 members statements the member for Toronto Center thank you speaker today I rise in this legislature to share a story from my community that is truly inspiring and highlights the resilience of the residents of Toronto Center speaker St. James Town is a neighborhood in my community that has been ravaged by entirely preventable but catastrophic events this past August 1500 residents were displaced from their homes after an electrical fire in a high rise building these residents continue to be displaced to this day over the past several weeks a series of buildings in the same neighborhood have had their electricity and their heat turned off because of dangerous conditions and the need for extensive electrical inspections reasonably my constituents are angry with the level of neglect that they continue to witness from their landlords it is difficult to understand why a building would not have regular electrical inspections or work orders that are filled in a timely manner last week the neighborhood had a community town hall and it was at this meeting that the community voted to form the first-ever St. James Town residents Association additionally many of the of the buildings are individually organizing into tenants associations so that they can better advocate for their rights there is power when we come together when we organize and when we use our collective voice to fight for our community I want to congratulate my constituents for coming together and I can't wait to see the positive impact that this has on our neighborhood thank you member statements the member for Don Valley North thank you miss the speaker tomorrow March the first is the second a professional engineer day in Poland in the province this day is greatly supported by the Ontario society of the professional engineers professional engineer are trusted ethical leaders builder and doers they are on the fine line of innovation and create paradigm changing solution to complex problem that drive and improve our world professional engineers are the economic engine of our province and have great jobs worthy and possibility that can be enjoyable by all Ontarians as you may know before I become MPP I work as a design and develop electronic engineer for over 25 years in China Germany and in Canada my wife Chang Hong is working as an engineer to follow more my son Han has continued our family's legacy working as the professional engineers engineering is a greater profession that improves the world around us engineering can also be a connection with your family members I want to wish all of you a happy professional engineer days thank you miss the speaker thank you very much member statements the member for Thunder Bay out of coconut thank you speaker children on the autism spectrum and their parents face a number of challenges in northwestern Ontario one of my constituents Alina Cameron has a daughter her name is Fiona and she has four she told me that her daughter is non-verbal severely autistic and needs 24 hour care she is currently receiving services through a pilot program in Thunder Bay and Alina told me that her daughter has had amazing results but this program is ending soon her daughter will have nowhere to go for services this government's plan takes things from bad to worse there simply aren't enough diagnosticians and service providers available in northwestern Ontario that's the reality that the families face there is nothing in this plan to address that the plan ignores the travel costs that families in northwestern Ontario face there are many families that have to travel great distances to access autism programs for families that means less money for autism services what we need is a concrete plan to ensure that all children receive services based on need what we need is a plan that addresses the regional disparities in the availability of services and service providers a plan that addresses the thousands of dollars that families spend just to get to appointments none of that is in this plan I call on this government to go back and consult with parents and professionals we need a plan that works member for a topical Lakeshore good afternoon mr. Speaker I know a lot of people out there know that animal welfare is very important to me and almost every Thursday I read out a petition that I've had signed from people all across this promise province about the need to enhancing protections for our animals and our pets that is why I introduced my first private members bill protecting our pets act 2018 to bring forward solutions from stakeholders on the important issue of ending animal cruelty and putting an end to puppy males this bill is up for second reading in this house next Thursday and that's why I have been a constant supporter of our local the Tobacco Humane Society in my riding last year I included animals from our local Humane Society in my calendar which I sent out to households all across my riding and I have to say that adoption has been up in that Tobacco Humane Society in January and during our legislative break I was happy to attend the fourth annual furball a gala fundraiser in support of both the Tobacco Humane Society and rescue foodie which works to supply pet food for animal rescues across Canada it was a wonderful evening complete with a red carpet entrance and a three course meal speaker just this week we found out that their fundraising totals from the gala they sold over 400 tickets and raised $40,000 to go towards those animals of that $10,000 will go towards the hard-working volunteers at the Tobacco Humane Society which is great news to all the people who work there and all the pets in their care I look forward to welcoming members from the Tobacco Humane Society here next week for the second reading of the Protecting our Pets Act thank you member statements the member for Essex thank you very much speaker one of the most rewarding things about having the privilege to serve this legislature is being able to recognize people from my riding who do great things and make the people of our riding proud today I want to recognize two young women from my riding who are achieving great things in sport right here at the University of Toronto in her first year of kinesiology at the University of Toronto and as the rookie starting goalie for the women's hockey team Erika Fryer from Amesburg was named athlete of the month this past january Erika led her team to third place finish in the OUA finals and they are now battling the western mustangs in the semifinals last night Erika recorded a shutout to propel her team to a one game to nothing lead in the best of three series speaker it's the team is headed up by former team Canada women's hockey team coach Vicky Sunahara and coach Sunahara and I both encourage all members of this legislative nature to catch a game this friday just across the street at the at the varsity rink speaker I also want to recognize Kylie mass Massey from LaSalle Kylie is an olympic medal winner she holds national records in the 50 meter and 100 meter backstroke she also broke a world record that stood for eight years in the 50 meter backstroke while at the 2017 world championship in Budapest Kylie's record with the University of Toronto varsity blues has been exceptional and she finishes her OUA career with a fifth consecutive award as the OUA female swimmer of the year speaker congratulations to both Kylie and Erika you're both inspirations to young athletes like my son and daughter back home and we are so proud of your achievements not not only through sport but academically as well thank you so much member statements member from Mississauga Erin Mills thank you mr speaker I rise today to recognize the incredible and important work of Zebra technologies which is an outstanding company respected for innovation and reliability in technology for empowering those on the front line in retail healthcare transportation logistics manufacturing and many other industries to achieve the best performance I had pleasure of meeting with Zebra technologies and their executives at their mississauga head office Zebra technologies offer a full variety of technologies designed for many industries and many businesses during our meeting we spoke specifically about Zebra healthcare technology solutions Zebra offers the latest technologies and devices in healthcare to help provide better care in our facilities mr speaker healthcare in Ontario is growing and as a population continue to grow we need the best innovative and developed technologies to provide the best care for our patients and caregivers we need to encourage and incentive Canadian manufacturers to produce the highest level of quality in medical devices mr speaker our government is creating an environment where businesses can grow our government has made it priority to cut rate tape so that the business sector can grow and invest right here in Ontario thank you very much mr speaker member statements the member for Humber River Black Creek thank you very much speaker I first spoke with I first spoke with Jordan early last year before I became MPP he shared the story of how he and his wife Christina are raising their two lovely daughters Rachel and Lily were both on the autism spectrum he told me then the system needed substantially more funding because for one the needs for many families don't end when their child turns 18 Rachel his eldest has benefited from six years of three blocks of ABA programming for social skills development and emotional regulation Rachel enjoyed it and found it very helpful Jordan recently told me that he believes Rachel is on a path that will see her live an independent life Lily who will be turning four years old this spring has been on a waiting list for the ABA class called basic communication as of today they have been waiting a little over a year for Jordan and Christina the thought that this government ordered the wait list for ABA frozen is reprehensible what gains could Lily have made by now had she begun therapy has this government held language back from her time to communicate with their precious daughter has been irrevocably lost but what this government is undertaking is no solution at all simply eliminating the wait list and providing families a fraction of the funding they need helps nobody Jordan and Christina do not want to see publicly funded therapies eliminated and thousands of therapists lost I don't trust solution this solution by the government that will see parents receive inadequate and unhelpful assistance I trust Jordan and Christina two amazing parents who state the only path to truly help families is real and expanded funding period thank you Jordan and Christina for sharing your story and for your tireless advocacy member statements the member for Simcoe Norris thank you mr speaker this month members of Simcoe Norris gather to celebrate the 90th birthday of former city councillor teacher and NDP candidate Fane Bullen I was honored to attend this celebration and spend time with Fane his friends and family originally from Granada Fane has lived and served in the community of Aurelia for the majority of his life Ralph Waldo Emerson once said the great teacher is not the man who supplies the most facts but the one in whose presence we become different people I believe this quote reflects the kind of teacher that mr Bullen was a teacher at Park Street College Institute for several decades many of his former students have told me that he inspired in them a love of learning and a desire to pursue studies further in history and politics but Fane's passion for teaching did not end in the classroom Fane is an avid cricket enthusiast and member of the Aurelia Cricket Club taking any opportunity that presents itself to teach residents in the area about the history of the sport Fane was also a founding member of the not for profit Paso for Paso which provides much needed medical aid as well as financial support to children and families in Guatemala it also matches schools in the Aurelia area with schools in Guatemala to provide enriching educational exchanges Fane has been a tireless champion in our communities providing support to groups such as helping hands as well as an advocate for affordable housing in Aurelia helping to build the St. James Court housing project Fane has been an exemplary community leader and I would like to thank him for all the good he has done in our communities across my great riding thank you member statements the member for Aurora Oak Ridges Richmond Hill thank you very much speaker last Saturday I had the pleasure of taking part in the coldest night of the year walkathon organized by the mosaic interfaith out of the cold which operates 16 emergency homeless shelters in southern york region in partnership with various interfaith communities in markham thornhill vaughn and richmond hill speaker homeless affects about 12 000 ontarians every night these individuals are often facing tough circumstances at no fault of their own the annual walkathon in richmond hill is a grassroots initiative to raise funds for those who are hungry homeless and hurting in the community this weekend I was joined by more than 130 participants including many friends family community leaders and representatives from all levels of government speaker I want to thank members of team parsa for joining me in helping raise funds and supporting this greatest great initiative participants were able to join by taking part in either 2k 5k or 10 kilometer walk followed by delicious food and live entertainment I'm happy to report that this year's richmond hill coldest night of the year walkathon raised an astounding $43 000 I should point out that the initial goal was only 25 000 speaker so this was an absolutely fantastic effort by everyone involved I want to thank the participants volunteers organizers in particular rihanna somar for organizing this great event the fundraising went really well especially at this time of year it's very important I encourage everyone to make sure that they get involved in this great initiatives in your local area thank you speaker that concludes our member statements for today reports by committees