I want to thank the member for Spadina–Fort York for your comments. I really appreciate that you took this opportunity to speak specifically about ODSP and OW and the doubling of ODSP rates. And I want to thank you for taking me out with you on food deliveries during the pandemic. Actually, I’m sure you would be pleased to have others join you at some point. I think we met some of the folks that you mentioned.

But I wanted to mention one other thing: My experience in working with people in my community who are on ODSP is that the other piece of this is that ODSP is punitive, as you pointed out, but also how often ODSP is clawed back and, in many cases, quite arbitrarily, and how often people who are on ODSP have to fight and fight and fight, and how few of the case workers can stick around for more than a year because they can’t handle the pressure and how depressing it is to be constantly clawing back on people’s already meagre payments.

I wonder if the member would care to comment on that and also whether this 5% really—what that’s actually going to look like in terms of impact on the lives of the people he was mentioning.

Thank you to the member from Spadina–Fort York for your passionate speech. I know you always stand up for the marginalized and vulnerable people in your community and the province. You talked about food programs—you started a food program for needy people in the areas in your riding, and also you were talking about ODSP. I know you bring a different perspective to this House.

My question, through you, Madam Speaker, to the member: Could you please elaborate on your food program? You’re known as a food man in your area. Please elaborate on that program for the benefit of this House.

Questions and answers?

I thank the member opposite for his considered remarks and for his significant work in the community. I know you asked a question to me this morning about homelessness.

I wanted to ask you, though—and as you’ve heard on the issue of ODSP, firstly, the increase that has been proposed is very important, and linking it to inflation as well is very important. But as the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services has also offered, there are many other programs that I understand typically are offered to, potentially, ODSP recipients as well.

My question to the member is: Is that your experience? Because as we as a government look at this, we can’t only look at one program in isolation, but look at all the other programs combined. I’m curious to hear your thoughts, member.

I would like to express my thanks to my colleague the member for Spadina–Fort York for his passionate address this afternoon, but also for his advocacy and his commitment to putting words into action, which he has shown by his efforts.

But I wondered if he could comment on—there was a 2019 report from Feed Ontario that estimated the cost of poverty in Ontario is somewhere between $27 billion a year and $33 billion a year. They looked at the loss of tax revenue and the increased cost to the health system, the justice system. I wondered if the member could comment on the cost of poverty.

Thank you for the question. The food program began at the beginning of the pandemic. I got a call about a supportive housing building in my area. The people in the building, a lot of them, have disabilities. Many of them have disabilities. They weren’t allowed to go out, because they were medically vulnerable, and so they were getting meals delivered through the week, but not on the weekend. A friend and I, we went to Kentucky Fried Chicken and we bought everybody a lunch, right? And then we thought, well, we can’t continue doing that. Nothing against KFC, but it’s not the healthiest option if you’re going to eat it every day. Also, we couldn’t afford to keep doing that.

So we organized some people, we asked some people to cook some meals and we started doing that. Then my friend really took off with this and made it her mission. The program is now feeding 1,500 people a week. It operates three different food banks. It’s an incredible program, and it’s an honour to be serving the community in this way.

I’ll just quickly summarize: It’s $24,000 a year for supportive housing with round-the-clock, seven-days-a-week support.

Question?

Further debate?

I want to thank the member from Spadina–Fort York for just being so clear about the needs of people in the face of rising inflation and those that are reliant on income supports, ODSP in particular, and the need to provide adequacy.

I wondered if you could talk about your experience as school board trustee and the importance of school nutrition programs in making sure that children and students have adequate nutrition so that they can learn and the concerns that are now being faced with some of those programs and what we can do to solve it.

I am deeply humbled to rise before all of you, my esteemed colleagues, in this truly august chamber, to deliver my inaugural remarks as the member of provincial Parliament for Don Valley East. Madam Speaker, I thank you for allowing me this opportunity.

I invite everyone to take a moment and look around us. I can’t help but admire the richly stained wood making up our desks, these beautiful golden clips, the silent and busy industrious army of young legislative pages—thank you for all your service, by the way, on this last day of yours. We sit amongst intricate carvings, rich tapestries, beautiful murals, and when we’re done here, I’ll retire to my office which has 17-foot ceilings and, frankly, a comical number of new computers that just keep getting delivered by IT services.

This is very real for us. And yet, it is not reality for Ontario. The average income in our province is $52,600. That number is influenced, of course, by people like us who make well over $100,000. If you take everyone in the province and rank them from the lowest income to highest income and you split that right down the middle, the median income for our population is $39,100. And so, in this beautiful chamber, we are insulated from that reality, but I hope that we will never forget it. I know that I can’t.

I’m the first child of immigrants from families that have taken, quite frankly, the scenic route to this country by travelling, over a few generations, from India to East Africa, then to the United Kingdom and, finally, ultimately, to Canada. With our family having endured so much hardship along the way, I’ve been raised to look out for and defend those who, like ourselves in the past, hadn’t enjoyed much privilege.

Growing up, my parents weren’t sure what I would be good at and so they signed me up for everything in the hopes that something would stick. I always put my heart and soul into everything, but never really found anything that I was truly exceptional at. For example, placed in Little League baseball, I was always relegated to the deep outfield. In soccer, I was always given some token minutes of field time but otherwise busied myself with eating orange slices on the side. I was bullied in school and, therefore, dutifully put in martial arts. I earned a black belt; however, my strongest scores on my black belt test were not in sparring or patterns but on the essay that I had to write, because I was and continue to be an academic. I eventually earned a pilot licence, but was threatened with failure multiple times for various reasons, including poor eye-hand coordination and a tendency to taxi my Cessna 150 above the speed limit every single time.

These experiences and others taught me a few things. I learned about hard work and perseverance. I learned about how much people struggle, even if outwardly it looks like they have everything under control. And I discovered that my calling was to help others who, like myself, may not always have fit in or needed a little bit of extra help. Coupled with my interest in science, this led me to my career in medicine.

I studied medicine at the University of Toronto, just across the street from here. It’s actually amusing to think how many times I’ve cut across the south driveway over here because I was running late for class. I eventually earned dual qualifications in family medicine and emergency medicine and started my career going to the places where help was needed the most, serving rural and remote communities, especially Indigenous communities, in northern Ontario, the Northwest Territories and in the Canadian Arctic.

I delivered babies, admitted in-patients, worked in emergency departments and at one point was the sole physician providing 24/7 coverage for multiple consecutive weeks in a community that was 40,000 square kilometres. I transported gunshot victims in air ambulances, performed emergency surgery alone in nursing stations, and one time even received a gift of a polar bear skull after saving the life of an Indigenous matriarch in a remote community.

And while all of this has been rewarding, I always felt that the need for help exceeded what I could offer and that I was never addressing the root causes of my patients’ illnesses. For example, on far too many occasions, I’ve treated a troubled, suicidal Indigenous youth in the emergency department, providing counselling or medications, only to discharge them back into the same homelessness, poverty and intergenerational trauma that made them suicidal in the first place.

I’ve seen growing health impacts of climate change through increased prevalence of heat-related medical emergencies, of increasing respiratory illnesses from air pollution caused by forest fires and the growing prevalence of tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease.

I’ve seen people come to the emergency department on a regular basis because they have nowhere to sleep or nothing to eat, and I’ve seen kids come to the ER because they’ve developed eating disorders from the stress of this pandemic and because they had no mental health worker to see them. These experiences made me want to do more.

In 2017, I took a sabbatical from my medical work and studied public policy at the University of Oxford. My goal was to learn economics, law and political science so that I could implement pragmatic policy solutions to the social policy problems I saw unfolding instead of just complaining about them. And I hope that, in this chamber, you will find that my criticism is always intended to be constructive, helpful and well intentioned.

The pandemic struck soon after I returned from Oxford and, alongside my work as an emergency doctor in Toronto, I became the medical director of 11 COVID isolation shelters for homeless people in Toronto. I had the privilege of overseeing the work of nurses, nurse practitioners, family doctors, psychiatrists and addictions specialists, and I’ve no doubt that our work saved countless lives by managing outbreaks and fighting the opioid epidemic. Meanwhile, I dealt with COVID patients in the ER and fought for disadvantaged communities in Toronto to get vaccinated.

But there is always more work to be done. So I embarked on this career, where I count myself so fortunate to stand in your midst, amongst all of your illustrious ranks, to join each of you in the fight for a better province.

It is clear by now that I have only just become a political person, and so I needed a lot of help to get here. I would like to thank my wife, Salimah, and our darling puppy, Petunia Wigglebottom. She’s a two-and-a-half-year-old golden retriever-cocker spaniel mix that we love, frankly too much because, unfortunately, my wife and I can’t have children. By the way, as evidence that I’m a political novice, I would like to point out that Petunia has a better Instagram account than I do.

I’d like to thank my parents, my sister and my brother-in-law, who have been there for me physically and emotionally before, during and now even after the campaign. And I would like to thank the best damn campaign team that anyone could possibly hope for, including incredible volunteers and very generous donors. All of them have been kind, patient, incredibly hard-working and so tolerant of my political naïveté.

I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the past MPP for my riding, Michael Coteau, and his lovely wife, Lori. He’s a former minister from this Legislature, and we are honoured to have him continue his public service now as a federal member in Ottawa. I simply couldn’t be here without him. I hope that I can continue in his tradition of fighting for those of us who are most vulnerable, as he exemplified when he passed his landmark legislation, Bill 89, which increased protections for minors.

And now a word about my riding, Don Valley East: It is a riding that is the very microcosm of what makes our province so great. In Don Valley East, we are profoundly diverse and multicultural, with a vibrant sense of community, along with unmatched resilience in the face of no shortage of struggles. We have outstanding shopping, world-class museums, sprawling greenery and a majestic ravine ecosystem. To represent this community is the greatest privilege of my life, and I thank the voters for placing their trust in me. I will never stop fighting and championing your needs.

In my final moments, I would like to acknowledge I have so much to learn from every single one of you. I wonder if, in anticipation of that, I may try to return the favour by offering a few suggestions of my own, drawing upon my clinical experience.

I would first like to share my firm conviction that all policy is health policy. When I say this, what I mean is that we can’t achieve our physical, emotional and social well-being until we have addressed things like proper education, housing, affordability and a better environment. Health care needs, of course, nurses, doctors and hospitals, but it isn’t just about those things.

Second, I hope that the decisions in this room can be guided by evidence and data. My colleague from Kingston and the Islands spoke last week of his commitment to the scientific method. In that same spirit, I hope that our decisions can be guided by intellectual curiosity and a rigorous devotion to data, where and when it is available. In medicine, following the evidence has often taken me in surprising directions that have challenged my preconceived notions, and it is by following the evidence that I have come to understand empirically that health care should be about patients and not profits.

And third, in this chamber I hope that we can be courageous in choosing the right solutions and not just the easy ones. As politicians we are often asked to defend the most visible or immediate consequences of a particular policy, when it is the later consequences that will be the ones that have the greatest or most lasting impact. For example, an adequate number of paid sick days is an example where there may be an upfront cost that some of us might balk at, but for which the later economic benefits—in prevented outbreaks and decreased health care utilization—could actually save more money.

Many people have wondered why I, a physician, would propose to step away from a clinical career to serve in elected office. At its core, medicine and politics are fundamentally about the same thing. They are about helping people. The difference is in the tools that we use to accomplish this and the scale with which we can have that impact. So fundamentally I am here for the same reason that all of you are here: There are 15 million people in this province that need us. I want to join you in fighting for every single one of them.

And so I thank you for welcoming me amongst your ranks.

Thank you to the member from Don Valley East. It’s a real pleasure to listen to your inaugural speech, and I also want to thank you for your service to the community, especially for the most vulnerable in the community.

I want to ask you to expand on a couple of things you said. You talked about serving First Nations community members, providing some care and then sending them back to the conditions that had them need the care. You also talked about serving people experiencing homelessness through the pandemic. Can you talk a little bit more about how an investment in preventing that kind of crisis—housing situations, and that kind of crisis—can actually benefit us as a broader society and benefit our economy?

I’d like to first off congratulate the member on his election and such a great maiden speech. I also want to thank the member; I was one of the member’s first patients here in the Legislature, which I don’t think he was expecting, so thank you for that.

But across to the member from Don Valley East: You talk about people outside looking in. How do we go about making Ontario more inclusive, where people from all walks of society feel welcomed? I know you spoke about that at the beginning; I’d just like you to elaborate for the House on that.

Questions and answers?

Thank you to the member opposite for your inaugural speech. It was very good, so congratulations. Welcome to the House, and thank you for all your medical service. I really do appreciate it.

You did talk a little bit about amplifying voices and listening, and I think that’s important. For those that don’t know, here in the Legislature, above us, which the government is looking at, is the owl, which is for us to make sure we are wise in decisions we make. And on this side is the eagle, which is looking, generally, at the opposition, and a few of our government members because we have so many—to look to ensure that we are held to account and you keep an eye on us as a government. So we are certainly here to listen and to work with the opposition. I just wanted to make that point.

What I would like to hear about from you is a little bit about your riding and some of the highlights and attractions to your riding. I always like to learn about different ridings in the province, so maybe you could highlight a few great places we should visit in your riding.

I sincerely appreciate the question from the minister, and I’ll begin by saying as a physician that every member has a right to patient-physician confidentiality. I admire you for acknowledging me publicly, but it is my pleasure to serve both in a political capacity and, of course, if my services are ever required, in a clinical capacity as well.

One of the things that I hope to bring forward as a physician in this Legislature is the fact that I have a unique privilege: When serving in the emergency department, my patients tell me things that they don’t necessarily feel comfortable sharing with other people, because of stigma, because of things that have happened to them in the past. I hope that when I rise in this chamber, I can amplify those voices and tell those stories, and I would humbly ask if you would join me in listening, in helping me to amplify those voices as well, so that we can fight for every single person in this province, not just the ones who can be the most vocal. For me, that is one thing I would hope for.

A close friend of mine shared with me an account just last week of a young woman who had passed out, and so she came to the emergency department. It costs hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars just to register someone in the emergency department, to ensure that it’s adequately staffed and to pay for the services that are provided. Ultimately, after the consultation was complete, the reason that she had passed out was because she hadn’t been able to eat that morning. She couldn’t afford to do it.

Stories like this remind me that up-front investment in things like—sir, you spoke about food insecurity earlier. Investments in things like housing, in food, in making sure that disabled people can access the services that they need, can have profound and massive impacts on their long-term quality of—

Thank you so much. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to speak about my riding. Perhaps one of the things that I admire the most about it, and it’s not a physical—I wouldn’t call it a physical attraction. One of the things that is unmistakable as you come through the riding is just the incredible diversity and multiculturalism. We have people in the north of my riding that have lived in Don Valley East for many generations, and then, in the south of our riding, we have people who have literally just arrived and bring incredible stories about the lives that they have lived elsewhere around the world. They bring so many different kinds of celebrations, religions, languages. It is a vibrancy that one can feel as you literally come into the boundaries of our riding.

Now, of course, I alluded to other things. I truly admire our world-class museums. We have the famed Ontario Science Centre. We recently were fortunate to get a new museum, the Aga Khan Museum, which is a bastion of celebrating multiculturalism. It has proven to be a place of community and sharing new things. So we certainly have that. We have incredible amounts of—we a fair amount of shopping. And then, what I admire the most is our incredible greenery as well, and the opportunity to run, bike and do all sorts of things—

One of the things that has come up in a previous government was HealthForceOntario, a public sector marketing and recruiting firm. In fact, it’s been very successful in bringing family doctors into northern regions, both in the summer and throughout the rest of the year. I would encourage more public sector initiatives like that. And then to continue celebrating the stories of so many of the incredible family doctors who have worked and inspired all of us in—

I want to congratulate the member for Don Valley East on your inaugural speech. You’re going to have to get used to the responses; they’re very quick and a minute goes by really fast, so do that. I also want to let him know that—I don’t know what style you practise in karate, but I practised Wado Kai; I got to my blue belt. I would love to see you in the dojo. I’m also really happy that I have back up, because it’s been known that I’ve saved a couple of lives here in the park, so I’m glad that you’re here and I can turn to you.

I was so impressed listening to you and your background, and the reason why is, being a northern member, one of the biggest struggles that we have in northern Ontario is the recruitment, retainment and getting doctors into our communities, particularly for primary care. Primary care is one of those things that can save a lot of the congestion, the hallway medicine that we see in our hospitals. I was wondering if the member can tell me, in the very short minute that he’s going to have: What are the benefits, first, of having doctors performing primary care in northern communities, and what can we do? What is the 30-second elevator version of what we need to recruit and retain doctors and get them to our northern Ontario communities?

Question?

Further debate?

I am pleased and honoured to stand in this 43rd Parliament of Ontario and make my inaugural address—

Interjection.

Thank you, Speaker. I’m pleased and honoured once again to stand in this 43rd Parliament of Ontario and make my inaugural address to this Legislative Assembly. And specifically, Speaker, congratulations on your election as Deputy Speaker. Well done indeed.

Let me begin by stating that I have been blessed: blessed to be born in this country and in this province; blessed to have been raised by loving, disciplined and encouraging parents; blessed to have received a good education; blessed to have had a work ethic instilled in me from day one; and blessed to have been elected a member of this Legislature.

I’d like to start by thanking the people of Elgin–Middlesex–London for electing me as their new MPP. I commit to serving all of my constituents of EML with steadfast loyalty and dedication as we collectively build on the promise and on the potential of Ontario. This government has a dynamic agenda, and I am confident we will deliver our five pillars of growth and prosperity, all of which we were elected on.

Elgin–Middlesex–London is a magnificent riding on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Attiwandaron and Mississauga Nation. There are four distinct geographies that define Elgin–Middlesex–London: Elgin, which covers 122 kilometres along Lake Erie and is one of the most vibrant counties in this province; Middlesex, or now Thames Centre, includes our home in the village of Dorchester; the southern part of the riding in London, the Forest City, and now a UNESCO City of Music; and finally, the best-kept secret in Ontario, St. Thomas, formerly known as the railway capital of Canada.

Elgin–Middlesex–London was largely settled in 1803. Colonel Thomas Talbot—hence St. Thomas—opened the land for homesteading, leading immigrants and many nationalities to call southwestern Ontario their home.

Speaker, EML—Elgin–Middlesex–London—produces tobacco, ethanol, has a commercial fishery, breweries and wineries, has great beaches, and is home to one of the largest greenhouse propagators in Canada. We are a unique blend of farmers, agri-business, tourism, fishery, manufacturing and small business, with a robust and diverse economy. We are a riding of small towns and villages that all share passionate pride and belief in their communities. And, Speaker, we are a riding that is home to many Londoners, now the fastest-growing city in Ontario. We are also avid supporters of the greatest OHL franchise in the province of Ontario, the London Knights. Applause? No applause?

I’d also like to recognize former MPPs who served Elgin–Middlesex–London or parts of our riding. Jeff Yurek, my predecessor, served EML for 10 years. Steve Peters, a former Speaker of this Legislature, served from 1999 to 2011. Ron McNeil was a long-time MPP, serving from 1958 to 1987. And a former Liberal Premier, Mitch Hepburn, served as MPP and Ontario’s youngest-ever elected Premier from 1934 to 1942.

Speaker, Ontario spoke clearly on June 2, as did the people of Elgin–Middlesex–London. I remain humbled and in awe of the team we put together to get the job done. In particular—and please bear with me—I’d like to thank Bob Stanley, my campaign chair and manager; Alexandra Robinson, our campaign assistant manager; Vaughan Minor, our CFO; Ken Graves, Tanner Zelenko, Bruce Duncan, Beth Allison, who is here today, and Bill Fehr, my regional chairs; Doug Leach, Wayne and Chris Kummer, Fran Richardson, Rainey Weisler, Barb Gonyou and Patsy Brooks for their supreme canvassing and office administration; Mike Manary, Dan Fishback, Danny DePrest, Floyd Wills, Bill Blaney and Dick Nieuwland, my sign crew who painted EML blue; Zak Rahim, Scott Collyer, and Jason Ransom for their social media and communications skills; and to the multitudes of canvassers and those who donated to our campaign.

And finally, I want to acknowledge two wonderful mentors for their counsel and guidance. First is Dennis Timbrell, former member of provincial Parliament for Don Mills, who now lives in St. Thomas. He is a former Ontario Minister of Energy, Health, and Agriculture and Food, and a great mentor; and Betty Crockett, now 95 years young—I’m sure she’s watching—a resident of Dorchester and a mentor to many, and I have to say this: Simply put, Betty Crockett is the matriarch of Dorchester.

I’d also like to acknowledge my new and very competent constituency team: my executive assistant, Deb Ransom, who I know is watching; my case workers, Barb Gonyou and Shirley Slaats; and Tanner Zelenko, who is here today, my legislative assistant. We truly are a great team.

Speaker, one cannot venture into public service without the support of their family. My wife, Denise, again here today patiently waiting, is from Lakefield, Ontario, a great community in central Ontario. She’s the third of 11 children of Frank and Julie Leahy, better known today as the band Leahy. They are a Juno-award-winning family band who have had a significant impact on the North American music scene for decades. Denise Flack is a woman of substance. Her faith and her fortitude in seeking truth and wisdom, and her love of me—thank God—and our daughter, Emily, is the foundation of my life. Without Denise, my life journey simply would mean little.

Our daughter, Emily Jean Flack, is also a musician of notable talent and a teacher. She is our pride and joy. Like all of us, we want the best for our children. I am so proud of the woman Emily has become: strong, independent, ambitious and ready to tackle life’s opportunities.

I was raised on Plainsmen Road in Streetsville, Ontario, now part of Mississauga. I’m the oldest of four boys. My brothers, Paul, Jimmy and Kelly Flack, are all accomplished in their own rights, and my parents, Jim and Esther Flack, came from two different parts of this province.

My father, Charles James Flack, was born and raised right here in Toronto. He’s a Parkdale boy, who still, amazingly, knows his way around the city, which I cannot get over. His father, Charles Lincoln Flack, fought for Canada in the First World War and felt the ravages of war the remainder of his life. Sadly, I never got to know my father’s parents.

My mother, Esther Jean Fraser, hails from the Ottawa Valley as one of the two founding families of the city of Pembroke, Ontario. Her forefathers were Canadian pioneers who forged a life as early settlers on the Ottawa River, dating back to the early 1800s, predating Confederation.

Our family continues to have strong connections to Renfrew County. In fact, we have a cottage on the beautiful shores of Lake Doré and operate a beef cattle farm aptly called Dorbay Polled Herefords.

I’d like to acknowledge someone who unfortunately wouldn’t come today, and I’ll tease him when we’re done: the MPP for Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke. He affectionately now refers to me as his associate MPP for Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke, and, for the record, Speaker, he’s already complaining that he’s not getting enough work out of me.

My parents were teachers and very skilled at their trade. I believe the most noble profession in the world is that of an educator. Nurturing fertile minds is a calling that needs to be celebrated, not criticized. As my father, now in his 91st year, states, “If we could only put children and young adults first, we would avoid needless and costly disruptions.” I totally agree.

I’d like to identify two key community leaders who gave me “the political bug,” both people I admire very much. The first is Hazel McCallion. Hurricane Hazel was the mayor of Streetsville when I was a young boy, and we all know her accomplishments in building Mississauga as its mayor. I vividly remember helping her get out the vote in grade 13.

Next, William Grenville Davis was my political hero. He was our local MPP for Peel, and I remember when I was a young boy, I went to school on that Monday morning and reported during—some might remember this—social studies that Mr. Davis was now our very own Premier from the county of Peel.

Speaker, my love of agriculture and rural life began at a very early age, travelling from farm to farm with my grandfather, Wallace Fraser. I was able to spend my youth and teenage years working on farms in the Ottawa Valley. After graduating from the University of Guelph in 1979, I began my business career with Masterfeeds. I simply loved working with local farmers and farm supply dealers in my territory of Wellington, Peel, Halton and Wentworth.

During what I thought would be a few years of training before I moved on to life as perhaps a dairy and/or beef farmer, I realized I was thoroughly enjoying my business experience. So like many I started on the ground floor, worked hard and was given tremendous opportunities to grow.

As they say, time flies. As of June of this year, I retired from Masterfeeds after 43 years of service and 29 years as president and CEO. I had a tremendous team over my years as CEO, where we grew the footprint of the company right across this country, almost quadrupling the scale of this national agribusiness. I had a tremendous career with Masterfeeds, thanks to my many customers and friends spanning over four decades.

Speaker, the lessons I learned from my business career were plentiful, and I hope I can bring some of these lessons to Queen’s Park. The first would be to lead with your heart, but never at the expense of your head; I think Richard Nixon said that once. Hire the best, and do not be afraid to hire people who are smarter than you—in my case, that was easy to do. Have a sense of urgency and have a bias for action, and believe in the words of Benjamin Franklin: “Well done is better than well said.”

As has been said, to whom much is given, much is expected. I was taught to always give back to my community. That is why I am proud to raise needed funds for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, Camp Trillium and St. Peter’s Seminary Foundation.

As well, Speaker, I’d like to give a shout-out to two organizations that are near and dear to my heart. Having served on the London International Airport board for 12 years, I am proud of what the airport leadership team has accomplished for London and surrounding communities. As southwestern Ontario’s premier airport, serving a market of 1.5 million people, the London International Airport now provides $623 million of economic impact for the city of London.

And of course, Speaker, I have to stand here and recognize—I know my colleague below me here will appreciate this—the renowned Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. The Royal, as it is affectionately called, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this fall. The Royal has survived world wars, depressions, recessions and, most recently, this COVID pandemic, so I am asking all members of this Legislature to attend this wonderful tradition that takes place the first week of November every year. Come and enjoy the sights, the sounds and the smells of the Royal, where the country truly does come to the city.

As the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, I’m excited to advocate for our province’s farmers, farm suppliers, food processors, supply chains and food retailers.

We all know that Ontario will have an influx of more than two million new people in the next 10 years; as such, we need to build 1.5 million new homes as soon as possible, and our government has a plan to do just that. It is why this government is investing in key infrastructure like roads, highways, hospitals and schools, and it is why this government is creating an environment for our industries and businesses to grow, creating good jobs, particularly in the skilled trades.

Now, Speaker, while more jobs, skills training, and new and better infrastructure and homes are vitally important for all Ontarians, I respectfully submit that the most important resource we need to nurture and grow is food. Farmers feed cities, and this government is the voice of rural Ontario and will remain so. Agriculture and food is the most sustainable and renewable industry not only in Ontario, but in Canada.

From southwestern Ontario to central Ontario, from eastern Ontario to parts of northern Ontario, we truly live in a Garden of Eden. We have some of the most fertile soil in the world. We have advantageous growing conditions thanks to our proximity to the Great Lakes. We have an expanding food processing sector. We have a talented workforce. We have proven research and technology from our own University of Guelph. We have highways, rail lines and airports that can transport our food locally and internationally, and we sit beside the largest-consuming nation on earth.

We are a growing population in Ontario, where thankfully—I want to make this very clear—we can continue to feed ourselves while exporting goods and services, with limitless potential to grow. In fact, our Garden of Eden provides Ontario with an abundant harvest that may surprise some members of this House. Did you know that in 2021, the province’s food and beverage processing sector had the largest share among other Ontario manufacturing industries in terms of GDP? In fact, it was at 18%. Did you know that one in 10 jobs are related to the agri-food sector? Impressively, Speaker, did you know that in 2021, Ontario’s overall agri-food industry, from the farm gate to the consumer’s plate, contributed $48 billion in GDP to our provincial economy? Impressive indeed.

As the iconic and recognizable brand Foodland Ontario exemplifies, good things really do grow in Ontario, and we plan to keep it that way. I look forward to working with the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the member from Huron–Bruce, and my fellow parliamentary assistant, the member from Chatham-Kent–Leamington, as well as our collective team as we help build a stronger agri-food sector, supported by our rural villages, towns and cities.

Again, Speaker, to whom much is given, much is expected. That is why I’ve had a lifelong interest in our political process. I have always had a desire to serve but waited for the timing to work for my family and my career.

We all seek public office to make a difference. We all seek public office to advance the interests and opportunities of our constituents, and we all seek public office to help build a more prosperous Ontario. That we all have in common. That being said, I admittedly say I am a partisan. I am a Progressive Conservative partisan. I believe our party and our government, led by this Premier, is on the right strategic path that will get it done for all of Ontario. However, as has been said today, and I agree, we need to work together in this House, and I am confident that we will.

We are in proving the words I quoted earlier of Benjamin Franklin: “Well done is better than well said”—a smarter, leaner more proactive government that is investing in the future while being fiscally responsible. That is what Ontarians voted for, and that is what Elgin–Middlesex–London voted for.

In conclusion, Speaker, I believe that government is the servant of the people, all of the people, and exists to balance the principles of nation-building, social order and enterprise. May God continue to bless Ontario and our country, Canada.

I have a question.