Thank you very much.

Applause.

From the riding of Milton, Shahd Alshamaly; from the riding of Kitchener–Conestoga, Felicity Banbury; from Ottawa Centre, Ethan Blonski; from Brampton South, Jonas Boyce; from Simcoe–Grey, Morgan Burkitt; from King–Vaughan, Savannah Chu Morrison; from Richmond Hill, Skyler Chui; from Hamilton Centre, Artur Cordovani; from Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry, Ryan de Haan; from Hamilton Mountain, Keya Dudhwala; from Niagara Falls, Claire Fish; from Essex, Cole Foster; from Don Valley West, Paul Hu; from Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock, Helen Elizabeth Keys-Brasier; from Mississauga–Erin Mills, Mikaeel Mahmood; from Toronto–Danforth, Stefan Parsons; from Ottawa–Vanier, Mia Tocchi; from Oakville, Madison Wong; from Willowdale, Evelyn Yeung; and from Spadina–Fort York, Jing Zomok.

Please join me in welcoming this group of legislative pages.

Applause.

I’m really pleased to be able to welcome a constituent to Queen’s Park, Drew Spoelstra, who is the vice-president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. We’re really pleased to have you in the House today.

I want to introduce two friends from the riding of King–Vaughan, Fred and Wendy Armstrong—incredible volunteers and leaders. Thank you so much for being with us today.

I also want to recognize, in the gallery today, Canada’s first and former ambassador of religious freedoms, Rev. Dr. Andrew Bennett. Thank you for joining us in the people’s House.

I’d like to welcome, from OSSTF/FEESO today, vice-president Martha Hradowy; executive officer Colin Matthew; and GR officer Dan Earle. Thanks so much for joining us today.

I would like to introduce two very special guests. Aria Bianco is here from my riding. She’s an intern in my constituency office, right over there, visiting us today.

And then, of course, my father, Miroslaw Surma, is in the gallery watching us today. I have a wonderful father, and I’m very grateful to have him in my life.

My colleagues, I’m sure you feel a lot of energy in the chamber, because we have students from the St. Francis Xavier Secondary School model Parliament. I’d like to welcome Debbie Machado, Denicer Catacutan, Ahmad Elbayoumi, Cristian Casiero, Sonia Vaidya, Jacob Burek, Mark Saad, Anmar Alsibaie, Krisha Dave, Ashrita Samantula, Melissa Bantas, Hasan Obaid, Tiya Alsibaie, Christos Tsiourlis, Zaid Alam, Ishita Rajan, Adrien Ravindran, Lamees Elbayoumi, Evelyn Fonseca, Asher Khan, Andres Vargas-Daza, Lucas Helme, Adam Burek, Daniel Bai, Jessica Hui, Sara Alani, Ryan Bahlawan, Diala Jarcas, Lochan Devanand, Leen Suliman, Siddharth Iyer, Sambhavi Dubey, Aarrushi Nalwa, Gabriel Casiero, Satvik Garimella, Anagha Hamsala, Vyahruthi Danthurthy, Grishma Allam, Aditya Sharma and Liezel Amalaraj. These are the youth who are going to fill this chamber in the future. Welcome to your future home.

Last week, the Integrity Commissioner revealed that his investigation into the removal of lands from the greenbelt had entered a new phase. His office is now “preparing summonses for numerous witnesses to be interviewed.” We all remember how the Premier and the former Solicitor General both refused to appear before the Emergencies Act inquiry. They refused a summons to testify.

Speaker, my question is to the Premier. Will he require all government officials, including ministers, to co-operate in full when they are summoned by the Integrity Commissioner?

Last week, this government appointed a Conservative party donor, Madeleine Bodenstein, to the York Region Police Services Board. This comes a year after the government appointed another Conservative party donor, Mario Cortellucci, to the same board. And not only are they both Conservative party donors, they are also both personal friends of this Premier and even sat at the same table with the Premier at his daughter’s wedding reception last year.

These appointments earn $10,000 a year. So my question is to the Premier: Why is the Premier stacking the York Region Police Services Board with his personal friends and donors?

I’d like to welcome Larry Davis, representing Brant County Federation of Agriculture, and our town crier. It’s good to see you, my friend.

It is my great pleasure to welcome a delegate from the Cardus organization here. Two of them are from my riding of Scarborough–Agincourt: Father Ammonius Guirguis and Father Zareh Zargarian, in addition to Elder Rich Ternieden, Jaspreet Bal and Reverend Andrew Bennett.

I think the Premier has been very clear on that. He continues to work with the Integrity Commissioner. But let’s get really to what the Leader of the Opposition is saying. The NDP, of course, do not want us to continue to build housing for the people of the province of Ontario. Because for the NDP, what they would rather is that the rich are less rich as long as the poor are poorer. That’s what the NDP is all about.

Let me tell you what new housing means for the people of Stouffville. For the people of Stouffville, the new housing that the minister introduced means that we are building homes in a community that has the infrastructure to do it, a community that has schools, a community that has churches right by it, a community that has two brand-new GO train stations, a community that has a community centre right next to a downtown core that is desperate for people to fill the jobs in our service industries and right close to farms that are so desperate for people to work on the land. That’s why they bring in temporary foreign workers.

It is a growing community that wants new housing, and a group of people are coming to this country who demand it. We need them, and we will be there for them.

Good morning, Speaker. I’d like to welcome the remarkable students and the professor who are here from George Brown College. They’re here with a committee organizing a community worker program. Welcome to their House. They’re from the King Street campus.

Speaker, I’d like to welcome my good friends Salman Sima and Hannah Fudge to Queen’s Park. They’re here to celebrate Persian Heritage Month as well as Nowruz, the Persian new year. Welcome to Queen’s Park. Thanks for the great work you’re doing every single day.

Interjections.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was waiting for you to recognize the Associate Minister of Housing so that I could then also stand up and recognize my good friend Salman Sima who is here in the Legislature. He has been a huge activist and has spent countless hours supporting the people of Iran, fighting for freedom and democracy. It’s an honour to have him in the Legislature. Welcome.

I want to welcome representatives from OSSTF, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, to Queen’s Park today. Specifically, we have vice-president, Martha Hradowy, and executive officer, Colin Matthew. They’re here today to ensure that education is a priority in this upcoming budget for the sake of our students and our educators. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

One more.

Interjection: Two more.

I would like to welcome my friend Carole Breton, secretary general of Saint Paul University of Ottawa. I also would like to welcome Claire Forcier from my riding of Mississauga–Erin Mills and congratulate her for receiving the Ordre de la Pléiade award today.

Also, I would like to welcome Father Deacon Andrew Bennett from Cardus and also Father Ammonius Guirguis from the Coptic church of east Toronto. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’d like to introduce the grandparents of page Elizabeth Keys-Brasier: Anne and Murray Keys.

Holly Yoon is a recent graduate from York University and Sheridan College. She started work recently as a graphic designer at a really cool company. She also has a similar family story as mine: a proud second-generation Korean Canadian. Welcome to the Legislature, Holly.

I want to take the opportunity to welcome from my riding Peggy Brekveld and Bill Groenheide of the OFA. As well, Bill is the councillor for the township of Gillies, and I am proud to call both of them friends. Welcome.

I also want to take the opportunity to welcome from Windsor the vice-president of OSSTF, Martha Hradowy, and the entire OSSTF team here today.