It’s a pleasure to rise in the Legislature today to congratulate three exceptional athletes who made big news in Oxford over the summer.

First, I would like to congratulate two students at Woodstock Collegiate, Aralyn Smith and Natalie Dodd, who were both on Team Canada at the 16th World Dragon Boat Racing Championships. Aralyn is from Embro and has competed in world championships since she was 12. Natalie is from a farm just outside of Hickson and has been interested in dragon boating since she was nine. They both did an amazing job, coming home with three gold and five silver medals. Team Canada also won the world championship, winning 52 gold medals, the most medals overall.

I would also like to congratulate Folden’s native Ella Shelton as well, who will be leaving Oxford for the Big Apple after being drafted on the New York team of the new Professional Women’s Hockey League. Previously, Ella played in the NCAA for Clarkson University, was part of two Canadian world championship teams and won a gold medal in the 2022 Winter Olympics. Ella was New York’s first pick in the draft, and she was drafted fourth overall.

Congratulations again to these three amazing athletes. Your hard work and perseverance has paid off. You are an inspiration to the young girls in Oxford who dream to compete in professional sports one day.

It’s a pleasure to rise today and welcome back my colleagues after our summer. I’d also like to congratulate our new Minister of Labour. He’s obviously a quick study and I appreciate his comments this morning.

My question to the member opposite—and I thank him for his comments as well. In my riding, I have Base Borden. Base Borden has been proudly training our armed forces, the men and women of our armed forces, since 1916. This past August, I was at Peacekeepers Park, in Angus, and heard retired Major-General Lewis MacKenzie speak about our proud history of peacekeeping: 59 UN peacekeeping missions going back to 1949, and over 160,000 Canadians who have committed to keeping peace in the world.

My question to the member opposite is, we know that reservists play a key role in that, and this legislation guarantees them the same types of health benefits when they come home, including mental health. I’d like to know if he supports that.