 guests. It is now time for members statements, the member from Chatham Kent Essex. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. You know, traditionally Mr. Speaker, speakers don't give member statements, so I just wanted to share this story with you today in the legislature. I know that the Speaker, yourself, is incredibly proud of your writing of Brent, and of course of all of the communities that you represent. Now, when it comes to the town of St. George, you can understand why he is so proud. Evan Wellwood has been battling brain cancer most of his life. At the suggestion of doctors, his family set out to celebrate Christmas in October. Before long, the whole community and the world took notice. Evan's family set up a page to raise funds called One Last Christmas had a target of $1,500. They raised more than $44,000. Two months before Christmas, hundreds of homes were fully decorated in the little town of St. George. Shopkeepers and residents began stringing lights, wrapping presents, and unrolling fake snow on Evan's lawn. Carolers started going door to door. On Friday, Evan was made an honorary officer by the Brantford Police. Complete with a badge and uniform, Evan had always wanted to be a police officer. On Saturday, about 7,000 people joined the celebrations. That's more than double the town's population. More than 25 floats made their way along Evan's street, and the thousands on hand cheered and waved as he rode by on Santa's sleigh. Batman, the Grinch, and Evan's favorite character, SpongeBob, also showed up to wish him a Merry Christmas. Speaker, the outpouring of love and support for Evan and his family by the people of St. George represents the best of Ontario and the best of humanity. From all of us here at the Ontario Legislature, Merry Christmas, Evan. Thank you. You take all the time you want. Members, David's the member from Tomiskamy Cochrane. Thank you, Speaker. High hydro rates are one of the most important issues for my folks at home. I truly in Northern Ontario, we have people who have to choose between how much they eat and how much they eat. We have very severe weather conditions. Actually, there's lots of nights now. We're below zero already, and a lot of people burn wood, but as you get older, you can't burn wood. And these people are concerned. Today, we've had the report from the financial accountability officer, and his role is to take an impartial view at government plans and give an impartial opinion. And there's been lots of debate this morning about, you know, about that opinion. But the basic facts of the matter is I'd like my folks at home to know that if hydro is sold, the likely income will be $1.5 billion that can be used by the government. But the loss, because hydro one brings dividends to the money, to the government, but the loss will be maybe 500 million a year. So by year four, it will be a net loss to the province. A loss that could be used to help people face their hydro bills, or a loss that could be used to build infrastructure they keep talking about. My question to the Finance Minister is, can he add? Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. Can we remember statements from the Member from Agington, Lawrence? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, we're joined by leaders of the Ontario Turkish community here as they raise the Turkish flag here in the legislature. I'd like to welcome them here today. Today, October 23rd marks the creation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, and it's Turkish Republic Day today. After Turkey's victory in the War of Independence, the Turkish parliament proclaimed the new Turkish state as a republic. A new constitution, which the parliament adopted in October 29th, 1923, replaced the Constitution of the Ottoman Empire. The leader in the Turkish war of independence was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, became the country's first president on the same day. Following the founding of the Republic of Turkey, Ataturk embarked on a wide-ranging set of unprecedented reforms in the political, economic and cultural aspects of Turkish society. These reforms have left a lasting legacy of which the peoples of Turkish heritage are proud. The transformation of the newly founded republic in today's modern democratic and secular Turkish state. Turkish women in particular gained many civil rights from these reforms, such as voting rights and the ability to practice many occupations and whole political posts. There are approximately over 25,000 Turkish Ontarians who will be celebrating this important day. To celebrate, many people go to local stadiums or to watch performances dedicated to this important day. Such performances usually consist of theater, sketches, poetry readings and traditional Turkish dance. Many school children participate in these performances. Many people will agree to Ataturk, the great founder of Turkey, or visit Ataturk's mausoleum in the country's capital, Ankara. Happy Turkish Republic Day and long live Canadian Turkish friendship. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Further member statements? The member from Dufferin, Caledon. Thank you, Speaker. It seems very appropriate for me to share this statement today. On October 6, the town of Caledon passed a resolution that stated, whereas the public electricity system in Ontario is a critical asset to the economy and vital to the living standard and well-being of all Ontarians, and whereas it is essential that Ontarians maintain public control and public decision making with respect to electricity, and whereas experience in other jurisdictions shows that privatization typically means consumers pay more for electricity, and whereas a privatized Hydro One will no longer be subject to scrutiny by the Auditor General, the Ombudsman, the Financial Accountability Officer, or the Integrity Commissioner, and will no longer be required to provide information or services to citizens under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Public Disclosure Salaries Act, or the French Language Services Act, and whereas the sale of shares in Hydro One will provide a short-term financial gain for the province in exchange for a much longer, long-term financial loss, and whereas the provincial government has no mandate from voters to sell any part of Hydro One, therefore be it resolved that the town of Caledon call on the provincial government to halt the sale of any part of Hydro One and maintain Hydro One as a public asset for the benefits of all Ontarians and to respect the autonomy of local decision making, making powers of local distribution companies by not forcing these companies into mergers or sales. Speaker, the government needs to finally listen to concerns like the town of Caledon and the Financial Accountability Officer regarding the Hydro One sell-off. Thank you. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. I rise today to raise some concerns from my constituents, many of whom have strong ties to Punjab. In Punjab, there was a desecration of the Guru Granthap. This constitutes the embodiment of all the Sikh spiritual teachings. This desecration occurred and it represents essentially a hate crime against an already marginalized Sikh community. Peaceful protesters organized in defiance of this hate crime and called on the government to take action against the perpetrators of this desecration, this hate crime. In response, the state didn't respond and actually assist these protesters. Instead, the state attacked peaceful protesters, two of whom were killed, many of whom were arrested, simply for raising their concerns. Hate crimes against any community anywhere in the world have no place in our society and I stand with those who are called on the government for justice. In addition, constituents have raised concerns about the independent decision-making of the leadership of Sikh institutions in relation to these events. Maintaining the sovereignty of Sikh institutions is vitally important as Sikh leadership in Punjab makes decisions that impact people across the world, in fact many residents in my community. I'm encouraged by the movement towards greater accountability for Sikh leadership and I call on the government to investigate human rights violations against peaceful protesters as well as I call on the Sikh community to increase their movement towards greater unity in order to maintain the sovereignty of Sikh institutions. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. Thank you for their member statements. The member from Kitchener's Centre. Thank you Mr. Speaker. October is manufacturing month in Ontario and I'd like to share with you an update on the state of manufacturing in my writing of Kitchener's Centre and the greater region of Waterloo. In our province, manufacturing jobs make up about 10% of the workforce but in my community it's twice that figure, 20% or one in five jobs. The head of our workforce planning board Carol Simpson tells me that we have 1,840 manufacturing businesses employing over 54,000 people and here is an astounding figure. Currently there are over 2,000 jobs posted in manufacturing in Waterloo region. The board along with Employment Ontario agencies are working to fill this growing demand in employment. Mr. Speaker, without a doubt my region was hard hit in the last decade by manufacturing job losses. We saw a number of big employers pack up and leave town but since then there has been a remarkable recovery and we can look to innovators and our government's Southwest Ontario Development Fund. Now some of these success stories include Ontario Drive and Gear, Ball Services, DC Foods, Christie Digital, Colonial Cookies, Conestoga Meat Packers, Toyota, Comdev, Blackberry, ATS. It's a very long list. Mr. Speaker, manufacturing is alive and well in Waterloo region and I salute all of the people who are supporting this very vibrant sector. Thank you. Thank you. Further member statements? A member from Kitchener Conestoga? Yes, well thank you Speaker. Speaker for three days now elementary students in my riding have joined together to protest the impacts of this government's inability to come to an agreement with their teachers. Hundreds of students at about a dozen public schools stayed out of classes to raise their voices against the laws of after-school clubs, sports like volleyball, field trips and report cards while teachers withdraw services to press for a new contract. As the Waterloo region record reports today students sat in hallways or lunchrooms or gymnasiums. Some made placards taped to lockers or placed on floors. Yesterday at Dune Public School in Kitchener students walked out of class immediately after announcements and paced the halls before heading into the gym where they continued their peaceful protests throughout the day while teachers remained in their classrooms. As students protesting in the halls of Forest Glen School wrote to me yesterday we don't want we need our extracurriculars noting that some kids feel they don't belong but with extracurriculars they feel they finally fit in and adding it's not fair that you use our extracurriculars to bargain with teachers we are important. That they are speaker and more than that they are our future and I think it's incumbent on this government to end this waiting game. Allow our students to enjoy the full educational experience including extracurriculars that they deserve and that the Ontario taxpayers have paid for. Further member statements the member from Durham. Thank you speaker the fall harvest season has given me plenty of opportunities this year to talk about the great farming community in Durham but I'm going to tell the house one more time and I will continue to tell the house about the hardworking and innovative farmers in our community. Tonight's speaker marks the second annual Durham farm connections celebrate agriculture gala with the goal of supporting agricultural awareness in Durham region. Of course I spoke to us a few weeks ago in favour of the motion from the member from Huron Bruce with much the same goal so I am looking forward to talking more about it this evening. Durham agricultural community will come together to discuss strategies and and about how the season went and honor community members with awards for farm family spirit of agriculture and leadership. We will focus on sustainability innovation and spreading the message of stewardship and our agriculturally driven local economy to everyone in Durham. I am looking forward to this evening. Thank you speaker. Thank you from the members and the member from Scarborough region. Thank you Mr. Speaker and please rise this afternoon to recognize October as the women's history month in Canada and also to recognize a group of trail blazing women who may extraordinary contributions to ally victory in the second world war. Most Ontarians are unaware that during the second world war the Canadian government built a general engineering company known as gecko munition factory. This 346 acre munition plant was built in Scarborough which at the time was a rural community completed with over four kilometres of tunnels 172 buildings. For four years the plant was open 24 hours a day six days a week. Remarkably this plant was built in five months and put over 21,000 workers who were predominantly women. To support the war efforts over 265 million munitions were filled by these women. Scarborough resident and author Barbara Dixon recently released her book the bomb girls trading aprons for ammo. Barbara provided first account on Canada's largest views views filling emission plans including the technical reports photographic evidence and business documentations. The women who work at gecko were known as bomb girls risking their lives daily and show great resolve in the time when women working outside the home defined cultural norms. Today in the legislature I want to welcome again my guest Barbara Dixon and husband David as well as Stan McDonald's whose father was an ad manager at gecko. Mr. Speaker I'd like to all of us to recognize the contributions of the brave men and women who work at gecko and their dedicated efforts to help win the second world war. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you and of course we welcome our guests and thank you for joining us all members for their statements