It gives me—actually, it’s quite sad to present this petition on the one-year anniversary of the permanent closure of Minden—

I’m presenting this petition on behalf of people from Minden that had a permanent closure—Chesley, Clinton, Almonte, Arnprior, Campbellford, Carleton Place, Durham, Hamilton, Hawkesbury, Listowel, Mount Forest, Palmerston, Red Lake, Seaforth, South Huron, St. Marys, Thessalon, Walkerton, Wingham, Fort Erie and Port Colborne. What they are asking for is to keep rural Ontario emergency departments open.

Basically, all of the people who signed this petition live in a community where their emergency room has closed, and they would like the government to take this seriously. They urge the Legislative Assembly to take immediate action to protect the health and well-being of people who live in the rural communities that I just named and to keep their emergency department open.

I support this petition, will affix my name to it and ask Guransh to bring it to the Clerk.

This petition has been submitted by hundreds of constituents from my community in St. Paul’s. It is simply titled: “Demand Real Rent Control Now.”

There are a lot of constituents, a lot of community members in St. Paul’s who are asking for the Conservative government to bring back real rent control, which will help address the housing crisis in Ontario and, of course, in St. Paul’s, along with the affordability crisis that’s impacting St. Paul’s and our entire province, as well as the homelessness crisis. Some of the folks who signed this petition are now living on couches, because they haven’t been able to afford the cost of their rent.

We are asking for real rent control now, so that we don’t have to see St. Paul’s residents go from having rents of $2,500 per month up to rents of $9,000 per month for a two-bedroom condominium in midtown. I absolutely support this petition calling for real rent control, because it is calling for an end to the housing crisis, the affordability crisis and the homelessness crisis created by this government.

Speaker, it is signed by dozens, if not hundreds, of folks, and I want you to know that harm reduction—which this petition is asking for—is health care. The government should address the issue of the drug poisoning tragedy by properly funding supervised consumption service sites in Windsor, in Sudbury, in Timmins—frankly, across our province, wherever they are needed to save lives, and they can do that today.

This petition is entitled “A Future for Child Care in Ontario.” This petition was put together because there is so much risk of child care spaces shutting down in Thunder Bay. The request of the petition is to create an early-years and child care workers advisory commission to develop recommendations on how to support the early-years and child care workforce by addressing staffing shortages, including through a salary scale, increased compensation and improved working conditions.

I fully support this petition. It’s extremely important that these issues be addressed. I will give it to Jasnoor and sign it.

It’s my honour to present the following petition on behalf of Dr. Sally Palmer. This petition is entitled “To Raise Social Assistance Rates.” Across Ontario, people living on social assistance are living in legislated poverty. As the petition points out, the current social assistance rates are well below the poverty line.

It also asks the question: Why was the basic income, instituted during the pandemic through CERB of $2,000 a month, made standard for others, while social assistance is dramatically lower? It points out that rates are unfair, unreasonable and inhumane. It calls upon this government to do the right thing, listen to its common humanity and double social assistance rates.

I fully support this petition, will affix my signature and deliver it with page Sophia to the Clerks.

So, again, I appreciate the member summarizing his petition briefly, but I would ask him not to add additional editorial comment or opinion. He can summarize and also indicate the number of the people who have signed the petition, as well as expressing whether or not he supports the petition.

I’ll return to the member from Spadina–Fort York.

This petition is in memory of Rona Ramsey from Naughton in my riding, and it’s for an MS specialized clinic in Sudbury. We have a centre of hope called the Rona Ramsey centre of hope in Sudbury that Rona Ramsey funded, basically because northern Ontario has the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in all of Ontario.

Many people who live with multiple sclerosis, and their families, have a hard time gaining access to the care they need to treat their disease and stay as active as possible. They would like an MS clinic to be set up in the northeast—more specifically, in Sudbury—to serve the people of the northeast.

Many, many people have signed this petition, especially in honour of Rona Ramsey, who was very active on this file.

I support this petition. I will affix my name to it and ask page Sophia to bring it to the Clerk.

Resuming the debate adjourned on May 29, 2024, on the motion for third reading of the following bill:

Bill 188, An Act to amend the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 and various other Acts / Projet de loi 188, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2017 sur les services à l’enfance, à la jeunesse et à la famille et diverses autres lois.