I really enjoyed the member from Burlington’s speech. She touched on her “why.” Why is she here? It’s because she cares about her community and because she cares for her children. The fact of the matter is that I also have a child that’s moved out of this province because she can never find a home here.

There’s a saying that says, “Shoot for the moon and at least you’ll be among the stars.” I think one of the reasons why I love working with the Premier so much is because he’s not afraid, for the sake of the people of the province of Ontario, to shoot for the moon. And when he has to, he’ll apologize and he’ll back off, and we see here one of those instances where we need to build housing in the province of Ontario for the sake of our own families and for the people that we care about back home, the 150,000 people that I represent in Brantford–Brant.

I was wondering if the member could speak a little bit more about her “why” and why she’s proud to serve with our government and to shoot for the moon, so that at least we could be among the stars.

La saison froide est à notre porte. Elle arrive encore plus vite dans le Nord. Je prends la parole aujourd’hui pour mettre à l’attention de tous mes collègues une préoccupation pressante qui touche les résidents du nord de l’Ontario, en particulier ceux qui dépendent des autoroutes 11 et 17 pour leurs déplacements quotidiens.

Plusieurs d’entre vous ne connaissent pas la réalité des routes du Nord. Je vais donc vous dresser un portrait : j’habite à Kapuskasing, une ville d’environ 8 500 habitants. Le matin, comme tous les Ontariens, on va amener nos enfants à l’école, on se rend au travail ou bien on va à nos rendez-vous médicaux.

La plupart d’entre vous utilisent des routes locales pour se retrouver sur l’autoroute lorsque vient le temps de faire de plus grandes distances. Quand vous amenez vos enfants à l’école, vous empruntez des routes piétonnes ou vous utilisez les voitures en utilisant les routes et les boulevards. Vous vous rendez à vos rendez-vous médicaux en transport, en taxi ou bien en voiture en utilisant les routes principales et les grandes artères.

À Kapuskasing, pour toutes les activités quotidiennes, on prend l’autoroute 11. On l’utilise chaque jour. Qui d’autre l’utilise? À peu près tout le monde qui traverse l’Ontario, incluant les transports commerciaux effectués en semi-remorques.

Nos lois actuelles en Ontario manquent d’attention et c’est la réalité. Avec l’hiver qui arrive, c’est le temps de trouver des solutions et de mettre en place des lois pour augmenter la sécurité des autoroutes en Ontario.

After my private member’s bill, Bill 157, received royal assent in 2021, I am pleased to recognize Wednesday, November 15, as the second COPD Awareness Day in Ontario. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is a progressive but incurable lung disease characterized by a narrowing of the airways that makes breathing increasingly difficult as the disease worsens. I encourage everyone to educate yourself on the risks of COPD and to be proactive in maintaining good lung health.

Mr. Speaker, last week, I had the pleasure of attending the opening ceremony for Upper Canada Child Care’s new child care centre at St. Rene Goupil–St. Luke Catholic Elementary School in my riding of Markham–Thornhill, alongside the Minister of Education. As the African proverb goes, “It takes a village to raise a child,” and in this case, it truly does. The York region Catholic board, Upper Canada Child Care, dedicated staff, supportive parents, the Ontario government and the federal government have joined forces to provide essential care.

Thank you to the Minister of Education and his leadership, and to our government for investing $3.9 million in child care, and for making childcare more affordable and accessible for Ontarians.

As winter approaches, each morning across many areas in all of Ontario, people will wake up to fresh blankets of snow. My riding of Hastings–Lennox and Addington is almost 200 kilometres north to south and more than three and a half hours of driving time. The snow hits more in the Maynooth area than it does down on the shores at Bath and Deseronto.

I know that most of my colleagues here in the Legislature will be travelling a lot across their ridings, across this great province, and so this message is for all of you and for all of our constituents. As we come into the colder season, we have a number of important community events coming out. Remembrance Day is around the corner, followed by a great number of Santa Claus parades and festivals of all types. I hope that everyone participating in these events enjoys themselves but, most importantly, I want to take this opportunity to remind people to get prepared.

Winter can sneak up on you, so please, make sure your car is ready: snow tires, full washer fluid, emergency kits. These are obvious and fairly easy to do, and while they might not be needed every time, they are so very important when they are needed. I would also ask you to please take a couple of minutes to warm up the car and fully scrape off those windows. Those few moments can literally save a life.

No matter where you live in Ontario, I hope this winter is filled with cold weather fun and safe arrivals home.

This Saturday, November 4, in my riding, the Hope Centre, Open Arms Mission and the Salvation Army will come together for the 32nd annual Welland Food Drive. Residents and businesses able to donate are encouraged to give online or donate food at their doorstep. Once collected, donations are sorted at Club Richelieu.

Welland is grappling with its worst food insecurity crisis in decades. Recently, Jon Braithwaite, CEO of the Hope Centre, said, “More people than ever are facing food insecurity in our community with close to one in 10 Wellanders accessing our food bank in the past 12 months.” Open Arms tells me that they are projected to serve over 20,000 people this year.

We’re hearing this across Niagara Centre. Port Cares in Port Colborne recently said that their agency has seen its monthly food bank usage soar from over 1,700 people just 15 months ago to a record 2,900 now—nearly one in seven Port Colborne residents, with numbers continuing to escalate.

Speaker, the demand and pressures placed on community food banks has never been greater, but I am proud of how our community is responding. Folks in Welland who want to lend a helping hand can visit www.wellandfooddrive.com or their Facebook page, @wellandfooddrive, to learn more. Those looking to volunteer are encouraged to reach out to one of the three food banks.

I’m happy to rise today to speak up about an upcoming event in my riding. Goodwill Amity’s 17th annual Power of Work Awards Lunch is happening this Friday, November 3, in Burlington.

This is an action-packed event filled with inspiring stories and valuable learning opportunities. At this event, we’ll come together to celebrate Power of Work Award winners, including two remarkable job-seekers who have triumphed over adversity to achieve their employment goals, and also celebrate a local employer who has been unwavering in providing exceptional employment support and opportunities to job-seekers in Halton. Work gives people a sense of hope, purpose and confidence.

This event is not just about recognition of leadership in our community, but it’s also a chance to connect with friends, community members and business leaders. Together, we make a significant impact and provide a hand up to those facing barriers to employment right in our own community.

Goodwill provides job seekers with access to free workshops, skills training, resumé assistance, job search guidance, mental health resources and basic needs support through Goodwill Amity’s employment services in Burlington. Mark your calendars for November 3 and be part of a lunch that not only fills your stomach but also your heart.

Education should be the great equalizer, not the great divider in Ontario. Schools should be a source of hope, not of fear.

Mr. Speaker, I recently met with parents, teachers, teachers’ associations and school boards, and one thing that they all said to me was that there has been a noticeable increase in classroom violence. A teacher from my riding recently wrote that, from grade 6 down to kindergarten, classroom violence is present at every level. She has been punched in the face, bit, kicked and hit numerous times by students.

And while classroom violence has increased, the number of educational assistants has decreased. There’s a lack of educational assistants, a lack of resources and programs for students with special needs, a lack of mental health supports, and overcrowded classrooms. This has all led to an increase in violence and disruptions in our schools, putting the safety and well-being of our students, our kids and staff at risk. This is absolutely unacceptable in a province as prosperous as Ontario.

I’m calling on the government to reverse its cuts to education and invest that money to keep classrooms safe by hiring more educational assistants, reducing class sizes, expanding special education services, supporting mental health initiatives and bringing character education back to our schools. Let’s respect our students and our educators by keeping them safe in the classroom.

In the days and weeks following October 7, my office has received hundreds of messages from constituents expressing their gratitude towards our government for our support of Israel and our recognition of its inalienable right to defend itself and its citizens. A significant portion of these messages are from constituents who have family members in Israel or are Israeli themselves; almost every one knows someone who has been killed or kidnapped.

Others write and share concerns about what is happening in Canada, in Ontario and Toronto. People are concerned about the protests on our streets, in our schools and on our university campuses that glorify or promote terrorism by waving signs or flags of the Taliban and Hamas, and calling for the gassing of Jews. They are shocked by people who rip down posters of the hostages, including infants as young as nine months old, that Hamas is still holding, and by those who continue to spread misinformation.

On the eve of Remembrance Day, we appear to have forgotten what we once had learned. That’s why I was delighted to join Minister Lecce this morning in announcing that lessons on the Holocaust will be expanded in grade 10 history, mandatory in September 2025, and will explicitly link the Holocaust to extreme political ideologies, including fascism, anti-Semitism in Canada in the 1930s and 1940s, and the contemporary impacts of rising anti−Semitism.

We cannot stand for the glorification of terrorism on our streets, and I, and I’m sure all of my colleagues will do everything we can to prevent that.

I’d like to welcome Scott Helps, chair of Egg Farmers of Ontario, and its entire provincial board of directors for being here and starting our day off with a wonderful breakfast.

I’m very proud to bring my niece, Peighton Brady, and her friend Bella Argenti to the House today for grade 9 Take Our Kids to Work Day. I’m sure they’re hoping that I take them to a big mall on the way home. Welcome to the House.

Today is food bank day of action here at Queen’s Park. I want to welcome all food bank representatives here with Feed Ontario, with a special welcome to June Muir of the UHC Hub of Opportunities in Windsor. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

That concludes our members’ statements for this morning.

Also in the Speaker’s gallery we have some special guests from the riding of Simcoe–Grey: my first cousin Todd Arnott and his daughter, Maile Arnott. Welcome. It’s great to have you here.

The member for Burlington.

Interjection.

It gives me great pleasure to introduce Dianne Martin and Dickon Worsley. Dianne is the CEO of WeRPN; Dickon is the president of WeRPN. I’d like to thank them for their attendance today and for all the incredible work that their members do to serve patients here in Ontario. Thank you for being here.

In the gallery up there is Brooklyn Mattinson, associate director of regulatory and government affairs at RBC, and her colleague Alanna Sokic, senior manager of provincial and municipal affairs. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

It’s my pleasure to welcome a number of guests from the great riding of Waterloo today. We have Justice Colin Westman, a.k.a. Santa Claus, for his kindness; Margaret Anne Voll; John Pendergast; and my friends Cheryl and Nige Gordijk, who are community leaders. They’re joining us for lunch today. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’d like to welcome to the House Karen Hunter, the executive director of the Canadian Remembrance Torch, and Yuvraj Sandhu, a McMaster student and member of the original design team for the Canadian Remembrance Torch.

The torch is in the Legislature today, and if any members would like to get a picture with the Canadian Remembrance Torch, it will be on the grand staircase after question period.

I want to welcome some guests here from Thunder Bay today: a long-time friend, Amy Kemble, and her daughter, Olivia.

Today is Take Our Kids to Work Day. Four grade 9 constituents from Markham–Unionville are visiting the Legislature today, including Jasmine Lau; Katelyn Mak; Nicholas Chow; and my son, Simeon Pang; along with my staff Dickson Mak. Welcome to the House.

It’s bring-your-kids-to-work day, and for some of our staff too. I’m really happy to introduce Nivine Zaher and her son, Moe, and Heather Douglas with her daughter, Evangeline. Welcome to your House.