It’s my great pleasure this morning to rise to introduce to the House a great Olympian from Canada. He competed at three Olympics, he was a member of the IOC, he was the president of the World Sailing Federation, and he’s a member of the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame. He’s also known as the “Pope of Sailing,” Paul Henderson.

It’s a pleasure to rise today to speak about the long and proud tradition I have in Simcoe–Grey of creating elite athletes and great teams. We have competed nationally, internationally and provincially, winning titles, and today I’d like to recognize a number of recent additions to that long list.

Going back historically, we have two-time NHL All-Star and Stanley Cup winner Jason Arnott, from the town of Wasaga Beach; Team Canada’s women’s soccer gold medallist and youngest female Olympic goal scorer in Olympic history Deanne Rose, from Alliston; Canada’s men’s wheelchair basketball team member and two-time gold medallist at the world championships Chris Stoutenburg, from Collingwood; and, of course, we have Jozo Weider, Canadian Ski Hall of Famer and founder of Ontario’s largest ski resort in the town of Blue Mountains.

Today, I’d like to focus on Team Froud, who has won the right to represent our province at the 2023 Canadian Senior Curling Championships. The team is from Wasaga Beach and consists of members Kerry Lackie, Kristin Turcotte, Julie McMullin and is led by skip Susan Froud from the Alliston Curling Club. They’re coached by Al Corbeil.

I’d also like to recognize the great accomplishment by a local Alliston hockey player, Tyson Foerster, who, on March 9, 2023, played his first NHL game for the Philadelphia Flyers. Tyson is a former Barrie Colts player and was drafted by the Flyers in 2020. Tyson had all 11 members of his family watching the game, and his brother Dawson made the 20-hour drive from British Columbia to watch him play.

I want to congratulate all these athletes on their great accomplishments and wish them well in the future.