It’s an honour to rise today and table this petition on behalf of thousands of residents of Ottawa West–Nepean who have signed it, entitled “Support the Protecting Human Rights in an Emergency Act.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas people with mobility challenges who live in multi-storey apartments and condominiums require an elevator in order to be able to get in and out of their own homes and access food and medical care;

“Whereas access to clean, safe water is a human right, and people living in multi-storey condominium and apartments buildings depend on water pumps in order to have clean and safe water in their homes;

“Whereas climate change is causing an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, which will make prolonged power outages more common;

“Whereas power outages cause significant hardship for people in multi-storey apartments and condominiums that do not have backup power generators, forcing them to remain in their unit without access to food, water, or medical care, or diverting emergency responders to evacuate residents;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the Protecting Human Rights in an Emergency Act, which will ensure that all apartments and condominiums have an emergency backup power generator installed in their building that can power an elevator, water pumps, and lights in common areas.”

I wholeheartedly endorse this petition, will add my name to it and send it to the table with page Keira.