Good morning, everyone. The hard-working people of Etobicoke–Lakeshore are always optimistic. Now, with the warmer weather, the tulips are popping up—allergy season is in full bloom—and the upbeat spirit I have encountered over the past several months has absolutely been phenomenal.

In March, it was national Pharmacy Appreciation Month, and I had the opportunity to visit numerous pharmacists in our community to express my appreciation.

At the end of March, I also met with the Earth Rangers, who were visiting Norseman middle school, a group of young individuals dedicated to preserving area species and habitats.

That same day, I was able to drop by our 15th annual Seniors’ Health and Wellness Fair at the amazing Franklin Horner Community Centre. This year’s theme was “Boosting Brain Health and Memory.”

During this past week, my colleague the Minister of Education stopped by St. Josaphat Cathedral Catholic School to meet with staff and students and welcome over 250 Ukrainian students who have enrolled since June 2022, and I am pleased to welcome them to Etobicoke.

I also had the opportunity this week to visit a Women’s Habitat outreach centre with my friend the Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity. The Habitat does such wonderful work to serve and protect vulnerable women in our community.

On April 13, I was honoured to attend the Haven on the Queensway ribbon cutting, to cut the ribbon for the new walk-in freezer to better serve those in need. I just want to thank everybody in our community for the work they do every day. Thank you.

Good morning. Let us pray.

Prayers.

—the letter of resignation from Todd Decker, Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, effective June 30, 2023; and

—a report titled Missing in Inaction: Misty’s Story, from the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario.

Speaker, as you know, Ontario is one of the largest automotive producers in North America, home to world-leading vehicle assembly plants, parts manufacturers and research centres that have been meeting the needs of international customers for more than 100 years. Ontario is the only place in North America where five major automakers build their vehicles, including Honda, Toyota, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis and, soon to be added, Volkswagen’s first overseas battery manufacturing plant.

Canada’s auto sector supports nearly 500,000 workers, contributes $16 billion annually to Canada’s GDP, and is one of the country’s largest exporters. Ontario’s auto supply chain is comprised of over 700 parts firms, over 500 tool, die and mould makers, and over 300 connecting and autonomous companies. This is why, with a bright future ahead for our provincial automotive sector, thanks to the leadership of Premier Ford, I am pleased to make a members’ statement celebrating Ontario’s automotive heritage.

One of my constituents, William Armstrong, is the Ontario director of the National Association of Automobile Clubs of Canada. He’s championing an effort to declare the month of July as automotive heritage month in Ontario, and July 14 as collector car appreciation day.

Whether we’re looking back to Ontario’s rich automotive industry or ahead to new investments today, including the recent announcement that GM will build the next generation of EV motors in St. Catharines, let’s celebrate our important automotive sector and recognize July as automotive heritage month.

It’s been about four weeks since I had the honour of being elected in Hamilton Centre as the MPP, but we’re not taking anything for granted. We’re getting our constituency office set up as of May 1, and we had our first office drop-in at a local business named Rooney’s just last week.

We’ve also been working really hard on constituency work, and I’ve been learning about constituency work all last week.

We also had the opportunity, a couple of weeks ago, to attend a Nisa Homes fundraiser, knowing that there are about five days left of the holy religious time of Ramadan, supporting local Muslims who are protecting women who are facing domestic violence. We had the opportunity to connect there and to talk to them about their concerns around funding.

We’re taking the time to get to know people in the riding, and I’m super, super excited to announce that we will be set up in May.

Order. You can’t do this. You can’t interrupt the proceedings of the House.

We will resume members’ statements.

It’s my pleasure to rise here today to recognize the Arthur Vipers hockey team on their WOAA U18LL Elite Division championship victory. It was a hard-fought, best-out-of-three series against the Mount Forest Rams.

The first game saw Arthur taking it with a 4-3 win in overtime, with goals from Parker Coffey, Adam Krul, and Conner Schmidt who scored the game winner. Mount Forest bounced back in the second game, winning 2-0 and forcing a game 3. Arthur came out strong and fast in the final game, making for a hard-fought but resounding 5-0 victory to close out the series. Goals were scored by Simon Livingston, Parker Coffey and Aidan Hope. Conner Schimdt, Nate Howse, Wyatt Schill and Owen McDougall all provided assists. Wyatt Smith and Braeden van Dongen stood their grounds as goalies, keeping the puck out of the net. This capped off a fantastic season for the Vipers, winning 27 games with one loss and bringing them to a record 50 wins, one loss, 248 goals and only 76 goals against in their last two seasons.

I want to personally congratulate the entire team on winning the Elite Division championship in the past two years. As their coaches said, all three lines focused on doing the small things, fast and with intention. Congratulations, Arthur Vipers.

Good morning. I am pleased to rise in the House today to recognize and celebrate Logan Staats, an outstanding singer-songwriter and musician. Born in Ohsweken, on the territory of the Six Nations of the Grand River, Logan started to write songs and perform music in his teens in and around the Brantford–Brant community.

In 2018, the Mohawk Nation artist was chosen from 10,000 hopeful contestants vying for a spot on the musical competition show The Launch. Before 1.4 million viewers, Staats won, and that ushered the breakthrough that would lead him to Nashville and Los Angeles with his single—and it’s amazing, Speaker—“The Lucky Ones.” His song would hit number one in Canada on iTunes.

Staats was also part of a documentary series and uses his talent to bring awareness on Indigenous issues across Canada. In the years from 2018 to today, Staats has come home, making the intentional decision to re-root at Six Nations of the Grand River.

Last month, Speaker, Logan Staats won the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada’s prestigious TD Indigenous Songwriter Award, all this using borrowed equipment at Staats’s apartment and a recording studio on the Six Nations territory.

I quote: “My nation and my community are in every chord I play, and every note I sing. They’ve saved me.” With those words, Logan, we celebrate your accomplishments, and we thank you. Congratulations.

Interruption.

Normally I’m not compelled to discuss federal politics in this place. We’ve got enough to do in Ontario. But I rise this morning, Speaker, to register my serious concerns with Mr. Pierre Poilievre, the federal Leader of the Opposition.

In recent months, he has been putting a maple glaze on Trumpism. He has used his platform to attack journalists attempting to hold him accountable. As Bruce Arthur from the Toronto Star has said, Mr. Poilievre is not just working the refs; he’s trying to replace them.

Speaker, there is always a tension between members of the media and elected officials. We interact with each other while doing very different jobs. Journalists work hard to report stories they believe are in the public interest, and we work hard as elected officials with the media to advocate for our constituents and broadcast messages we believe are important.

We may not like how our words are reported sometimes, Speaker, and journalists may not appreciate how their questions are deflected or spun, but still, we both try to do our jobs and the tension between us is critical for Canadian democracy.

But the moment you employ disinformation to question somebody else’s integrity, that is the moment you cross a big red line. It is the moment I believe you insult the democratic traditions built by our grandmothers and grandfathers in this place.

Speaker, through you, I call to Mr. Poilievre, I call to all members of this House and all elected officials everywhere, to do better, to respect each other as we do the work that we need to do for Canadians and to never cross that red line.

Last week, our community mourned the loss of a wonderful, award-winning poet, author and journalist, Iqbal Hasan. A creative writer, a storyteller, Iqbal Hasan loved writing poetry. His literary works explored the complexities of the human experience and often dealt with themes of love, loss, displacement and identity. Through his words, he talked about his roots within his motherland as well as the struggles of day-to-day life as an immigrant.

In one of his interviews, he described the loneliness after leaving one’s birthplace saying, [Remarks in Bengali]. Speaker, he really had a way with his words.

Iqbal Hasan’s contribution to Bengali literature, both in Canada, Bangladesh and around the globe, has been significant, with over 50 published works to his name. It is a testament to his talent that he was recognized with the prestigious Syed Waliullah award by the Bangla Academy in 2014.

I had the opportunity to get to know him over the past years. In fact, he sat right here in the members’ gallery just a few years ago when we passed then-MPP Percy Hatfield’s bill to establish the Poet Laureate of Ontario. He was filled with joy seeing such admiration for poetry by our province.

The passing of poet Iqbal Hasan has left a void in the literary world. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and loved ones. He will remain an integral part of the Bengali literary community and his legacy will continue to inspire future generations of writers.

I love touring the north, and one of the best parts of doing that is you get to meet great new friends, like Councillor Melanie Breton, visiting us from Kapuskasing. Welcome to the Legislature.

Point of order, the member for Peterborough-Kawartha.

That concludes our members’ statements for this morning.

Introduction of visitors?

I want to introduce to you, and through you to members of the Legislative Assembly, members of the township of Augusta council who are here for Good Roads. I’d like to introduce Mayor Jeff Shaver, Deputy Mayor Adrian Wynands and Councillors Tanya Henry, Michele Bowman and Hendrik Pape. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Last week, Ford Motor Co. announced details of its $1.8-billion investment to transform the Oakville assembly complex, where I worked for 31 years, into a North American hub for manufacturing electric vehicles, beginning in the second quarter next year. By retooling the existing assembly building, three body shops and the paint facility, Ford will be ready to produce electric vehicles beginning in 2025, two years faster than a completely new facility.

The new Oakville electric-vehicle complex will also include a new 407,000-square-foot battery plant to manufacture battery packs that will be installed in electric vehicles right here in Ontario. This will support thousands of well-paying jobs in a more sustainable plant. That’s great news for my friends at Unifor Local 707. I’m looking forward to seeing them next month to celebrate their 70th anniversary.

As the Minister of Economic Development said, four years ago economists expected investments of $300 billion across the global electric-vehicle industry, but nothing in Ontario. Today, we are attracting over $17 billion. I want to thank the minister and the Premier for everything they’re doing to ensure that the cars and the batteries of the future are built right here in Ontario, using Ontario minerals, by Ontario workers, at the Ford plant in Oakville and across the province of Ontario.

Point of order.

It’s great to once again welcome Michau Van Speyk from the Ontario Autism Coalition. Good to see you, Michau.

I would like to introduce you to some of the best mayors in the province; of course, they are from the Glengarry–Prescott–Russell riding. You’ve got Mr. Normand Riopel, who is the warden of the united counties and mayor of Champlain; Geneviève Lajoie from Casselman; Mr. Mario Zanth from Clarence-Rockland; Pierre Leroux from the township of Russell; Yves Laviolette from the Alfred and Plantagenet township; and of course, Mr. Robert Kirby from East Hawkesbury.

I would also like to welcome to the chamber today the Rwandan Community Abroad organization here in Toronto. In this House with us today is the High Commissioner of Rwanda to Canada, HE Prosper Higiro, along with important members Rose Kangabe—I’m sorry if I don’t pronounce that right—and, of course, Wilfred Rusibira and Rwandan Community Abroad Toronto president, Theophile Rwigimba—

Interjections.

I’d like to welcome to Queen’s Park today Computek College, who’s joining us for question period. Welcome.

I’m so very happy to introduce visitors in the gallery today: Nagamany Logendralingam, who is the editor-in-chief for Uthayan Tamil media; Srikajan Santhiralingam, editor-of-chief of Virakesari in Sri Lanka; Mrs. Sooriyapraba Srikajan; Nallathamby Balamurugan; and Bavan Logasundaram. Thank you and welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’d like to introduce today’s page captain, Lazo Kasekas, and his parents, Konstantinos Kasekas and Kate Kasekas, to the Legislature this morning.

I’d also like to welcome George back to the assembly.

I look forward to catching up with the family after question period. Welcome to the Legislature.

This morning I want to speak about the tremendous success of the Cambridge Memorial Hospital Foundation. Established back in 1982, the foundation has transferred almost $90 million to the Cambridge Memorial Hospital for capital equipment and education. This hard work and success of the foundation has allowed the hospital to provide the best quality of care to the people of my riding.

Recently, supporters of the hospital foundation gathered for a “Springtime in Paris” gala, where they raised an incredible $380,000. These funds will be put toward a Spotlight MRI, a $5-million campaign to purchase this new machine. To date, a total of $1.6 million has been raised. The generosity of the foundation donors allowed the Cambridge Memorial Hospital to purchase its first MRI back in 2012. It was a game-changer. Not only could MRIs be accessed at home, but wait times were also reduced. Over the last five years, the hospital has averaged 9,000 scans a year, which is amazing.

As our community continues to grow, a new MRI is required to meet the demand. The Spotlight MRI campaign will feature many more public funding events coming up in the future months. I encourage people of my riding to support the good work of the hospital foundation.

To the staff and volunteers at the hospital foundation, both past and present, I thank you for your hard work and dedication.