May is National Lyme Disease Awareness Month across Canada. It is an opportunity for Lyme patients, advocates and educators to spread awareness about how to prevent Lyme and tick-borne diseases.

I want to recognize some of the groups working tirelessly across Ontario to improve the lives of people who have Lyme disease: Linda Kelso and the Ontario Lyme Alliance; CanLyme; Rossana Magnotta and the G. Magnotta Foundation for Vector-Borne Diseases; as well as Dr. Melanie Wills with the University of Guelph Lyme disease research lab. They are all advocating for more resources for patients with Lyme disease across Ontario and Canada.

Lyme disease is a significant and growing health issue across our province. It is a tick-borne bacterial infection. Lyme-carrying ticks are on the rise across Canada, and the highest rates of human-acquired cases are in Ontario. If left undiagnosed and untreated, Lyme can mimic other diseases like ALS, multiple sclerosis and lupus.

Speaker, once May is over, people with Lyme disease will still be suffering. Ontario needs to do more to help those already diagnosed with Lyme and to prevent further spread of the disease.

I encourage this government to help tackle Lyme in Ontario by implementing all 10 recommendations from the 2018 Report of the Lyme Disease and Tick-Borne Illnesses Task Force.

Speaker, I challenge all MPPs to join me and take a bite out of Lyme on the front lawn this afternoon, right after question period.