I’m pleased to present a petition that has been signed by many residents of London. It’s entitled “Say No to Train and Trial Areas.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas penned dog-hunting facilities are cruel and inhumane to the wild animals who are confined for the purpose of training dogs to hunt and kill them;

“Whereas this deplorable and unethical practice is prohibited in every other province; and

“Whereas Ontario stopped issuing new licences in 1997 to phase out train and trial areas, and issuing new licences after 25 years is a massive step backward on animal rights and wildlife protection in our province;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately stop all plans to accept applications and issue new licences to operate train and trial areas in Ontario.”

I fully support this petition, affix my signature and will send it to the table with page James.

I have another set of petitions that were collected at London’s amazing Earthfest. I want to read this into the record:

“Protect Migratory Birds.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas an estimated 25 million birds in Canada die each year due to collisions with windows on buildings, including many migratory and bird species at risk;

“Whereas materials to prevent the collision of birds into windows can proactively be incorporated into the designs of new buildings;

“Whereas the Canadian Standards Association has established a national standard for bird-friendly building design which has been adopted by some municipalities;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to incorporate the CSA 2019 bird-friendly building design standard into the Ontario building code, requiring bird-friendly materials to be used in new residential and commercial building windows.”

I fully support this petition. I’ll affix my signature and send it to the table with page Senna.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas the Haliburton Highlands Health Services board of directors has, without consultation with the affected stakeholders, announced the permanent closure of the emergency department located in the municipality of Minden Hills, Ontario, effective June 1, 2023;

“We, the undersigned, petition that a moratorium of this decision be implemented by the Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care immediately for a period of a minimum of one year to allow for consultations with all affected stakeholders to occur.”

I support this petition. I’ll affix my signature and send it to the table with page Sanskrati.