 It's now time for our Member's statements. The Member for York South-Western. Thank you. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Food Share Toronto is a non-profit organisation based in my writing of York South-Western, which does a wonderful work across Toronto addressing the important issues of food insecurity. Their work includes supporting affordable produce markets, including a mobile produce market. In 2017, this programme reached a staggering 262,000 Torontonians. Food insecurity is a problem which affects Ontarians working families, including a growing number of people who work full-time but who still struggle to fill their fridge. The people at Food Share Toronto work every day doing what they can to help, but they know that they cannot solve food insecurity alone. Food security is a systemic problem, and it is our job in this legislature to provide systemic solutions. Unfortunately, the Conservative Government is making the problems worse. The cancellation of the basic income pilot and the minimum wage freeze will hurt those Ontarians most in need of our help. The Executive Director of Food Share Toronto, Paul Taylor, has sent a letter to the Premier asking for compassion. His letter, in part, rolling back the planned increase to minimum wage, is going to affect folks that are, that saw a glimmer of hope connected to the increase to roll it back, especially as Ontario prepare to enter the holiday seasons, is cruel and disappointing. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Thank you. Member Stavins, the Member for Milton. Thank you. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our newly elected council members and re-elected council members in Milton. I would also be remiss if I did not make a special mention of our Mayor, Mayor Gordon Krantz, although he already holds a title of longest serving Mayor in the country ever. Last night, Miltonians reaffirmed their confidence and his ability to lead. Mr Speaker, I would also like to recognise an organisation that does great work in my writing of Milton. Last week, I met with John Gerard, the CEO of Halton Habitat for Humanity. Mr Speaker, John runs his Habitat chapter like a business and really cares about ensuring that it is self-sufficient. I was pleased to learn about the projects they are currently building and the partnership that they have established with our local schools. I was also proud to share with him that Halton Habitat will also be receiving over $300,000 from the Ontario Trillion Foundation to support their Habitat handyman initiative. This initiative will help over 200 members of our community. On behalf of our government, I would like to thank and congratulate John and his team at Halton Habitat for Humanity for their commitment to helping members of our community that are in need. I look forward to working with them. Thank you. Thank you very much. The Member for Spadina and Fort York. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Yesterday, Ontario held its municipal elections and I wish to thank all of those who ran. Whether you won or lost, you made a contribution to the democratic process. I also wish to thank all of those who voted because democracy only works when we participate. Finally, I would like to thank those candidates in Toronto who initially put their names forward but then decided not to run when the number of seats was changed from 47 to 25. The city lost many good potential councillors and with us the opportunity to have a city council that better reflects the diversity of our population. In my writing, one of the fastest growing writers in the country, by the time the next election rolls around, there will be 150,000 residents and one city councillor. When this legislature was debating changing the rules in the middle of the election and whether to suspend the charter rights and freedoms of the people of Ontario, my mother wrote to me and she said that when she was young, she had many school friends who lost their fathers during the Second World War. She said that we needed to remember not only their sacrifice but what they were fighting for. They were fighting for the democracy that the people of Ontario enjoyed yesterday. This house should never again vote to change the rules in the middle of an election and never again should this house vote to suspend the charter rights and freedoms of the people of Ontario for any reason. To do so is not only disrespectful to the citizens of the province but to the brave women and men who fought, died and sacrificed so much to ensure that we have those democratic rights and freedoms that we enjoyed yesterday. Thank you. Member Statements and member for Peterborough, Cawortha. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Prior to entering politics, I was on the board of directors of a charitable organization in my writing called Peterborough Cares. We raise money for homeless, for sick, for a large number of underprivileged people. We have an annual fundraiser called Stand with Tim. On this past weekend, we held Stand with Tim. Tim in particular is Tim Farkas and the deputy police chief. This past weekend, Stand with Tim was to raise money and awareness for our homeless. The proceeds from this event are going to Brock Mission for homeless men. The youth emergency shelter and the warming room. Warming room is a place where those who are homeless can come to stay warm in the cold winter months. I'd like to thank the organizers of the event, Donna McKay, Darcy Bonner, Lindsay Mitchell, Tim Burke, Tim Farkas and Camille Parrot and Kelly Ingram. I'm happy to say that this year we raised an outstanding amount, more than we ever have. Just slightly more than $18,000 will be divided between those three groups. And because the homeless have a difficulty getting socks and underwear, we had asked for donations of that. And I'm happy to say that we had more than 150 pounds worth of clothing, including socks and underwear that were donated for our homeless. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member for Windsor West. Thank you, Speaker. Today I rise to speak about a growing issue in my writing. In Windsor, one in four women live below the low income line. And there are 16,000 children growing up in low income households. With so many people struggling to keep up, to simply get by, our community support agencies are becoming increasingly stretched thin. House of Sophocene, which provides programs and services to women battling substance misuse, has been consistently running at capacity. They have a wait list of seven months. hiatus house, an agency supporting women and families experiencing domestic violence has been running at 102 percent capacity since April of this year. The welcome center shelter for women and families has been operating at 130 percent per month. They've turned away 50 families this year alone. There are two parts to this problem. The first piece is that these agencies are not being given the support that they need to address the increase in demand for their services. The second piece is that this conservative government doesn't understand the obstacles that working people and low income people face. They don't get what it's like to be physically unable to work and be told that you have to live in poverty or to work full time for minimum wage and be told that your wages shouldn't increase by another dollar because you get paid too much already. They don't understand that a voluntary panel on domestic violence is the least we can do to support victims. So they cut it. It's our job in the official opposition to remind the government of the responsibilities. I hope they will hear this message, take it to heart and make some serious changes to actually support our vulnerable neighbors and the agencies that serve them. Member Statements, a member for Ottawa South. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to say a few words about the government's plans to unwind Bill 148. You know, the government often talks about hitting the pause button. But in actual fact, especially today, they're hitting the rewind button. And I say that, Mr. Speaker, because holding the minimum wage of $14 an hour, not allowing it to increase to $15 an hour is the wrong thing to do for families. You know, $15, Mr. Speaker, is barely enough to get along in most cities in Ontario, especially not Toronto. And it just allows people to do the kind of things that most of us take for granted for themselves and their families. And it's the wrong thing to do. To eliminate the two paid days of personal leave if you're sick or your mum dies or your child is sick or you have a family emergency is wrong. And then to move to eight days of unpaid leave and restrict those by category, again, is wrong as well. So in the province of Ontario, when they change this law, if your mum passes away or your uncle passes away, you could two days off, unpaid. That's it. That's all you get. That's wrong. That is totally wrong. And that change in itself is a reason to oppose what they're going to do. But also eliminating equal pay for equal work is wrong. And Mr. Speaker, it's a sad day for Ontario when they're taking those rights away from workers. The premier confined jobs for his tour director and jobs for a former party president at $350,000 a year. But he can't do enough to protect workers here in Ontario. Thank you, Speaker. Members, statements, member for Burlington. Thank you, Speaker. Last week, I had the opportunity to tour and spend some time with the people who run ABB in Burlington. It was exhilarating to tour the facility and learn a tiny bit about the truly amazing and vital work that they do. ABB is the sweetest swish in multi international headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. They operate mainly in robotics, power, heavy electrical equipment and automation technology. It is the fifth largest Swiss company by revenue. This is the kind of company that the world is talking about. ABB actually built a major portion of the power grid in Canada, Speaker. As urban centres develop farther and farther away from power sources, we need to find new ways of efficiently transporting energy from where it is available to where it is needed, Speaker. ABB is a pioneer of high voltage, direct current transmissions, enabling grids to transport greater levels of power over longer distance with minimal losses. ABB refers to this time in history as the fourth industrial revolution. As robotics and artificial intelligence applications continue to gather momentum, ABB is applying the pragmatic to the promise, Speaker. I was very impressed and immensely proud to have ABB operating in Burlington. I want to extend my gratitude to Ark Kalinowski, Stephanie Madoris, Trevor Batcher, Ravinder Basanti-Johel, Shelley Babin, Kevin DeRee and Carolina Gallo for taking time out of their busy day to show me what they do and how to help line it and how it is done. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you very much. Member statements, the Member for Ottawa Centre. Thanks, Speaker. Like a lot of my colleagues, today I want to rise on behalf of 1.7 million minimum wage workers in this province who need a raise, Speaker. We've just had $14 an hour and as someone else has just said, that will not happen. The prospective wage increase for them to $15 an hour won't happen in January. But, Speaker, do you know what I find curious under this government? They managed to find a wage increase for Mayo Schmidt, the guy they fired from Hydro 1, the $6 million man who will be cashing out stock options under rules this government has and enjoying $11 million in compensation in this year. Shame on them. They found an opportunity for Ian Todd. Ian Todd, the new trade representative, to get a $75,000 raise. It offends their sensibility, Speaker, when the very elites these people claim to be opposing are the ones they prop up, the ones they allow to lavish themselves at the taxpayer's expense. I want to give you folks a message from Ottawa Centre. The outrage around this well exceeds my writing. The neighbouring writer's mind, Ottawa West Nippian, hundreds of citizens brought with me petitioned, Speaker, on fighting for the $15 an hour minimum wage, and they gave it to me to read into the record today. I want every conservative in this house to know if you won your seat by a narrow margin and you decide to shaft minimum wage workers, you are living on borrowed time. It's time to make sure people making the minimum wage in this province have respect. The member from Whitby. Thank you, Speaker, and I'm pleased to speak about the town of Whitby's Youth Council. The council includes 40 young men and women from local high schools and elementary schools and together with adult advisers from the town, staff and various community groups, the council's priorities are for outreach programming for youth and the recruitment of new volunteers. Speaker, among key events held this year was the Whitby Youth Fair where 800 students attended to see several exhibitors offering a variety of services to assist youth. Speaker, the fourth annual art attack was also held in partnership with Whitby Station Gallery and this event encouraged Whitby artists between the ages of 12 and 18 to submit works of art to be showcased during work youth week. Speaker, I'd like to acknowledge the foresight of Whitby's newly elected Mayor Don Mitchell and town staff for helping to provide opportunities for youth to contribute in a meaningful way, for encouraging their participation, for helping to make my writing such a great place to live and work for all age groups. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. Member, statements? The Member for Mississauga Centre. Thank you, Speaker. I had the great pleasure of attending the annual gala hosted by the Canadian Polish Congress this past Saturday, bringing greetings on behalf of the Premier and our government in celebration of 100 years of Polish independence together with my colleagues from Mississauga and Etobicoke. I would like to congratulate the newly elected directors of the National Head Executive Board led by President Elect, Mr Janusz Tomczak. As a former two-term director myself, I look forward to working closely with the Canadian Polish Congress on building relationships with the vibrant Polish diaspora in Ontario as well as stronger economic ties between Ontario and Poland. This year is very significant for Polish Canadians as well as Poles around the world, including myself. With the conclusion of World War I, after 123 years of partitions and being wiped out from the map of Europe, Poland became an independent sovereign state on November 11, 1918. I encourage all members to attend upcoming events hosted in their writings to celebrate 100 years of Polish independence, including those hosted by my friends at the Canadian Polish Congress. Canada and Poland share the same values of democracy, sovereignty and the rule of law. As Allied Nations, we stand together in the face of adversity and in the defence of our common values. Thank you and niech żyje wolna, niepodległa i suwerenna Polska, niech żyje Kanada. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Thank you very much. Reports by committees.