 It is now time for members' statements. Member for Toronto, Danforth. Why thank you, Speaker. Speaker, last night we learned that Premier Ford wants to rip up the plans to build a relief line from Pape Station to downtown. His team tells Toronto he doesn't want to connect to the Danforth subway line. He wants a whole new technology in place and encoded language he says and he wants it to be built by a private company. Let's set everything else aside about why it's a bad idea for Premier Ford to run the subway. Set aside the questionable real estate deals. The redirection of the system to serve his political goals, not the people of Toronto. The privatization of the operations. Let's just look at the move to stop progress on the construction of a vital transit link and throw it all into chaos. This is what he and his brother did with Transit City almost a decade ago. And their actions then in blocking new transit contributed to gridlock in our city. People have difficulty now getting on the subway at rush hour along the Danforth and slowing down the solution to that problem is madness. People in Toronto have seen the Premier destroy transit before and no one is surprised even if they are upset that he is doing it again. How can the Premier blame the city for slowing down subway building when he is saying directly that he's going to throw out years of planning and consultation to start over? The Premier talks about building transit but all he's doing here is blocking it. Speaker, I'm asking him to stop this nonsense, get out of the way, guarantee the funding and get on with building a relief line so people can get to work now. Thank you, Member Statements, the Member for Sault Ste. Marie. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I am very excited to highlight an incredible constituent of mine, Arturo Camanga, owner and chef of Antico Restaurante in Sault Ste. Marie. Arturo was recently highlighted by the LCBO during their winter recipes and Northern Ontario chef profile. The profile was done in a master chef competition style and Arturo's creation was a cornflake-crusted Arctic char-fil-a on an apple-beet salad paired with a creak-side savignon blanc and from the pictures online it looks absolutely incredible. Mr. Camanga first got his passion for cooking at a very young age of 12 when he first started on waiting on tables and now at the age of 60 years Arturo is living out his dream and his passion for cooking as strong as ever. And I have a little fun story. My dad used to tell me stories about Arturo when I was a young child. Him and Arturo had immigrated from Italy together to Sault Ste. Marie and worked together at Algoma Steel and Art was waiting tables on the side at a restaurant called Rico's and he used to always say to my dad, Tony you got to come with me and go work at Rico's I make a lot more money here it's great you know and my dad said are you crazy like I'm not going to leave the steel plant well Arturo ended up leaving going to Rico's shortly thereafter owned Rico's then he turned it into another restaurant he called Arturo's now he owns Antico he is a very well-known restaurateur in Sault Ste. Marie and someone that I've grown to really care for and love to eat there and would welcome everybody when you're in Sault Ste. Marie come to Antico you get a great meal thank you. Thank you the member for Kingston and the Islands. Today Diane Sacks the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario tabled her last report to the legislature. I would like to thank her for the incredible contribution she has made to our province as an independent expert nonpartisan officer. Diane executed her role as the guardian of the Environmental Bill of Rights with dedication, understanding and grace speaking truth to power through the final days of her role to her and the dedicated team at the ECO truly thank you. To this government you are failing on the most pressing issue we will face in this century you are betraying the future of your children and your grandchildren you are demonstrating a level of selfishness and denial that is reprehensible your policies are a betrayal of care for the people and the planet. The generational divide on climate has never been more clear as this government reverses policy after policy protecting our earth of which we only have one it has never been more clear as youth around the world take to the streets in protest of your failures it has never been more clear than when would-be mothers decide they cannot bring children into this world that you are leaving we cannot afford to simply mitigate we cannot afford the economic cost of your inactions it is time to face this crisis head on and move beyond 40 years of inaction on climate thank you speaker Member's statements Member for Don Dulley-Norris Thank you Mr. Speaker recently I attended the first American Canadian new economic innovation summit this event was a huge success the summit provides a new avenue for the coming together of Canadian, American and Chinese stakeholders to discuss finance technology entrepreneurial innovation and industrial policies all of which are important to our economic future our government's commitment to becoming a world leader in steam which stands for science, technologies, engineers and math can be only possible by attracting the best talent and being open to new business opportunities this summit is the first step in promoting investment in Ontario and most of all creating rewarding jobs for all hard-working Ontarians we are creating an environment where business can thrive and Ontarians to benefit from economic opportunities I would like to thank the organizers for hosting this summit your hard work and dedication is unmatched thank you Mr. Speaker Member for Hamilton West, Anne-Castor Dundas Thank you Mr. Speaker and I'd like to thank you for lunch today and that was very lovely it was not a special treat, I think we all get that opportunity so I'm rising today to boast about an exciting project in my riding of Hamilton West, Anne-Castor Dundas and that's the Anne-Castor Arts Centre this project would strengthen arts and culture in the community create jobs and highlight that our historic downtown of Anne-Castor has much to offer it would give our downtown business a boost and bring even more people into Anne-Castor each year the community of Anne-Castor has already put time and money behind this project when asked to raise three million dollars families and community members came together to raise over 3.7 million demonstrating the widespread support for this exciting project this is a collaborative community project with the city of Hamilton contributing 5.8 million and the federal government committing 1.5 million dollars to date the community recently received devastating news when it became public that 3 million dollars in planned provincial funding would not be coming however I am pleased to share that last week I met with a member from Flamborough Glenbrook to discuss how we could reallocate provincial funds to this project I look forward to meeting with Minister Tobolo about how we can get the funding for Anne-Castor Arts Centre back on track and ensure this innovative project is completed in the writing of Hamilton West and Castor Dundas Thank you Mr. Speaker Member Statements Member for Don Valley East Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Today I rise to speak about two wonderful programs that are taking place in my community by an organization called New Circles Community Services They are an incredible organization serving the needs of many constituents in my community and they focus specifically on newcomers who face tremendous difficulties finding work here in Ontario They are often trying to learn French or English and trying to gain work experience here in Canada and many times newcomers do face issues like poverty Mr. Speaker, New Circles has recognized that while there are barriers to enter into the workforce for many, it's often easily accessible in quick training programs that can make a difference in leading to finding their first job That's why they offer two courses Mr. Speaker One is Retail and Customer Service Foundation The other is business office skills training programs in partnership with Centennial College and there were two recent graduation classes in my writing of Don Valley East and these programs combine classroom learning with hands-on experience as well as job searching skills and developing things like resume and different strategies and in fact Mr. Speaker, 75% of the participants to these programs actually end up finding a job within the first six months It was a priority for our government to fund these programs I hope the current government sees the value in these types of programs and allows the continued funding for these important initiatives Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Member Statements, Member for Brampton South Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Prize to bring awareness to the horrific news that repeat sex offender Madeline Harks formerly known as Matthew Harks was released in Brampton Harks has been convicted on three separate occasions of sexually assaulting multiple young girls under the age of eight She has previously admitted to victimizing as many as 60 children I am disgusted at the reckless decision that led to Harks release in Brampton This is not the first time families in Ontario have been left wondering whether their justice system has broken down Back in September, Tory Stafford's killer Terry Lynn McClintock was sent to a healing lodge in Saskatchewan Only after a national outcry did the federal government correct their mistake The decision to move McClintock is like the decision to release Harks lies at the feet of the federal government I would like to commend the Peel Regional Police for informing members of the community that this sex offender will be released and for monitoring her Speaker, Brampton families deserve peace of mind They should feel that their children are safe in their own community The Liberal MPs for Brampton have a responsibility to take action to keep our residents safe Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Member Statements, Member for Davenport Thank you Mr. Speaker Community use of schools funding has enabled school boards to provide space for many important community programs across this province In my writing of Davenport the wonderful On Your Mark program offers free one-to-one and small group mentoring and tutoring for students of Portuguese and Spanish speaking heritage in elementary and high schools It helps kids in the school system and encourages the pursuit of post-secondary education On Your Mark has assisted nearly 3,000 students to date and currently is serving 300 students from over 100 schools I had to check my notes across different Toronto school boards It also helps parents to navigate the educational system and support their children It's an incredibly successful and world-renowned program that is sadly at risk because the government has eliminated the community use of school funding Speaker, families do not want this important program to be another casualty of this government's cuts In the words of two parents in the program Maria Elizabeth and Paolo da Silva who wrote to me and I'm going to quote Investing in this program is investing in the country's economy in the long term On Your Mark is just a program but it helps hundreds of students every year The correct thing is to continue supporting this fantastic program and to think about the future of our students Thank you Mr. Speaker Member Statements to Member for Richmond Hill Thank you Mr. Speaker I had the pleasure of meeting with autism families and organizations in my writing of Richmond Hill last week I thank them for meeting with me and have an amicable and productive dialogue I have been caring for special needs children and their families for over 10 years My heart is with them I understand the challenges that parents siblings, family members and teachers are going through It is unfortunate that the previous government has laughed us with a broke and broken program 23,000 children were laughed out in the cold It is not fair However, it is a stress for families with children who are receiving treatment to share their funding We have listened to the concerns that have presented enhancement program to respond to their needs I really appreciate Minister for planning to double the existing funding to cope with the demanding needs I would like to say that we care and we are listening to your concerns and suggestions I will be holding round tables in Richmond Hill to meet with you and I would like to keep it constructive and with respect and I continue to work with you and make this to come up with solutions that will work for everybody Thank you very much Member Statements Member for Mississauga Centre Last month, I had the honour of representing our government for the people as the chair of Réseau des Femmes at a conference hosted by the Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie, APF I was joined by my colleagues Richard Nicolbalt and the member for Orléans as we brought Ontario's perspective into discussions on the themes of the rights of women and girls and refugees around the world and the fight against cyber violence and human trafficking APF is an international organisation representing countries and regions where French is an official language or where there is a notable affiliation with the French culture The organisation comprises 88 member states including Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick with a mission of promoting cultural and linguistic diversity I was honoured to join fellow French-speaking parliamentarians from countries such as Vietnam, Cameroon, Belgium, France, Central Africa and many others to highlight Ontario's progress in the fight against human trafficking In a pre-conference survey we shared some important steps Ontario has already taken, such as saving the Girl Next Door Act brought forward by our Honourable Minister of Labour in 2016 and our parliamentarians in Ontario about human trafficking A new province-wide human trafficking consultation task force called by our Honourable Minister responsible for women's issues co-chaired by myself and the Member for Cambridge which is tasked with consulting women and survivors with lived experiences and experts and reporting back to the Minister I was honoured to represent Ontario and our government at this important summit Our government is committed to supporting Francophone Ontarians and continuing the fight against human trafficking Thank you Mr President Thank you Mr Speaker Thank you