Ontarians are relying more on food banks than ever before, yet the Premier says Ontario is 1,000 times better now than when he took office in 2018. Speaker, make that make sense.

Feed Ontario released its 2023 Who’s Hungry report on Monday. It shared concerning statistics about the reality for hundreds of thousands of Ontarians. Food banks are struggling to keep up with the continued rapid rise in demand. Between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023, over 800,00 people accessed a food bank in Ontario, visiting nearly 5.9 million times; this is an increase of 38%, and 36% over the previous year, and the largest single-year increases ever recorded by Ontario’s food bank network. In Windsor, pre-pandemic, they were serving about 300; now it’s about 1,500. The report states that two in five visitors had never visited a food bank before, an increase of 41% over the previous year. Workers are turning to food banks in greater numbers, with more than one in six visitors now citing employment as their primary source of income. Social assistance remains a significant driver of food bank use, with recipients of OW and ODSP increasing by 17% over last year. The majority of food banks are worried about meeting the need in their community, with 69% of food banks concerned about having enough food and 53% indicating that they were worried that they do not have enough funding to adequately sustain service.

Speaker, poverty is a policy choice; it’s this Conservative government’s choice. Ontarians deserve better.

I want to pay tribute today to the recipient of the Brockville and District Chamber of Commerce, 2023 Award of Excellence for Citizen of the Year, in my riding, my friend, Mr. Tom Russell.

As a community volunteer, Tom has played instrumental roles in fundraising campaigns that have secured millions of dollars in support of many, many worthy causes. In his professional capacity as the long-serving executive director of the Thousand Islands Community Futures Development Corp., he has played a critical role in supporting hundreds of small businesses with tens of millions of dollars in financial assistance and countless hours of professional advice, helping to create thousands of jobs along the way.

Tom has worked has worked closely with a variety of stakeholders to author or co-author numerous funding applications, which have collectively generated additional millions of dollars in support for community projects. His extensive volunteer and professional roles have Tom sit or chair on many influential boards and committees over the years in my riding.

Tom was born and raised in Brockville and has been with his lovely wife, Kimberley, for 34 years. Tom Russell is one of those special people who has dedicated his life to public service. My riding really owes him a debt of gratitude. Congratulations, my friend. Your parents, Ron and Emma, would have been so very proud of your accomplishments. Congratulations.

It is my honour to introduce some fine ladies who work at Women’s Habitat in Etobicoke: Carla Neto, executive director; Lina Almanzan, who is director of philanthropy; Alicia Whyte, who is manager of programs and client services; and Sheila Baroro, who is manager of finance. Thank you, ladies, for the work you do in our community every day.

It is an honour to welcome the northern representative of the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses, Jennifer Chamberlin, and the executive director of the New Starts for Women in Red Lake. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’d like to welcome Josh Van Horne from the Brantford Professional Firefighters Association; Elise deBlieck’s grade 6 class from Hope Reformed Christian School; and Natasha Dobler from Nova Vita Domestic Violence Prevention Services of Brantford. Great to have you all in the people’s House.

November, as you know, marks Woman Abuse Prevention Month. Today, we were greeted by the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses with their Wrapped in Courage awareness and advocacy campaign.

I would like to thank OAITH executive director Marlene Ham for your incredible work along with your team: Amber Wardell, learning and development coordinator of OAITH; Lauren Hancock, policy and research coordinator of OAITH; Sherece Taffe, digital office support of OAITH; OAITH board members who are here today: Melanie Ducharme, executive director of Pavilion Women’s Centre; Jessie Rodger, executive director of Anova: A Future Without Violence; Jyoti Singh, executive director of Nellie’s Shelter; Erin Baydak, team manager of Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre; Tessa Mcfadzean, director of Good Shepherd Women’s Services; Sly Castaldi, executive director of Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis; Jennifer Chamberlin, executive director of the Red Lake Emergency Women’s Shelter; Carla Neto, executive director of Women’s Habitat; as well as some other organizations that were here today: Yasmine Youssef, executive director of Nisa Foundation; Daniela Giulietti, director of public affairs of YWCA Hamilton; Alicia Whyte, manager of programs and client services of Women’s Habitat; and finally, the fantastic team from Aura Freedom International.

It is my pleasure to welcome Windsor Professional Firefighters: Kris Matton, Shay Currie and Jeff Goldthorpe. I look forward to meeting with them later in my office. I want to welcome them to Queen’s Park.

I would like to welcome Greg Bostajian, honorary consul of Lebanon in Toronto, and Manal Saaidoun, head of the consular department. I would like to invite all the members for the Lebanese flag raising in front of the Parliament after 12:15, marking the Lebanese Independence Day and the Lebanese Heritage Month. They will be cutting cake in my office, 262.

I’m pleased to introduce members of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. We have Vivian Chiem from Wilfred Laurier, Julian Mollot-Hill from Queen’s University, Angelique Dack from Ontario Tech U and Zarreen Brown and Simi Olufowobi from Laurentian University. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’m pleased to introduce board members from the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses: Melanie Ducharme from Pavilion Women’s Centre in Haileybury; Jessie Rodger from Anova in London; Jyoti Singh from Nellie’s Shelter in Toronto; Erin Baydak from Chrysalis House in Ottawa; Tessa Mcfadzean from Good Shepherd centres; Sly Castaldi from Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis; Jennifer Chamberlin from New Starts for Women, Red Lake; Carla Neto from Women’s Habitat of Etobicoke; as well as OAITH members Marlene Ham, Amber Wardell, Lauren Hancock and Sherece Taffe. Welcome to the House.

Speaker, it’s Grand Council Chief Reg Niganobe’s birthday today. Happy birthday, Reg.

This morning, I met with Kristine Galvan, Melany Palacios, Jasmine Bates, Navjot Singh, Shanell Roye, Azi Afousi, Kimberly Almeida and Delaney. They are from the College Student Alliance and IGNITE student association.

I also had the privilege of meeting with Simi Olufowobi and Zarreen Brown, who are president and vice-president at the Laurentian University student association.

And of course, today is heart and stroke day, and I’m happy to welcome Liz Scanlon, April Sabit and Anne Lago. Welcome to your House.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If you seek it, I think you’ll find we have unanimous consent for members to wear the Heart and Stroke pins today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to allow members to wear purple scarves in recognition of the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses Wrapped in Courage campaign to end violence against women.

Durham Tourism, in partnership with the Durham Economic Task Force, are encouraging the community to shop local this holiday season during the shop in Durham celebration. This celebration highlights the region’s vibrant and diverse business community, serving as a reminder to support local businesses during the season of gift-giving and beyond. The region’s eight local area municipalities are home to a wide variety of small businesses with unique finds for all of your gift-giving needs, from home decor and artisan markets to fashion boutiques and vintage clothing stores.

By shopping locally, residents help to play a part in creating local jobs and strengthening the region’s economy and helping to strengthen our small business community as well. Speaker, when you spend your dollars locally, you’re helping local business owners continue to do the work they love: providing unique experiences, services and products to the community.

I understand the member for Eglinton–Lawrence has a point of order.

Also, they are joined by staff Laura Mayer, Nikki van Oirschot, Marla Monague and Arianna Fitchett.

Welcome to Queen’s Park today. We are delighted to have you here.

Applause.

Today is the Ontario Professional Firefighters lobby day. I had the privilege of meeting with Rob D’Amico from Local 288 this morning. I’d also like to welcome all of the members from Hamilton who are here for the OAITH Wrapped in Courage day. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I also want to welcome the outstanding student leaders who are here this morning from the College Student Alliance and the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. They held a breakfast reception this morning and I know many MPPs are excited about the opportunity to meet with them.

In addition, I want to welcome the fierce and tireless advocates from OAITH who are here today, and special shout-out to two Londoners: Emily Poirier is the VP finance for OUSA and also the VP external affairs for the Western USC. She’s here today. And of course, Jessie Rodger, who is the executive director of Anova, a gender-based violence shelter and sexual assault centre in London. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

As parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health, it’s my honour to introduce Maggie Fox, Brady Carballo-Hambleton, Lesley James and Orli Joseph who are also here from Heart and Stroke today. They’re holding their advocacy day, and I invite everyone to come to the meeting this evening to talk to them.