I want to welcome, all the way from sunny Sudbury, Linda Squarzolo, from the Catholic Women’s League. She’s the Ontario Provincial Council president. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

It’s my pleasure to welcome farmers from Wilmot township here in the House today: Mark Reusser, Alfred Lowrick and Steve Bottoms. Welcome to your House.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Linda Squarzolo from Nickel Belt, representing the Catholic Women’s League of Canada. Thank you for coming, Linda.

I wanted to just take this quick opportunity to introduce a page, Duncan Venditti, from my riding of Kingston and the Islands, of precocious knowledge and interest in all things government and politics. If we had more young citizens like him, our democracy would be in good hands.

From the village of Greely in the great riding of Carleton, I’d like to welcome page Simon Valentini and his mother Miranda Valentini. Welcome to your Ontario Legislature.

It’s my pleasure to welcome a number of visitors here to support page Bella-Sitara Soares—the first page from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound while I’ve been an MPP—many here in-person or supporting from elsewhere: Monica Singh Soares, the great councillor from the municipality of Southgate; Joey Soares; Ryker Soares; Maria Soares; Zachary Bhachu; Baljeet Bhachu; Kamaljeet Singh; Jaspreet Singh; Bhagat Singh Bhachu; and Akash Bhachu. Welcome to your House.

I would like to welcome my friend and volunteer Mr. Kenny to the Ontario Legislature. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I also would like to welcome our awesome farmers from Wilmot township in Waterloo region.

I’d also like to welcome the Ontario Road Builders’ Association and Ontario Asphalt Pavement Council to Queen’s Park, who have over 200 members and 56,000 workers they represent across the province.

And finally, I’d like to welcome constituents and renters from my riding of Kitchener Centre who are here at Queen’s Park to advocate for tenants’ rights for all Ontarians: Leonard Shushan and Karolina Kruk. Thank you so much to all of you for coming, and welcome to your House.

In my new role as the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Transportation, I’d like to welcome the Ontario Road Builders’ Association and the Ontario Asphalt Pavement Council to Queen’s Park today. Specifically, I’d like to welcome Walid Abou-Hamde, Andrew Weltz, Malcolm Croskery, Mark Mallett and Graziela Girardi.

I’d like to welcome the McMurtry family to Queen’s Park, in particular, a good friend of mine, chairman of the Royal Commonwealth Society of Toronto, Andrew McMurtry.

I, too, would like to welcome to the House one of the mayors from my riding of Haldimand–Norfolk, mayor of Norfolk county, Amy Martin, who is here to present to the committee of the interior this afternoon. Welcome.

I’ll begin with Shelley Sarin, who is the mother of page Aura Sarin from Barrie–Springwater–Oro-Medonte.

In addition to that, we heard Andrew McMurtry is here, but so are many of the other family members: Michael McMurtry, his son; Jeannie McMurtry, his daughter; Erin McMurtry, his daughter; Patti Moran, daughter-in-law; Chris Deacon, daughter-in-law; Kaia McMurtry-Moran, granddaughter; Aidan McNab, grandson; Matthew McMurtry, grandson; Tim Armstrong, his friend; Kate Lee, his daughter and caretaker of Mr. Armstrong; Robert Alan Eagleson, former MPP for Lakeshore during the 27th Parliament; William Sutton, caretaker of Mr. Eagleson; David Warner, Speaker during the 35th Parliament; of course, Kathleen Wynne, MPP for Don Valley West during the 38th to 42nd Parliaments; and Steve Gilchrist, former MPP for Scarborough East during the 36th and 37th Parliaments.

I have the privilege of welcoming to the Legislature a constituent from Niagara West, Andrew Weltz, who is here with the Ontario Road Builders’ Association. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’m delighted to welcome my city councillor, James Pasternak, councillor from the city of Toronto in ward 6 from York Centre. Welcome to the Ontario Legislature.

I’d like to welcome to the House today a member of the other branch of government, my brother, the Honourable Mr. Justice John Raymond McCarthy.

Good morning. Just on behalf of the government side of the House, I would also like to welcome the Tibet delegation here to Ontario. It was a wonderful bilateral, bipartisan meeting we had this morning.

I also want to welcome the Catholic Women’s League. I thank them for their meeting this morning and all the important work they do.

I want to welcome Aislyn Doyle, a page that’s here from Parry Sound–Muskoka joining us for the next few weeks, and her parents, Sonya Doyle and John Doyle, and her sister Rowan Doyle joining us today here at Queen’s Park. Welcome.

I am very pleased to recognize two special guests who are with us in the members’ gallery: Juergen Klingohr and his wife, Anita Klingohr, of Pickering. Mr. Klingohr served the people of Ontario for 28 years in the Ministry of Transportation, working as a full-time chauffeur with the executive transportation services of the minister. He twice received the ministry’s Beacon Award for service excellence in 2009 and 2016. He retired from the ministry in 2020 after a distinguished career marked by exceptional day-to-day dedication.

I consider Mr. Juergen Klingohr a good friend and he has earned our sincere gratitude. I would ask you to join me in welcoming him and Mrs. Klingohr here today.

It is my honour and pleasure to introduce this group of legislative pages: from the riding of Brampton East, Armaan Bagarhy; from London North Centre, Jerome Bow Pearce; from the riding of Kitchener Centre, Lyra Cooper; from Niagara West, Jack Cunningham; from Parry Sound–Muskoka, Aislyn Doyle; from Kitchener–Conestoga, Ryder Harris; from Don Valley West, Audrey Lo; from Etobicoke Centre, Ruby Madden; from Kitchener South–Hespeler, Shivanshee Patel; from Mississauga East–Cooksville, Mariam Rasheed; from Haldimand–Norfolk, Emirson Ricker; from Hamilton Centre, Nate Rochwerg; from Dufferin–Caledon, Shylah Sandhu; from Barrie–Springwater–Oro-Medonte, Aura Sarin; from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound, Bella-Sitara Soares; from the riding of Milton, Shiara Sribalan; from Carleton, Simon Valentini; from Kingston and the Islands, Duncan Venditti; from Cambridge, Brayden Vermet; from Richmond Hill, Erwin Wang; from Newmarket–Aurora, Manha Yusuf; and from the riding of York–Simcoe, Malcolm Yusuff.

Please join me in welcoming this fine group of Legislative pages.

Applause.

Today, we are honoured to remember and pay tribute to a former member of our provincial Legislature, the late Mr. Roy McMurtry, who was the MPP for Eglinton during the 30th, 31st and 32nd Parliaments. Joining us in the Speaker’s gallery are Mr. McMurtry’s family and friends: his children and their spouses Michael McMurtry, Jeannie McMurtry, Erin McMurtry, Patti Moran and Chris Deacon; his grandchildren Kaia McMurtry-Moran, Aidan McNab and Matthew McMurtry; his cousin Andrew McMurtry; and his friend Tim Armstrong.

Also in the gallery are Kathleen Wynne, the MPP for Don Valley West during the 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st and 42nd Parliaments; David Warner, Speaker during the 35th Parliament; Steve Gilchrist, MPP for Scarborough East during the 36th and 37th Parliaments; Alan Eagleson, MPP for Lakeshore during the 27th Parliament; and Arthur Potts, the MPP for Beaches–East York in the 41st Parliament.