 It's now time for Member Statements. I recognize the member for London Fanshawe. Thank you, Speaker. By choosing policing over public health policy in his most recent slate of restrictions, the Premier showed that his government is either over its head or ignoring public advice experts. Currently, the Premier is sitting on 1 million vaccines that have not yet been distributed. Meanwhile, essential workers, particularly in hot spots, continue to have to put themselves and their entire households at risk by doing the simple act of going to work. This rollout has been a mess from the start, leading to so much confusion and waste. For example, last week my office called eight pharmacies in my rotting that were listed on the government's website. Only one of those pharmacies was actually offering the vaccine. The rest said they weren't. Public health units are still waiting for further direction from this government. Hot spots like N6A in London weren't included as a priority poster code. The COVID-19 vaccine supply for Middlesex London Health Unit is being cut by 25% according to the region's medical officer, Dr. Chris Mackey. This government has staked everything on the vaccine, only to turn it around and muck it up. We knew supplies would be limited and inconsistent. The truth is that we wouldn't be in this position today if this government had done its job and implemented the expert advice and data driven by public health policy. On-site paid sick days, grant paid time off for vaccines, fund on-site vaccine clinics in workplaces like Cargill, poultry, processing plant in my rotting, and give the local public health units the information and funding they need to do their jobs. Any short of this speaker is irresponsible. The next member's statement, the member for Sarnia-Lambton. You're here and it's my privilege to rise today and update the House on important new investments in Sarnia-Lambton by the government of Ontario. After many years of being considered one of the worst roads in southwestern Ontario, it was great to learn the first phase of the Plank Road reconstruction work in Sarnia is expected to start in July and be completed by October. If you recall, a total of $4.2 million in combined federal provincial funding was announced last summer for this project. The money will support the reconstruction and widening of the Plank Road between South Indian Road and Highway 40, which will increase road safety and improve traffic and travel times. This is great news for everyone who uses the Plank Road on a regular basis. In more infrastructure news, I was pleased with the recent announcement that the governments of Ontario and Canada are providing more than $10 million to our Lampton school boards to upgrade infrastructure at their local schools for the next against COVID-19. The Lampton Kent District School Board will receive almost $6.3 million, while the St. Clair Catholic District School Board is in line for $3.7 million. These in our local schools include HVAC renovations to improve air quality and installing water bottled refilling stations to improve access to safe drinking water and space reconfigurations such as new walls and doors to enhance physical discipline. Mr. Speaker, these are just some of the important investments that the Governor of Ontario is making in Sarnia and Lampton. I look forward again to sharing more updates with you again soon. Thank you. Thank you. The Member for University of Rosedale. Thank you, Speaker. The government's announcement on Friday to bring in a police state regime while utterly failing to quash workplace transmission is going to lead to more people in Ontario dying, people who shouldn't have to die. I want to read out some statements from healthcare professionals and their response to this. Here's Michael Werner. I feel anger and defeat. I'm resigned to a shared destiny. I cannot see any circumstance where I can now protect my patients from being forced to be paleted because of a lack of beds. This is Dr. Brook Fallis. They've done nothing to meaningfully protect them, and today they've prioritised allowing those people who can stay at home to have non-essential goods delivered to them by people who will end up in the ICU. It felt like today this announcement was sending a whole lot of people to their death when they didn't have to. These are heartbreaking words from people who are on the front lines helping people survive this pandemic. It takes a very foolish group of people to respond to a pandemic primarily driven by workplace transmission and wearing primarily on racialised citizens by allowing cops to ask where you live and where you are going if you are outside. You know what to do. Tackle workplace transmission. Bring in paid sick days. Listen to public health. Do your job. You are killing people. Next member to withdraw. Next member's statement. The member for Brantford Grant. Thank you Speaker and good morning. I rise in the House today to offer my congratulations to the 16 students who have completed the inaugural Agricultural Equipment Operator Program at Conestoga College in Brantford. The success of these students will be celebrated virtually on Friday, April 30th. This pilot program based out of the Brantford airport location is offered by Conestoga College Institute of Technology in Advanced Learning. This is a program funded by both the provincial and federal governments through the Canadian Agriculture Partnership or CAP. As we recognise the immense value the agriculture sector provides for our local economy and our food security, programs such as this one seek to address the need to train skilled workers to fulfil the demands of farm operations. This program provides training in such areas as spraying, fertilising, custom tillage, harvesting and machine operation. My hope is that this initial group of students will be the first of many seeking to achieve in demand skills training, addressing this critical workforce need both for farms today and those in the future. My sincere appreciation to Conestoga as well for being a provincial leader in the delivery of skilled trades and apprenticeship training. I wish these students all the best as they embark upon their careers in the agricultural sector. Thank you. Member Stateman. Member for Ottawa Centre. Thank you Speaker. Speaker, I woke up early this morning to find out that there were checkpoints set up at the five bridges between our province, our city, Ottawa and our neighbours in Gattano, our two ferries. And you know what was curious Speaker, I heard the Mayor of our city, the Honourable Jim Watson say that he didn't get a single phone call from this government about how that was going to happen. And he is defying this government's request, the early request at least, for them to profile people. This is people power and action Speaker. Good people all over this province know that government right now is a drift without a rudder. And the least they expect when they implement measures that on their face don't make any sense is that they would pick up the phone and call Ottawa's Chief of Police, call the Ottawa Mayor, call our authorities and not issue dictates as the Mayor said this morning on CBC Radio from Toronto. But that's where we're at sadly Speaker. We have a situation in which people are filling our ICUs who are essential workers and dying. But this government would rather spend money on 24-7 checkpoints at five bridges and two ferry crossings that make no public health sense, at least not in the way they're doing right now. Take that money and don't do this charade. Put it in the hands of people who need to stay home safe, who need to be back to their families, stop disrespecting essential workers, Speaker, and start standing up for the people of this province with a real paid sick day program. Thank you. Member statements. Member for Don Valley West. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm very pleased to be here in the legislature today. For the last few weeks, I've had the privilege of being in a close household bubble with my daughter Maggie, her partner Dan, and their beautiful new baby girl, Violet Jean Hambly. I've been working solely from home in order to be able to help with those first few challenging weeks in a first-time mother's life. To all of the young moms who have given birth during COVID, please know that you've had a very, very difficult and lonely road. Being a mom is challenging at the best of times, and COVID is not the best of times, so please be gentle with yourselves and take care. Speaker, there's an issue in my riding of Don Valley West that needs the attention of the Minister of Transportation. The building of the Ontario line and the accompanying maintenance and storage facilities will be very disruptive to the Thorncliffe and Flemington Park communities, whatever the final design and alignment. These are dense, diverse, urban communities that need vital transit links, but that also need government to respect and understand the unique character of the services, businesses, and faith institutions that serve them. Right now, community members feel that they have been excluded from the decision-making process and that information is not accessible. I'm calling on the Minister of Transportation respectfully to establish a direct connection with community leaders and to visit the community as soon as possible to better understand local needs. I'm willing and available to facilitate such a visit and introduce her to the community whenever she should choose to attend. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you very much. Member Statements, a member for Kitchener-Conestoga. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I know you probably know this, but to everybody else that's here today, did you know that one of the oldest covered bridges in Canada is located in Kitchener-Conestoga, right in the heart of Woolwich Township in the community of Westmont Rose? The Westmont Rose Covered Bridge, or as it is known locally, the Kissing Bridge, Mr. Speaker, was built in 1880 and is still used today by many members of the community to cross the Grand River. While it was only meant to last less than a decade, today, 140 years later, it still stands as one of Waterloo Region's most iconic landmarks. Earlier this month, I had the honour of joining my friend, the member from Oakville and parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure, to announce that Ontario would be investing $2 million to rehabilitate and protect the bridge through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure program. This investment, along with funding from our local and federal partners, will support a much-needed retrofit of this long-standing piece of history. Speaker, for too long, infrastructure in rural communities like Woolwich Township have been forgotten about. But as the government voiced for rural Waterloo Region, I will continue to advocate for their needs and I am pleased to have the support of my government colleagues here in the chamber. Our Minister of Infrastructure has delivered on funding that will bring a new Glasgow Street Bridge to Conestogo and with repairs to the Woolwich Memorial Centre and the vital stormwater management system, Speaker. These repairs are long-overdue investments for Woolwich and I thank the Minister of Infrastructure for hearing the voices of my community and look forward to delivering more good news to the people of Kitchener, Conestogo and not so distant future. Thank you, Speaker. Next Member's statement, the Member for Davin. Mr. Speaker, over the last few days, the government has managed to do what even their supporters thought was impossible, make matters in Ontario worse. My constituents in Davenport, like people across this province, are tired of the confusion, the mixed messaging, the reactive short-sighted decisions that are putting their families and their neighbours at risk. Mr. Speaker, it's become clear that this government can no longer be trusted to lead us through this pandemic. They have lost the confidence of Ontarians. Our ICUs are overwhelmed. In some cases, whole families are being admitted, kids are at home taking care of kids. Sick Kids Hospital is repurposing beds for adult patients for the first time and healthcare workers are pleading for our help. And this government's response was to ban playgrounds and bring back carding. Government members across the way bear as much responsibility as the Premier, but today I am challenging them to put the health of their constituents and the future of our province first. Speaker, it is time for us to work together to save Ontario, repeal the new police powers, bring in paid sick days and paid time off for vaccination, close all the non-essential workplaces and get vaccines where they are needed now most. Mr. Speaker, it is not going to be good enough to shuffle the deck chairs on the Titanic. Either allow us to turn this boat around or get off. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Next member's statement, the member for Whitby. Thank you, Speaker. And I'm pleased that the government is providing more than $42 million to help non-profit organizations across the province, including many in Whitby and other parts of the region of Durham to support staff and volunteers, reimagine programming and renovate facilities as they deal with the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic. This funding speaker helps organizations like Luke's Place and Catholic Family Services of Durham and many others across the region of Durham adapt to the challenges created by the pandemic, ensuring that they can provide the best services possible and make a positive difference in the lives of individuals and families in Whitby and across the region of Durham. Speaker, the resilient communities fund grants will bring needed support to many community-based organizations across the region trying to meet local needs. Thank you so much, Speaker. Next member's statement, the member for Mississauga East Cooksville. Thank you, Speaker. I know that this last year has been very hard on our province. It has been tough on everyone with no exceptions. As a father with three school-aged kids currently learning from home, I know how challenging things have been for the families of Ontario. Everyone has been working hard to help stop the spread of COVID-19. I'm so grateful to be part of a community that cares so much about one another. That is why today I'm asking Ontarians to continue to do their part and get vaccinated. If you or someone you know qualifies for a vaccine, please do not hesitate to register or book an appointment online at ontario.ca forward slash book vaccine or by contacting your public health unit. My parents recently received their vaccinations and I can tell you what a relief it has been to know that they are now so much safer and they feel great about it too. As a father, I want nothing more than to see my kids safely back at school with their friends and educators. Together, we can make this happen. I also want to remind the people of Ontario that the federal government is offering Ontarians up to four weeks of paid sick leave through the Canada recovery sickness benefits. This program gives income support to employed and self-employed Ontarians who are unable to work because they are sick or need to self-isolate due to COVID-19. You can contact the CRA to find out more or apply online through the CRA website. I want to thank our premier and my colleagues for their work in supporting our constituents and I also want to thank our frontline and essential workers as well as every individual for doing their part to stay home, stay safe, save lives. Let's get through this together so we can come back stronger than ever. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you very much. That concludes our member statements for this morning.