 It's now time for Member Statements, the Member from Whitby, Oshawa. Thank you, Speaker, and good afternoon. I think it's important to recognize the value that international students bring to our higher education system, and there's no better reference point than Durham College, located in my riding of Whitby, Oshawa. And this year, Speaker, Durham College welcomed 350 new international students to campus, bringing the total number of global students to more than 600 in 54 countries. And Durham College is inspiring students to consider new ways of thinking. The ability to effectively navigate and consider cultural differences are skills that make graduates better prepared and more effective in dealing with the realities of a globalized market. A recent Global Affairs Canada study showed that international students spent $11 million, Speaker, in 2014, and they contribute $9.3 billion to our gross domestic product. And Durham College is creating pathways that make it easier for international students to pursue their post-secondary studies in Canada. And it's also expanding its efforts in international markets, including personal visits from the school's recruiting team. Speaker, Durham College celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2017, and it looks forward to increasing its international student body through even more than unique initiatives. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you for the Member Statements, the Member from London, Fanshawe. Speaker, we live in a great province, and people across Ontario know that we can strengthen our public healthcare. But instead of helping to achieve that vision, the Premier and this current government are making things worse. Deep hospital cuts have led to hundreds of layoffs for nurses and frontline healthcare workers in my city of London. That's what conservatives do when they're in office, but this Premier is doing it too. This government has broken the relationship and has broken the trust with Ontario doctors and now Bill 41 does nothing to fix our broken home care system. It does nothing to cut wait times for people or to help doctors and nurses do their jobs. People will continue to wait for home care they need because this government is putting profits ahead of people. And doctors have very serious concerns that this bill will make it harder for them to serve their patients. Speaker, today Ontario's doctors are launching their campaign to encourage Ontarians to vote for their better healthcare in the next election, and I want to thank them for the work that they do every day in their across their communities. New Democrats will continue to work with all healthcare professionals and healthcare workers to build a healthcare system that works better for families and seniors today and for the next generation for Ontarians. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I was elected, one of the first calls that my office received was from a mother who was in distress after attempting to admit her young son who suffered from severe mental health and behavioral issues into the hospital, only to learn that he would have to be in an adult ward with only older patients who also had severe mental illness. Shortly thereafter, I learned that the North Simcoe, Muscoca Lynn, which serves my community, was the only Lynn in the province without beds for youth mental health patients. Bringing this important service to Barrie immediately became a top priority for me. And on Monday, I was pleased to join Eric Hoskins, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, to announce that Royal Victoria Regional Health Center had secured funding of $3.2 million annually to support an 8-bed child and youth mental health program, which will support over 300 inpatient and 3,000 outpatients every year. The announcement included a moving performance by singer-songwriter Nathan Arons Fraser about his struggle with depression and a speech by Jenna Wiseman, an RVH employee who had tremendous difficulty finding help for her own son who struggled with mental health issues. This has to be, there was fantastic support from community members who helped the hospital foundation raise millions of dollars towards this Hearts and Minds project. Thanks very much to them. Services provided through the new care center will include prevention and health promotion, assessment and specialized treatment based on individual needs, ranging from moderate to severe and complex conditions. Thank you. I thrilled the young people in my community. Further member's statements? The member from Scarborough Rouge River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I feel very honored to introduce the Muslim Welfare Center and organization that's been providing excellent community service locally and internationally for over 20 years. The center is located in my riding Scarborough Rouge River. It serves all communities without any distinction. Their services include the three food banks, school nutrition programs, 19 GTA schools, meals and meals, two free medical clinics and the list goes on. 20 years ago, they also established a shelter for needy women and children. It provides a culturally sensitive service for them. They began a new tradition by providing first to free Halal Sunday lunch for homeless people in region part area. They also provide similar service in my riding. These services are an important collaboration between various ethnic and religious group and it's a wonderful Canadian example of charitable giving. They also work internationally on various projects such as installing pumping wells, providing free education, health care program in needy communities. I'm especially proud to have known and worked alongside this founder, Mr. and Mrs. Major Abbas Ali. While this is inspiring couple has since passed on, the center has continued to do its mission, mission. I hope to continue working together with them in the spirit of service to humanity and service to God. Thank you, Mr. Thank you for the member status, the member from Parkdale High Park. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in solidarity with an Alberta MLA named Sarah Jansen, stood up and talked about some of the things should be called as women in politics. I wanna add to that list so that we should all know this. And I know men have been called these names too, but sadly it's about 90% men who do the calling. I've been called ridiculous, a laughing stock. I've been told to put a gun in my mouth. I've been called old, a bitch, hysterical, silly and ain't stupid. I've been called several words I can't say in the house. I've been told as a dyke, all I need is a fill in the blanks. I've been called a disgrace, immoral. I've been told that children should know their mothers again, fill in the blanks, words I cannot say in this house. I've been told to try rape, you'd like it. I have been raped and I didn't, thank you very much. I shudder to think, Mr. Speaker, that our daughters are being subjected to this kind of language and this kind of abuse online. And I shudder to think that some of our sons are engaged in doing this abuse online. It's time we all said, stop it. It's enough, it does erode our souls. Thank you. Thank you. Members, ladies, the member from Kingston and the Islands. Mr. Speaker, as I know you are aware, we're joined today in Queens Park by many United Church members who are involved in a project called Breadknot Stones. This project was started in 2014 to raise awareness about child poverty in Canada and to eradicate it. The name Breadknot Stones was inspired by verse nine in the book of Matthews that reads, if a child asked for bread, who among us would give that, wouldn't give that child, who would give that child a stone? Recent statistics suggest that there are still too many children living in poverty and one is too many. Today, Breadknot Stones has given each member of provincial parliament a rag doll. These handmade dolls of hope serve as a powerful symbol and each one is unique, it has its own name and represents a child living in poverty somewhere in Canada. Many politicians and policy makers across the country have received these dolls as a reminder for children who are still asking for bread. The Ontario government recognizes the numbers are not good enough and in response has implemented many programs and initiatives such as the Ontario Child Benefit, Healthy Smiles Program and Expanded Nutrition Programs for students as part of an ongoing effort to address the issue of child poverty. In my writing of Kingston and the Islands, there are many community organizations, service providers and individuals working hard to end child poverty and youth homelessness. Thank you to Breadknot Stones for their hard work and in their words, together we can do it. Let's not stop until it's done. Thank you. For the members, the members from Fort Hill. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. I just had a wonderful lunch with a lot of Jewish women and they're part of the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee, commonly known as CJPAC. Many people here go to their fantastic action party each spring and they're doing a program called Women in Politics Mentorship Program and today we had a lunch which was a kosher lunch actually by kosher applause catering David Silber from just across the street from me when he grew up just across the street from me and we were joined by Julie De Brucen who's an MP downtown in Toronto as well as my colleagues here in the house, Sherry, the minister, the MPP from Parkdale Hyde Park and the associate minister of education in Jira and basically we told the women a little bit about how we got involved in politics, why we got involved in politics, what we liked about politics. Luckily there wasn't too much time to talk about what we don't like in politics and encourage them to get involved and consider possibly helping somebody in a career in politics or having a career themselves in politics. I just want to give a quick shout out to Sherry Firestone who is here. She's the deputy chair of CJPAC advisory board and the organizers of the whole program were Brianna Ames and Danny Peters. So thank you and I'm hoping that we have an even bigger crowd. We had about 20 women at the table. I'm hoping it's a bigger crowd next time and I'm encouraging people to get in touch with CJPAC and the women and join us here at Queen's Park. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the member's statements. The member from Tomiskimi Cochran. Thank you Speaker. I'd like to take this opportunity to inform the house that there was a major accident on Highway 11 just south of Tomogamy this morning at nine o'clock. It involved at least two tractor trailers. The highway has been closed from Cobalt to North Bay for the foreseeable future. I'd like to express on behalf of the house for the families involved and for the drivers involved. We don't know what's happened yet but judging by the mushroom cloud that we see from the distance it was a very, very major accident. And once again this demonstrates every winter we go through this where people have to fight the highways in Northern Ontario and when there is an accident, accidents do happen. But in Northern Ontario when Highway 11 is closed the access to medical services in other towns is closed. The access to your families are closed. There is a detour, you have to go to Quebec and come around. And I can't express how serious that is to be cut off and it also once again shows how important passenger rail service is to our part of the world and why it needs to be reinstated and why cancelling it five years ago was such a major mistake. You can't continue to cut off pieces of this province. Thank you. Thank you. Your member's statement, the member from Durham. Speaker, I rise today to tell you all about a charitable project that recently took place at a high school in my riding Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School. Holy Trinity partnered with Biop in Oshawa to run a sole for sole shoes drive at the beginning of November. Sole for Souls is an unprofit global initiative that fight poverty through the collection and distribution of new and new shoes. After much hard work and dedication, Holy Trinity managed to collect 5,750 pairs of shoes, Mr. Speaker. These shoes will be donated to help residents in Haiti affected by Hurricane Matthew. Thanks to Sarah Zinke, the teacher who spearheaded this collection of shoes and thanks to her English class that worked tirelessly to ensure this project was a success. Ms. Zinke and her class made posters to promote this shoe drive. They distributed collection bags and gave out information sheets to classes all over the school. I speak often about the selfless volunteers in my riding and the generosity of those who give so much back to our community. I am so pleased to be able to stand before you today and tell you about all about Durham's good news. My hope is that others will be inspired by this charitable work and that we can all continue projects such as this one all year round. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. I thank all members for their statements.