There’s time for one final question. I recognize the member for London West—London–Fanshawe.

Further debate?

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

Thanks for that great question.

What we’ve seen is that kids who have been in therapy full-time for the past five years are being transitioned abruptly to schools with no support or coordination, no kind of plan. These kids, in some cases, are non-verbal, won’t even be able to understand what is happening. Many of them are flight risks or safety risks. And yet, there are no additional supports to schools to actually keep these kids safe. What the parents of autism children are saying is that this is going to be absolute chaos and set these children—

London–Fanshawe, thank you.

There’s lots of great London representation here, so I know how the Speaker could get confused.

I want to thank the member for contributing to debate. She mentioned the legacy funding, the legacy children, near the end of her speech. I just wonder if she could expand on, since there wasn’t a consultation, what that’s going to look like for parents and legacy kids returning back to school.

I rise today with sadness to share the devastating loss of the Black Walnut Bakery Café, which was destroyed in a fire on Sunday, in my riding of London West.

Located in an historic 145-year-old building, the Black Walnut Bakery Café has been an anchor in London’s treasured Old South neighbourhood since 2011. Owners Ed and Mandy Etheridge are known for their dedication to the community and their commitment to maintaining the heritage feeling of the building. Local residents and Londoners have gathered at this neighbourhood gem for years for coffee, light lunches, and my personal favourite, oatmeal and date scones.

Many thanks to London firefighters who responded immediately when the fire broke out at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, fought the blaze for over eight hours, and conducted search and rescue to confirm the building was unoccupied. These brave men and women ensured everyone was safe. While, luckily, no one was hurt, the structural and roof damage were too substantial, and the building could not be saved.

With overwhelming support from across our city, Ed and Mandy are determined to rebuild this beloved institution and are working to relocate their staff to Black Walnut’s two other locations in the meantime.

I echo comments of the Old South Community Organization: The entire community stands with Ed and Mandy as they plan for the next evolution of the Black Walnut Bakery Café.

I’m proud to say that Ontarians experiencing or at risk of homelessness will be getting a hand up from our government to be better connected with emergency and transitional housing, including in my community of Newmarket–Aurora.

Last Tuesday, I had the privilege of being at regional headquarters in Newmarket to announce that the regional municipality of York will be receiving more than $36.7 million in 2023-24 under the Homelessness Prevention Program. I am thrilled to say that this represents a 76% increase in annual funding. The boost in this funding is part of the initiative that we are taking to tackle homelessness head-on and provide support for Ontario’s most vulnerable by including an additional $202 million annually in homelessness prevention programs in our 2023 budget, Building a Strong Ontario. This allocation will allow York region and local supportive housing service managers the flexibility to allocate funding where it is most needed, including capital projects.

I’d like to thank regional chairman Wayne Emmerson, commissioner of community and health services Katherine Chislett, and their entire leadership team for their continued support of our community’s well-being.

I’d also like to thank the member for Thornhill and the member for Markham–Thornhill for joining me last Tuesday.

I rise as a proud member of the St. Catharines community, celebrating the incredible volunteers who make our community so dynamic and so inclusive.

There are so many organizations with so many great volunteers. However, today, I would like to acknowledge March of Dimes during Volunteer Week in Ontario.

March of Dimes will be hosting their 37th annual volunteer appreciation event in St. Catharines. This will be the first time since the pandemic that they have been able to host this event. Some 29 volunteers will be celebrated, ranging from 2020 to the present. These extraordinary individuals embody the spirit of selflessness, compassion, and unwavering dedication to making a positive impact on the lives of others.

March of Dimes has been a beacon of hope for individuals with disabilities and their families for many years. It is the tireless efforts of our volunteers that have fuelled this organization’s success. However, their impact does not stop there. Our March of Dimes volunteers are not only leaders in our community but also champions of change. They are advocates for accessibility, inclusion, equality, and their unwavering voice has helped shape policies to raise awareness about the rights and needs of individuals with disabilities.

Let us express our heartfelt appreciation for their tireless efforts, and let us be inspired by their example as we strive to create more inclusive and vibrant communities in Ontario.

I was pleased to join the Premier last week as we announced a $7.5-million investment to help build a state-of-the-art Innovation Arena at the University of Waterloo in downtown Kitchener. It has been an honour to work with the fine folks at the University of Waterloo and the city of Kitchener to see this project come to fruition. The new $35-million facility will be a hub for innovation in Ontario’s life sciences sector. Why is this important? First, breakthroughs in health care will enhance the quality of life for our residents here in Ontario. Second, it will attract additional investment to create great jobs and see start-ups grow.

But it goes beyond this single facility. The region of Waterloo is home to an innovation ecosystem.

Dr. Vivek Goel, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Waterloo, said that the Innovation Arena will play a crucial role in expanding the impact and scope of the University of Waterloo’s flagship incubator, Velocity.

Our government is committed to supporting incubators across the province. These investments will fast-track the discovery, development and commercialization of made-in-Ontario research.

Our message to innovators is clear: From start to scale, we are here with you every step of the way.

I rise today to recognize a great Canadian and Taiwanese hero, Dr. George Leslie Mackay. This year would have marked his 179th birthday, and all these years later he’s still remembered and celebrated in both Canada and Taiwan.

George Leslie Mackay was born and raised near Embro, in Oxford county.

As a young Presbyterian missionary, Mackay travelled to Formosa, now known as Taiwan, and founded a mission in the town of Tamsui. While on that first mission, he fell in love with the island and its people, embracing it as his adopted homeland. He married a local Formosan named Minnie, started a family there, and set about helping people in any way he could, including practising dentistry as a method of outreach.

During his almost 30 years on the island, he built several schools, including the first school for girls, and Oxford College, and a hospital. He advocated for women’s rights and public medical care, and he fought against discrimination.

Today, Mackay’s legacy lives on in the schools that he founded, the cutting-edge Taiwanese health care system, and strong friendships between Taiwan and Ontario. In fact, Oxford county is now twinned with the Tamsui district.

I know that the black-bearded barbarian—as Mackay was often called—would be proud of the vibrant, pluralistic democracy that Taiwan is today.

May we continue to share a special bond and advance the values he championed.

I have more great news from the riding of Essex. In Essex, we have two really super builders. They are Rosati Group and Jones Realty Inc. They are putting up a 74-unit apartment building in the town of Amherstburg, which is my hometown. That might not be a big building for a city like Toronto, but for Amherstburg it is a big building. It’s going to let 74 families stay in the town of Amherstburg and live and work in the town of Amherstburg—or if you want to downsize, you’re going to be able to stay in the town of Amherstburg and live in the town of Amherstburg. That’s good news for people who want to live, work and stay in the town of Amherstburg.

So I want to encourage great builders like Jones Realty and Rosati construction to keep doing the great jobs that they’re doing.

And I want to encourage the Associate Minister of Housing and the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing in their crusade to build 1.5 million homes in the province of Ontario, because people in Ontario should stay in Ontario and have a home in Ontario.

The Northern Health Travel Grant was set up to ease the financial burden on northerners having to travel down south for medical reasons.

As it currently exists, the Northern Health Travel Grant is leaving many northern patients in vulnerable situations, unable to access the care that they need. You see, Speaker, a patient needs to have the money upfront to travel to see a medical specialist down south, and then they wait, weeks or months later, to get reimbursed. Many low-income patients cannot afford those upfront costs, so the door to treatment for them is shut.

There is a list on the Ministry of Health website with 17 agencies in Nickel Belt that the minister says provide upfront funding to those in need. My OLIP intern Sophie called each and every one of them. If you are a member of a First Nation, if you’re on Ontario Works or the Ontario Disability Support Program, or if you’re a child registered with Easter Seals, there is a bit of help for you. But for most people, there is no help available.

Minister, this is wrong. People should not have to come to see me desperate for care but not able to afford a bus ticket to Toronto to get the care they need.

It’s clear that Ontario needs an emergency fund available to the people of the north facing these circumstances, because what we have now does not work.

Picture this: Late afternoon, people are lined up in the cold—one on crutches—outside a family medicine clinic. This is reality in Kingston. And these people have a family doctor. They’re just lining up for the after-hours clinic.

Kingston had about 25,000 people without a family doctor, as documented in the 2020 Kingston Region Physician Review Report. And now, six doctors are retiring in May, after trying unsuccessfully to find younger ones to take over—that’s another 10,000 people without a family doctor. And as my office confirmed by phoning every clinic, there’s only one walk-in clinic left in all of Kingston.

Kingstonians are scared. Entire families are scrambling to find a new family doctor. Some people have literally phoned every doctor in Kingston. People don’t know where they’re going to get their refills for restricted drugs. They’re losing well-baby checkups. They’re managing chronic conditions on their own. They’re losing follow-ups after hospital and specialist care. They’re standing in hospital hallways waiting for outpatient clinics to triage them.

As the government decides how to handle the primary care crisis, I must remind Minister Jones that the situation in Kingston is particularly acute. We need family doctors in Kingston. It should be designated a high-need community.

Mr. Speaker, it’s with a heavy heart that I rise today to share some very sad news from the riding of Carleton. The last remaining member of the two-man team that covered local news across the riding of Carleton for nearly half a century has passed away. John Brummell, a long-time community activist and photojournalist, passed away peacefully in his home on March 18, 2023.

John Brummell was very devoted to his wife, Rosemary, his daughter, Deborah, and his son-in-law, AJ, as well as to his family, friends and his community.

As an active volunteer in the community, John was a member of the Goulbourn historical society and the Goulbourn horticultural society, and a director with the Richmond Agricultural Society, just to name a few. His lifelong contribution as a volunteer was his commitment to making our communities a wonderful place to live.

John received a city of Ottawa City Builder Award in 2017 because of his incredible success at bringing the community together through his involvement and love of photography.

The 80-year-old Stittsville resident was a familiar face around town, with many of his friends, family, and members of the community fondly recalling his ready grin and joyful laugh. Wherever news was breaking or the community was holding an event, no matter how humble the occasion, we all looked forward to a visit from John Brummell or his colleague John Curry, who passed away last year, on February 5, 2022.

With John’s passing, it’s truly the end of an era for the community.

I would like to pass along my deepest condolences to John’s wife, Rosemary, his daughter, Deborah, his son-in-law, AJ, his family and friends, as well as to everyone in the community.

May he rest in peace, and may he always serve as a reminder to the rest of us about the importance of community journalism.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome, from the Access to Seniors and Disabled advocacy group, Maria Sardelis from Ottawa and Cherie Vandevenne from Chatham. Thank you for coming.

I would also like to welcome, from Congress of Union Retirees of Canada, Lance Livingstone and Ron Vanderwalker.

Thank you so much for your advocacy.

They’re not here in the House, but I know they’re watching this morning. I welcome them to Toronto—my grandson Greyson Uhryn as well as Chase Uhryn.

Thanks for the cookies and milk this morning.

I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to welcome not one but two constituents from Ottawa West–Nepean today. We have with us Melodie Gondek, who is with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ District 25 and does great work on behalf of students in Ottawa, and Maria Sardelis, who is an advocate for seniors and people with disabilities. Welcome.

I’d like to welcome some guests from the township of Stirling-Rawdon. On behalf of myself and MPP Bresee, we’d like to welcome: Dean Graff, one of the councillors there; Caroline Smith, also a councillor; and their guest, Karen West.

Caroline Smith ran the Stirling theatre for years, and it’s great that she has the opportunity to see some political theatre here this morning.

Mr. Speaker, we have a delegation in the gallery today from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office: Director General Jin-Ling Chen; Edward Chung of the Canadian Mackay Committee; and members and friends of the Taiwanese community.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Incidentally, they came here to hear the statement I just made.

Akshitha Puttur is the page captain today from Waterloo, and she is joined here today by her mother and her sister Aishwarya, who just participated in the federal-provincial government model.

Congratulations, and welcome to your House.

It’s my great pleasure to introduce a delegation here today from Ducks Unlimited who are having a reception here tonight, in the legislative dining room, at 5:30. I’d like to wish a warm welcome today to Joanne Barbazza, Jessica Whyte, Kimberley Kerr, Phil Holst, Sean Rootham, and Mike Williams. Welcome.

I’d like to give a very warm welcome to the Girls’ Government group from Parkdale–High Park. We have, from Annette Street public school and High Park alternative school: students Olivia Walli, Ryo Kumar, Amelia Wallis, Maya Jordan, Vesper Johnson, Jo Connors-Robertson, Soleece McBrien; teachers Kelly Iggers and Christine Rowe Quinn; parent Jeanhy Shim; and from Humbercrest Public School: students Kayden Rankin-Goodman, Maya Witty, Clara Winders-d’Eon, Ella Kemper, Nesiah Craig-Williams, Evelyn Dinis, Ava Macklin; and teacher Jessica Bailey.

Welcome, and thank you for being here.