 It's therefore now time for member statements remember from some of them. That's how plan Gary Thank you speaker the Coromal Chamber of Commerce recently hosted its annual business and excellence awards To celebrate the achievements of in innovative businesses and entrepreneurs in my riding The winners in each category as follows Olsen fab for named business of the year small business the year went to pure organic spa or Entrepreneur of the year went to Rachel Lamaroo for the owner of blooms Team Coromal bastard of the year was Roy nickel of April wine The history historic walking tour singled out as tourism exorcism The creation of over 130 full-time jobs to explore that was honored for economic impact The above and beyond award went to dr. Thorne galt and the Coromal Innovation Center received the breakthrough award Nolan Quinn received the young professional of the year and Fred and Bonnie cappuccino received the Dr. Garth Taylor a humanitarian award for their work with children in need around the world Rick Shaver the publisher of Seaway news and Coromal living was honored with the lifetime business achievement board But since in the year was awarded to the very deserving Rachel Lamaroo who has worked with the positive to make a positive Difference in our community for over 25 years. It is truly great It is truly a great venue and a fun night I would like to thank chair Roy Roy McClendon an executive manager Leslie Strasher for being and she was recognized for 30 years of dedicated service and to all the chamber and all that the Volunteers who put together such a great night. So on behalf of the residents of Stormont Dundas in South clungary a job. Well done Thank you for the members save us the member from Deckelbel Thank You speaker Ontario has six different drug plan the latest is called oh hip plus and is for children and youth Oh hip plus started on January 1st And since then my office has received countless calls of frustrated parents. Here's a few example Robin Label's daughter takes 13 different medication Which were all covered by our workplace drug plan since January 1st The predetrician at sick kids are doing applications to the Ministry of Health the AP program so that they can have coverage through Oh hip plus or at least get a written refusal from the Ministry so the family's insurance will pay so far Are we got his frustration and out-of-pocket costs Brenda? Excuse Binsky sons takes a common drug But because he needs a 10 milligram pill rather than usual 20 milligram It is not covered her pediatrician applied to the EAP weeks ago And they are still waiting the doctor told her it will be six to eight weeks before they hear back from the Ministry so Brenda is now paying out-of-pocket for medication that her drug plan used to cover Epilepsy Ontario is here today. They share the story of four years old Ava oh hip plus will not cover the drug hover generic anti seizure medication because get that speaker your child must First try and fail at two other medication before oh hip plus will cover the generic medication That works and control her seizure this is not acceptable this liberal new drug plan is making our health care system less caring and less Compassionate thank you Thank you, Mr. Speaker it gives me great pleasure to rise today and acknowledge a tremendous event in Kingston in the islands history and A very good announcement as many of you know six prison farms across Canada were closed starting in 2010 including two in Kingston the Joyceville and Collins Bay institutions last week We learned that the federal government of Canada is committing $4.3 million over the next five years to reopen Kingston's prison farms Yes, I Would also like to acknowledge the work of our MP Mark Garrison and the federal minister the Honourable Ralph Goodale the Minister of Public Safety Emergency preparedness for their tremendous work on this file. Mr. Speaker I would also like to acknowledge a group of absolutely Outstanding activists in my riding who never gave up the fight for the tab the farms reinstated For nearly a decade members are with us save our prison farms group have campaigned lobbied and sacrificed their Monday nights in snow sleet hail rain to stand vigil outside of the Collins Bay institution in order to bring the cows home Such advocates include Diane Dowling and Jeff Peters who kept pushing even when there was little hope of progress They continued to stand guard for perhaps one of our society's most marginalized group of population and they their work has paid off mr. Speaker in my view This is a typical Kingston story It's a story of steadfast Resilience and a group of people who came together for the well-being of a marginalized population That to me is a big part of what Kingston is all about. Thank you Remember Siemens the member from Perth Wellington. Thank you speaker Speaker I want to pay tribute to Florence Kale a remarkable constituent who passed away last month Florence was a beacon of grace and compassion who dedicated her life to the service of others Driven by her strong Christian faith Florence and her husband mortgaged their house in Stratford to start the house of blessing in 1983 Today, this is this now 9,000 square foot center offers food clothing and children's programs to the less fortunate in our community in 2015 Florence also opened the healing rooms of Stratford a Non-denominational center where people can't go for prayer and spiritual support For her efforts Florence was recognized with many awards over the years Including Stratford citizen of the year Ontario's medal for good citizenship and the Queen's Golden Jubilee and Diamond Jubilee medals More importantly Florence is remembered and cherished by the countless people whose lives she touched a longtime house of blessing Volunteer Jackie Beale had this to say When I was down God answered my prayers to an angel on earth that angel on earth was flow Speaker we can all be inspired by this humble woman who served as a living example of the scriptural teaching For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat I would like to extend condolence to Florence husband of 56 years Norm her family and friends and everyone else whose life she changed for the better. Thank you Thank you very much. I'm proud today to rise to speak about International Women's Day and while it is fitting to celebrate the achievements of women It is just as important to recognize all of the work that we still need to do to achieve equity and equality for everyone in this province We know that parody doesn't happen overnight But it has been 30 years since the pay equity act was passed and still women make 30% less than men racialized women make 32% less Immigrant women make 39% less and indigenous women make 57% less It doesn't have to be this way this year's theme for International Women's Day is press for progress And it's clear that there is so much more that we can do together We need to ensure that the voices of the LGTBQ plus folks are taken seriously and respected We need to make childcare more affordable and accessible for young parents We need to stand in solidarity with indigenous women to address the call for action on missing and murdered women and children And we need to elect more diverse voices to this legislature and to councils And that is why I'm so proud to be working with St. Jerome's University to found Waterloo region's first Equal voice chapter on March 25th, and I'll be welcoming my girls government group from Vista Hills Public School to this Legislature on April 9th for me this International Women's Day is a call to action. We can do more. We must do more Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker on January 24th, 2018 my mother all good to good passed away from respiratory failure at Ajax Hospital Well, we'll all miss her. It's my dad Jim whose life has been left with the biggest hole After 56 years of marriage their relationship was one of absolute devotion and total love Something that's very rare, especially in today's just-in-time world Looking back I don't believe we could think of any time that they ever spent more than a night away from each other For those that don't believe in the term soul mates You would if you met Jim and Olga to my siblings and I our mom helped make us who we are She gave us the inspiration to do whatever in life that we chose to do The confidence to take chances and pursue our dreams knowing that no matter whether we failed miserably or succeeded We always knew that we'd be greeted by our mom and dad with love and pride That is an incredible advantage in life. She was fiercely proud of her kids One out of three of us pursued a reputable profession My sister became a nurse and was a nurse for over 30 years as for the other two My brother became a lawyer and of course the other became a politician. Thank God for my sister Despite that you always knew her greatest pride was her kids and her grandkids While we all still mourn her loss We're comforted by the fact that she had a great 80 years and her love and pride for us all will continue to give us strength Confidence and joy throughout the rest of our lives. Thank you. Thank you for the members. Name is the member from the PNC I rise today to congratulate one of the best P we girls house league teams in all of Canada the Napaean ice crushers of the Wildcats Organization regular season and league champions. The team also plays first in Alamont and second in the DIFD tournaments I often share great sports stories from teams across Napaean Carlton, but this one speaker is very personal I'm a parent and a trainer of this team This was the team that I spent my weekends with and who especially in the past eight weeks Gave me more moments to treasure and enjoy than I could have ever imagined The Napaean ice crushers were led by our phenomenal coach Scott Blasley and his amazing coaching coaching staff and And then mums and yesterday he handed out gold medals to Addison Welstead, Alyssa Tam, Abba Baja, Dina Youssef, Emma Gardner, Aaron Lee, Ula-Lee Bebion, Holly Graham, Janelle May, Lauren Blasley, Melinda Palombo, who scored the game winning goal, Makayla McCormick, who got three shutouts speaker, Natalia Martinez-Paris, Torrin Clark, and of course my own daughter Victoria Varner. These girls were invested They shared many ups and downs and they felt responsibility for one another. They were each other's champions They often had tough games, but they had lots of laughs They gave it they brought us all together and as teams often do and of course we know that's what hockey is and why it's the greatest game on earth I say frequently that All-stars aren't necessarily the best players all-stars are talented on and off the ice And that's what those ice crushers were so I want to congratulate them for a great season and I was great Statement answers a lot of questions never mess with a hockey mom Yeah Further members Davis a member from Beach disease York well, thank you speaker and I rise today in advance of tabling a private members bill to talk about the Importance of lowering the voting age in Ontario young people 16 and over have adult responsibilities in our province But they are denied some of these same rights They're contributing and active members of our society and thousands are employed or volunteer in their communities and denying them the right to vote We are effectively Disenfranchising them and this implies that we think that they have nothing of value to add to the political conversations But nothing speaker could be further from the truth In fact many young people like the ones who are here today inspired this private members bill I'm happy to bring it forward Despite their inability to vote young people do find ways to engage in the political process One of the greatest testaments of this is happening now south of the border Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have challenged senators and congressional representatives and sparked the hashtag never again movement These young people are engaged in a substantive debate on gun control But they did not and could not vote for the representatives responsible for these laws So sir beaker, I believe at giving 16 year olds the right to vote will increase voter participation and will cause political parties to Develop policies that take youth interests into consideration Moreover taxation without representation was not acceptable in the 1700s in England and should not be acceptable in modern-day Ontario We must provide young people with a diff a direct and democratic channel for making their views heard and in doing so We give them a responsible stake in the future of Ontario and so speaker for this reason I asked all members of this house to support lowering the voting age first to in Ontario to 16. Thank you Thank you Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker I'm excited to rise today and recognize yet another young and enterprising constituent from my riding a Bruce Grey own sound this time I'd like to share with the house news from Lions head where a 17 year old Fiddler extraordinary Brooklyn, Houston showed immense creativity and generosity When she used a $150 grant from the Royal Bank of Canada Canada's 150 grant and turned it into almost 13,000 worth of donations for the Lions head hospital auxiliary Brooklyn who plays fiddle with midnight blue and my friend Dave Nixon posted last summer a musical fundraiser for the local hospital Her double-duty act as organizer and performer drew a crowd of 600 people to the Bruce County Country Music Fest in Lions head Where she entertained them for several hours the sound of country and bluegrass music the fundraiser was a huge boost from Brooklyn Who's initial goal was to raise $5,000 in the end She actually more than doubled her goal when she sold some 600 tickets and collected almost 13,000 in donations with the help of the Lions Head auxiliary members auxiliary president Sharon Wine Garden says Brooklands and I quote initiative creativity and generosity are an inspiration to us all And the auxiliary hospital staff doctors nurses the whole community are proud of her efforts to make a difference to health care in our community And because Brooklyn who was crowned clean at last year's Groundhog Day Festival isn't one to rest in her laurels without a shout of a doubt She is already busy planning the next live music festival Which she promised would go again toward making a difference in our community and helping to keep services close to home Considering Brooklyn's musical talents have been well known for several years. There's no doubt She will continue to do amazingly well at home and beyond Brooklyn. Thank you so much and all the best of continued success Thank all members for their statements