I would like to welcome the students of Georges Vanier Catholic School, who will be visiting. They’re from my riding of Brampton Centre.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I would like to welcome a good friend and the president of my riding association, Julian Ciaccia, to Queen’s Park.

Julian, welcome.

It gave me great pleasure to look up into the gallery and to see my friend Pat Daly, who is the chair of the Hamilton Catholic school board, here with Friends and Advocates for Catholic Education.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’m pleased to introduce a fantastic constituent of mine. He may represent the riding of Durham, but it’s always a pleasure and honour to see Erin O’Toole here in the House, as well as his father, John O’Toole.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I would also like to welcome my great constituent Alex Yuan from Richmond Hill. Not only is he working very hard along with us in MSA—and I welcome him to Queen’s Park.

I’d also like to welcome, working together with us, Erin O’Toole.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome to the Legislature today three constituents of mine: Patti Ley, Lynda Kay, and Peter Dounoukos, all of whom are great leaders and dear friends in our community.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’d also like to extend sincere appreciation to a mentor of mine: a principled leader, Erin O’Toole.

Thank you for being here, Erin.

I’d like to welcome to the Legislature Friends and Advocates for Catholic Education and in particular, Anne O’Brien, Brian Beal, and Barbara Dobrowolski.

Welcome to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

I, too, would like to welcome Friends and Advocates for Catholic Education—wonderful partners—along with the representatives from OECTA. Of course, Archbishop Leo is with us, and a variety of other bishops and priests, and our colleagues from OCSTA, led by Patrick Daly.

Thank you all for your amazing work and for the leadership you provide for Catholic students in Ontario.

I’d like to welcome our good friend Alex Yuan, who is a community leader visiting our House this morning.

I feel honoured to warmly welcome to Parliament my good friend Mr. Alex Yuan, the chair of RHRA.

Welcome.

I’d also like to welcome my good friend and colleague from Richmond Hill, Markham, York region, Alex Yuan, along with Constable David Huang.

Welcome to the Legislative Assembly.

I’d like to welcome members of the Better Way Alliance, a small business group: Aaron Binder, Jessica Carpinone, and Liliana Camacho.

Welcome to the Legislature. We look forward to meeting with you later today.

I’ve talked about this a lot. As we mentioned just yesterday, this isn’t really about the greenbelt for the NDP. This is continuing on their ideological opposition to giving the people of the province of Ontario the assistance that they need in moving forward. I said it last week, colleagues. You’ll remember when we talked about this. For the NDP—what they want is a whole generation of Ontarians to be dependent solely on the government. That is what makes a socialist party like the NDP happy. They don’t care what it takes; as long as the people of the province of Ontario only are dependent on them or the government, then they are happy.

Well, we have a different approach. What we believe and have always believed, as Progressive Conservatives, is that you give the people of the province of Ontario the tools that they need to succeed and they will succeed. That is what generations of Ontarians have done. That’s why millions of people have come here. That is why we have prospered. And we will continue to do that each and every day that we’re given the honour to serve.

Today we’re fortunate to be joined by two good friends of mine. Please join me in welcoming Harout and Emma Matossian.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

On behalf of the Leader of the Official Opposition and the whole official opposition caucus, I’d like to welcome Friends and Advocates for Catholic Education, who are joining us here today for their lobby day, along with our good friend Michau Van Speyk from the Ontario Autism Coalition.

I’d like to welcome to Queen’s Park this morning my good friend Mr. Alex Yuan and, from the Toronto Police Service, Constable David Huang.

Constable Huang has entered his 17th year with Toronto police—a strong leader in the local community.

Thanks for everything that you do.

I notice that Michael Bellmore is here in the gallery from Sudbury. I knew him as the Cambrian College school president. Many in Sudbury know him as the caller for Super Big Money TV Bingo. He’s also the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association vice-president.

Welcome to Queen’s Park, Mike.

If you seek it, you’ll see that we have unanimous consent to wear lime-coloured ribbons in order to raise awareness, as this is the month of May, for those suffering with Lyme disease.

That concludes our members’ statements for this morning.

—a report entitled The State of the Environment in Ontario, from the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario; and

—a report entitled Women in Ontario’s Labour Market: Progress, Challenges and Potential Impacts of $10 a Day Child Care, from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario.

Welcome back to the Legislature.

Welcome back.