 It's now time for our members' statements. The member from here on, Bruce. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Last Wednesday, my interim leader Jim Wilson and I had the pleasure of hosting a roundtable discussion in Belgrade with seven family health teams across my riding from here in Bruce. The number of concerns and challenges facing family health teams in our provinces has been expressed by the participants, and it was truly eye-opening. For instance, restrictive funding agreements with zero budget flexibility and the use-it-or-lose-it budgeting system these teams are forced to work under do not make for smart or efficient health care planning. Costs of doing business continue to rise. All the while, family health teams are struggling with allotments set back in 2008. There are huge salary discrepancies caused by uneven government funding to health care providers, and that's crippling family health teams in terms of their ability to hire and keep staff. There is a burden on front-line workers and inaccurate and inconsistent measurements of performance and service provision, and it's important to note that 110 out of 185 family health teams are located in rural and northern communities. And so I suggest, Speaker, that this government must get out of their urban bubble and recognize the diverse health care needs of communities across Ontario and enable all providers to do their best. Family health teams deserve to be respected and allowed the tools needed to effectively support their communities. Thank you very much. Thank you. Members, statements? Members, statements? The member from Cambridge. Thank you, Speaker. I rise today to pay tribute to two extraordinary women that I'm very proud to say are from my writing of Cambridge. On Friday, November the 7th, at the Ontario Provincial Police's annual awards ceremony, where officers and community members are recognized for acts of bravery, dedication, and service, Rachel Grant and her mother, Rebecca Mantinen, were awarded the OPP Commissioner's Citation for Life Saving. One morning, while vacationing at the Peninsula Lake Resort, Rebecca and Rachel were walking along the beach when they noticed a man and a woman in the lake. When they realized that the man and woman were in trouble and seeing that there was no lifeguard on duty at that early hour and no one else rushing to their aid, Rebecca jumped into the lake and swam towards the victims followed by Rachel, close by, having grabbed a nearby stray life jacket that she had found on the ground. When they reached the man and the woman, they discovered the man was drowning and in a panic was pulling his sister down with him, acting quickly, they saved the man from drowning, put the life jacket on him, and waited for a nearby boy line for a rescue boat to arrive. Mr. Speaker, I must also mention that Rachel's mother, Rebecca Mantinen, was a former colleague of mine. So I, along with the rest of my community, are extremely proud of both her and her daughter's self-assacts of bravery. Thank you. Members, members, statements? I'm looking for a member's statement. I'm looking for a member from Oxford, just even though nick and time. Well, Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share the concerns of the Tilsonburg Chamber of Commerce. About this government's 148% aviation fuel increase, tax increase, they said, and I quote, we view our airports as one of the main drivers of growth in our region's economy. And we take a keen interest in the competitiveness of Canadian airports. We are specifically concerned over the impact that this tax change has on local and regional levels. We want a need to see the businesses and industrial traffic grow at our own Tilsonburg regional airport. And we want the stem of the flow of thousands of people in Tilsonburg and London region who regularly head to Detroit, Buffalo, and Niagara over price issues. Sorry about that, Mike. I'm short of breath here, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, we heard that government revenues once again failed to meet the projections. The Chamber of Commerce understands, as we do, that attempt to increase revenues by implementing huge tax increases as short-sighted. Other jurisdictions are reducing or eliminating fuel taxes because it creates new jobs, fuels economic growth, and will result in increased government revenue. This increase will be a cost to everyday people and companies, the people who live in remote communities, the child going to visit their grandparents and the cost for companies to ship items by air. Some of those people will just make sacrifices as a result of this tax increase, and some will look for options outside our borders. That's why the Tilsonburg Chamber of Commerce and my colleagues on this side of the legislature agree. It's time to ground the flight tax increase. Thank you very much. Thank you. Members, same as the members from London Fanshawe. Speaker, today I rise to share with the members of this legislature about a tragedy that recently occurred in my hometown of London. A fatal fire broke out on Oxford Street, which was known to be an unlicensed group home for people living with mental illness and addictions. This house had a long-standing history of violating fire code regulations and was visited on more than 10 occasions by City of London fire inspectors. Further, this location was also known to the City of London bylaw enforcement and public health officials because of numerous complaints ranging from bedbugs, sewage issues, broken windows, and overcrowding. The Ontario Human Rights Commission made recommendations to the government last year that would protect people with mental illness and addictions to ensure they had access to safe housing and support. We believe this tragedy highlights the lack of oversight into programs for people with mental illness and raises concerns about the lack of licensing and regulation for homes like this. Now, had this been a licensed group home, this incident would have triggered an immediate inquest by the coroner's office as many leaders in mental health organizations have called for. My colleague from London West and I have joined their calls for coroner's inquest and will be following their investigation closely. New Democrats believe access to safe and affordable housing is a basic human right for all Ontarians. Conducting a coroner's inquest is the best way to achieve transparency and to help our community get the answers they are looking for. Only then can we move forward with real solutions to prevent this type of tragedy from happening again. Dear members, the member from Newmark and Aurora. Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm honored to rise today in support of Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Month. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are the two most common forms of inflammatory bowel disease or IBD. These are lifelong diseases that cause inflammation in the gut and have no known cures and no known causes. Ontarians have more reason to be concerned about Crohn's and Colitis than anyone else in the world. With nearly 95,000 Ontarians living with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, our province has the largest population of people living with these chronic diseases in Canada. One in every 150 Canadians suffers from Crohn's and Colitis. Our country on whole has a rate that ranks among the highest worldwide. Families new to Canada are developing Crohn's and Colitis for the first time, often within the first generation. These diseases are escalating in children at an alarming rate, especially those under 10 years of age. With over 10,000 new diagnoses every year, in addition to the nearly quarter million Canadians living with Crohn's and Colitis, these diseases are more than twice as common as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease or about as common as type 1 diabetes and epilepsy. Mr. Speaker, my family's been touched by this disease and I've seen firsthand how devastating it is. Today I'd like to recognize Adia Fernandez, Helene Silbinger and Natasha Mistry from Crohn's and Colitis Canada, who are here to help raise awareness about these chronic diseases. Thank you. Thank you. Number six, the member from Bruce Gray, Owen Simon. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Last month I attended the 2014 Senior Achievement Award at Queens Park where two distinguished constituents from my riding were selected to receive awards in honor of their outstanding and generous community contributions. I was honored to meet and greet Mae Smith of Chesley and her four children at the awards ceremony on October 30th, where Mae was recognized for her exemplary service to her community. Her list of community involvement is a long one. Chesley Legion Ladies' Auxiliary, where she served as the group secretary for 60 years, Branch 144 of the Royal Canadian Legion, where she still continues to serve as archivist. She's also served as a member of the Horticultural Society for 30 years, the Louise Women's Institute, St. Mark's Lutheran Church, St. Mark's ELW Group, worthy mistress of the Chesley LOBA, the Chesley Hospital Auxiliary and the Palliative Care Team, the Chesley Agricultural Society and as chair of the Chesley Fall Fairs, Arts and Crafts Division. I was also honored to meet and greet Shirley Johnson and members of her family of Tober Moray on receiving this prestigious award for her valuable contributions over the years. Shirley has volunteered with the Royal Canadian Legion for more than 30 years. She is president of the Seniors Connect Program, a founding member of the Local Breast Trail Association, the Friends of the Tober Moray Library, chair of Grey Breast Tourism Association and a member of the Trillion Foundation Board and Tober Moray Health Clinic Auxiliary. I believe Shirley and Mae's Awards of Senior Achievement Award, the highest provincial honor for senior citizens in Ontario are indeed well-deserved. Congratulations to this pair of outstanding senior citizens from the Great Riding, a Bruce Grey-owned Sound and all the best for many more years of good health and voluntary activities in the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Member Stevens, the member from Toronto, Danforth. Thank you, Speaker. Speaker, anyone who's walked outside in the last 24 hours, anyone who's looked at clips on YouTube or on the news will know that we're experiencing unusually cold weather. Buffalo, they've had snow coming down in ways that people have not seen for many decades, some never at all. Speaker, as the world is warming up, heating up, weather patterns are changing. What was normal is being disrupted. Where it was cold, it's getting hotter. Where it's hot, it's getting cold. So right now Alaska's on track to be 70% above norms for this time of the year while people in Buffalo and as far south as Texas are freezing. At the same time, Speaker, the world is on track to overshoot the amount of carbon it can emit to go way past the amount of carbon in the atmosphere that would limit temperature increases to two degrees centigrade. We're looking at closer to four. And at four we look at extraordinarily disruptive weather patterns, Speaker. We need a climate plan in this country and in this province that sees us continuously reducing our greenhouse gas emissions over the next few decades. Speaker, people need to have an opening, an opportunity, and support from governments so that they can cut their greenhouse gas emissions dramatically. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Member from Kitchener Center. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, constituency week was a very busy time in my writing of Kitchener Center. I had the opportunity to visit with a lot of individuals and groups that are providing important services in my community, including one group called Community Support Connections, which provides the Meals on Wheels program. Having a hot meal show up at your door means that those seniors and adults living with disabilities can continue living at home independently and with dignity. Did you know that close to 300 people a day in Waterloo region are getting meals delivered to their door? Of course, none of this would be possible without a small army of volunteers. About 600 of them rotate through the cooking, the packaging, and the delivery of these meals. Mr. Speaker, even I had a chance to roll up my sleeves and put on a hair net and join the food line, and here's a very interesting aspect of this service. Executive Director Dale Howell told me that for many of these seniors, seeing one of these volunteers come to the door with a meal is the only human interaction that they have all day and for some all week. Based on this, the agency has decided to set up an added service where volunteers go back to visit the isolated individuals and they have a visit. Mr. Speaker, it makes me very proud to know that there are people in my community who are kind enough to give up their time and their energy to reach out to those in need with such a terrific program like Meals on Wheels. Thank you very much. Thank you, Member Stavitz. Member Stavitz, the member from Burlington. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Speaker, today I would like to recognize World Chronic-Extructive Pulmonary Disease Day. Chronic-Extructive Pulmonary Disease, known as COPD, is a general term used to describe chronic lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema, which cause limitations in lung airflow. Key risk factors for COPD include tobacco smoking, air pollution, and exposure to occupational dusts and chemicals. Speaker, about 840,000 people in Ontario have COPD. Over 5,000 hospital emergency department visits related to COPD each year take place in my riding's local health integration network of Hamilton Niagara-Haldeman brand. Awareness about this disease is vital and the research-based pharmaceutical company, Bowringer-Angelheim, is doing their part. This important company, located in my riding of Burlington, recently in partnered with the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, the CFHI, in an effort to bring better care and outcomes to COPD patients through a program called, appropriately inspired, implementing a novel and supportive program of individualized care for patients and families living with respiratory disease. The World Health Organization predicts that COPD will become the third leading cause of death worldwide in 2030. The Ontario Lung Association and Bowringer-Angelheim are doing their part in the prevention of management of chronic lung disease, tobacco cessation and prevention, and air quality with respect to its effects on lung health. I salute them both, Speaker, on this important occasion, World COPD Day. Thank you. Thank you. I thank all members for their statements.