A beautiful day—everyone here, it’s always a pleasure to be with you.

I’d like to welcome the Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors, specifically dynamite Daniella Remy, optimistic Odette Bulaong and awesome Aranka Jones, my superb sister-in-law, who’s here in the House today. Looking forward to meeting you.

Good morning. I would like to introduce two of my constituents from Simcoe North who are here visiting at Queen’s Park today and joining me for lunch: Dr. Douglas Donald and his wife, Anne Donald. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

There are over a hundred ACTRA Toronto members here today. I want to welcome them to Queen’s Park. Some of them include Kate Ziegler, ACTRA Toronto vice-president and actor; Asante Tracey, ACTRA Toronto member and actor; Alistair Hepburn, executive director, ACTRA Toronto; and, of course, we see Theresa Tova here. We want to welcome you to your House. Thank you so much for your hard work in Ontario’s creative industries.

As a parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health, I’d like to introduce the Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors, who have their lobby day today at Queen’s Park and who—this evening, in the legislative dining room at 5 p.m.

Also, a warm welcome to the CEO of OAND, Christine Charnock, and the board chair, Audrey Sasson, along with other executive members and staff. I’m looking forward to our meeting today.

We have with us some very special guests in the Speaker’s gallery today: His Excellency Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, the ambassador of Cuba to Canada, and Mr. Jorge Yanier Castellanos Orta, consul general of Cuba in Toronto. Please join me in welcoming our guests to the Legislature today.

I would like to first of all congratulate our Hamilton Mountain page on being the page captain today. Joining her to watch her performance are her parents. Stephen Hillen and Heather Lambert-Hillen are with us up in the gallery. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

It’s a pleasure for me to welcome a representative from the Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors, Dr. Joanna Thiessen, from George Street Naturopathic Medicine. Welcome to Queen’s Park, Joanna.

I’d like to join colleagues in welcoming the Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors, and in particular, Yousuf Siddiqui, Harsimranjeet Bhatia, Emma Pollon-MacLeod and Natalie Pond. I’m looking forward to our meeting later today. Thank you for being here.

I have the honour of welcoming 13 members of the Men’s Probus Club of Newmarket from my riding, who have come to visit Queen’s Park today: William McTavish, Paul Bath, Richard Biggs, David Brisley, Grant Campbell, Art Darnbrough, William Docherty, David Elms, Richard Furlong, Brian Keddy, Peter Vanderploeg, John Vanderwielen and Warren MacRobie. Welcome to your House.

I’d like to welcome Mayor Bill Steele from Port Colborne, Mayor Frank Campion from Welland, Mayor Terry Ugulini from my hometown of Thorold and all of the politicians that are here from Niagara for Niagara Week.

As mentioned before, it’s Niagara Week at Queen’s Park, so we have a lot of politicians here. Welcome.

I also have a lot of constituents from St. Catharines. I’d like to welcome Melinda Chartrand first, and also Ann-Marie Zammit and Sabrina Hill from St. Catharines. They’re also representing ACTRA today.

And no stranger to this House, but a former St. Catharines MPP for 42 years, now Niagara regional chair, making his way in: Jim Bradley. Welcome.

Well, I just want to wish our great House leader a happy birthday. Happy birthday, Pauly.

It is my pleasure today to rise to congratulate Home Hardware as they mark 60 years of serving communities across Canada. In fact, the Premier recently joined me to visit their headquarters in St. Jacob’s—after we picked up apple fritters from the farmers’ market, of course.

So how did that single store in St. Jacob’s grow to become a national symbol? Well, here’s how. They kept their commitment to help build their communities with helpful advice, quality products and great customer service.

“This milestone is a testament to over six decades of dedication and hard work by our dealers and team members across the country,” said Kevin Macnab, president and CEO of Home Hardware Stores Ltd.

Since opening in St. Jacob’s, they now have more than 1,000 stores providing good jobs across the country. It’s hard to picture small towns in Ontario without a Home Hardware. They have become a part of the fabric of our community and country. Home Hardware is consistently chosen as one of Canada’s top employers and received the honour from Forbes again in 2024.

Congratulations on 60 years and thank you for the positive contributions to our community, Ontario and Canada.

I’d like to welcome my intern, Winston Lee, who is here visiting with his mother, from Vancouver, Wini Yeung. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Good morning, Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to welcome some fantastic members of ACTRA Toronto who are here with us today in the gallery. I’m going to only name a couple here, but I know that my colleagues are going to name some others. I do want to make mention of Amy Matysio and Kate Ziegler, ACTRA Toronto vice-presidents, and Alistair Hepburn, executive director. It is wonderful to see so many of my former colleagues here with us today. Welcome to your House.

Mr. Speaker, it’s a great pleasure to introduce Harsimranjeet Bhatia from the Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors. Harsimranjeet practises in my riding, and I look forward to meeting with them and the association later today. Welcome to your House.

It’s my great pleasure to welcome Aranka Jones, a constituent of Simcoe–Grey and a member of the Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors, to the House.

I’m pleased to honour and introduce Melinda Chartrand, a trustee who is with us from the Centre Jules-Léger Consortium. Welcome to Queen’s Park. Bienvenue and thank you for leadership for francophone students.

I just want to welcome three of the most very important people in my life who I could not love more: my wife, Melissa; my mom, Barb Smith; and my sister Gwen Smales, in the Speaker’s gallery. Welcome to Queen’s Park.