 It's now time for statements the member from Haldum and Norfolk speaker today is a special day for Ontario's orthodox Christian community November 30th is the feast of st Andrew the first called up apostole Andrew is the patient saint of the ecumenical Patria Kate of Constantinople notwithstanding continued religious persecution the patria Kate perseveres this is principally the result the extraordinary vision the leadership the strong faith of one man Since 1991 the spiritual leader of the one holy catholic and apostolic church has been his all holiness ecumenical Patria Bartholomew His all holiness is truly a unique and transformational religious leader David Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee calls Bartholomew and I quote an inspiring example not only for his own flock and faith But indeed for all religious communities for all the society the ecumenical Patria His work tirelessly to foster better understanding peaceful coexistence between Judaism Christianity and Islam The message of love and tolerance from Patria Bartholomew is especially needed in the holy lands and the Middle East where the persecution of Christians is most acute as hundreds of thousands who confess the orthodox faith here in Ontario Led by his eminence metropolitan archbishop Satorios Celebrate the Feast of St. Andrew today Let us remember and work towards improving religious freedom and protecting Persecuted minorities around the world. Thank you. Thank you for the members seems to member from Windsor West Thank You speaker I'm so pleased to rise today to honor two incredible members of the Windsor community both Dr. Mark Awuku and Dr. Darren Cargill received prestigious awards for their outstanding work Dr. Mark Awuku was named the 2017 Ontario Pediatrician of the Year by the Pediatricians Alliance of Ontario Dr. Awuku is a comedy a community pediatrician Maybe he's a comedy pediatrician too as well as a professor at the Shulek School of Medicine and Dentistry He was also chair of pediatrics at the hotel do grace hospital in Windsor for six years in the words of the PAO's President Dr. Awuku is a multi-talented physician mentor and community leader he embodies the grace patients and Scholarly accomplishments that is found in many of the 1400 pediatricians in Ontario Dr. Darren Cargill also received recognition for his invaluable work and was presented the award of excellence by the Ontario College of Family Physicians Dr. Cargill was recognized for his extensive leadership in palliative and end-of-life care Acting as the voice of hospice palliative care in Windsor I have seen his dedication and hard work firsthand when I worked with Dr. Cargill on my private members bill Dan's law He has been an outstanding advocate for the rights of people in hospice care And I am grateful for having the opportunity to work with him and get to know him Congratulations to both of these outstanding Windsor doctors Most children do love funny doctors Thank you further member statement the member for me going to Laura's. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and it's by coincidence I'm going to make an announcement about the Opening of the young university subway line up in New York region and the one of the persons mainly Responsible for putting this together is here by accident and that's Karen stints the former TDC chair and a constituent It's here for Karen great work Karen Anyways, this is coincidental anyways this line is going to open on December the 17th There's going to be an open house and everybody's welcome and the beautiful thing about this line As you know the concert is filled in subways, but liberals are building them We're going to have the new station at Downsview Park to serve the students Finch West will have a station and York University After all these years the students of York University are going to be able to get on a subway train and go north or south It's going to be a fantastic boom to York University and then another beautiful station There are architectural masterpieces pioneer village is going to have a station and that's very important in opening up that transit Corridor for people who live in that northwest part of the city that were deprived of rapid transit now They're going to have it. There's going to be a station of 407 Also and then to top it all off for the first time in history We're going to inter regional subways from city of Toronto to York region for the first time December 17th. Come on out Karen stintz is buying Thank you Remember statements the member from Whitfield. Thank you speaker I rise this afternoon to recognize the work of the Durham regional council and their Recently issued report from the task force on affordable and seniors housing speaker This task force focused on three key areas the committee education which educated committee members on what? Planning and financial tools were available to support the maintenance of existing rental housing Discussion on the implementation of the region's corporate strategic plan Regional official plan and other matters that would further the region's goals related to affordable and seniors housing and third speaker identifying potential collaborative partnerships with the federal and provincial governments area municipalities financial and housing development industries and residents of region region of Durham this particular initiative speaker aligns with the ten-year housing plan that was Launched and implemented approximately two how two and a half years ago under the leadership of Roger Anderson who is the CEO and regional chair of Durham region my sincere hope speaker is that the Recommendations made in this very important report will further contribute to ensuring that no one in Durham region Goes to sleep at night without a roof over their head. Thank you speaker For the members the member from London fan shop Thank You speaker It's always a pleasure to rise as the MPP for London fan shop and the legislature on behalf of my constituents this summer I met with Barb and she shared her home care experience that her husband Ron received Barb told us Ron was experiencing heart failure kidney failure liver issues and diabetes when he was admitted to hospital in June 2017 After a 10-day stay in hospital five of those days being in critical care Ron was released from hospital with the understanding that he was to receive adequate medical and community care He was released from hospital on July 7th Their expectation was that Ron was to receive home care very quickly much their surprise and disappointment It took three weeks for Ron to be seen by a nurse at home Barb took action She sent pictures of Ron's failing body to several people including the family physician at which point Ron began to receive The care that he needed she is concerned and wants to advocate for others She wants her voice to be heard and she wants things to change first She thinks that people should should receive mandatory home care 48 hours after they've been released from the hospital Coincidentally, I actually presented a similar solution to the legislature April 23rd April 25th 2013 asking the government to implement a five-day home care guarantee She also thinks that consumers of home care services should only only have to tell their stories once and Communications need to be improved between the medical professionals both in hospital and in community The care that Ron did not receive in his final days placed a monumental burden on Barb as the caregiver a grieving wife She knew he was dying Barb lost her husband on August 4th More and more people are coming forward with their experiences with home care Just like thank you and it's time that we listen to what people need. Thank you For the members Davis the number from beaches this short well Thank you speaker and today I want to celebrate variety village an amazing chair of organization dedicated to supporting persons with disabilities Now a few weeks back speaker I had the pleasure of joining the facility at Kingston Road in Danforth Ab with then with the president Karen Stintz and director of communications Linda Emmy both of whom are here today and we welcome you to Queens Park Variety Village was the first institution of its kind in Canada designed to provide a better life and more abundant Opportunities for persons with physical disabilities and the land on which the facility stands was donated by the Ontario government and the premier of the day The Honourable George Drew opened it in 1948 So for almost 70 years variety the children's charity and variety village have provided specialized programs and inclusive education nurses from across the province along with the Ontario Society for crippled children and welcome the first 40 students into the In the fall of 1949 they began with 15 support staff three teachers to house mothers and a cook and a lot has changed in variety village And since become the single greatest provider of accessible recreation and sports programming in Canada Currently providing over 1.4 million hours of programming to over 30,000 people Over 15,000 which have a physical disability and for nearly 70 years They've given young eager individuals the help and comments they need to overcome barriers to access Many Paralympic athletes begin their training at Variety Village and we're all very proud of the young people and when they experienced sport and fitness for the first time So speaker Variety Village is a very unique community And I encourage my fellow members to share the success stories with anyone they meet who might benefit and I thank Karen Linda and all the staff and volunteers who are making a great big difference in the life Thank you for their members Thank you, Mr. Speaker I rise today to recognize the 25th anniversary of a business in my riding of Perry, San muskoka A business with the most descriptive name yummies in a jar Yummies in a jar makes just what it sounds like jams jellies salad dressings flavored maple syrup and other preserves Lynn Merton starred the business in 1992 making jams in her kitchen at home and selling at the local farmers market In the year 2000 Lynn and her husband John put an addition on their home and added a commercial kitchen To this day all the products are produced in that kitchen Lynn now has a few part-time staff who work two or three days a week Lynn responded to my business survey this summer and told me some of the labor changes would be a challenge For example, she schedules when to cook based on orders and sales and sometimes cancels her ad shifts With less than 48 hours notice She also commented that the increased minimum wage will cause her to do more of the work herself Small businesses like yummies in a jar will need help to adjust to the new rules and increase Minimum wage and I do hope that this government is listening Not only does Lynn run a great business. She and her husband John a local artist give back to the community Just two weeks ago. They held a Christmas open house Which was also a fundraiser for the local spca So congratulations to elin murton and yummies in a jar on 25 years of a success running a successful business And please think of them when you shop locally this christmas season. Thank you very much Thank you For your members statement the member from auto usself. Thank you speaker Speaker most of us have heard this last week of the transaction between torstar and post media Involving 41 local daily and weekly newspapers We soon learned that most of these papers or many of these papers were closed Papers that serve small towns and communities and neighborhoods Papers that reported on things like a proposed local development A local volunteer or celebration or a new community initiative like the new community kitchen That the auto usself news reported on in my writing just this week Speaker at a time when the internet and social media has brought the world so close to us It is even more important that we stay connected to the community that is closest to us That's what local papers do Local papers build community They inform us they connect us They help young journalists and writers hone their craft Speaker it is sad news that the auto usself community news will soon print their last edition In my writing it has been part of our local community for many years once called the news under publisher Michael Wallach Then the news emcee to most recently the auto usself community news I'd like to recognize reporter erama kraken who's been reporting on news there since I became an MPP And I'd like to thank everyone Who's worked in community news continues to work in community news for the work that you do to build our communities? Thank you very much speaker Thank you very much mr. Speaker, and I'm so thrilled to rise today and just Mentioned that list past sunday was the jf jnf jewish national fund nega dinner and the entertainment was howie mandel who Grew up in toronto, and there's a lot of funny stories about how we causing a lot of trouble In fact, I think the pickle barrel restaurant on leslie street had his picture And he was banned from entering because he used to like to do pranks such as Going up to a table with a pad of paper and a pen and taking people's orders when he wasn't even the server So you can imagine how that went over when you're trying to run a business So howie was of course, uh, somewhat inappropriate, but very hysterical And I want to give a shout out to line stavis who's taken over The nega dinner from josh cooper and did a great job Vardit Feldman from my riding well actually just south of my riding have to be fair who was one of the volunteers The evening benefited brothers for life, which is akim lachayim To help israeli soldiers Helping each other and they've even met with some of the canadian soldiers Lee more tweena from my riding saying the national anthem of canada and israel And she's managed a fairly aggressive cancer over the last few years And she has an organization called aggressive positivity. She's a painter. She painted Painting blessings for health and gave it to chief saunders this year who we know underwent a kidney transplant And as limore says music is a therapy. So thank you to limore. Thank you to howie mandel Thank you today enough and thank you especially to the brothers for life Thank you I thank all members for their statements. It's therefore now time for reports by committees