 It is now time for Member Statements to member from Perth, Wellington. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Speaker, last Thursday I was pleased to attend the United Way Perth Huron's Spirit of Community celebration. This event celebrated our local volunteers who contribute so much to our communities. Thursday event was also a host to a very special announcement. The United Way Perth Huron raised over $1.15 million during this year's campaign. It's the most they've ever raised in one campaign. I would like to recognize the campaign co-chairs, Police Chief John Bates and Wayne Smith. They did outstanding work. I would also like to offer a special thank you to the residents of Perth and Huron counties. Your outstanding generosity funds the United Way's important community initiatives. We're fortunate to be part of a community that supports local needs and is so willing to give back. To Ryan Erb and the United Way team, thank you for everything you contribute to our communities. Your leadership means a great deal to so many great causes. Thank you Speaker. Thank you. Member Statements. Member from London West. Thank you Speaker. Speaker, this past weekend 15 communities across Ontario, including my own community of London, participated in the Steps for Life Walk. The Walk raises money for threats of life, a national organization that supports families grieving in the aftermath of workplace fatality, serious injury or occupational disease. The London Walk was opened by Dave and Barb Gerber, who spoke from the heart about the loss of their 25 year old son Kyle, who died after a workplace injury in 2008. The Gerber's story and the stories of thousands of injured workers that were shared on April 28th at the National Day of Morning is a powerful reminder to all MPPs about our obligation to do everything possible to make Ontario Workplaces safe. We need to ensure proper training and oversight, we need to hold employers to account when they fail to protect workers, and we need to provide workers who are injured on the job with the support and respect they deserve from WSIB. Speaker, as NDP critic for post-secondary education, I once again call on the government to address the lack of workplace protection for one particular group of young people. That is, post-secondary students who are doing a voluntary, unpaid work placement as part of their program of study. These students currently fall through the cracks of the Employment Standards Act and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act. If they are injured or killed during their work placement, they are not covered by WSIB. Speaker, with Ontario's high rates of youth unemployment, unpaid voluntary work placements provide many post-secondary students with their only opportunity to gain work experience. You cannot fail these students. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Speaker, earlier today I had the privilege of hosting a seniors advisory group meeting in my riding of Etobicoke Center. Once a month, I host seniors from our riding at the Eatonville Library to discuss important issues impacting our community and residents of all ages. And over the course of this past year, we welcome knowledgeable guests from the community and beyond, and have covered a range of topics relevant particularly to seniors. And I'd like to thank those guests who have come to speak at my seniors advisory group meetings. In November, we had Bobby Greenberg speaking from the Missaga Hullton CCAC. In January, we had Lisa Thompson from MTO talking about safe winter driving. In February, we had Denise Harris from the Etobicoke Historical Society talking about Etobicoke's history. In March, we had Michael Burgess from 22 Division talking about frauds and scams. In April, we had Graham Webb from the Advocacy Center for the Elderly talking about elderly abuse. And today, we had Ted Rouse, a retired financial planner, talking about financial planning for seniors. These meetings, Mr. Speaker, provide important information to the seniors who attend them and invaluable feedback to me as their representative here at Queens Park in our community. Today's meeting was our last before the summer, and I want to thank everyone who's participated in the last few months and convey how deeply appreciative I am of their time and the feedback they've shared with me. Their insights have made an enormous difference in my first year and has made me a better MPP. Of course, we will all have a chance to catch up again on my annual Seniors Tea, which is taking place in June during Seniors Month. Ontario's theme this year for Seniors Month is vibrant seniors, vibrant communities, and I can't think of a group. That theme describes more accurately than the seniors that I meet every day in Etobicoke Center. I'd like to thank all Etobicoke seniors for all you do to keep our community vibrant. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I rise today to inform the House of a very important event taking place in Sarnia-Lampton. May 5th and 6th, the Sarnia-Lampton Research Park Bowman Center will be hosting the big debate, a high energy discussion of what to do with our nation's wealth of petroleum resources, refiner or sell it. The program for this two-day event brings together compelling issues of a proposed refinery investment in Sarnia-Lampton, adding value to oil sands, bitumen, national and provincial economic impacts, and the evolving manufacturing potentials based upon the energy sector. The moderator will be Jeffery Simpson of the Globe and Mail. Participants, Dr. Jim Stanford, CAW, and the Professor Andrew Leach of the University of Alberta, will debate the following resolution. Be it resolved that the provincial and federal governments in Canada should take proactive measures to encourage greater refining and processing of Canada's petroleum resources within Canada that would occur through private market decisions alone. Mr. Speaker, Sarnia-Lampton has a long and storied history as the hub of energy procurement in the province of Ontario in the industrious Great Lakes region, and is the perfect setting for a detailed discussion of the importance of the oil industry to Ontario and Canada's future. I look forward, Mr. Speaker, to attending this very important event and hope that this government will soon commit its support to the Sabre Petrochemical Project in Sarnia-Lampton. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Member statements? The Member for Tomiskimi Cochrane. Thank you, Speaker. Member statements are used to talk about culture, and I'd like to talk about something about the culture of Northern Ontario, and one of the things very important to our culture is the moose hunt. People come together over generations, and it's one of the most pivotal parts of our culture, and sadly, it's part of our culture that might die. And not because of lack of interest, but because of the management of our moose harvest. And as you know, it's done with lottery, with moose tags, and in some of our units, tags have been dropped by 90 percent. And no one is more concerned about the number of moose and the long-term health of the moose population than hunters. And hunters want to work with the MNR to ensure that the moose population is stable and growing. But in the budget, I again see that there's been a cut of at $15 million to the natural resource management programs. So they're going to focus on their core. Do you realize, Speaker, in my area, there's an area of 50 townships where there's only two conservation officers. It's impossible for two conservation officers to manage 50 townships. And also in Unit 29, they're supposed to do aerial surveys every three years to be scientifically credible. The most hunting pressure in the province is Unit 29. They did it five years. Again, I urge the government to actually work with Northerners to ensure the future of the moose. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. And Mr. President, the member from Sudbury. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize the 100th anniversary of the second Battalion Irish Regiment of Canada and to congratulate them on receiving the freedom of the city from the City of Greater Sudbury. The freedom of the city is an ancient privilege. It is granted by a city for a specific military unit to march through the city with bayonets fixed, colors flying, and drums beating. The Irish Regiment of Canada, based out of my writing of Sudbury, was granted freedom to the city on October 15, 2005. They will be holding their parade in Sudbury on Saturday, May 9, in Tom Davies Square with a reception and a dinner to follow. The regiment, Mr. Speaker, formed on October 15, 1915, and its members have served in a number of campaigns, including World War II, the former Yugoslavia, and peacekeeping missions in the Middle East, in Afghanistan. And I think it's very important that I also acknowledge Warren Officer Gataro Bears, Mr. Speaker, who made the ultimate sacrifice and was killed in duty in October of 2008. Mr. Speaker, since they moved to Sudbury in 1965, the second Battalion Irish Regiment of Canada has been an integral part of the community. They've been helpful in the food bank. They make up all of the food for our food bank campaign during Christmas. They participate in festivals, and they're involved in many other aspects of our community that is so important. The 80-100 reserve is bait of the Sudbury, and many veterans of the Irish Regiment call Sudbury home, and we'd like to congratulate them again on their 100th anniversary. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for your memories. It's with great sadness that I rise today to pay tribute to a longtime friend of mine, Bob Huskinson. Bob passed away last night, and I join everyone in mourning this outstanding gentleman, one of the City of Brockville's great citizens. Bob was a former mayor and a former member of council. He was actually a giant on council. He was larger than life. His passion was unrivaled, and his dedication to the citizens of Brockville spanned an incredible 26 years. He was the longest and continues as the longest public service that anyone had in the history of the great City of Brockville. Speaker, it was an honour for me to serve with Bob Huskinson for three terms, nine years. He was one of the first people, actually, that I went to see as a 21-year-old who wanted to seek the office of Mayor of Brockville, and I can remember going to his kitchen with his son, who was a longtime friend of mine, and I was wearing my high school football jacket, and he asked me if I owned a sports jacket or a suit, and I said I actually owned both, and he told me that I should hang the football jacket up and make sure that I wore my suit or my sports jacket and was presentable when I knocked on doors. He gave me some incredible advice during that first campaign that I had as a young person. Knowing Bob would be in his seat at a council meeting ready to serve and ready to tackle the issues, he was one of the most well-prepared politicians that I ever met. Everyone that I've ever served with on City Council for those years, and even those after, said that he always was so prepared. He always did his homework. He taught me the understanding of looking at both sides and trying to seek a compromise, but always making sure that I felt in my heart it was the right thing to do. Because, you know, Speaker, if he didn't think it was the right thing to do, there was no way you were ever going to sway Bob Huskinson from the view he had. I was proud to call him a friend. I was proud to spend many summers at his cottage in Charleston Lake as a young person with his family. Proud to know his family and his extended family. And I just want to take this opportunity to extend to his wife, Janice, and his sons, Craig, Rick, and Rob, their families and their extended families. My deepest sympathies. Bob was a great man, and we're going to miss him. Thank you. Thank you. Member Stavis, the member from Eglinton, Lawrence. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This week is the beginning of Music Week with more than 4,500 musicians and 160,000 music fans are coming to Toronto to participate in the Canada's largest new music festival with more than 900 performers taking place in 60 venues throughout Toronto. And the start of Music Week is called Music Monday. It's the world's largest single event dedicated to raising awareness for music education, Mr. Speaker. Each year, hundreds of thousands of students and educators across this great province and music makers participate in a simultaneous nationwide concert performance of an original song written by Canadian artists. This year's title song, We Are One, was written by 16-year-old Connor Ross, a student at Mayfield Secondary School in Dufford, Caledon. Connor's song was a successful choice from 200 songs that were submitted across Canada. Music Monday is a great example of how music programs shape young lives and the fun young people can have in making music. I congratulate all the young Ontarians who have been taking part in this year's Music Monday and being part of Music Week right across the province, including Brantford and Eastview, right across the province. Music Week. Thank you. Members statements? Members from Kitchener Center. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today is a very important occasion. It's an unofficial holiday known as Star Wars Day. May the 4th is celebrated by thousands of Star Wars fans around the globe. And although it is a nod to the classic sci-fi movies from the 70s, there's actually a political connection to the first time that that reference was ever made. It was on May the 4th, 1979, the day after Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first female Prime Minister, that her party decided to celebrate the victory by taking out a half-page advertisement in the London Evening News which said, May the 4th be with you, Maggie. Congratulations. Today the internet allows Star Wars fans around the globe to connect with each other, as May the 4th has become a great grassroots tradition. Mr. Speaker, in 2011, the very first organized celebration of Star Wars Day took place right here in Toronto at the Toronto Underground Cinema. And this Friday in my community of Kitchener Waterloo at the center in the square, John Morris Russell will conduct the KW Symphony Orchestra in a program titled The Final Frontier from Star Wars to Star Trek and Beyond. And I'm told that the concert is going to be out of this world. So, Mr. Speaker, whether you spend the day anticipating the newest Star Wars movie that's going to be out later this year, or channeling positive forces to combat evil in the world, however you choose to celebrate, May the Force be with you. Okay. I thank all members for their statements.