 the Member Statement. The Member from York Simcoe. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure today to rise and speak about an upcoming awards ceremony that the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 547 is hosting in my riding of York Simcoe. This year, the honour and awards dinner is being held to honour the past achievements of members and those in the past year who have contributed to the welfare of the branch and the Legion. Branch 547 will be recognizing Donald James, Harry Mackenzie and Norman Knowles for their 45 years of uninterrupted service and will also be recognizing Kenneth Costin for his 50 years of uninterrupted service. I want to just make note of the fact that following right after D-Day last week, it's fitting that we are demonstrating the vibrancy and the commitment that continue to be maintained throughout our communities through the Royal Canadian Legion. And I look forward to getting together in June for D-Day. Thank you. And as the member from Toronto, Danforth. Thank you, Speaker. Speaker, I want to read today from a speech about the autism cuts given by my constituent, Stephen Sherwood, at a rally here on May 5th. He said, the Ontario Government is playing a political shell game justified by trying to balance the budget on the backs of some of the most vulnerable children in our province. This is unacceptable. This is disgusting. Peter, his son, has been waiting to receive IBI treatment for almost two years. And while our son will likely receive some therapy under the existing IBI program, he will age out within weeks of starting. He's an incredible child and has full of potential, but he needs intensive therapy like IBI to help him to discover his voice and be given the chance to thrive. Bottom line, this program change will eliminate access to intensive services like IBI for the vast majority of Ontario's autistic children who qualify for it. How can a policy change like this be allowed to continue? The government needs to go back to the drawing board and come up with a better plan. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Sherwood. I want to thank all of the parents who have spoken out, organized, rallied on behalf of their children. I want to thank my colleague, Monique Taylor, who's been such a strong voice and defense of these children and these families in this legislature. Again, I want to add to their voices. The government has to change course. It has to protect these children, not cut them off the waiting list. I want to remind all the members that we address each other by the writing. Members from BCC short. Well, thank you, Madam Speaker. And today I would like to recognize the Pegasus organization and Marie Parada, one of the founding directors of the organization. And I would like to take the opportunity to recognize her two decades of service as executive director and thank her for her leadership in our community. Ms. Parada was on the founding board when first established in 1994 and Pegasus was established to ensure that those with developmental disabilities were supported through adulthood and able to be meaningful involved in their communities. As a group of parents and professionals, the founders of Pegasus were concerned for the future of their children and other children as they grew into young adults who did not have any support programs to assist them after the age of 21. And Marie recognized a need in the community and she helped establish four community sites that serve this population of our community. Marie is very active in other aspects of our community and has worked tirelessly to ensure that government and the community were well aware of this unique situation. And Ms. Parada's impact on beaches east York and the greater Toronto community through Pegasus has been far reaching. This special group of people has administered the programming at Pegasus since 1994 and have worked tirelessly to ensure that these programs are run efficiently and smoothly to ensure their success. And I would like to take the opportunity to thank Ms. Parada, Pegasus' organization, all their board of directions, all the volunteers for the work that they do in our community. Her hard work, her mentorship, her recruitment of others, volunteers, etc. have grown and they sustain the volunteer community of Pegasus, but her humility speaker as she consistently always wants to give others credit for the hard work she does. So I'd ask fellow members to join me in congratulating this exceptional community leader, this member and wish her and her husband Francis all the best in their very next endeavours. Thank you, Speaker. Member from Kitchener, Kenneth Goldberg. Yes, well, thank you, Speaker. Tuesday, almost 300 attendees and 30 exhibitors gathered in my region for the fifth annual manufacturing summit hosted by the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce. The summit is held as a way to bring the manufacturing and supply chain community together. This half-day conference has grown year after year with useful breakout sessions and informative keynote speakers. It also doubles as a great opportunity to share with people in the region the importance of manufacturing. In fact, one in five jobs are in the manufacturing or supply chain sector in the region of Waterloo, and that's about 20% of our local economic outlook. This was not always the case. However, during the or in 2008 sales for Canadian manufacturers dropped by 30% and exports to the United States fell by 35%. Ontario's manufacturing sector is in the midst of significant transformation as industry leaders retool, reinvent and rethink their businesses for maximum competitiveness, performance and growth. Never have the challenges been more significant, nor the opportunities more numerous for Ontario manufacturers. In fact, Tuesday, two manufacturers in my routing, Ontario Drive and Gear, as well as Coons Electroplaning, were featured at the summit. In fact, Michael of Coons Electroplaning spoke at Tuesday's summit saying failure to adapt and evolve will lead to failure. Resilience, innovation, agility and adaptability are essentially important qualities for any successful manufacturer today. And Speaker, I'm proud to host businesses with these qualities in my region. Thank you. Member from Windsor to Coonsy. Speaker last week down in Windsor, we opened the first Ronald McDonald House in Canada to be located within a hospital. It's the 15th Ronald McDonald House in Canada. There are now 357 of them around the world. I want to give a big shout out to McDonald's to the Ronald McDonald House charities and to our hardworking staff and board of directors at Windsor Regional Hospital. This brand new seven bedroom home on the third floor at Met Campus cost more than one and a half million dollars. It started with a dream that a friend of mine had about seven years ago. Paul Kuvion's granddaughter Miranda was born two months premature. She stayed at a neonatal unit at a hospital in Detroit. The Kuvion's were treated like royalty at the Ronald McDonald House there. Until now, our other options were London or Toronto. Actually, 26% of the families who stay at the Ronald McDonald House in London are from the Windsor area. Windsor's new Ronald McDonald House will cater to the families of more than 400 babies who stay at Met's neonatal intensive care unit each year. Speaker, I think they should call that the Peekaboo ICU. So thank you to Luanne Farrell, the president of the board for the Ronald McDonald House charities of Southwestern Ontario. To Margaret Anderson, the executive director and to Kathy Loblaw, the president and CEO of the Ronald McDonald House charities of Canada. Our new facility will help families deal with the stress that comes with having a premature baby just around the corner in the neonatal ICU. Thank you, Speaker. The member from Cambridge. Thank you, Speaker. I am honored today to stand as a nurse and a member of this government to mark nursing week today, May 12th, which is Florence Nightingale's birthday. Nurses are proud of their valued profession, their skills and their role as skilled care providers and patient advocates. We celebrate the dedication, knowledge and skills that nurses possess and the challenges that they sometimes face as they provide quality, compassionate care. This year, the Ontario Nurses Association, Ona, has chosen the theme. We are Ontario's nurses. Nurses know. Nurses know how valuable their care is in ensuring that patients have the best possible health outcomes. The value of proper RN staff and cannot be overstated, especially for acutely ill patients in hospitals. RN care means a lower incidence of patient complications and therefore saves the system money in the long run. Nurses know that every patient deserves the best quality care possible and they work diligently to make Ontario's health care system even better. Yesterday, I was pleased to meet with members of Ona from my region and tomorrow I will be visiting my former workplace, the Cambridge Memorial Hospital, as part of my visit for nursing week. Ona represents 60,000 registered nurses and allied health professionals, as well as more than 14,000 nursing student affiliates who provide care in hospitals, long term care, the community, public health, clinics and industry. And I want to thank them and all my sisters and brothers in nursing for all of the work that they do each and every day. Thank you. Thank you very much, Speaker. I want to take this opportunity to speak about age friendly communities and I'm sorry that the ministry is responsible for seniors is not in the house this afternoon. To hear this, you can't do that. As many. Okay. The member need to know, remind that we do not address member who are not present. I tell you this is not acceptable to talk about. Thank you. As many here know, seniors are the fastest growing age group in Canada. And as a former employee speaker of the Ontario Senior Secretary, I know that an important part of being an age friendly community of supporting policies, programs, services and environments, which help people remain active as they age. Accessible and affordable environment speakers that support people's needs can allow older people to stay in their homes without facing challenges of isolation and mobility and loss of independence. And I want to salute the town of Whitby, which is in my writing, which is developing an action plan and collaboration with major seniors organizations in the province to become an age friendly community. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I rise today to recognize all Ontario volunteers, whether it's by helping with newcomer settlement, spending Sundays with seniors at a retirement home, organizing cultural events or coaching a children's soccer team. Volunteers make invaluable contributions to our compassionate and vibrant province. They do so without pay and without any expectation of recognition. Each year in Ontario, almost 5 million volunteers contribute almost 860 million volunteer hours. It's important that we acknowledge the selfless work of Ontario's volunteers. That's why the Ministry of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade implemented its annual Volunteer Service Awards program. This year, the Ministry will hold over 50 ceremonies across the province to celebrate the contributions of volunteers. These people are a vital resource for our communities. Their efforts inspire others to share their time and skills. Over the past three evenings, I've had the pleasure to personally congratulate and thank many of these volunteers, many from Toronto and surrounding areas. And I'm proud to have many active and engaged volunteer-based organizations in my own writing of Davenport and want to congratulate the 136 volunteers that this year were recognized with the Volunteer Service Award. The work that these groups do has a tremendous impact on the quality of life for thousands of residents of Davenport. Madam Speaker, I'm very proud that our government recognizes the importance of volunteering and very proud of the theme for this year, Volunteer is the heart of our community. Thank you. The Member from the Topical North. Merci Madame la Présidente. I rise to recognize the month of May as Bladder Cancer Awareness Month and the good work of Bladder Cancer Canada. And Speaker, this is coming from both a doctor as well as a nurse, my colleague MPP from Cambridge. This form of cancer speaker currently affects about 80,000 Canadians, fifth most common cancer overall, fourth for men, 12th for women, with unfortunately more than 8,000 new diagnoses annually. Annual fundraising walks by Bladder Cancer Canada are held in 20 cities across the country. Founded by two Bladder Cancer survivors, David Gutman and Jack Moon and currently headed by Executive Director Tammy Northam. Bladder Cancer Canada is a nationally registered Canadian charity, of course supported by medical advisory boards, medical research board, consisting of the top Bladder Cancer specialists across the country. Speaker, if I might use this opportunity as a physician and nurse in tandem, the most common symptom of Bladder Cancer is unfortunately blood in the urine or as we call it hematuria, occurring in more than 80% of cases. Other symptoms may include bladder spasms, increased frequency, urgency of urination and burning sensation during urination. Smoking is a common risk factor, as universally evil as all doctors know and as you speaker as a nurse will know yourself, age and occupational exposure to specific chemicals. Generally we will of course assess at the family doc level and then refer on for other treatments and examinations such as cystoscopy. Speaker, once again with your permission I salute Bladder Cancer Canada in their excellent work. Thank you. Thank all the members members from Chatham Kent Essex. Thank you very much, Speaker. I rise on a point of order. They weren't here when we were doing an introduction of guests so I would beg your indulgence but I would like to welcome to the Ontario Legislature my friends from Community Living Chatham Kent who are here visiting us at Queens Park. Starting at the left and working to the right we have Wayne Easterbrook we have Todd Cain we have Charlie B. Entema we have Dave Bromley and Randy Reynolds. Welcome gentlemen to Queens Park. Thank you. We welcome all our guests. It's also time for our member statements. It's finished.