 Member Statements. I recognize the member from Bruce Gray and Sam. Thank you, Madam Speaker. As most of you know, today is World Alzheimer's Day. Alzheimer's is a debilitating and irreversible brain disease that robs people of memory, feelings and independence. Yet, a Canadian is diagnosed with Alzheimer's every five minutes. And it's just not those diagnosed or living with Alzheimer's who suffer, Madam Speaker. It really hurts the family and their caregivers too. I can share in a personal that my mother-in-law Dorothy is in the early stages and my aunt Helen and Uncle Russ have been both inflicted as well as a number of family friends. It is heart-wrenching to watch how this debilitating disease impacts the person and their families. It's estimated that caregivers and families spend about 100 hours every month caring for their loved one with everyday tasks, including cooking meals, bathing and dressing them. As this can be quite overwhelming, it's important we give them the proper supports. The number of people who are diagnosed with dementia is increasing. As baby boomers age, we will witness a dementia crisis within our healthcare system. So while there is unfortunately no cure today, all of us want to unite against dementia and to find a cure so we can create a brighter future for all who are impacted by or at risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. I'd like to recognize the Alzheimer's Society of Ontario for its dedication in supporting those living with Alzheimer's, their families and their caregivers. As well, I'd like to commend Deborah Barker, recently retired Executive Director, Stephen Musel, current Executive Director, and the staff, board members and volunteers of Alzheimer's Society of Graber's team who have been honored to support over the past number of years. The support provided by everyone involved with Alzheimer's is quite remarkable and we need to offer them our greatest gratitude and thanks. Thank you Madam Speaker. Dear further member statement, the member from Windsor to come see. Speaker, we in the Windsor area have lost a champion of our local arts, cultural and academic community. Lois Metic was an amazing woman who came to the University of Windsor in the 60s to teach English. She was well known and highly regarded for her passion and commitment to the arts. She was the first female dean at the University of Windsor and a founding member of the Friends of Women's Studies. Lois chaired the board at Assumption University and was president of the Art Gallery of Windsor for many years. She was a scholar, a volunteer, a donor, a benefactor, a friend, and a feminist. When nurse Lori Dupont was murdered at one of her hospitals, Lois Metic was part of a group of women who fought to change workplace protection laws in Ontario. Speaker, I last spoke to Lois a few months ago at a concert at Assumption Hall when my first legislative page, Evan Tanovic, was conducting a choir and orchestral piece he wrote entitled The Assumption Mass. Lois was part of the program and was so very impressive that evening. She loved to garden. She was bitten last month by a mosquito and became the third person from the Windsor area to die from the West Nile virus this year. It's a sad and tragic ending to a talented individual who gave so much of herself to better our community in so many ways. Rest in peace, Lois, and thank you for everything you've done for the Windsor area. Thank you. We recognize the member from Truny Spadina. Thank you, Madam Speaker. It's a privilege to represent the writing of Truny Spadina, and I'm very delighted to speak about yet another great project taking place in my writing. On September 13th, I joined several community members and city officials to break ground at a new multi-use facility next to Canoe Landing Park in Cityplace, also known as Block 31. What is now Earth will become the Bishop, McDonnell, and Jean Lam Elementary School with a combined capacity of 1,100 students. This center will be a shared facility between Toronto Catholic and Public District School Board. The space is planned to integrate perfectly with Canoe Landing Park to the West, and the roof will host a plentiful green space. Couple with schools will be a daycare center, a facility capable of accommodating 54 students. Coming fall 2019, this $67 million dollar structure will serve Toronto's increasingly vertical communities. I'm proud this project has begun. Not only does our city need more childcare facility, but more opportunities to encourage young families to live, work, and stay in city place. Madam Speaker, Toronto remains a city of all to enjoy from the youngest child to seniors, and a project like this is great news to my community. Thank you. Give further statements. I recognize the member from Halibur and Corortha Lakes Bronx. Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise today to pay tribute to Donald John Crow, a true giant, gentle giant from my riding of Halibur and Corortha Lakes Brock. He passed away suddenly this month. Don was the eldest son of the founders of Corortha Dairy, who started this proud and successful local business in 1937 in Bob Cajun. Don opened the company's Minden location with the help of his loving wife Opal, to whom he was married for 51 years. As the patriarch of the family, Don played an important role in the lives of his five sons, ten grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. He will dearly miss them and everyone that knew him. I knew Don since I was a young girl. He was literally the friendly milkman, delivering milk to your door, then moving to delivering to our family grocery store. Whether it was mentoring local business people or contributing to charitable causes, Don was always ready to help his neighbors. Many businesses' owners will tell stories about Don helping them when they were just starting out, by giving them a fridge or a freezer, and telling them to pay him back when they could. He was everyone's mentor, trusted everyone, had a great sense of humor and a twinkle in his eye. This selflessness was reflected in Don's lifelong membership in the Minden-Kinsman Service Club, where he was actively involved in serving his community without ever seeking recognition. And true to form, Don was giving to the very end, having donated his organs to help others. Don, your family, and many friends will miss you, but will always appreciate the time they spent with you and remember you whenever they eat, Quarthaderie ice cream. Rest in peace. Thank you for the statements. I recognize the member from Algoma, Manitula 9. Before I start my statement, I would like to ask consent to wear my Indigenous circle pin that I have got on. I'm having a little bit of a struggle taking it off. Members have the pin delivered to them shortly next week. I heard the member from Algoma, Manitula, seeking unanimous consent to wear the pin. Agree? I hear agree. Okay, I recognize the member. Thank you, Speaker, and thank you. They're everybody's for their understanding. You hear this. If we're quiet, just for a little bit. You feel that heartbeat. You feel it. It touches you. And part of that heartbeat was at the Mississauga First Nation Pall Grounds, where they came to life over last weekend when I was up there on behalf of the Thinking Rock Community Arts, a play, a sketch that was organized and created for the good people of Central Algoma, from Guinobajing to Boateng. The play was entitled The River's Speak. The River's Speak. The story was about a young boy and his travels through his life from adulthood as a child to adulthood to becoming a parent. And his engagement that he had with the colonial people when they came in was a fantastic play. But what was really challenging was how it challenged an individual to think about how important water is to all of us. And the message that I took back to this, from this play, is water is life, and we need to remember that. Thank you. I recognize the member from Etobicoke North. Thank you, Speaker. On behalf of the Hindu community and the multicultural community of my own riding, Etobicoke North, Hindus across Ontario and the country will be celebrating the auspicious festival of Navratri, the Hindu festival which runs from September 20th to September 30th. Navratri is one of the most significant festivals, lasts for nine days, and devotees wake up early, bathe, pray to nine forms of the Goddess Durga to seek her divine blessings. The word Navratri itself, nava meaning night, spread over nine nights and ten days, is one of the most sacred festivals in Hinduism. And devotees, as I mentioned, worship the Goddess Durga or Shakti which represents the energy of the universe in her many various forms. The nine most holy days are, of course, a time for celebration, prayers, abstinence from food and thanking the Almighty for blessings. Navratri are the nine sacred days mark the most auspicious days of the lunar calendar according to Hinduism, and it's a festivity speakers you will know being from Scarborough yourself. It is a celebration engaged by many and very people in Ontario and very, very vigorously. All the nine days of the festival are dedicated to each distinct avatar of the Goddess, and each of these days has a significant color attached to it. Speaker, I, along with you and all members of this house, wish the Hindu community a happy Navratri. Thank you for your statement. I recognize the member from Perry Sound, Ms. Gropa. Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise and host today to recognize a dedicated group of constituents whose hard work and progressive vision have given rise to a remarkable community initiative called the Tree Tops Community Forest. Since 2015, this group has been actively fundraising to purchase 2.3 acres of natural forest adjacent to Perry Sound's new public school. The land will be used for naturalized wilderness park complete with a loop trail named a memory of Finn Bywater, a local young explorer. The park will be open to the community and will also be used by local schools for outdoor education. Driven by the community, this project saw support from local individuals, businesses and municipalities. Dedicated volunteers helped organize more than a dozen fundraisers. Many of the fundraisers simultaneously promoted active living, such as the Franklin Challenge that saw more than 80 paddlers complete a 20 kilometer circumnavigation of beautiful Franklin Island on Georgian Bay. In late August of this year, Tree Tops Community Forest reached its $200,000 goal through its last fundraising event, Bike McKellar, which had 40 cyclists registered in three distances. I stand here today to recognize this unique initiative and heartily commend co-chairs Zach Crafts and Nicole Collins, as well as the entire organizing committee, all of whom have successfully seen this vision through. The Tree Tops Community Forest is a powerful illustration of how committed individuals can strengthen their entire community and create something that will continue to have an impact long after they're gone. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Thank you for your further statement. I recognize the member from Eglinton Lawrence. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today I rise to recognize the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This holiday, also known as the Head of the Year, began yesterday a sundown and marks the start of the Jewish High Holidays. Rosh Hashanah begins the High Holidays, or 10 days of penance, which end with Yom Kippur. This holiday is celebrated in many ways, lighting candles, festive meals, food like apples, halibut bread, pomegranates, dipped in honey, and pomegranate seeds, prayer and services, and the sounding of the shofar used to call everyone to penance. I also want to wish, as I do every year, my good friend Mel Korn and his family as they celebrate Rosh Hashanah. And Mel is a son of Holocaust survivors, and he, along with many other Holocaust survivors, find this time of the year very sensitive as they reflect back and all their parents, grandparents, they were killed during the Shoah and murdered in cold blood. So as much as they look ahead to the New Year, they look back to see how many of their relatives were never able to experience any new year because of the horrific Shoah that occurred back in the 30s and 40s. So I say to Mel Korn and his family and all the Jewish constituents in my writing and across Ontario, Shana Tovah, and may this year coming ahead be a sweet one. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Give further statement, further statement. I recognize the member from Whitby Oshawa. Thank you, Speaker, and I rise today to recognize the 50th anniversary of Durham College in my writing. The catalyst for the creation of Durham College occurred in 1967 when the Minister of Education at that time, the Honorable Bill Davis, introduced legislation that established the community college system. This represented a substantial shift in the structure of post-secondary education in Ontario. On September 18, 1967, Durham College was officially launched with 205 students across 16 portable classrooms offering courses such as business or applied arts. Today, the College has more than 11,000 full-time apprenticeship in post-secondary students, nearly 800 faculty and staff, and offers 140 academic programs. Speaker, this milestone is a remarkable achievement, but also a testament to the hard work and vision of the College's students, staff, and leadership over its history. Speaker, like most community colleges in Ontario, the institution is adapted to the changing times and is driven to offer innovative classes and programs that align with Ontario's labor demand and help narrow the existing skills mismatch. Speaker, here's to another 50 years for Durham College. Thank you. I want to thank all the members for their statements.