 It is time for members, statements to the member from Bruce Gray, Owen Saubel. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. On May 8th I had the privilege to visit Michael Krulicki at his home in Saubel Beach and to personally thank him for his service to our country that has helped build a lasting legacy for child amputees in Canada. Mr. Krulicki is a stellar example of Canadian fortitude. He was only a teenager when he signed up to go overseas in 1942, a decision that would change his life forever. During an attack on the Gothic line in Italy, he stepped on a landmine and lost his right leg below the knee. After returning home, he met his future wife Alice and with her loving support and the comradeship he found with the War Amps, he adopted the association's philosophy, it's what's left that counts. He didn't let his amputation hold him back, instead he was determined to learn many new pursuits and embrace life to the fullest. And so he has devoted his lifetime of experience to the War Amps, holding multiple positions over the years including national director of the Waterloo Wellington branch. It was amputee veterans such as Mr. Krulicki who started the War Champs Child Amputee Champ Program which provides financial and emotional assistance to child amputees in Canada thanks to the public support of the War Amps key tag service. Mr. Krulicki says and I quote, the Champ Program makes me feel proud and great. The War Amps is the biggest part of my life, I love the whole darn thing. Mr. Krulicki exemplifies the tradition amputees helping amputees and the members can hear more about it by watching Mr. Krulicki's video. It's what's left that counts on the War Amps YouTube channel. The video is what's left that counts won bronze in the DVD online in-house production category at this year's International Mercury Awards held in New York City in March. Mr. Krulicki won an award for his part in that video. Similar to my personal hero and amputee Terry Fox, Mr. Krulicki himself represents an example of Canadian fortitude persevering and living life despite difficult circumstances never quitting and helping others along the way. I invite all members to join me to thank Mr. Krulicki for his courage, selflessness and determination to provide hope and inspiration to thousands of other amputees and material and I encourage everyone to support key tags and labels through the War Amps and do your part to help amputees. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the member's statements, the member from Hamilton Mountain. Thank you Speaker and pleased to rise to acknowledge the families who came to Queen's Park today. They came to fight for their loved ones, people with developmental disabilities that this liberal government has badly let down. The transition to adulthood means they are unfairly cut off from services, forced to reapply and end up on a lengthy wait list. 11,000 people, adults, are on wait lists for services, 14,000 are on wait lists for supportive housing. Many have had to quit their jobs to care for and support their adult children. It is a job that requires their attention, 24-7, it is exhausting. Many elderly who dread the thought of what will happen to their children when they pass themselves. The lack of funding for some of Ontario's most vulnerable children is a disgrace. I also want to acknowledge the work of those who deliver the developmental services. They do incredible work on very limited budgets. They live with the pressure put on them to balance budgets and as a result they have to make cuts when they know there will be serious consequences. All supports for community living in Hamilton is one of those service providers. And tonight they will be celebrating their 50th anniversary. I look forward to joining them this evening and I want to take the opportunity in the legislature to thank them for their tireless work in our community and to congratulate them on reaching this significant milestone. Thank you Speaker. Thank you. Further member Stavis, the member from Ottawa, Vignette. Mr. President, il existe dans ma cirque. Mr. Speaker, there is an Ottawa Vignette and there is a microphone group that is wonderful that is helping the marginalized women in the county and across the city. This is the center, Epoxyphee, which is located in Bymarket. The staff of the shelter takes in vulnerable women who go there to eat but also to socialize and to get some support and also the services that they really need. Conditions encountered by these women, whether it's violence, mental illness, addiction, wholenessness or poverty, the team uses a feminist approach to support the women on their journey and help them get empowered. For this week when the women come to have dinner at the center, Epoxyphee, they share a meal, they chat with other women, they attend a workshop, they do a load of laundry and they get information to obtain the services that they need and deserve. Since its opening in 1997, the center has become so popular now that it has to expand. It is supported by a large group of women in the community. It's Godmother, it's Maren, it's Madeleine Meyer, who was my predecessor, who has just been appointed the new commissaire au langues officielles. I just want to say bravo et merci aux personnes... I want to say bravo and thank you to the staff of the center at Epoxyphee and also thank you to those women who come every day to get a hold of themselves and thank you to them as well. Member from Elgin, Middlesex, London. Thank you very much, Speaker. I'm pleased to rise today to highlight National Palliative Care Week. It's an annual Awareness Week organized by the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association. The purpose of the week is to bring awareness and education about end-of-life care in Ontario. This year's theme encourages Canadians to conquer their fears and discuss their end-of-life wishes. Palliative care is about focusing on improving the quality of life for an individual and taking an holistic approach to focus on pain and symptom management. In my writing, Elgin Hospice Palliative Care Collaborative Residential Subcommittee have been working in partnership with St. Joe's Health Care Society to develop a plan to build a residential hospice in Elgin County, I too am part of that subcommittee. The need for a residential hospice does exist and it's my hope that the government is listening to our local concerns in my writing and will have the funds available when we are ready to go forward with a hospice. Research shows that access to palliative care is beneficial for patients and to their families. It reduces the stress on patients and families and proves quality of life and patient satisfactions and places less burden on caregivers. I want to thank each and every health care professional who works within palliative care. Your work is not easy and I commend you for what you do and your dedication in the health care system, Mr. Speaker. I think the province can do much better in access to palliative care in this province and I'm encouraging the government to continue to support palliative care awareness throughout Ontario, not only in urban areas but rural and northern Ontario. Thank you very much. Thanks to the member from Tomskimi, Copper. Thank you, Speaker. In March 2017, the Minister of Agriculture removed the directors of the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers. And the stated reason was the lack of ability to reach a contract with some of the processors. The minister did not, they did not go to arbitration as usually done. The contracts have now been signed by the trustee and by the processors. But in a statement, the Minister of Agriculture said that the board, a board would be re-elected by December 31st, 2017. I've been contacted by many of the vegetable growers who would urge the minister, and as I urge the minister as well, to proceed with those elections before December. There is quite a bit of uncertainty in industry, a board in place does a lot more things than just negotiate contracts. He is committed to hold an election before December 31st, 2017. The question that the processors are asking, that I am asking is why wait? Why continue to foster this uncertainty? Why continue to worry producers? Do what was promised? It was very unconventional, very controversial to dismiss a board. And it's continuing to be very controversial. The best way to solve this issue is announce elections to return the board to the Ontario Vegetable Processor Growers. Thank you. Thank you. Further members of the statement? The member from the Tobacco North. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Chair. By sharing with you a number of the developments in the great riding of Tobacco North, they span the domains of healthcare, education, hydro and transport. And I think there's a lot of excitement from my own residents and constituents. First of all, Speaker, we are investing something in the order of about $400 million for a massive build-out expansion of Tobacco General Hospital. This will quadruple the footprint, adding something like 250,000 square feet. Many different areas are being upgraded, state-of-the-art emergency room, neurodiagnostic area, cardiology, resporology, dialysis, and so on. Folks are very excited about the free tuition, so families annually earning less than $50,000. College University is free, Speaker. And I would encourage folks to check out the OSAP calculator. People are telling me about their excitement that we're receiving 25% hydro price reduction. And most especially, Speaker, the OHIP Plus Pharmacare medications for individuals under the age of 25, 4,400 medications, everything from depression to type 1, type 2 diabetes, asthma, epilepsy, diabetes, and so on, so many different other areas. We also have about $1 billion coming in transportation, Speaker, with eight, count them, eight new stops in the riding, Vittobacca North, all the way from Hissington to Humber College. Thank you. Thank you for the member's statement, the member from Perry Sound, Ms. Kolker. Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to share with the House that the community of Perry Sound ranks number one in organ and tissue donations in the province. Yes, thank you. The donor registration rate is 54%, well above the provincial average of 31%. Thank you to Mayor Jamie McGarvey for helping to drive registration in Perry Sound. And thank you to all the residents who have registered to be a donor. I'd also like to mention Sandra Holdsworth, a donor recipient, and thank her for her advocacy on this issue on the Miss Kolker side of the riding. Sandra is passionate about increasing organ donation rates. Bracebridge, with a 51% rate, ranked number six in the province. And interestingly, seven out of the top 10 communities for organ and tissue donation are from Northern Ontario. Very nice. As we all know, organ donation is critical. One organ donor can save up to eight lives and can enhance the lives of up to 75 more through the gift of tissue. Often those who have filled out registration donor cards in the past may not actually be on the list of registered donors. So I encourage everyone to visit beadonor.ca and register to be a donor. All you need is your health card, and it only takes a minute to register. I also encourage everyone to inform their family of their wishes. You can make a huge difference of the life of someone in need. Thank you. Thank you for the member's famous, the member from Beaches East of York. Well, thank you, Speaker. And I'm very proud to be able to stand here today and tell you about an incredibly fantastic community project spearheaded by a constituent of mine, Mr. Justin Vandette. Justin is joining us in this gallery. Welcome to Queens Park. Now, Justin is a longtime East York activist and also happened to be my partner, Lisa Martin's second cousin. So that makes us all related. Now, a little over a year ago, Justin had a vision to create an East York Hall of Fame. And I'm very pleased to announce that after a lot of hard work, Justin's vision has come to fruition. Raymond White, Odysseus Pependatro, Richard Ellis, Rizwan Desai, Barbara Giulio, Ken Reid, Joe Cooper, and the honorable Alan Redway have all agreed to sit on the board of directors of the East York Hall of Fame. And Justin will sit in as the president. In Justin's word, the East York Hall of Fame is a new volunteer organization that's committed to recognizing those special individuals who've made a real difference in our community. And just this past Monday, May 8, the East York Hall of Fame was launched. And officially open for nominations. And some of our East York hopefuls include Rob and Rich Butler, Whipper, Billy Watson, George Armstrong, Drew Davidson, Steve Stavro, Will Arnett, John Candy, Kiefer Sutherland, Stephen Harper, Agnes McPhail, and Vincent Massey. And of course, our very own premier, Kathleen Nguyen. So I'm absolutely delighted that East York is lucky to have a great community leader, such as Justin, who can put this project into fruition, make it work. Go East York. Thank you. I remember things from Perth Wellington. Thank you, Speaker. Speaker, the Liberals budget is bad for Ontario and bad for Perth Wellington. It spends more. It borrows more. Worst of all, it sticks our grandchildren with the bill for liberal mistakes and mismanagement. The finance minister's claim of a balanced budget is laughable. Even after the reckless fire sale of Hydro-1 and various other cash grabs and accounting tricks, the Liberals are still hiding a $5 billion operating deficit. They've grown the debt to a crushing $312 billion, or roughly $22,000 for every person in this province. That's double what it was when the Liberals took power in 2003. What a disgrace, Mr. Speaker. And despite all the disaster spending, despite all the cynical vote buying, this government is still leaving rural communities behind. For years, rural municipalities have been denied predictable funding for the infrastructure we need. Priorities like natural gas delivery and wastewater management systems. Our hospitals and rural health care services aren't getting the support they need. Long-term care beds are being transferred out of our local communities. Before the budget, the Ontario PCs put forward a few simple requests. We called for a very real plan to pay down debt, to scrap the terrible Green Energy Act, put an immediate moratorium on school closures, and to bring executive salaries under control. The Liberals have ignored these sensible ideas. And it's for that reason, and many more, that we cannot support their reckless plans. Thank you. I thank all members for their statements.