 Member Statements The member for Toronto St. Paul's Good morning speaker today. I'm rising on behalf of a wonderful constituent of mine and her name is Sherry First I want to remind folks here that in Canada Approximately three million people are battling eating disorders Sherry is one of the 500,000 or so people in Ontario who are struggling with her own battle. I Want to make it clear in this house That we need additional supports for eating disorders Sherry has been struggling for Roughly 30 years And I'll explain to you the brunt of the struggle We only have 20 publicly funded beds in Ontario For people who are critically ill enough on death's door to be hospitalized Speaker I know the government has made some investments in eating disorders, and I appreciate the effort But for many families too many of which are in St. Paul's and across Ontario We need more We need additionally public funded beds. We need staff To support patients in those beds it is Absolutely heart wrenching to know that there are empty beds That cannot be Accounted for because there are no staff to take care of patients We need additional publicly funded beds. We need more staff We need more psychotherapy more mental health supports for people here in Ontario who are battling with on with with eating disorders And it must be publicly funded Because not every family in this province has 30, 40, 50 or 60 thousand dollars to spend For months of private care Speaker please Join me everyone in this chambers and let's fight for people who are living with eating disorders So they can live another day Thank you The next statement It was a wonderful news to hear Our premier announced a 10.2 billion dollar childcare deal this week alongside our federal government This deal is meant to deliver an average of 10 dollar a day childcare by september 2025 And it could don't come at a better time for the Ontario residents of I have been hearing from many working families in my riding of Mark and Thornhill That they have been struggling to keep up their cost of living childcare cost went up to 300 percent under the previous liberal government The childcare deal alone with other initiative From our government will help the people of ontario make ends meet Mr. Speaker This is just one of the example of a government is reducing financial pressure on families in ontario The deals also include hiring new early silkwood educators and supports Improved compensation for all registered early silkwood educators working in licensed childcare Ontario is creating 86,000 silky spaces with more than 15,000 spaces already in place since 2019 As our premier stated our silkwood educators deserve more money Mr. Speaker, this is a great deal for all ontarian parents Under this program reducing fees for an average of 10 dollar a day in ontario would save an average of 7,300 Unworthy pay unworthy first child which will give parents the opportunity to afford childcare for first time Mr. Speaker Thank you to minister of education for his hard work And you also he also stated that we will be maintaining the ontario silky task credit program and that will continue That is a great news for many hardworking family. Thank you, mr. Speaker Thank you member for mark and cornhouse member statements member from london north center Speaker the current epidemic of homelessness and lack of mental health supports in my community is hurting everyone Residents business owners shoppers visitors and especially those who are struggling without supports are all suffering When this government took power in 2018, they immediately cut promised mental health supports by 335 million Speaker they voted down my bill to provide powerful prescribed supports to those struggling with mental health needs Since I was elected I've called upon the government to provide emergency supports to address our homelessness and mental health crisis People who are struggling are sent to london from all across southeastern ontario And london doesn't have the capacity to handle everyone The government needs to step up Mayor ed holder wrote a letter in early march and city council is still awaiting a response from this government about ssrf supports Shelters like unity project london cares and atlosa need your help now Nick in my riding wrote to me about the human suffering seen on london streets And he underscored how the province is not looking after its responsibility for health care and mental health For too many years governments have not built enough affordable and supportive housing It's unacceptable to leave people this way Speaker it's time for the government to step up build supportive housing and provide meaningful assistance So that those suffering from homelessness and mental health can rebuild their lives and businesses and people can enjoy beautiful downtown london again Thank you For mississauga lakeshore. Thank you speaker work hard when you are young So you don't have to when you are old From the days of when my italian grandparents and parents first immigrated to ontario This was the saying that was passed down through our family's four generations I'm sure many ontarians if not all abide by this philosophy in their regular life However, we all know one special person who does not follow this Sentiment at this is the former mayor of the city of mississauga hazel mccallion Even though it was only a few short months ago when she celebrated her 101th birthday Hazel continues to give back to her community providing to us all that age is simply just a number That is why i'm honored to rise today to recognize another accomplishment in her life And that is that hazel mccallion walk for health The hazel mccallion walk for health is a new fundraising event hosted by the trillion health partner foundation Which takes place in my riding of mississauga lake shore with the support and funding of our government Along with the largest donation ever in canadian history of 105 million dollars by the peter gilgen foundation The community will soon have a chance to fundraise of their own for the new hospital These investments will help increase the number of operating rooms and add over 350 additional new beds Our government continues to promise the health and safety of all ontarian is our number one priority With what will be the largest hospital in canadian history This build will help ensure we keep the promise for just For the not just for the mississauga residents, but all ontarians. Thank you Member statements the member for st. Catherine. Thank you speaker Today I rise to talk about protecting our environment and our green belt The direction we need to be going in is protecting more ontarios parks and expanding green spaces Expanding the green belt on one hand. We need to do this work to combat climate crisis The greatest threat to everyone. However, on the other hand, it is an opportunity to support communities and create jobs One of the reasons our region and st. Catherine sees so many visitors a year Is because our community was built in harmony with our natural environment Once this is paved over by a developer. It will be gone forever I mean every word I say I look at our shoreline Our community and our green spaces throughout st. Catherine's one of the reasons it is so beautiful Is because it it is a priority to protect these spaces We are already paying the price for the climate crisis our children and their children will pay this price in the future We need a province with a bolder clear Fully committed plan for the environment The last four years Too much time has been about making it about politics When it should have been about policy I am proud to stand with a caucus that takes this seriously And I hope all of the members in this chamber does as well The member for glenberry press scott russell Thank you, mr. Speaker It is with admiration and emotion that I commemorate today the life of a remarkable woman from the pr region And I was happy to know her and miss Madam monique wolf yell a peaceful warrior who passed away from a fifth cancer on january 22nd at the age of 77 Monique was an outstanding citizen mother of four children loving and present teacher for 26 years She dedicated her time to so many organizations and groups especially for education and women It's impossible to even summarize in the time eluded her countless qualities Including her generosity her rigor her integrity and her courage have marked hundreds of people throughout her life In her eyes life was a perpetual moment of learning caring Wonder and fulfillment She lived this way until the very end It is because of the determination of women like monique that women today are exercising leadership in a variety of critical areas Without their courage and rigor we would certainly not have all Our achievement russell our home the place where monique significantly improved the quality of life for so many A place she left in better shape than she found it and for that we are forever grateful She left her mark and we will never forget her. Thank you, mr. Speaker The next statement the member for mr. Saga malton Thank you, mr. Speaker We are devastated Family members of five killed in brampton home fire Plead for others to check alarms This is a strong and compelling headline Mr. Speaker last week an early morning fire claimed the lives of a family of five Flames tore through their brampton home around 2 a.m. Monday. We lost the lives that could have been saved The coal community is in shock, but more heartbreaking is How it may have happened potentially It was an active smoke alarm Since march 1 2006 it is a law for all interior homes to have a working home alarm On every story and outside all sleeping areas still we keep losing lives to know or inactive smoke alarms in the house In commemoration of the great chicago fire every year fire prevention week is observed from october 3rd to 9th to raise fire safety awareness And help ensure every home and family is protected Clearly mr. Speaker. This is not enough Commitment from community and everyone is the only way to save these precious lives In 2020 there were 10 fatal fires that left a total of 11 people dead while in january 2021 15 fires left 22 people dead half of these fires were preventable house fires We could have saved those lives most fatal fires occur at night when people are sleeping A working smoke alarm will detect smoke and provide an early signal to the presence of smoke So you and your loved ones can get to safety or prevent the fire from spreading through you, mr. Speaker I want to urge everyone to test home Smoke alarms regularly and replace them every 10 years one life lost is too many Let's all do our part and save lives. Thank you Thank you Thank you, speaker today I want to highlight a significant issue that is impacting my constituents of hamilton mountain the affordable housing crisis This is something that has been going on for some time, and it has certainly gone from bad to worse Low and moderate income tenants are bearing the brunt of this crisis The average rent for a one bedroom apartment in hamilton is now $1486 a month for families for two or three bedroom units in the city can cost over $2,000 the housing system is failing our families Now almost half of renters in hamilton are living in affordable unaffordable housing This means that one in five renters are spending more than 50 percent of their monthly income on rent Making it difficult to afford food transportation and other necessities Even worse renovictions are destroying the stock of affordable housing by driving up rent and displacing people from their homes Several constituents have come to my office over the past year because of renovictions Each time i've expressed their concerns here in this chamber the premier and the minister have still been silent tenants trying to find new housing face skyrocketing rental Cost and end up paying upwards of 20 percent more every month for housing in hamilton Affordable housing is a crisis. We need to end tenant displacement and renovation and commit to developing policy That puts the health and housing security of our tenants ahead of the profit of landlords and developers Member statements the member for paris on muscova Thank you, mr. Speaker perry salmos coca is most often known for its natural beauty and welcoming people But what you might not know is that also home to world-class athletes I want to offer my congratulations to the olympic and paralympic athletes from perry salmos coca who represented canada in beijing graham richey from perry sound competed in cross-country skiing posting an impressive fifth place in the men's classics pile Team sprint along with his teammate here in canada's best ever finish in that event He also finished 11th in the four by 10 kilometer relay and 34th in the men's sprint I also want to congratulate mark idison born in perry sound and skip of canada's paralympic wheelchair curling team Who brought home a bronze medal mark is now a three-time olympic medalist? Megan oldham from perry sound her remarkable fourth place finished in women's big-air skiing after Winning the qualifying round. She also finished 11th in women's slope style Megan farrell from brace bridge finished 12th in women's snowboarding parallel giant slalom And just two days after coming home from beijing. She won gold at the nationals Finally callin cameron from brace bridge is bringing three bronze medals home to perry salmos coca Call and finish third in men's sitting sprint power cross-country skiing in the four by two and a half kilometer mixed relay And in the men's long distance sitting cross-country event Congratulations to the athletes from perry salmos coca and to all the athletes from team canada for overcoming the hurdles presented by the pandemic And representing our country with determination and sportsmanship job well done Thank you very much