 It's now time for Member's statements. Member for Ottawa's Centre. Thank you, Speaker. I rise on some somber news today. Unfortunately, we have an intractable problem in Ottawa, which I know is shared across the province, across the country speaker, and that is an affordable housing crisis and a homelessness crisis. I want to salute my colleague, Catherine McKenny, who's the Councillor in Ottawa for Somerset Ward, who is moving a motion later this month for a housing emergency. Speaker, at this point right now in our city, 12,000 households are waiting for community housing. 600 people are living in cramped hotel rooms, which have been rented by the city because our shelters are overflowing. 19,000 households in our city spend over 50% of their income on shelter, leaving them impoverished. And last night, Speaker, according to Public Health Reports, 92 people slept outside in the cold Ottawa winter. I think that should be sobering for all of us, thinking about generosity to holiday season that so many of our neighbours in Ottawa and around the province are living without affordable housing. I want to salute Councillor McKenny's call. I also want to make note, Speaker, of the fact that in as much as we debate how much money we have for housing, another announcement crossed my wires today. And that is that Canada's banks have recently disclosed that they will be paying out bonuses in excess of $15 billion to executives in the banking industry. I want to ask us at Christmastime what kind of a province we're living in when billions are flowing to banking executives and people don't have a safe place to live. We need better priority, Speaker. Thank you. Thank you. Remember for Ottawa West and Appian. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From a young age, I was incredibly fortunate to be able to rely on the world-class care provided at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, CHEO. I was born with a cleft palate, Mr. Speaker, that could very well have left me with difficulty speaking were it not for the incredible doctors at CHEO. They have since provided top-notch care to both my brother and I as we were growing up dealing with various health challenges. Since then, I've tried to give back to the hospital that's given my family so much. I volunteered with them for over 20 years, including at their annual Telethon fundraiser, and I was honored in 2007 to receive CHEO's Order of the Good Bear Award. Last week, I had the chance to tour the site of the future One Door for Care project on the CHEO campus, where initial geological work is being done and is already underway. I was incredibly pleased when our government committed funding to this project in our 2019 provincial budget, a cause that I've been fighting for since my election. The One Door for Care project will centralize mental health and developmental services at the CHEO campus, providing a one-stop shop access to families who are in need of support. I'm excited about this project and how it will improve services for children and youth across Ottawa. I look forward to continuing to be a champion for CHEO as an elected representative as I have my entire life. Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Merry Christmas to everyone. Thank you very much. Member of Statements, the member for Kiwetanom. Miigwecha, Mr. Speaker, today I rise to speak about the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In March of 2019, I stood in this house and introduced my private members bill to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Ontario. Bill 76 would require the Government of Ontario to take all measures necessary to ensure that the laws of Ontario are consistent with United Nations that declaration of the rights of Indigenous Peoples. On November 28, 2019, British Columbia passed Bill 41, which makes it the first province in Canada to pass the law that implements Andrew Drepp. This is a historic shift in Canadian legislation and I commend British Columbia on passing such an important law. British Columbia has stepped up and showed that they have the political will to lead colonialism where it belongs in the past. I stand here, I stand here again and again and talk about many issues, and the equity and the inequality and the access to services in the North, environmental racism, lack of clean drinking water, basic human rights. I normalize when our people pay for the mistakes of the government with their health and with their lives. I am tired of the jurisdictional games that are played with the lives of the people. If Ontario, and it could be, supports the human rights of Indigenous people in this province when, then why aren't they doing the right thing in moving Bill 76 forward? We got you. Thank you, Member Statements, the Member for Peterborough Corridor. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We've reached the time of year when our focus is on Christmas and the concept of giving without an expectation of receiving anything in return. I'd like to talk about a young girl from Lakefield, a community in my riding who embodies this. When she was just nine years old, Faith Dickinson found herself wanting to do something because she learned that when cancer patients are in the middle of their treatment, they often get very cold. Faith knew that her fleece blanket was something that kept her warm when she cuddled up with it on the couch, and this inspired her to do something to help. Her idea was to make fleece blankets for cancer patients, hoping it would bring warmth, comfort, and a sense of love to those individuals who are fighting this horrible disease. So in 2012, she made her first cuddle blanket and gave it to her aunt who was battling cancer. Her initiative has grown, and she now has a drop-in center in Lakefield where volunteers come in to help make this little gesture that means so much to those who are fighting cancer. To date, she has given more than 4,000 cuddles to patients across the globe. In 2017, Faith was awarded the Princess Diana Legacy Award for her charitable work and was actually invited to attend the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Thank you, Faith. Your small gesture for those battling this horrible disease has made life a little bit warmer and a lot more loved. Thank you. Member Statements. The Member for Hamilton, East Stony Creek. Thank you, Speaker. I had a visit the other day from Elizabeth Stack. Elizabeth is a constituent, a registered nurse, and one of the 43 and a half thousand members of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario. They are NAO as asking us, all of us in this legislature, to focus our minds and resources on an escalating public health crisis in our province, opioid overdoses. In 2016, just over two Ontarians on average were dying a day from accidental opioid overdose. In 2017, it was three per day. In 2018, it was four per day. And in the first quarter of 2019, on an average of over five people died per day across our province as a direct result from opioid overdose. And yet, in the face of this crisis, the government response has been wholly inadequate. Rather than meeting the crisis head-on with focus on saving lives, they have placed an arbitrary cap on the number of consumption and treatment services sites to 21. This in a province in which communities from east to west, north and to south in all of our writings are dealing with loss and grief from accidental overdose deaths. Moreover, 18 months into their mandate, only 16 of those 21 sites have been funded. This government's approval process has been bound communities into knots with bureaucratic and political barriers. I urge the government to listen to our frontline health care workers who see the real impact of the crisis every day as part of their jobs. We must listen to our nurses and hear the cries of help from constituents who are struggling with their own addictions, as well as those who are dealing with the loss of loved ones to these addictions. This government must move as though life depends on the response because it does. Member Statements. The member for Mississauga Streetsville. Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker. Twas the night before Christmas, and all in this chamber, will reflect upon 2019. So let's take a look at the numbers. 271,600 the numbers of jobs created. $30 billion in infrastructure funding to build what is needed. A billion dollars saved annually through centralized procurement and fixing the hydro-mess so the lights can stay on for our seniors is a requirement. We announced $27.5 million in support for indigenous economic development. And we've invested $1 billion to ensure that affordable housing is built. We also have teams who collaborate patient-centered healthcare to announcing long-term care projects so those who need not be in the hospital can be elsewhere. We increased the number of high-dose flu shots for those most vulnerable and invested in programs and services for our seniors so they can be more comfortable. We're telling the world that Ontario is the place to be to do business, for jobs, raise a family, we all agree. But we acknowledge there's more to be done. Our law, Travallo Ensemble, and let's continue the work. So let's work together. I conclude my version of this classic. My friends in the opposition, let's try not to be so dramatic. Please, all members, staff, clerks, come back safely in the new year. The opposition, the independence, our government caucus, and our premier. Have a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, and a wonderful new year, everybody. The member for Essex. I thank you very much, Speaker. As always, it is a great pleasure to rise in this house to recognize the achievements of the great people in the Windsor-Essex region. Today, I have the honour of recognizing swimmer Julia Lane from Windsor-Ontario, who is a four-time world record holder with a pending fifth world record after competing in a swim meet in Windsor this past weekend. At just 20 years old, Julia holds the Down syndrome world records in swimming for the 50 fly, the 100 free, the 200 free, the 400 free categories, and a pending fifth record for the 50 free category. Julia's first three records were set at swim meet in Windsor-Ontario on November the fourth, and the fourth at a swim meet in London on the 24th of November. Julia's dedication and passion for swimming started at the age of three when she started hanging out around a pool deck. Julia swims six times a week and trains in CrossFit, waking up as early as 4.30 in the morning for practice. She is currently training to compete in the next world Down syndrome games in Portugal in 2022, where I know she will make this entire country proud and inspired by her achievements. Julia is truly an inspiration to our community, province, and country. At 20 years old, this is just the beginning for Julia, who will undoubtedly be setting world records for years to come. I look forward to following her achievements and are demonstrating that with dedication, passion, and commitment, the sky is the limit. Julia, we are also proud of you. Thank you for inspiring us all, and good luck in all your future endeavors. Member statements. Member for Ottawa South. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I'm really pleased and proud to say a few words about my father-in-law, Lauren Nelson Hooper, who passed away on the 30th of November at the Perlion Rideau Veterans Health Center in Ottawa. And he was born on August 17th, 1922. He served his country both in the forces and the Department of National Defense for more than 60 years. He also left an incredible legacy of a family, an only daughter, Linda, who is my wonderful wife, patient wife. Three grandchildren, Kirsten, John, and James, and three great-grandchildren, Vaughn, Sloane, and Fraser, who all got to visit him the week before on the Saturday, which was really quite special. At age 94, he wrote a letter that got his wife, Eva, and my mother-in-law, a chance to meet the Queen, a really incredible thing which goes to show, even when you're 90, there are things to look forward to. An incredible person had all his marbles, scored higher in cognitive tests than I would, peacefully went into sleep, so something, I think, that was very fitting for him. And I just wanted to say a great deal of thanks to his friends, Olaf and Pat, Joanne and Claire, Joyce and George, and the many others who visited him quite frequently. He was never missing any visitors. But you made a big difference in his life because you took a genuine interest in him because he took a genuine interest in everyone. And I want to thank the staff at the Pearly and Rideau Veterans Health Center, especially the folks on Ottawa II East, the recreation staff, all the staff there. They knew him as Charlie Brown. Yes, he got himself a nickname. He made up his nickname. They took it up, it kind of looked like Charlie Brown. And it was really special to him, and they treated him in a great way. And it made a world of difference to him in the final years of his life. And I, we, Linda and I, and all our family, can't thank you enough. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member Stavins, a member from Mississauga Center. I had the pleasure of attending the Cindy Music Festival in my region of Peel. I would like to thank the Cindy Association of North America or Santa Canada for inviting me. I also want to take the opportunity to congratulate the organizers, the volunteers, performers, and attendees for making it such a successful event. Without all of their hard work and dedication, it would not be possible to put together one of the largest shows of the Cindy culture and music in our community. The Cindy's are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group who speak the Cindy language and are native to the Cindy province of Pakistan. And they are so very proud of their language and traditions, which they are passing on to their children, which was very evident at the event. Ontario is a vibrant province with a diverse community that welcomes residents from all around the world. And this is reflected in my writing of Mississauga Center across the region of Peel and, of course, across Ontario. In Ontario, we proudly share our culture as well as celebrating the culture of our friends and neighbors of different backgrounds. And this is what makes my job as an MPP so very exciting. Experiencing the vibrant tapestry of cultures that make up Ontario is a true privilege. It is undoubtedly true that music is a universal language which transcends linguistic differences and unites people from diverse backgrounds. So I truly enjoyed listening to the different performers from all around the world and all the way from Pakistan. And I even danced to the different music that was there and there's a video as well. But, Mr. Secretary, I just wanted to say it's been an honour and privilege to serve the past 18 months and I wish everyone a merry Christmas and thank you very much. Next, we have the member for Don Valley Norris. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Tomorrow is December 13th, the 82nd anniversary of the Lanjian massacre where hundreds of thousands of innocent children, women and men become victims of unimaginable war crimes happened in Lanjian in 1937. There are many survivors with a lifetime of pain and suffering. Two years ago, the Ontario Legislature passed a motion in 1966 which recognized December 13th as Lanjian massacre commemorative day in Ontario. By remembering those who have been murdered and their family who still suffer, we do not bear hatred against anyone. Rather, public truth hearing leads to a journey of healing. Forgetting the history means betrayal and denying the crime is repeated again. We must all work together as the community to educate others, especially the younger generation, about what happened on December 13th, 1937 to make sure as the years go by, this tragic moment in history will never be forgotten and never repeat itself. We must also acknowledge the horror of these crimes, learn from the lessons of the past, strengthen our commitment to peace and build a better world for all. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good job. Thank you very much. Reports by committees. Pursuant to stand.