I rise today to recognize a set of great achievements by a group of young people in my riding of Perth–Wellington. Earlier this month, a team of grade 7 and 8 students from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Listowel and a grade 10 student, Anne Doig, from St. Michael Catholic Secondary School in Stratford all won gold at the 2023 Skills Ontario Competition.

The student team from St. Mary’s competed in the Lego mechanical engineering category. Their project was to design and build a monorail. They worked tirelessly to perfect their skills in preparation for their competition.

Anne Doig from St. Michael competed in the aesthetics category, securing first place. This is the second consecutive year that Anne has won the gold medal in the Skills Ontario Competition for this category.

Thank you to the educators at both St. Mary’s and St. Michael for encouraging, supporting and advising these bright young students. Thank you to Skills Ontario for organizing this annual competition and for everything you do to prepare Ontario’s youth for the jobs of tomorrow.

The Skills Ontario Competition serves as an exceptional platform for these students to exhibit their skills across a diverse array of trades. Speaker, as the Premier says, a job in the skilled trades is a job for life.

Again, congratulations to the students of St. Mary’s and St. Mike’s on your resounding victories. This splendid achievement reflects not only upon yourselves but also on your schools and indeed our entire community.

Today I rise to congratulate and recognize an amazing young woman from my riding of Perth–Wellington. Amiera Black is 16 years old, lives in Stratford and is an avid swimmer. She recently competed at the World Down Syndrome Swimming Championships in Portugal. Amiera was one of the youngest swimmers on Team Canada and one of the only two teenagers that competed.

Amiera won an outstanding amount of medals, eight medals in total in the junior division: four gold medals in the 100-metre free, 200-metre free, 100-metre backstroke and 100-metre fly events; and four silver medals in the 500-metre free, 500-metre backstroke, 500-metre fly and 500-metre individual medley.

It’s important to note that many of Amiera’s times would have placed her in the top 10 of the senior division, Speaker.

Amiera will continue to swim in events close to home and, pending a Team Canada decision, maybe in Argentina as well. She is looking forward to the next world championships in Turkey in 2024.

Amiera, you did an amazing job representing yourself, Stratford, and Canada. Congratulations again on winning eight medals at the world championships. I know Stratford and Ontario will be cheering you on for years to come. Go, Amiera, go!

Today, I would like to recognize and congratulate Alex Mustakas, the founder and artistic director of the not-for-profit Drayton Entertainment in my riding of Perth–Wellington. Alex is an important and active member in our local community and someone who has done so much for one of our cultural industries in Ontario.

Earlier this year, Alex was presented with the Meritorious Service Medal by the Governor General of Canada. The medal recognizes Canadians for outstanding contributions in any field. Alex received the medal for his lifelong commitment to making the performing arts affordable and accessible to those in Ontario and beyond.

Alex has achieved a truly formidable feat, building Drayton Entertainment from the ground up, operating theatres at seven locations across southern Ontario. I had the pleasure of meeting with Alex and seeing a couple of their performances earlier this year, which I greatly enjoyed.

In addition to Alex’s Meritorious Service Medal, his work with Drayton Entertainment has gained him and the organization six Lieutenant Governor’s awards for the arts, a prestigious honour bestowed on arts organizations that exemplify outstanding private sector and community support. The team at Drayton Entertainment was able to do this with an unorthodox but promising business model: one that’s fiscally responsible, utilizes strong networks and gives back to the community.

Some of the organization’s good work includes annual donations of over 2,000 tickets to more than 750 charities, aiding them in their own fundraising efforts. And unlike many other organizations, Drayton Entertainment relies on volunteers, with over 30,000 hours of volunteer activity per year.

I want to congratulate Alex again. Under your guidance, I know Drayton Entertainment will continue to be very successful for years to come.