Today is Pink Shirt Day, and I’m so grateful to be speaking to this topic today with my colleagues.

In 2007, two young men in Nova Scotia stood up for a fellow classmate who was being bullied. That child’s crime? He was wearing a pink polo shirt.

Bullying has no place in our schools, in our workplaces or anywhere in our province, full stop. We must ensure that students across this province are treated with respect and dignity at all times.

Pink Shirt Day is all about being kind and lifting one another up. Moments of kindness, empathy and understanding can mean so much to children impacted by bullying. Quick fact: One in five kids are affected by bullying.

It is important that bullying behaviour is called out when you see it. It is also important to simply offer support and connect with people being bullied.

In this House, we may not agree on everything; however, I am truly impressed with so many members showing their support by wearing pink today. As we are lifting each other up, let’s encourage others to lift one another up.

Madam Speaker, thank you for this opportunity to stand in this chamber today to raise awareness against bullying.

This Saturday, February 25, I will be participating in the Coldest Night of the Year event, joining thousands of Canadians who walk to raise awareness and funding for groups and organizations that are helping the homeless and the needy.

And the need is very great. In my riding, people are sleeping in tents, in parks. They’re living on the TTC. They’re sleeping in foyers. They’re raising their children in shelters. They’re being evicted because they cannot pay the rent. They’re dying of cold, and they’re dying of exposure.

I want to recognize the volunteers, the people and the fabulous groups in my community who are participating in the Coldest Night of the Year: Fort York Food Bank; Street Haven, Canada’s first women’s shelter; Yonge Street Mission, which helps families and youth living on the street in need; and Sistering, a welcoming drop-in shelter on Bloor. Please go to cnoy.org and find an organization to support. They need your help. They are looking forward to walking and working with you.

And I want to issue a challenge. The additional challenge is this: As we provide our charity and our support on Saturday night, I urge us to emphasize our support with a call to action to push this government for province-wide change, to call on this government to have a plan to address homelessness and poverty, to call on this government to double social assistance rates, to bring in affordable homes and to bring in strong rent control to keep people housed. I look forward to seeing you on the 25th.

Thank you to the member from Nickel Belt.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

Ontarians deserve better health care. There was a recent report that showed that ERs have been closed across Ontario 158 times over the past year. It’s absolutely inexcusable, and this government’s actions have worsened that crisis. Bill 124, which illegally caps health care workers’ wages at 1% over the last four years has made them feel completely unappreciated and driven health care workers out of the system.

Now this government has introduced legislation to privatize our public health care system, to transfer our tax dollars and our health care workers from the public system into a private, for-profit system. This is only going to worsen the crisis that we are already facing in health care. Ontarians deserve health care. They deserve health care when they need it.

This government is playing an ideological game. All of the people who are waiting in emergency rooms, all of the people who are waiting for hip surgeries and knee surgeries: Know that your suffering is part of this government’s ideological goal of privatizing the system. And if you think that you’re going to be better cared for in that private, for-profit system, just look at the Armed Forces report on long-term care during the pandemic and see how poorly the private, for-profit system created by the previous Conservative government treated seniors in our province.

I was very excited to attend the grand opening of House of Friendship’s new shelter care facility just over a month ago. Our government provided over $10 million in funding to help purchase and operate a former hotel site and convert it into a new 100-bed emergency shelter. But it goes beyond shelter space, Speaker. It includes around-the-clock on-site staff as well as health and housing supports, which is very important. I want to quote Jessica Bondy, the director of housing services at House of Friendship: “Having those services and supports right on site for people who are struggling with homelessness goes an incredibly long way to helping them improve.”

I’ve been a big advocate for this project for the last few years since it came across my desk, and I want to thank all the volunteers; the staff—everybody that’s helped make this happen—John Neufeld, the executive director of House of Friendship; and of course, the fantastic team led by Minister Clark with municipal affairs and housing and all of the staff there that have helped see this come to fruition. It’s a very big project. I was glad to see the member for Waterloo there as well for the grand opening.

This is something the whole community can get behind, a great non-partisan project, and it was really great to be part of it.

Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of attending the launch of La’ad Canada’s Who Are the Jews? travelling exhibit, along with city councillor James Pasternak, La’ad Canada’s director of advocacy Sam Eskenasi, and representatives of Hasbara Canada. We joined Bruno Pileggi and others at the headquarters of the Toronto Catholic District School Board in the neighbouring riding of Willowdale for the launch of this new exhibit.

The Jewish people have been around for millennia. Unfortunately, anti-Semitic incidents have also happened throughout history, and they’ve recently been on the rise again, including, sadly, here in Ontario and Toronto. In 2018, La’ad Canada commissioned a survey of Canadians to gauge their understanding of Jews and Judaism. The results unfortunately revealed that Canadians have little knowledge about the Jewish people and, more concerningly, that much of the information people thought they knew about the Jews was either false or based on anti-Semitic tropes.

When the cause of anti-Semitism is misinformation, or no information at all, the solution begins with gaining knowledge, and that is an understanding of who the Jews are. Exhibition visitors here will learn about where they come from, who they are, their connections to the land of Israel and how anti-Semitism differs from other forms of racism. Also, visitors can “ask a Jew anything” and they will answer the question. Someone is on hand to do that.

The exhibit is funded through our Anti-Racism and Anti-Hate Grant Program. It’s a perfect example of how education will fix racism and anti-Semitism. I encourage all school boards to adopt this exhibit and have it go through their schools.

Everyone in Ottawa knows that there’s a need for a new interprovincial crossing in the national capital. Thousands of semi trucks travel through the heart of the downtown every day, putting pedestrians at risk and creating an environment that is not conducive to a modern capital city. And this is not a new problem.

Going as far back as the Gréber plan from the 1940s, the National Capital Commission has studied options for a new interprovincial bridge over and over again. And for decades, every study ever done has said that a new bridge on the east side of Ottawa should be built over Kettle Island, which would connect Highway 50 at Montée Paiement in Gatineau to a corridor leading to the 417 in Ottawa.

The most recent study from 2020, which builds on the previous study from 2009, concludes that the Kettle Island corridor would be the least costly of the three proposed routes, would attract the most truck traffic and public transit, offer the most manageable environmental effects and provide the biggest boost in terms of economic development. Instead of making this decision, the National Capital Commission continues to drag the process out, leaving in limbo thousands of concerned residents in Orléans and other communities in Ottawa. These ongoing processes have been time-consuming, expensive and generate enormous anxiety for residents.

It’s time for the NCC to get it done. Kettle or kill it.

Today is Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day. Over a million Canadians are living with heart valve disease. Cardiologists have described this as the next epidemic of heart disease. It is easy to dismiss the symptoms as normal signs of aging, or, in my case, the effect of working 12-hour shifts at Ford Motor Co. But my wife knew it was something more.

I had a physical, including a simple stethoscope check. When the doctor listened to my heart, he heard a murmur. Fortunately, when valve disease is detected early, treatment is effective. Twelve years ago, I had an aorta valve replaced with a mechanical valve. Today, I’m living a normal, healthy life.

Some patients can have valves repaired and, increasingly, the surgery is minimally invasive. Unfortunately, based on a recent Heart Hub survey, only 3% of Canadians over 60 are aware of the most common type of heart valve disease and only 26% of Canadians had a stethoscope check within the past year.

Improving public awareness is critical, and that’s why days like today are important. Later today, I will be introducing a private member’s bill that would proclaim February 22 as Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day, and I’d like to invite all members to join us in room 247 after question period. Cardiologists from around the province are here today, and you can learn more about heart valve disease and get a free stethoscope check. It saved my life. It could save yours.

I wanted to introduce three young people: first of all, our page, Yonglin Su, from R.G. Sinclair elementary school in my riding. I want to welcome her to Queen’s Park, and I look forward to seeing her and working with her in the House over the next couple of weeks.

A couple of model parliamentarians—Ayden Layng, from Kingston; and Kidane Singer, from Belleville—are here and I want to welcome them.

I’d like to welcome people from the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, who are meeting later today, and especially a member from Ottawa, Laurie Tucker; as well as Western University Students’ Council members Opeyemi Dinah and Basta Mustafa, who are here and are going to be shadowing me today. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Good morning, Speaker, and everyone. I would like to welcome some model Parliament students from beautiful Beaches–East York. That’s Wolfgang Wai-hahn, Quinlan Chang and Romée Looman. I hope you find your time here scintillating.

I don’t see him in the gallery right now, but I’d like to welcome Brandon Barnard, who is aging out of the Sea Cadet program in Brantford–Brant. I want to thank him for his service to the community for over 10 years, and as he looks forward to being a volunteer now in Milton with the Sea Cadet program there. Thank you, Brandon.

I, too, want to welcome all the students from across Ontario here today, but I would be remiss if I didn’t give an extra-special welcome and maybe a little tad of embarrassment to the member from Kitchener-Conestoga in the gallery up here. Some of you may remember him as page Jaxon, but he’s back for a second time: Jaxon Harris.

I would like to introduce students from the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy: Kate Todd, Napas Thein, Armaan Sahgal, Anton Babak and Dasha Bielik. I would also like to introduce two ladies from Western University who I get the honour of having for the Women In House day: Abi Pannerthasan and Jessica Kim.

I want to join colleagues who have welcomed the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, especially Laurie Tucker from Ottawa. It’s nice to see you here.

It’s my privilege to introduce the Ontario Trial Lawyers, who are here for their reception happening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the second floor. We’re joined by president Maria Damiano, president-elect Laurie Tucker, vice-president Sandev Purewal and CEO John Karapita, as well as Joanna Sweet, Karen Hulan, Gerry Antman and Sean Hayward. Welcome to Queen’s Park. And welcome to all those participating in the model Parliament today.

I want to welcome the fantastic MP for Parry Sound–Muskoka, Scott Aitchison, joining us in the gallery today.

It’s my honour to welcome students from my alma mater, Western University, for University Students’ Council’s Women In House initiative program, where young women shadow an MPP and participate in professional development sessions to explore the world of politics and empower them to pursue leadership. I’d like to welcome Jessica Look, VP of external affairs; Cameron Cawston, VP of student support and programming; Keemia Abbaszadeh, VP of communications and public affairs; Melissa Kamphuis; Anaum Farishta; Anushka Goswami; Iris Jong; Jessica Kim; Jiya Sahni; Lara Suleiman; Michelle Wodchis-Johnson; Sara-Emilie Clark; Sofia Ouslis; Tamsen Long; and Abirame Pannerthasan. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I would like to welcome, from the model Parliament, two students from the fantastic riding of Carleton: Sharaphaajan Sivapalan and Manahil Bhojani. I know they’re somewhere in the gallery. I look forward to meeting them later today. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Today I would like to welcome Heart Valve Voice Canada and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. As well, I would like to welcome, from the Trial Lawyers Association, Sonia Nijjar.