 Clock is such that it is now time to move to member statements. So for the first member statement, I turn to the member from Mr. Kegawak, James Bay. Thank you, Speaker. While the government is dragging its feet, trying to roll out the vaccine, Northern communities in Ontario are showing resilience and are showing solidarity. Has been working around the clock to create a vaccination system that accommodates or scattered communities in Ontario for northeast and struggles with the limited vaccine supply. Given our territory that we do not have high-speed internet and that we are not using new technologies, we have called in. We have asked the community to contact residents in order to help them to get vaccinated. My office has also been helping. We have created a system for seniors who need help to book an appointment and to let them know when the vaccination clinic will be available. It's resourceful and capable of standing together in a situation where there are not left on their own in the middle of a global pandemic. I want to thank and remind those of Mr. Kegawak, James Bay, that Parkbind Health Unit is asking caregivers of seniors help them access the booking system for their age range. Merci. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. Thank you. The next member statement, the member from Mississauga Streetsville. Good morning, Speaker. Today I would like to talk about a very important event that took place on Saturday night, Earth Hour. Earth Hour is one of the world's biggest environmental movements. Each year, millions of people in more than 180 countries turn off their lights, showing their commitment to protecting the planet that we call home. Here in Ontario, in addition to our homes and businesses, landmarks like the CN Tower and Niagara Falls also went dark to recognise this occasion. Participating in Earth Hour is just one small step we can all take to protect our environment. I'm proud that this Government recognises the importance of protecting our environment and is taking action to do so. We are investing $20 million over four years in the Greenlands Conservation Partnership and $12 million over the next three years to support the Greenbelt Foundation's ongoing work to protect, promote and improve the Greenbelt in the Golden Horseshoe region, alongside the implementation of our Made in Ontario Environment Plan. In addition, we are leading consultations for the biggest expansion of the Greenbelt since it was created. Thank you to all of Ontario's businesses and families who took part, and I look forward to continuing this important work. Thank you very much. Member Statements. Member for Oshawa. Thank you, Speaker. Catherine Ross was born on March 26, 1921, and she just celebrated her 100th birthday. She has wonderful memories and stories of summers at the cottage, special friendships with great neighbours, and family moments that have kept her heart beating for a century. Catherine or Kay or Mrs. Ross or Aunt Kay goes by grandma to me. She is my person and I am hers. She now lives in a retirement home just around the corner from me. For years I have been a help and usually decent company, but now I am her registered essential caregiver. During the pandemic I have gotten a COVID test every week or every other so I can visit and help her following COVID protocols. For her birthday we set up a Zoom call. 100 years ago it would have been impossible to imagine a virtual party with loved ones on a computer screen or the internet. It was special and I am grateful to everyone who shared their best wishes with grandma through letters, videos, and messages. In her birthday message to family she wanted everyone to know she is happy, has been fully vaccinated, and is so fortunate. My 100 year old grandma is protected and I am relieved, but we want all of our neighbours and their families to be protected too. My office is flooded with worried and anxious people wanting their loved ones to be protected. So many people are waiting for vaccines. Durham Region Public Health Unit now has the fifth highest number of cases per capita. Numbers are climbing. The variants are spreading. Durham needs to be included in the government plans for expanding vaccine access and Durham Region pharmacies should be added to the government pilot project. Durham Region is in need of more vaccines and more access to them and they are needed immediately. Please support us. Thank you. Thank you. The next member statement, the member for Scarborough Rouge Park. Thank you Mr. Speaker. During the pandemic we have seen Ontario come together as a community and as a family. We have relied on each other. Our neighbours, our friends, our families for a source of comfort, hope and support during these times. We have seen the best in us and I would like to highlight to in this house another examples of Ontario spirit in my riding of Scarborough Rouge Park. I want to send a huge shout out to Bill Yon and David Adamson from Highland Creek Community Association for being true leaders in our community. Highland Creek Community Association and Italpasta have made generous donations over 100,000 pounds of food to the Toronto Daily Bread Food Bank. This is an incredible example of the Ontario spirit and thank you. Bill, David and the entire Highland Creek Community Association for all that you're doing for our community during these exceptional times. You too truly embody the Ontario spirit and I'm proud to represent our riding such as Scarborough Rouge Park that has residents who are ready and willing to lead by example. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Member statements, the member for Nickel Belt. Thank you Speaker. Today I rise to say thank you to everyone who is working so hard in Sudbury and Nickel Belt through this difficult time. First I want to say thank you to Dr. Sutcliffe and our public health unit for their hard work in the last year. Thank you to our hospital worker for all they continue to do. Thank you to long-term care home and resident home workers for their courageous work throughout the pandemic and to for their help to get their residents vaccinated. Thank you to the teams at Chicago McQuay and the Shwagamok for the great work getting First Nation and Métis people vaccinated. Thank you to our homeless and shelter workers, paid and volunteers. A special thank you to the YMCA and the Samaritan Centre. The same goes for our home and community care sector worker. I thank you. Thank you to the City of Greater Sudbury that has stepped up in an incredible ways offering their arenas for vaccination site. Their workers including paramedics to help out. Thank you to our mental health and addiction workers dealing with an overwhelming numbers of cries for help of overdose and families left behind. I want to thank our teachers who are flipping back and forth between online and in-person teaching. Let's face it, there is nothing easy about teaching a four-year-old child over Zoom. There are many more essential workers and businesses big and small that have worked hard from Albao to Foliad, Gogama and everywhere in between. As northerners, we came together to help each other today and I want to say thank you. Let's remember Speaker, let's be calm, let's be kind, let's be safe, this too will end. Thank you. Thank you very much. Member Statements. The Member for Oakville North Burlington. Thank you, Speaker. During Hellenic Heritage Month and this week of Passover, we must remember one of the saddest chapters in the history of Greece. In March 1943, the Nazis rounded up and deported the Jews of the city of Thessaloniki, sending them to the concentration camps. Before the war, the city had more than 50,000 Jewish citizens of whom 46,000 were deported and killed. The city was home to most of Greece's Jewish population, with most families having arrived after their expulsion from Spain in 1492, mostly Sephardic Jews speaking Ladino, a variant of Spanish. Up to the 19th century, Jews were a majority in the city, with 33 synagogues, thriving schools and businesses. Outside Thessaloniki, the ancient Romaniotes were Jewish families in Greece since the time of Alexander. Across Greece, about 70,000 Jews died. Some were saved. Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens saved 1,200 people, and Bishop Risostomos of Zacintos saved all 275 of his Jewish citizens. Today, only about 1,300 Jews live in Thessaloniki, 6,000 in all of Greece. Some descendants of survivors live here in Canada. The Jewish community of Greece is working to build a holocaust museum in Thessaloniki to honor those who were killed, to remember their lives, and ensure their contributions to Greece are never forgotten. May their memories be eternal. Thank you. Member Statements, the member for St. Catharines. Thank you, Speaker. Despite all the work of community agencies, according to this month's coroner's report, Niagara had the second highest opioid-related death rate in the province. This situation is really serious. St. Catharines has many volunteers and community agencies that are doing their part in the opioid crisis. I stand today to celebrate their strengths and their contributions. St. Catharines is fortunate to have activists, recovering addicts with lived experience, and volunteers that continue to support our city during the opioid crisis. One of the more visible contributions is the needle pickup, which helps keep our streets safe. There is the tireless work of actionist Fred Bowring. There is Karen Orlandy and her volunteers at Serval Spire. There is Andrew Lilly and their volunteers from the Street Works Department, a positive living Niagara. St. Catharines also has an amazing group of city employees, a local golf disc group, and many other volunteers who are active with needle cleanup. It takes the community to do this great work. While St. Catharines has the heart, the provincial government holds the purse strings. It is essential we provide more provincial support, connect folks at the margins of society, and provide them with education, naloxin, and community support. The pandemic has exaggerated overdote deaths and the provincial funding plan is needed today, one that uploads costs and outreach, needle pickup, and safety supplies. Thank you. Member Statements. The Member for York Centre. Thank you, Speaker. The deadly effect of the lockdown is real, but the public health modeling, the fear on the basis of which the government makes these decisions, is not. By now, most MPPs privately realize that the lockdown is deadlier than COVID. Despite a quarter million surgeries postponed, a million cancer screenings that didn't happen, overdoses skyrocketing, suicidal ideations that are at least quadruple, and a complete paralysis of our healthcare system, the premier is not alarmed. But the modeling and fear that our ICUs may be overwhelmed is always off by two to five times. On September 30th, Dr. Brown convinced the government to place the GTA in red. He said that if Ontario keeps Michigan's case trajectory, we'll have over 250 ICU patients by end of October. Ontario indeed met Michigan's case trajectory, but the number of ICU patients was only 73, more than three times less than predicted. On January 12th, Brown said that by the end of the first week of February, even with a reproductive rate of 1%, Ontario will have over 700 ICU patients. The rate was indeed 1%, so we met the trajectory, but the number of patients was 325, or less than half than predicted. Speaker, a year later, public health refuses to admit a basic error, that ICU admission is not proportional to cases. They're not a function of each other, because it's not about how many get COVID, it's who gets COVID. But the death, disease, depression, bankruptcy, and divorce are a function of the lockdown. Please look at the numbers. The government knows it's doing harm. They're afraid to admit a mistake. I'm telling the government, you do not have the consent of the people to lock us down. Do not impose a third lockdown. We never left the second. Please show leadership and save lives by ending this deadly lockdown. Member Statements. The Member for Richmond Hill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise in the House to speak about the exciting new Centre for Seniors, the Care First Campus of Care, right in my riding of Richmond Hill. Care for us has been caring for seniors since 1976, providing many services from transportation to deliver meals, assisted living, home care, and more. I'm so proud of our government and the Ministry of Long-Term Care, who have allocated 2,983 safe, modern, long-term care spaces to be built through the 29 projects across the province. 1963 new spaces and 1,015 upgraded spaces. Of the 29 projects, 23 involve the construction of brand-new buildings, and 19 involve campuses of care that is to be built as well, and is to be provided on the same site as well in Care First. COVID-19 caused unprecedented challenges for many non-profit organisations and thousands of seniors who rely on the community service to maintain their well-being. In fact, the past Sunday they host a special young at heart fundraising campaign to fundraise for this. So, working together with the government, we are building support for the seniors. Thank you. Thank you very much. Member Statements. Member for Scarborough Centre. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Sorry about that. I'm very happy to share with the house what an excellent time I had during my Easter crafting event with some of the kids of Scarborough Centre. We did two crafts, a bunny pom-pom plate and a wooden bunny ornament, and I must say I was pretty impressed by the creative chops of the little budding artists who joined me. We shared fun stories and the kids told me about how happy they are to be in class where they get to learn and see their friends. I delivered top-notch jokes as we crafted, gems such as what is a bunny's favourite type of music, hip-hop, and what do you get when you cross an insect and a rabbit, bug's bunny. I scored some laughs and some eye rolls, which to be honest reminded me of my time as a teacher, and the good time was had by all. As Easternears, it was nice to virtually gather and connect with the community. It reminded me what joy children find in life, and reminded me to do the same. While we are all going through a difficult time, I look forward to Easter and commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ soon. I am thankful for the sacrifice that he made for all of us, and will share a quick quote by Floyd Tomkins. Let the Resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness. I certainly saw strength and happiness in the young people that I joined this past weekend, and they and their resilience fills me with hope for the future. One more joke to end on a high note, how do you know carrots are good for your eyesight? Have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses? On that note, eat your vegetables, and I wish you all a very happy Easter and thank you very much. That concludes our member's statements this morning.