 That is now time for Member Statements, the Member from Huron, Bruce. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. I'm excited to share with my colleagues today that on Wednesday of this week parliamentarians across Ontario will be travelling to Ontario to participate in the Commonwealth Woman of Parliamentarians Canada Region Outreach Program taking place November 4th to 8th. CWP is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2015 and this year's program is filled with discussions, activities, centred all on celebrating women from the past and present who make a difference in their communities. This program will also focus on inspiring today's youth to become engaged and to make a difference. While the CWP has always aimed to empower female leaders, a unique aspect of this year's program is to focus on women in the agriculture food sector as well as rural Ontario. For the first time in eight years this program will be hosted in both urban and rural settings and we're going to be wrapping up this particular program at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair Speaker and the whole essence and theme of this year's program is engaging women to make a difference and I invite everyone to participate in a program. The speaker will be hosting on Thursday right after question period where we will be celebrating women who have led the way. After that we'll be travelling to Guelph and engaging women who are involved in the agriculture food sector and ultimately they are making a difference and we're going to wrap up the program by hopefully inspiring young women at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair to stay involved, be active and to make a difference. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Thank you Speaker. The number of children waiting for IBI now stands at 2,192 percent from just two years ago and the number for ABA has increased from under 8,000 two years ago to an astonishing 13,966 today, a disgraceful increase of 75 percent. The shock provoked by these numbers is compounded when we look at the current service levels. There are only five more children receiving IBI than did last year and incredibly there are 926 fewer children receiving ABA treatment. I was joined as a news conference this morning by Autism Ontario as well as two families who are affected each and every day by the failure of this government. Kara Onofrio was there as well as Linda and Tony DiMambrio with their son Anthony. After hearing these families speak about their own experience, nobody could be left in any doubt that we need to do more. They fought back tears and stood strong to tell their story. We are all indebted to the hundreds of families who do what they have to do when they are let down by their government. They re-mortgage their homes, they cash their RRSPs, they say goodbye to any semblance of a normal life. This morning the minister yet again referred way back to almost a decade ago and called it progress. Since those increases they need to have their continued growth and instead of squandering billions. Thank you. Thank you for the member's statements and then there's from New Market Aurora. Well thank you speaker. It's an honour to stand in the house to represent the great writing of New Market Aurora. Today I want to recognise the great organisational culture and work of our local hospital, Southlake Regional Health Centre, led by CEO Dr Dave Williams. Southlake continues to inspire us through its Southlake way. This is a commitment to provide a shockingly excellent experience to each and every person who comes through its doors. It's through five core values that Southlake Hospital achieves this goal every day. Putting patients first, pushing the envelope, honouring commitments, speaking up and by simply giving a damn. Yes that's actually a core value Mr. Speaker. Patients are given outstanding service when entering Southlake. The hospital is also a leader in innovative health care and recently celebrated five years of comprehensive cancer care services in the central Lynn region and the opening of the Stronic Regional Cancer Centre at Southlake. To be celebrating its fifth anniversary is an exciting milestone. It is exciting for our towns, for hospitals but more importantly it's exciting for the people it serves every single day for those individuals who face this disease and for their families that find support within the walls of Southlake and the Stronic Regional Cancer Care Centre. I'm proud to represent such an innovative hospital filled with committed and dedicated staff Mr. Speaker that continues to inspire everyone in the community of Newmark, Aurora. Thank you. Thank you. Further member Stevens, the member from Great. Thank you Mr. Speaker. I rise today to share a town of New DeCumseh, the committee of the whole resolution that was passed on June 15, 2015 and adopted by council on June 22nd, 2015. Mr. Speaker, the town of New DeCumseh is in the south end of my riding home to Honda Manufacturing of Canada and this resolution is against the Liberal government's plan to sell off Hydro-1. The resolution reads in part as follows and 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 and other jurisdictions shows that privatization typically means consumers paying more for electricity and whereas our public electricity system currently generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the government every year to help pay for public services we all depend on and whereas the sale of shares in Hydro-1 will provide a short-term financial gain for the province in exchange for a much larger long-term financial loss and whereas the provincial government has no mandate from voters to sell any part of Hydro-1 therefore be it resolved that the town of New DeCumseh calls on the provincial government to halt the sale of any part of Hydro-1 and maintain Hydro-1 as a public asset for the benefit of all Ontarians. Mr. Speaker some 200 municipalities have passed resolutions like the one passed by New DeCumseh council I'd like the House to know that there are nonpartisan council and they want the government to listen to them. Mr. Speaker to the minister imagine the surprise and imagine the anger that the governors woke up to just this week when they found out that bus service in Hearst, to campus casing, Cochrane and points in between are being cut and that we're losing full day bus services in towns like campus casing in Hearst. This at a time when the government says it's got to make massive investments in infrastructure when it comes to transportation they are at the same time selling off Ontario Northland which they essentially tried to do at a loss and now they're after making a promise that they were going to enhance bus service and that we were going to get better bus service by way of buses than we got with trains the government's going back on its word and it's eliminating bus service where it exists in places like Cochrane campus casing Hearst are losing bus service and in some cases are losing all day service in order to get three buses a week. This is not what the government should be doing. If the government is serious about dealing with infrastructure in this province and making sure that we have good transportation infrastructure you know what the province goes further north than just the north of Toronto there are places like Cochrane there are places like campus casing there are places like Hearst who need to have that service to be able to function and when they see the government on the one hand saying it wants to make investments in transportation and at the same time are cutting transportation services in northern Ontario they see this at what for it is it's a rule for people in one part of the province that's very different than the other. Thank you Speaker today the Canadian Cancer Survivors Network is launching their newest website portal. The portal will take you to part of the website that has information on melanoma Approximately 6,500 Canadians are diagnosed with melanoma annually and this number increases every year. The Canadian Cancer Survivor Network recognize the heavy burden of diagnosis of melanoma that it places not only on those who are diagnosed with it but on their families and extended support networks. In response CCSN has created an online portal recognizing and addressing the experience of melanoma whether it's early or more advanced stages. The melanoma portal provides a trusted and accurate source of melanoma information and the sections on the portal centralize information on the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma provide information and resources on financial planning and address the issues that caregivers face. As a cancer survivor myself I know the value that resources such as these can provide for treatment and recovery. Speaker I commend the work that the Canadian Cancer Survivor Network does to help educate people on cancer such as melanoma. Thank you and congratulations to the CCSN and thank you for all that you do. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Speaker. The poor policy choices of the Liberal government continue to make life increasingly unaffordable in Ontario. As of November the first of this year the cost of on peak electricity is now 17.5 cents per kilowatt hour. This is over four times more than what the rate was when this government first came to power. The new set of increases of electricity continues to force rural and suburban Ontarians into energy poverty. There are so many people in my writing of Halliburton Court at the Lakesbrock who are faced with an impossible choice of either paying their hydroboils or putting food on their tables. Now the Liberal government wants to sell hydro one without any assurances to Ontarians that hydro rates won't continue to skyrocket. 185 municipalities including Pine Peterborough County and Halliburton County have all passed resolutions to oppose the sale. Ontarians are resoundingly against this sale. All of the provincial government's independent officers are opposed to the sale of hydro one but the government seems to conveniently neglect all of that. By 2019-2020 once the full 60% of hydro one is sold the financial accountability officer has said that the province will suffer an ongoing negative impact on budget balance. 750 million in annual revenue will be lost. The government talks about just how important infrastructure is yet it's satisfied with selling a public asset for only 2.5% of its plan. I implore the government to finance infrastructure without choking Ontario's sustainability for generations to come. Thank you. I'm pleased to rise today to speak about a very special celebration for the South Asian community in Ontario. Diwali or the Festival of Lights is celebrated by millions of Hindus, Jains and Sikhs around the world. This Hindu festival celebrates the triumph of light over darkness or good over evil. On November 11th people across Ontario and around the world will mark Diwali through prayers, the lighting of lamps and by gathering with friends, family and loved ones. But Mr. Speaker the celebrations have already started. This past Sunday I took part in a vibrant Milton Connection's Diwali celebration. The evening was an incredible display of culture, community and tradition. The room was packed with friends, families and neighbors all joining together to celebrate the Festival of Lights. It was wonderful. Children, parents and grandparents enjoyed tasty food, stepped to some tunes and shopped at a fantastic marketplace. There were also amazing performances put on by some very talented young people. I want to thank Vibrant Milton Connections for pulling together a terrific event. This event was a wonderful way to honour and promote South Asian culture and heritage in Ontario. Mr. Speaker I'm proud to be a part of a diverse and culturally rich community like Halton. It's a place where our diversity is celebrated and makes us all stronger. Mr. Speaker we are fortunate to live in a multicultural society where our diversity is valued. Thank you and a very happy early Diwali to everyone. Thank you. For their member Savas, the member from Eglinton Lawrence. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Today I rise to give tribute to a true giant that passed away last Tuesday on October 27. That's Mr. Irving Ungerman. Irv as he was commonly known. He was born down here on Kensington Market not too far from here. He was born two and a half pounds and he survived to become I think an incredible builder in the city in this country. Irv was the City of Toronto's boxing champ when he was 15. He went on to run an incredible poultry business of Roy Stupan poultry. He was always supporting charitable activities like the arena foundation, like the Variety Village. He was one of the main movers of getting the Blue Jays of Toronto along with Paul Godfrey. He championed great boxers from Canada, George Chevalo and Gray. He essentially got behind all good things and good people. And he was an honouring member of the RCMP. He was a great friend of the former Lieutenant Governor, Lincoln Alexander. He won the Order of Ontario. I mean this little guy was a giant. As they say in Yiddish, Mr. Speaker, if you don't mind he was a true mensch. A mensch means a wonderful human being. He was charitable, he was generous and he loved this country, he loved this city and he was the last of a breed. And God bless her for all that he did. And as wife Sylvia and all his kids and grandkids, we're going to miss you, champ. Thank you. I thank all members for their statements.