Speaker, over the summer months, I attended many events, meetings and round tables in my riding of Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston, connecting with residents and organizations and hearing what is most important to them. Health care and housing continue to be top of mind, and this government is listening, with just over $5.8 million in funding for upgrades and repairs to hospitals in my riding—including Perth and Smiths Falls as well as Carleton Place and Almonte—plus an additional $820,000 to address emergency department pressures.

Last month, I was pleased to join Minister Calandra for the groundbreaking ceremony of the brand new, 128-bed Broadview nursing home in my hometown of Smiths Falls. This is part of this government’s $6.4-billion commitment to build more than 58,000 new and reconditioned beds in this province.

In July, I was honoured to be part of the opening of Lanark county’s newest five-unit community housing building.

And I look forward to the spring of 2024, when Carebridge Community Support is scheduled to open another affordable housing project within my riding.

Mr. Speaker, my sincere thanks to Minister Parsa and Minister Calandra for joining me this summer for round-table discussions—real conversations about how we can remove barriers and improve access to services.

I look forward to welcoming Minister Gill next week to discuss streamlining productivity and efficiencies with stakeholders and businesses in Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston.

It was a productive summer.

It’s my pleasure to welcome Alliston resident Joy Webster to the House today. She’s a great resident of Simcoe–Grey, and it’s my pleasure to introduce her.

I’d like to acknowledge that today’s page captain is Tristan Joseph from the wonderful riding of Spadina–Fort York, and his parents, Odessa and Harry Joseph, are also in the audience today.

I’d also like to welcome Save the Minden ER to the House—including Patrick Porzuczek, Ken Trinka, Helen Trinka, Aidan Johnston, Joyce Webster, Kimberly Perry, and Cathy Mauro.

I want to wish a special greeting to a good friend of mine, Terrence Bishundayal. I’ve known him since he was in high school. His advocacy for students with disabilities led to the TDSB having a truly accessible washroom on the ground floor of their main office building, and also to the creation of a wheelchair ramp to the front door of Martingrove Collegiate in Etobicoke.

Welcome to the House.

I want to welcome to Queen’s Park this morning Julie-Anne Gill from the town of Port Perry within my riding of Durham—a very skilled mediator, solving disputes peacefully and effectively.

A point of order, Mr. Speaker: I want to take this opportunity to wish a happy birthday to the great member from Whitby, Mr. Lorne Coe, who is celebrating his 47th birthday today.

Applause.

I’m so grateful to have my team from the constituency office here. They are doing all the great work on the front lines. I want to welcome Lana Barkan, Mandana Hezar, Debbie Davidson, Priscilla Danson, and Katherine Chabot.

I also want to welcome the good people from Perimeter Institute to Queen’s Park this morning. We had an amazing reception—thank you so much—with full representation from all parties, which is truly a sign of the respect that this institute has in the province of Ontario.

I have the pleasure to welcome my good friend Jason Grossman and his better half, Miriam Sussan, to the Legislature of Ontario. Welcome.

I have the great pleasure to introduce some great friends from the ridings of Parry Sound–Muskoka and Burlington: Sandra St. Germain, Fred St. Germain, Craig St. Germain, and Sandy Lane.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I would like to welcome my great volunteer and supporter Kenny Neville to the Ontario Legislature.

I’d like to introduce Lucia Alonzi, a page from the great riding of Mississauga Centre.

Thank you for your great work.

Coming up on October 12, it will be World Sight Day as showcased by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. This year’s campaign focus is to bring attention to the importance of eye care in the workplace.

As a practising optometrist—I remember vividly, like it happened yesterday—I was working at the Saginaw Valley Special Needs Vision Clinic. A mother brought in her little two- or three-year-old non-verbal daughter. I was fortunate as the little girl sat still enough for me to determine that she had a very, very strong prescription. I can remember taking a little trial frame and putting these lenses in it, and as we put it on her face, she dropped the little toy that she was holding up right in front of her on the floor and looked around the room, seeing for the first time. That was one of the single most gratifying experiences and, as it turned out, one of many to come in my field of medicine.

Our government is committed to improving access to glaucoma and cataract care across our province, and our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, has signed the first agreement with optometry in over 30 years.

Colleagues, the hashtag this year is #LoveYourEyes—they are the only set you will ever have.

Point of order: the member for Carleton.

Welcome back, Jean-Marc.

From the riding of Burlington, I’d like to introduce Jenny Choi and James Tiong. Jenny and James are the parents of today’s page captain Clara Tiong.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

The annual Panda football game was played this weekend, with the University of Ottawa beating Carleton in a thriller.

I would like to acknowledge that the Minister of Tourism, Culture, and Sport, Neil Lumsden, an Ottawa Gee-Gees legend as a fullback and kicker, still holds the Panda Game scoring record with 25 points in one game and 61 career points.

My constituency assistant, John Jeffrey Morris, who played for the Carleton Ravens and holds the Panda Game record for longest punt and longest kickoff, informed me that Minister Lumsden is the greatest player in the history of Canadian university football.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Good morning, page captain for Beaches–East York, James Gillespie—with family members Barbara, Adam and Leah Gillespie and Gillian Stevie here in the gallery.

Let’s welcome them today.

Today the page captain, I believe, is Bella. Her parents, Bill and Daisy, are in the gallery somewhere, and I just wanted to welcome them to Queen’s Park.

We have some great folks here from the Perimeter Institute, all the way from Waterloo region today. I’d like to welcome Rob Myers, Paul Smith, Mark Healy, Mayura Stratopoulos—that’s a good Greek name; holy smokes—Mike Klander, Kendrick Smith, Roger Melko, Mike Brown, Kelly Foyle, Marie Strickland, and Emily Petroff.

Welcome to the Ontario Legislature.

The public accounts were published last week, and we got to see a detailed overview of the government’s revenue and expenses for the year. Public agencies are supposed to publish their financial statements at the same time, but, strangely, Ontario Place did not. In fact, Ontario Place has not published a single annual report since the Conservatives took office five years ago.

Speaker, to the Premier—can the Premier explain why his government is hiding the financial statements of Ontario Place?

The government doesn’t want to admit they’re hiding these, but journalists had to file freedom-of-information requests to get the 2022 financials. This government wants Ontarians to believe that Ontario Place is derelict and abandoned. The Minister of Infrastructure even told this House before that it is “not enjoyed” by Torontonians or Ontarians. But these newly released documents reveal that Ontario Place actually attracted 2.9 million visitors last year alone, just in one year, and they made a record profit. That 2.9 million visitors is almost as many visitors as the Statue of Liberty—so it doesn’t sound like tumbleweeds to me.

Back to the Premier: Why is the Premier hiding the facts about Ontario Place?

Interjections.

The NDP believes this government should be investing to get people the health care and education and housing they need, not spending $650 million on luxury spas.

Will the Premier stop the transfer of public funds into private pockets and cancel the Therme deal?

Interjections.

As the truth leaks out about this Premier’s secret 95-year deal with Therme, the worse it smells.

Normally, with a large procurement like this, Infrastructure Ontario would appoint a fairness monitor to ensure fairness and integrity. The NDP submitted a freedom-of-information request to get the fairness monitor report for the Ontario Place procurement. It turns out no such document exists.

Back to the Premier: Why wasn’t there a fairness monitor for this particular procurement?