 for member statements. I recognize the member for Renfrew Nipissing Pembroke. I wasn't expecting to be so early, but then again, I probably caused the problem. Speaker, it can't be done. Don't bother using those words when speaking to an O'Brien. When folks told Del O'Brien some 50 years ago that establishing an airline in Pembroke wouldn't work, he proved them wrong. Well, his son Jason has done it again. Against conventional thinking that you couldn't establish a vineyard in Renfrew County, he and his wife, Lucia, have done just that. On the 2nd of September, I had the honor of attending the official opening of Wow! Whitewater O'Brien Winery. Nestled on the shares of Lake Allimet, the vineyard stretches for a quarter of a kilometer and basks in the constant westerly breeze blowing off over 8 kilometers of open water. The westerlies ward off late spring and early fall frost and act as air conditioning in the summer. This enhances the moderating effect of cool nights and hot days, which is similar to many of the great vineyard locations around the world. The vineyard is part of the 700-acre O'Brien farm, which has been in the family since the 1830s and is one of the earliest and largest certified organic farms in the Ottawa Valley. Whitewater O'Brien Winery is currently producing four varieties. Two whites, one red and a rosé. And Speaker, I can tell you, they are all very, very good. I want to congratulate the O'Brien's on their grand opening and let everyone know that in addition to being available on-site and online delivery services under development. Speaker, Renfrew County's Whitewater O'Brien Winery is on the march and the O'Brien's are leading the charge. Member for Hamilton Mountain. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to amplify the voices of so many Ontarians who are struggling daily to make ends meet and are reaching out with nowhere to turn. Instead of hearing meaningful solutions to legislative poverty from this government, they are seeing headlines which are filled with scandal after scandal, scandals which are helping developers and certainly not them. Many calls to my office point out how life is getting harder, not better. Just over a year ago, some of my caucus colleagues and I shed the light on what small amount of money was left to buy food on the social service diet. You may recall I spent $57 for two weeks of food. This was the reality for so many on Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program day in and day out. It was tough. It was physically and mentally draining. The lessons we learned in those two weeks opened up conversations with thousands of people struggling to get access to housing, much needed medications and food. Fast forward to today, I wonder what that same amount of money would buy off the shelves. What would I have to leave behind? The loaf of bread, the canotuna or the cucumber that was the only fresh item in my basket. As we continue to listen and learn, we hear the challenges. History doesn't have to repeat itself. We can make change. I will continue to call on this government to action and demand social service rates keep people safe, fed and hopeful for a better way forward. Thank you very much. The next member's statement, the member for Brampton West. Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had a very productive break from the House as I spent the summer connecting with the community and joining a wide variety of events. Speaker, one of the most remarkable aspects of our country and our province is the wide diversity of cultures. The social fabric of our province gives us as elected officials the opportunity to immerse ourselves in a wide variety of beautiful cultures and traditions. A couple of notable events that I have participated in over the summer included the Brampton Boat Race, Ride for Raja, Jalsa Salana and the Taste of India Festival. The Brampton Boat Race is a beautiful display of the Malayali culture that originates from the Kerala region in India organized by the Brampton Malayali Samajam. The Ride for Raja event is an event organized by the Sikh Motorcycle Club with all of the funds going towards helping children and youth in Peel region. The Jalsa Salana is an event organized by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat that promotes the religion of Islam through preaching peace and inclusivity. The Taste of India Festival is an amazing event that displays the unique cultures of India through food and music. Speaker, this summer provided an opportunity for me to immerse myself within the community enriching my knowledge about the various cultures that make up our society. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member Statements, the member for Toronto, Dan Ford. Thank you, Speaker. Toronto Star this morning reported drops in housing starts with more drops expected, notwithstanding claims made by the government. This is dire news, Speaker. Bad for all. It's very bad for tenants of corporate landlords who are being mercilessly squeezed. A constituent wrote to me the other day about the 5.5% rent increase she and others in her building are facing. As she said, our salaries are not increasing. Many of the people in our building are on old-age security, CPP, or on social support. They can't afford an increase like that. She noted that two years ago in that building rented for $1,300 a month, they're now going for $2,000 a month. It is no wonder that tenants, people generally trying to deal with the housing crisis are facing those really difficult decisions about having a roof over their head or buying groceries regularly. It's no wonder that when I go to food banks in my riding, the invitation of those who are running them, that I see large numbers of people. Speaker, we need action on housing. We need restoration of rent control. With the end of that practice of having unlimited rent increases when a tenant moves out, we need a ban on above guideline increases, and we need direct government investment, substantial direct government investment in housing. People are hurting. We need the action now. Thank you. Member Statements, the member for Cambridge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I'm excited to share a heartwarming story from my riding of Cambridge. Jamie Colwell dedicated much of his spare time this past summer to assisting those with food insecurities. With the help of a team of volunteers, Jamie was able to collect 4,200 pounds of food and more than $6,000 for the Cambridge Food Bank. It's amazing. It's not the first summer he's done this. He spent weekends collecting donations outside of grocery stores. Last year, he did the same thing, raising $5,400 for the food bank to buy healthy snacks for kids heading back to school. The support Jamie has shown for the Cambridge Food Bank comes at a critical time. Diane McLeod, executive director of the agency, said the need for food assistance is increasing every month with the help of volunteers, like Jamie, to meet the ends of what these people are really requiring. Recently, Jamie was presented with a volunteer award of merit at the Food Bank's annual general meeting. I'd like to congratulate Jamie for his hard work and for being a citizen of Cambridge. Member for Humber River, Black Creek. Thank you, Speaker. It is said that two decades ago, beneath a historic cottage on the banks of the Humber River, here in Toronto, a miraculous healing occurred. And so at this special place, a shrine was built and people were welcome to come and gather and pray. It is called the Marion Shrine of Gratitude in honour of Holy Mother Mary whose name was invoked at that desperate time of need. So the people came, countless thousands, day after day, year after year, in rain and in shine, sometimes in the night with the stars above and the sounds of nature all around. They came in the coldest of months, in the winter too, because you see the iron rod gates of this special place would never close because only God knows a person's time of need. The people would come to bask in the feelings of peace and calm the spiritual aces provided. Many would come to pray for a miracle in their darkest hours and swear that doing so changed their lives forever. But this summer, the place was abruptly sold. Its gates now closed with guards casting people out with tears in their eyes, barriers erected to keep them away. Today the faithful are now called squatters because they still come to pray every night at eight. The welcomed are now called unwelcomed and mocked. The very same people who loved and maintained this special place for so many years. The great statue to Mother Mary torn down along with other religious artifacts, statues, monuments and more. This summer I called on the government to review the heritage significance of this special place and put an urgent stop to the damage. Over 20,000 have signed petitions to save this special place. I will be presenting many of their names to the government this afternoon, hoping they will be moved to step in and continue to do what they need. Thank you. Hello. Thank you, Speaker. Monday on the 25th of September, it was a special day for a number of my colleagues. It was a return to the house here at Queen's Park. But for me, it was an opportunity to celebrate with Franco-Ontarians in my writing and throughout the province. The 18th monument of the Francophonie was installed in a municipality of 10,000 people in the eastern part of Ontario. It was an honour for me to speak as a representative of the government for this ceremony in my village, in my writing. Many people participated in residence of Alfred and a number of teachers and students were there. I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate the community of Alfred for their incredible work. There are 18 monuments for the Francophonie and seven of them are in my writing. And that's something I'm very proud of. Every year, 80,000 Francophones and Francophiles in my writing have the opportunity to participate in a number of flag-raising activities and to celebrate their pride of being Francophones. Congratulations to all Francophones and Francophiles that participated in this ceremony for the raising of the flag here in Queen's Park and throughout the province of Ontario. Thank you. Thank you. Member Statements, the Member for Guelph. Thank you, Speaker. This is Ontario Agricultural Week and I want to express my sincere gratitude to Ontario Farmers. As we gather with our families on Thanksgiving, I know many of us will be enjoying the incredible local food we grow in Ontario. Ontario has the best farmers in some of the best farm land in the entire world. But Ontario, unfortunately, is losing that farm land at an unsustainable rate of 319 acres per day. This threatens our food security and our $50 billion farming economy. Yet this government is planning on losing even more farm land by imposing expensive sprawl on Hamilton, Ottawa, Halton, Waterloo and so many other places. Speaker, it's Greenbelt 2.0. I want to say to the people of Ontario thank you for standing up to protect our Greenbelt. For all of us who enjoy local food and support Ontario Farmers, we say thank you. And I want you to know that I will be standing with you to protect farm land all across this province. I'm focused on solving the housing crisis by building homes that people can afford on land already approved for development. Not paving over farm land to enrich wealthy insiders. I encourage everyone to buy local Thanksgiving and to renew your commitment to supporting Ontario Farmers and protecting local farm land across Ontario. Thank you very much. Member's statements. Member for Peterborough, Co-Ortho. Thank you Speaker. When I've had the opportunity to rise in this chamber for a Member's statement, I've always tried to highlight some of the great people at great events in my riding. But today I'm going to deviate a little bit about the person or an event. I'm going to talk about a dog. Two dogs actually. Police service dog Griffin and police service dog Isaac. These two dogs are invaluable resources for our community. Just a couple of weeks ago Griffin during a single shift helped nab armed suspects in two separate incidences two hours apart and ensured that no officers were injured. This past winter, PSD Isaac tracked a man in his 70s who had taken his own dog for a walk in a wooded area when it started to snow. The man got lost during the snowstorm, but Isaac was able to track him and find him even though more than 15 centimetres of snow had fallen and covered his footprints. These two dogs are amazing. And Speaker, it's not just me who says that. I'm happy to back it up. This year, at the Canadian police dog championships, Isaac finished fourth in all of Canada in drug detection while Griffin finished fifth in drug detection as well as fourth in building searches. Well done, PSD Isaac and PSD Griffin. Everyone in Peterborough is proud of you. Member Statements. Member for Haliburton, Coorthal Lake Spraw. I'm happy to share some projects in my writing of Haliburton, Coorthal Lake Spraw that received recent Ontario Trillium Foundation grants from environmental stewardship to funding for high-tech machinery to investments with the Alzheimer's Society for their Minds in Motion program and the Coortha Victim Services to help those in crisis. The Trillium Foundation grants have been foundational in driving positive change. Existing facilities also benefited to help promote an active lifestyle. Whether it's new flooring at the Highland Squash Club, upgrading the decks and shelters at the Bob Cajun lawn bowling club, outdoor rinks in Harcourt and West Guilford, a new playground in Haliburton or expanding a natural horsemanship program. All new opportunities for people to get and stay active. Cultural initiatives like those offered at Abbey Gardens have been awarded grants to improve accessibility and increase economic and recreational opportunities as well as to increase their venue capacity for their community. The Grove Theatre in Fendland Falls expanded their local arts programs and lineup for the 2023 season and entertained us all. Thank you to all those that organizations that applied to the Ontario Trillium grants program and OTF staff for all their support and communities in my writing. Thank you Mr. Speaker. That concludes our member's statements for this morning. Before I invite