 We will be moving now into Members' Statements. First Member of State, I'd like to recognize a Member from Kingston and the Islands. Thank you, Speaker. Unfortunately, today I have to rise to condemn this government's latest attack on democracy in Ontario. Citizens' Assemblies and Citizens' Referendums are one of the oldest forms of direct democracy in the world. In the past, citizens were allowed to raise their hands in support of an issue or not. That was the first referendum. For this government to remove the ability of municipalities to decide on their representation in a democratic manner of their choosing is an attack on local representation. In Kingston, a citizen's referendum on ranked ballots was held in 2018, and it passed with 63% of the vote speaker. 63% of Kingstonians supported moving to that method of electing officials. The people of Kingston spoke in the most direct form of democracy that is possible, and they wanted ranked ballots. Overriding the result of this clear mandate is an affront to democracy in the most literal sense possible. The idea of this legislation maintaining predictability during the pandemic is faulty logic. No municipality who agreed to rank ballot elections are having an election in the near future. Speaker, claiming that an attack on democracy is part of the response to the pandemic is reprehensible. It distracts and diminishes from those who actually suffered. Rather, this is a self-serving attack on our democracy. Thank you. Thank you. Member Statements. Member for Carlton. Mr. Speaker, I'm thrilled to announce that last night, CTV News broke on CTV News at 6, their evening news that Riverside South, which is a fast-growing community in my riding, is going to be getting its first ever public high school. Thank you very much. There's a lot of people who helped out with this. I definitely want to thank the Minister of Education for taking my relentless and endless calls on this for the past two years. I want to thank Premier Ford because I actually remember speaking about the need for a public high school in Riverside South with the Premier last year in Ottawa during Christmas cheer, and the Premier said, Goldie, if you want it, you're going to get it. I also want to thank the community as well, and especially Laurie Rogers and her three daughters, Gillian, Chelsea and Rachel, for helping me gather over 2,500 signatures for a petition that we submitted at Queen's Park last year. Mr. Speaker, this is excellent news for the community. One thing I just wanted to point it out is that even though the Ottawa Carlton District School Board wanted a school that had space for 1,300 students, the Minister of Education actually approved funding for over 1,500 students, recognizing the growing need in Riverside South. Thank you, everyone. Thank you so much to everyone for working on this, and the Minister and the Premier for approving this, and congratulations to everyone in Riverside South. Thank you. Member statements? Member for Timmons. Well, Mr. Speaker, this government likes to pretend that it is the government on the side of small business, but more and more, as we look at what this pandemic is doing to the businesses in our communities, we're finding out that's less and less the case. Here's the latest example. Small contractors who have equipment that hire themselves out to do excavation or snow removal or whatever it might be are now being refused insurance, liability insurance, to work on municipal properties, on school boards and other public properties because the insurance companies have decided, unless you're one of the big guys making more than $750,000, we're not going to insure you. So that means all those little businesses in our riding, Mr. Speaker, across Ontario who rely on this particular style of work to be able to keep themselves employed are no longer able to do so. So I look across the way, and I say to the Minister of Finance, I'll be giving you this letter. This government has a responsibility to stand up for small businesses and go after these insurance companies and tell them enough is enough. We need to allow those businesses to get liability insurance in order to continue what they've got to do, and if insurance companies aren't prepared to do it, the provincial government should stand in as a regulator and force them to do it because this is highly unfair and this is yet again big business getting what it wants and small business getting it in the ear. Thank you. Thank you. The member for Markham Thornhill. Good morning and thank you, Mr. Speaker. On October 6, Lisa Chung, the owner of the Kukua Rating Company, the local Taiwanese grocer in my riding, Markham Thornhill, generously supported and donated 60,000 masks to school board across Ontario. I want to thank Mrs. Chung and especially thank the Minister of Edification and Catherine Chu of the Thai Economic and Cultural Office in Toronto for coming to Markham Thornhill to accept this wonderful donation. This small act of truly an example of the Ontario spirit and how hardworking small business owners are doing their part to help fight COVID-19. Mr. Speaker, Ontario's small business owners are the lifeblood of this province. They are the job creators and entrepreneurs, employers of employing millions of hardworking Ontarians right across the province. We also know that whether in the COVID-19 pandemic has not been easy for the small business community. Mr. Speaker, with the job reason recently joined Toronto, Peel and Odova in Modify Stage 2, I want to take this opportunity to particularly during small business week to encourage Ontarians to show their Ontario spirit and shop local. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Next, we have the member for Humber River, Black Creek. Thank you, Speaker. They say hindsight is 2020. From that vantage point, you see everything. Because once a thing has happened, it's easy looking back to see what you could have done differently, what you could have done better. There is hindsight in this pandemic. We have the hindsight of the first wave and we were even warned by medical experts that a second wave may hit harder and even when it would likely happen. We saw which communities, which neighbourhoods were hardest hit during the first wave. Racially marginalised communities, communities full of essential workers, many working multiple jobs, packed on public transit, many living with large families and small apartments, communities like mine, communities like the Premier's and many more. COVID-19 has hit us all differently. So again, we are calling on this government to invest the funds where they are needed the most. We need targeted resources, help us strengthen our front lines. We need more mobile testing and not just one-offs. Many more dates, many more locations. We need better contact tracing. Establish and fund community liaisons and get them on the ground so the specific needs of different neighbourhoods are understood and met. And information is able to reach everyone in multiple languages. Help establish options for individuals to temporarily isolate so if they catch the virus, they won't have to spread it to their closest loved ones. The greatest fear that many have, the list goes on. Let's listen to the needs of our communities directly. We must do the right thing and target help where it's needed the most. No more excuses. The people are counting on us. Let's get it done. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next, we have the member for Simcoe Gray. Speaker, I rise today to salute Mr. Milan Krupa. Milan fled Czechoslovakia in 1968 and settled here in Ontario. When he was 35 years old, he established a cleaning business that is now a multi-million dollar family enterprise with a national footprint stretching from Halifax to Calgary. Mr. Krupa has had a lifetime interest in aviation. In 2004, he purchased the Edenvale Aerodrome in my riding in the township of Clearview. Since acquiring the facility, Milan has restored the airfield and the buildings, and he's massively expanded the hangar space. It now attracts aviators and their planes from around the region and across the country. It has also become home to the assets of the Canadian Air and Space Museum, including a full-size replica of the famous Avro Arrow. I was pleased to participate when Mr. Krupa was recently awarded the prestigious Royal Canadian Air Force Association NORAD Trophy, recognizing his significant contributions to the preservation and perpetuation of Canada's rich aviation history, values, and traditions. Milan is a passionate and visionary citizen who has taken an abandoned Second World War training base and bunker and turned it into a world-class aeronautics attraction. I ask members to join me in recognizing Milan Krupa for his commitment to simple grade to Ontario and to Canada. His hard work and dedication is certainly an inspiration for all of us, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Member for Don Valley North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we celebrate Small Business Week in Ontario, I'd like to take this opportunity to shine the spotlight on the small businesses and the entrepreneurs in my riding of Don Valley North. There is a small business in my riding called Extraordinary Education Center. Since 2012, this small private school worked hard to earn a solid reputation in the community. Due to the pandemic, the school had to close down all impersonations before the March break. But in order for the business to survive, they created a new business model by offering their classes online. It was risky, yet necessary. As they prepared to accommodate students in their newly envisioned virtual environment, the risk paid out. In fact, they broadened their client base because the whole world's classrooms also went online at the same time and for the same reason. They set a great example of how small businesses can pivot, identify challenges, and create opportunities at the same time. Today, I salute all small businesses in Ontario for their exceptional efforts in challenging circumstances as they continue to make progress, rebound, and recover. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Next, we have the member for Brampton East. One of the most vivid memories I have for my youth is seeing a picture of a victim of the sick genocide. Someone risked their life to smuggle out a photograph from India of someone who was tortured and killed by the Indian government. And what strikes me the most to this very day is not just his lifeless eyes, his broken limbs, or the burn mark of an iron across his stomach. It's a child in the photograph standing in the crowd, crying, standing in disbelief, and more than anything, probably asking why. Why is the Indian government killing six? This genocide still impacts six across the world and those here in Canada. This November will mark 36 years since the start of the sick genocide. And that's why I'm asking all members of this House to come together and pass sick genocide Awareness Week before this painful anniversary so that six across Ontario can come together to heal, to learn, to reflect, and to seek justice together. Farmers are the backbone of our society. Farmers are the backbone of our society. They feed cities, and right now, farmers are under attack in India. Folks in my writing are concerned about new laws that are passed by the Indian government that are going to hurt farmers in Punjab, Hanyana, and others across India. And that's why I'm asking all members of this House to come together to stand with farmers against these unjust laws by the Indian government so farmers in India can live with the respect and dignity that they deserve. Thank you, Speaker. Member Statements, the member for Hastings, Lenox and Adams. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd just like to, at this time, express my appreciation to all those in the chamber who attended last night for the second reading of my private member's bill, 216, Food Literacy for Students Act 2020. You know, our priority, the Conservative Party, has long sought, long, to have food literacy taught in schools. The current Consumer and Commercial Relations Minister spoke at length about food literacy here in the chamber right back to 2013. And so does the current Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs at that time. Their words, available and answered, could have been written today. They're still on target and current. And of course, I would like to thank the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Education and the busy, very busy, I might add, Minister of Education himself for the support and guidance. And thank you to the four government members who spoke in the favour and also to the members of the opposition and the independent members who spoke for it. And it was a pleasure to hear and I would like to add mostly positive words aimed from all sides at this bill whose intent is strictly non-partisan. Their words on the bill were respectful, colorful at times, slightly partisan at others, acceptable, anecdotal in places, and mostly positive. Thank you to the legislature and its members. Thank you. Member Statements, the member for Whitby. As our economy reopens, Speaker, people in the region of Durham need help finding jobs in I and MPP's Park, bless and follow me and fill us want to make sure that within the region everyone has the opportunity to upgrade their skills, gain practical hands-on experience, and find good jobs. And to that end, we recently announced an investment of $122,000 to Durham College's Centre for Professional and Part-Time Learning which helped prepare unemployed youth in Whitby and Durham region for success in entry-level jobs within the construction industry. Speaker, these individuals who previously had a poor employment outlet will now be prepared to take their first step into a career that offers strong job prospects, mobility, good earning potential, and a solid career progression in the longer term. Speaker, by providing opportunities for Durham residents to upgrade their skills and train for new jobs, we're making it easier today and in the future to build rewarding and life-changing careers. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you very much. That concludes our member's statements for this morning.