Each of us in this House and at every level of government must work to better protect women and girls escaping abusive relationships of intimate partner violence and coercive control.

This is why I was so pleased that, last fall, this House unanimously passed my motion for Ontario to consult about passing Keira’s Law in our province. This would require continuing education seminars for judges and other legal professionals in our Family Courts so that they have the knowledge they need about IPV and coercive control. Last week, our federal counterparts moved forward as the Senate passed Keira’s Law for federal judges.

However, for women in Ontario this is not enough. We need to act in Ontario as well, as Family Courts reside in our hands, provincially—not federally. Intimate partner violence and coercive control are insidious forms of abuse that have devastating effects on victims and their families. From November 26, 2021, to November 25, 2022, 52 women in Ontario died as a result of femicide. We must do everything in our power to end this kind of violence and ensure that those who perpetrate it are held accountable by law. Together, we can make a real difference in the lives of women and girls in Ontario.

Can the Minister of the Environment lay out a guideline of what would be the parameters when this 30 days would be waived or not? It’s hard to have confidence when the government doesn’t lay out parameters of what they constitute is worthy of a waiver.

On April 11, on a beautiful, clear day on a straight stretch of highway, there was a head-on collision between two transport trucks. Our thoughts go out to the families. It was obvious—two transport trucks, no one else involved.

On April 18, a tractor-trailer in Englehart forced a school bus with students on it off the road into the ditch. The school bus had the right-of-way. The tractor-trailer driver fled the scene.

On April 22, just south of Englehart, on the Earlton overpass, a tractor-trailer driver passed another tractor-trailer on the overpass, and the person coming with their dash cam was forced off the road.

That’s three tractor-trailers, one tragic accident, two near misses in 11 days just outside one little town, and that’s happening all over on the 11 and 17.

The government needs to step in, make sure all drivers are properly trained, properly licensed and that the laws are enforced now.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent that, notwithstanding standing order 45(b)(iv), the time for debate on opposition day motion number 4 be apportioned as follows: 54 minutes to each of the recognized parties and 12 minutes to the independent members as a group.

It’s my pleasure to rise today to highlight some important health care investments our government is making in my riding of Perth–Wellington. Recently, I announced, on behalf of Minister Jones, that our government is supporting our doctors working after hours in our hospitals through the Hospital On-Call Coverage Program. Stratford General Hospital will be receiving more than $2.3 million. Groves Memorial hospital will be receiving $1.2 million under the program.

In December, I was pleased to announce that Palmerston and District Hospital was approved for new MRI operating funding which totals over $1 million. Many in my rural communities currently travel to large urban centres for critical MRI services. This funding will ensure my constituents can access care closer to home in a more timely fashion.

There’s more, Speaker. The Minister of Health has provided Perth County Paramedic Services with over $187,000 to help provide wraparound supports through its mobile integrated health team. This funding is ensuring people in my riding are getting the right care in the right place.

There’s still more, Speaker. Last spring, our government launched the Learn and Stay program. As members know, this program covers the cost of tuition, books and other educational expenses for nurses in exchange for them practising in rural and northern communities. I’m pleased to share this program has helped the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance recruit and retain 16 new nurses. This is great news.

There’s more work to be done, but I am proud to be part of a government that is building a strong rural health care system.

That concludes our members’ statements for this morning.

This month has been one of celebration, remembrance and prayer in my riding of Brampton East and for Ontarians across the province. Over the last 30 days, members of the Hindu community celebrated Hanuman Jayanti to commemorate the birth of the Hindu deity Hanuman. The Christian community celebrated Easter to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ through prayer and gatherings with their loved ones. The Jewish community observed Passover in remembrance and recognition of the community’s strength, bravery and resilience. The Tamil communities celebrated Puthandu, the harvest festival which marks the beginning of the new year, as per the Tamil and Thai calendars. The Sikh community is celebrating Vaisakhi, marking the beginning of the harvest season in Punjab and the day the order of the Khalsa was created. And members of the Muslim community just celebrated Eid-Ul-Fitr to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Ontario is home to many individuals from diverse, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. I am proud to celebrate our province’s multiculturalism and diversity. We’re lucky to live in such a cultural mosaic that brings people together in such a joyful and united manner. I look forward to continuing to celebrate and honour the diversity of our province as cultural events take place throughout the coming months and year.

This Friday, April 28, is the international Day of Mourning. It’s a point of pride for my community because the Day of Mourning was started in Sudbury in 1983. It was Steelworkers and CUPE members who noticed that there was a procession for a firefighter who had died, and they wanted that recognition for every worker who has been killed, injured, or who has suffered occupational disease. They chose April 28 because that was the day in 1914 that the workers’ compensation act received third reading.

Good ideas can’t be contained—1983, in Sudbury; 1984, the Canadian Labour Congress; 1989, the AFL-CIO; and in 1991, Canada recognized the international Day of Mourning for the first time. A great idea that started in Sudbury, the Day of Mourning, or Workers’ Memorial Day, is now celebrated in more than 100 countries around the world; we simply stopped counting after 100.

We recognize the Day of Mourning by wearing arm bands or pins with the canary in the coal mine or by holding flags at half-mast.

But most people remember the Day of Mourning because of the moment of silence. The moment of silence is reflective of the slogan of the Day of Mourning: “Remember the Dead, Fight for the Living.”

I challenge all members of the House, when the moment of silence is finished, to never be silent again when it comes to health and safety for workers in the workplace.

Once again, I’d like to welcome Michau van Speyk to the House. And up in the gallery, I see the former mayor of Hamilton, Larry Di Ianni. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Last week was National Volunteer Appreciation Week. Volunteers are the most important resource this province has, and our communities would grind to a halt without them. I want to give a huge shout-out to the Hagersville Lions Club, who recently wrapped up a fundraiser called Chase the Ace. Chase the Ace is a progressive raffle in which participants purchase a ticket for a chance to win in the weekly jackpot, but also a progressive jackpot. Every Thursday, people lined up at the Hagersville Legion to purchase tickets. Each week, the number of tickets sold grew along with the jackpot.

Speaker, 45 weeks of Catch the Ace in Hagersville; 45 weeks of a few dozen Lions Club members along with the Legion, members of the chamber of commerce and Hagersville Rocks gave up their time, not only on Thursdays, but for preparation ahead of time as well. Jackpot hopefuls came from as far as the United States, Nova Scotia, Alberta and British Columbia. In week 45, an astounding 152,000 tickets were sold. In the end, it was 83-year-old Richard Marshall who caught the ace, a commercial fisherman his whole life who reeled in over $2 million. The West Haldimand Hospital and Healthcare Foundation gets an infusion of $1.4 million, the local food bank about $1 million and the Lions will retain about $550,000.

Lion Dan Matten said the 45 weeks was simply extraordinary and an entire community effort. For those missing the excitement of Catch the Ace, no worries. The Community Support Centre Haldimand Norfolk has already started a new round each Thursday at the Caledonia Legion. Best of luck to all.

I’m pleased to share that 10 organizations within the region of Durham recently received approximately $908,000 from the Resilient Communities Fund through the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

In Whitby, the Charles H. Best Diabetes Centre received a substantive grant to help them continue to deliver their outstanding programs and services to hard-working families across the region and in outlying areas.

Nearby, in Oshawa, Catholic Family Services of Durham received $141,000 to continue to provide help, hope and healing to individuals, couples and families.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation has invested $200 million through the Resilient Communities Fund to support the delivery of community-based initiatives throughout the region of Durham. What’s clear is that countless residents within the town of Whitby and other parts of the region of Durham rely on their services and programs every day.

Our government is lifting Durham residents up, providing them with a hand up through these investments, while building healthy and vibrant communities.

Good morning, everyone. I am very proud to introduce some residents from the wonderful riding of Etobicoke–Lakeshore: Cole, who is our page captain today; his proud parents, Allan Okrainec and Joelene Huber, who are here; his sister Madison and his grandmother Gabrielle; and some friends and neighbours, Alicia Markson and Julia Markson, who was a page in 2022. Welcome to Queen’s Park today.

I would like to introduce Noemi Khondo, who is campaigns officer in the political action and education division; Andrew Ruszczak, who is a negotiator; and Geoff Cain—all three of them are from OPSEU/SEFPO—who is the executive board member and chair of the blood services and diagnostics sector. I’d also like to introduce Kat Lanteigne, who is the executive director of BloodWatch Ontario. They’re here to stop for-profit plasma collection. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Good morning, Mr. Speaker. I would like to warmly welcome members of the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, located in my riding: chairman Alan Lam, president Angela Chan, and staff Simon Ip and Alice Qiao.

I have two more important people. Mr. Speaker, I’m very happy to introduce Ganapathy Raveendran and his spouse, Ruby, from Yugam Radio. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’d like to recognize Mr. Robert—Bob—Stanley, in the gallery here, former executive director of the party and a great friend to everyone on this side of the House. Welcome, Bob.

Bonjour. Good morning, Speaker. Speaker, today we have members from Achēv who are visiting us today for their Queen’s Park advocacy day. Achēv is a not-for-profit that began 30 years ago, and they have grown to become one of the largest providers of employment and newcomer, youth, language and women’s services across the GTA. Joining us today in the gallery are CEO Tonie Chaltas; senior vice-presidents Moya MacKinnon and Karen McNeil; chair of the board Epsit Jajal; and head of government relations Kristen Neagle. They will be hosting a reception this evening in rooms 228 and 230, and I invite all members to join us for this wonderful event. Welcome.

I’d like to introduce my constituent and friend Michau van Speyk.

I’d love the opportunity to be able to speak about the 43 acres of public park space that we will be creating at Ontario Place for families to finally enjoy. The government is entering into a long-term lease, but we cannot ignore the fact that they will be providing $500 million worth of capital investment on the site, including 12 acres of land.

I would love to highlight some of the successes through the negotiations that Infrastructure Ontario has had with our tenants. For the first time, we will have our tenants contributing to the repair and ongoing maintenance of the public realm space so that we don’t make the same mistake that previous governments have made and leave the site in disrepair. We will have wonderful tenants that will be contributing to the annual maintenance of the site to make sure that it is clean, safe and beautiful for families.

But, Mr. Speaker, our tenants will be contributing $500 million of injection to the site to bring it back to life and they will also be contributing to annual maintenance and repair costs, which has not happened before and which has led to the position that we are in today, where the site is in disrepair and in need of love and care.

Our government presented a vision to the people back in 2019 and again just last week. We will have 43 acres of beautiful public realm space. We will have three wonderful tenants, which include the science centre, and we will have lots for families to do on the site.

I’m very pleased to welcome in the member’s gallery today Lourdes David, who is my constituency assistant holding down the fort in Davenport, but also Delilah, a Western Technical-Commercial School co-op student who has been helping us out at our constituency office. Welcome to your House.

My question is to the Premier. When will they provide Ontarians with a copy of the contract that now involves more than a billion dollars?

If it is a standard lease, then this government should have no problem providing details to the people of Ontario. We’re talking $650 million in public subsidies and a 95-year lease. Back to the Premier: What are the details of this contract?

This isn’t just about Toronto. I’ve been travelling around the province and I’ve heard people from every corner of Ontario express concerns about this government’s backroom deals and their lack of transparency. They’re alarmed by this government spending as much as $650 million on a subsidy for a private luxury spa and a massive parking lot. Now they’re alarmed that this government is committing to a backroom 95-year lease with absolutely no details.

This government has failed to show Ontarians what value this deal has for the people of this province. They’ve failed to produce the contracts. They’ve failed to provide the business case. Speaker, Ontarians deserve to know—I’m going to go back to the Premier again: When will this government come clean about this backroom deal?

I’m very happy to introduce my good friends, Ganapathy Raveendran and his spouse, Ruby Yogadasan, president of Yugam Radio and Media Inc. They have promoted Tamil arts and culture for many, many years in our community. Also, Mr. Speaker, they celebrated a milestone birthday—70th birthday—last week. Welcome to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

I’m very excited to welcome students who are here from Liceo Giambattista Vico in Sulmona, Abruzzo, Italy. They are with us today. They just wrote a book, Voci d’Abruzzo. It helps to commemorate the story of Italian immigrants to this country and to the United States. Voices of Abruzzo honours their incredible legacy of sacrifice. Welcome to Queen’s Park. Benvenuto.