeniable. There's a GM plant in Niagara that employs 2,000 people, many of whom live, shop and spend their time in my riding in Niagara Falls. So you see these jobs are extremely important to our community. These employees mostly make decent wages. Buy their groceries, raise their kids, pay their taxes in the surrounding ridings. It's the same spin-off effect we can see in businesses. GM makes its products and supports our local manufacturers. Our retirees depend on the sector too. 6,000 retirees who need to know that their pensions and their futures are secure. These are workers and retirees that generate vital tax revenue to support our health care, our education, our community and our business. Mr. Speaker, to say for every one job in the auto sector it creates spin-off jobs and you can clearly see how important a strong auto sector is. This is exactly why we need to support and extend the footprint agreement that was signed in 2009. It was a loan that kept GM from going under. Here in Ontario and protected thousands of jobs in the province. Unfortunately my PC parties didn't support those loans. This government and quite frankly this legislature needs to work with GM, Ford and Chrysler and the unions to make sure the auto sector grows in Windsor, Oshawa and St. Caverns instead of disappearing. Communities depend on it. 26,000 jobs could be lost. These facilities are the economic anchors and it's easy to see why this government needs to step up and support the industry in Ontario. Thank you. Member statements from Cambridge. Thank you, Speaker. I rise on your behalf today as the neighbouring MPP of Cambridge to acknowledge the tremendous partnership that's taken place in your riding of Brent between the Ontario Lung Association, Dave shoots from Brantford, Hyundai and Hyundai Canada. It's fitting that I also stand here in your place, Speaker, as we both sit on the Ontario Lung Health Caucus and are strong advocates for lung health issues. I move the Lung Health Act which will help all Ontarians breathe easier. When Dave shoots partnered up with the Ontario Lung Association more than seven years ago they didn't dream of the loyal bond that would develop. Dave who suffers from Aspergillus disease understands the struggles that many lung health sufferers go through when they're suddenly short of breath. Today Dave at a photo op with Brentford, Hyundai is making a $20,000 donation to the Ontario Lung Association marking $120,000 he has now donated to the cause over the past seven years. Between matching contributions from Hyundai Canada, Dave shoots and revenue earned from sponsorship of the Walter Gretzky Street Hockey Tournament and the annual Phyllis Gretzky Memorial Golf Classic over $245,000 has been raised towards lung health research. On your behalf I'd like to thank Dave shoots for his generosity Hyundai Canada and Sandy Lee, the Ontario Lung Association Volunteer Fund and Development Coordinator. This partnership speaker is a partnership between commerce and the not-for-profit and should be held up as a classic example for why it's so very important to acknowledge and to encourage corporate gift-giving. Thank you. Thank you Member Statements and Member for the Union on Bruce. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. Last Thursday I had the pleasure of attending Dream Big event in the town of Clinton. The Dream Big event aims to help those with developmental disabilities realize that they can achieve their dreams. The theme of the event was inclusion, reaching goals and overcoming obstacles. Actress Lauren Potter who portrays Becky Jackson from the TV show Glee was the guest speaker and she just shone at that event and she was indeed very motivational. Foundations Huron is a not-for-profit organization that falls under Community Living Central Huron and it was the foundation that hosted this evening. The foundation aims to assist young adults with developmental disabilities to make the transition from high school to adult life. Foundations Huron works with individuals to set goals, engage in community activities and events, increase employment, volunteer and social opportunities, learn self-advocacy and leadership skills. And in terms of self-advocacy and realizing a dream, I'd also like to give a shout out to a young champion from Seaforth Ontario by the name of Morgan. He's 11 years old and he suffers from ASD, a form of autism and this morning he had his dream realized by hosting a school assembly to talk more about autism and ASD. So the kids in his school understand what he lives with every day. His goal was to raise $750,000, let me say that again, $750 and I'd like to congratulate him because as of noon hour today he raised $1,000 and the process optimists donated $10,000 as well. Congratulations Morgan. Thank you. Member Stainless, member from Berlington. Thank you Mr. Speaker. It's my pleasure to stand in the house today to commemorate World Autism Awareness Day. Designated in 2008 by the UN General Assembly, World Autism Awareness Day aims to increase awareness about autism amongst all levels of society around the world. I'm also happy to say that in the city of Burlington in my writing, along with other municipalities from Holton Region, they have also declared today to be Autism Awareness Day. I recently had the privilege of meeting with members of PATH, Parents of Adults with Autism, Transitioning with Hope, a support group of parents of high-functioning adults with autism. Located in Holton Region, PATH is the only adult-focused autism group in Central West Ontario and their mission is to bridge the gap between exclusion and community inclusion, between services for children with autism and young adults who fall between the cracks as those supports end. PATH participants are researching ways to improve appropriate supports and inclusion in the areas of employment, social activities, housing, health, education and financial assistance. In the last seven years, the number of children in Ontario schools with ASD has gone from 700 to 18,000. These children are supported throughout school, but when they are graduating from high school, they want to continue to evolve as adults, as all young people do. They want to become contributing members of society and they need appropriate supports. Organisations like PATH and the loving parents who are members are leading the way in this endeavour and through World Autism Awareness Day we can help them and other groups like them to fulfil their goal of helping Ontarians live with autism, to be happy, healthy and productive members of our communities. Thank you Mr Speaker. Thank you Mr Speaker. Six have lived in Ontario since the middle of the 20th century and they represent a growing and dynamic population. They have contributed to the development and the prosperity of this province and of this country. Mr Speaker, April 1st, the beginning of Sick Heritage Month gives Ontarians of all faiths and backgrounds the opportunity to remember and to celebrate and educate not only themselves but future generations on the contributions of six in Ontario. The month of April is significant to six as it includes the celebration of Vasaki. Vasaki marks the establishment of the calsa. Mr Speaker, one of the teachings of Sikhism is selfless service also known as SAVA. Equality in SAVA are the guiding principles of the Sikh religion. SAVA is the principle of volunteer charitable work being performed without any thought of reward or return. It is defined beautifully by Guru Ram Dasji who said helping out is not some special skill. It is not the domain of rare individuals. It is not confined to a single part of our lives. We simply heed to the call of that natural impulse within and follow it wherever it leads us. Mr Speaker, as a proud Sikh myself I encourage all members of the house and all Ontarians to partake in the many events this month celebrating Sikhs and their contribution to our communities, our province and our country. Thank you Mr Speaker.