Good morning. Let us pray.

Prayers.

On August 10, 2022, at the beginning of the 43rd Parliament, I advised the House on how the 10 independent members would be given a reasonable opportunity to participate in our daily proceedings and in debate. Given that there are now 11 independent members, our practices must be adjusted accordingly.

During question period, in addition to the one independent member recognized to ask a question each day and the second independent member recognized every Tuesday, I am prepared to also recognize a second independent member every alternate Wednesday. This will allow us to accommodate 11 independent members into the previously established eight-day rotation. Each independent member recognized during question period will continue to have the opportunity to ask one question and one supplementary.

With regard to members’ statements, there will continue to be one statement allotted to an independent member every sessional day. However, each individual member will be entitled to participate once per 11-day period instead of once per 10-day period.

I want to thank the House for its attention.

Aujourd’hui, nous célébrons la Journée internationale de la Francophonie. Today, we are celebrating International Francophonie Day.

Je considère cela comme un grand honneur de pouvoir saluer notre jeunesse franco-ontarienne : les élèves des écoles Père-Philippe-Lamarche, Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf, et Monseigneur-de-Charbonnel, et aussi les jeunes représentants de la FEFSO, la Fédération de la jeunesse franco-ontarienne, qui sont à l’Assemblée aujourd’hui pour célébrer avec nous.

Je voudrais aussi saluer M. Fabien Hébert, le président de l’Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario.

Comme fidèle francophile, je suis très émue de pouvoir célébrer les nombreuses contributions et acquis de la communauté francophone à notre province—de l’identité sociale et culturelle, au développement économique pour assurer des communautés francophones fortes et un avenir radieux à nos jeunes.

Durant les quatre dernières années, nous avons déployé des stratégies et des mesures concrètes témoignant d’une volonté sincère de contribuer au renforcement et à l’épanouissement de notre espace francophone. Nous avons mis de l’avant des changements structurants pour les générations à venir.

Le français, la belle langue de Molière, est la cinquième langue la plus parlée au monde. L’Ontario appartient à cette belle famille francophone internationale.

À nos jeunes : soyez fiers de qui vous êtes, de vos racines et de votre héritage franco-ontarien. Soyez fiers de vos ancêtres, les peuples fondateurs de notre pays dont la présence remonte à 400 ans. Soyez fiers de vos symboles, le drapeau vert—

It is an honour to speak about two of the incredible local not-for-profit organizations that operate in my riding. This morning I had the pleasure of joining Jon Braithwaite, CEO of the Hope Centre in Welland, and Christine Clark Lafleur, executive director at Port Cares in Port Colborne, for the Feed Ontario breakfast here at the Legislature.

The Hope Centre was created in 1974, when a group of concerned citizens and groups in Welland saw the need for an organization to assist those falling through the gaps in our community. Today, they support their community through their lunch program, food bank, housing stability and other programs.

Port Cares has been in operation since 1986. They’ve helped countless folks through their housing and crisis support programs, along with their employment and learning services. In January of last year, over 1,700 people were registered with the food bank, and that number has now skyrocketed to almost 2,700.

These incredible organizations continue to work industriously despite a growing surge in demand. Speaker, Niagara continues to be hard-hit by the soaring cost of living and rising inflation. People are struggling. We need to support organizations like Port Cares and the Hope Centre by providing them with appropriate, stable, long-term funding and investments in affordable housing initiatives. They deserve nothing less.

I want to thank their leadership, staff, board of directors and volunteers for their incredible work. Thank you.

March break is an opportunity for children across Oxford to recharge their batteries. They also get to enjoy the last few days of Oxford wintertime activities—like playing in the snow, skiing and tobogganing—before the mercury begins to rise. After a three-year break due to COVID, it was great to hold my annual family skates across my riding. Constituents of all ages came out to show off their skills, learn to skate or just take it easy with some casual laps around the rink. It was great to see so many smiling faces. Afterwards, everyone got to warm up with hot chocolate while enjoying a cookie or two.

On Monday, I held my Ingersoll family skate, where a constituent told me how she calls the town the heart of southwestern Ontario, because it’s no more than an hour’s drive to London, Stratford and Lake Erie.

My skate on Tuesday morning was hosted in the Colin Campbell Community Arena in Tillsonburg, which was named after the former hockey player and coach who was born there. I was off to Norwich that afternoon, where the turnout was beyond our expectations—we had over 100 people show up.

I want to give a big thanks and a shout-out to volunteers Beth, Michael and Jim for helping me set up and run the events. I also want to thank the community centres and arenas for hosting. I look forward to holding my family skates again next year with even larger attendance.

I recently met a mom in my riding, Amy. It was very hard to listen to Amy’s story because it felt like her life was impossible. She’s a working parent, she’s a single parent, and she’s also a parent of two children with autism. Her oldest is eight and he is very high-needs. He cannot be left alone.

Amy was very clear with me when I talked to her that what she is desperately needing is stable and regular funding for therapy so that her children can reach their full potential. She needs funding for summer programs for kids with autism, which she has a hard time finding, so that she can keep her job and pay the rent. She emphasizes it is essential for her economic survival that she get help. Without support, Amy describes her life as “living in hell.”

She has been waiting months for provincial funding she is eligible for and it has not arrived. I will make sure to follow up with the minister opposite to inquire about her case because she is in distress. She is not alone. There are thousands of people like Amy.

I recently spoke to Surrey Place. It is a provider of excellent autism programs in my riding of University–Rosedale. They emphasized to me in that meeting that the need for autism programs is growing, while their ability to provide for this need is shrinking. There are more children waiting for preschool speech and language programs, and that is unacceptable. I want to see something in the 2023 budget—

Ontario is full of talented and resilient youth who continue to make their teachers, families and communities proud. My constituency of Brampton East is home to a not-for-profit youth organization known as Brampton Robotics. They promote science, technology, engineering, mathematics—commonly known as STEM—through their robotics program. Brampton Robotics works with youth across the region of Peel to engage and develop skills in fields such as computer programming, simple machines and building robotic technology. Using the skills they gain, the group takes part in various competitions ranging from local to international tournaments. On March 4, Brampton Robotics took part in a province-wide competition where out of 80 teams across Ontario, they qualified for two spots in the world cup taking place in Dallas, Texas next month.

I would like to take this moment to acknowledge the youth members of Brampton Robotics and recognize them for their dedication and hard work for this amazing achievement. I would like to recognize Prabvir Grewal, Harsharan Rakhra, Manjot Dola, Aryaen Sharma, Shiven Jaiswal, Mihir Grover, Kedar Vanikar and Arulini Muthu.

Mr. Speaker, it’s vital that we continue to support this province’s youth and provide them with quality education so they can go on and compose a skilled workforce that will advance the technological, political and economic fabric of Ontario.

The Ontario Nurses’ Association submitted the following recommendations for Ontario budget 2023—they make sense; they will save lives and money:

“(1) Retain nurses and health care workers by improving their working conditions and show them respect:

“—drop the costly appeal of the Bill 124 Superior Court decision, which struck down the wage-suppression legislation as unconstitutional.

“—bargain in good faith—what a concept.

“—legislate 10 permanent paid sick days for all workers.

“—create more full-time nursing positions to reach a minimum of 70% full-time.

“(2) Bolster the health workforce and plan for the future:

“—launch a robust recruitment strategy to bridge the RN care gap”—Ontario needs at least 24,000 new RNs.

“—increase the number of RN seats at Ontario universities and college stand-alone programs by 10%....”

—invest in nurse-practitioner-led primary care.

“(3) Ensure the safety of the nurses and health care professionals:”

—address violence in the workplace;

“(4) Stop the privatization of Ontario’s health care system...:

“—cap the percentage usage of agency nurses.”

And finally, fund public health and increase the funding to 100% so that every community across this great province has the same services and resilience to outbreaks.

Save lives. Save money. Invest in the people in our public health care system in budget 2023.

Merci beaucoup.

Thank you very much.

I rise today to recognize Hellenic Heritage Month in Ontario. Our Legislature is the only one in Canada to officially recognize this celebration. As an Ontarian of Hellenic origin, I am proud to see our cultural history recognized and celebrated.

The Hellenic community has had a long and proud history in Canada, dating back to before Confederation. In Ontario, and in my own riding of Oakville North–Burlington, our community has committed to the province’s growth and prosperity by establishing schools, churches and businesses.

This month provides an opportunity for all Ontarians to celebrate the contributions of Hellenic Canadians to our province and country. The ancient Greeks, whose ideas and innovations in philosophy, science, medicine and the arts, laid the foundation for the freedoms and democracy that we enjoy today. On March 25, 1821, the Greek Revolution began, leading to the liberation of Greece from the Ottoman Empire’s 400-year occupation. Greek Independence Day celebrates the triumph of this revolution, which restored Greece’s sovereignty and allowed its people to regain their freedom after centuries of oppression.

In recognition of this, I invite all my colleagues to join me at the annual Greek Independence Day parade this Sunday on the Danforth in Toronto.

A number of individuals are visiting us today, including Sammi Ho from Friends of Ruby; Candice Cosbert from Nellie’s women shelter; and Bee Lee Soh and Daniela Mergarten from the Toronto Alliance to End Homelessness. From Dixon Hall, we have Faisal Ikram, Janet Lambert, Matt Song and Robert MacFarlane. Finally, we have, from the Fred Victor Centre, Eiman Elwidaa. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

On February 25, I hosted a community bowling evening in my riding of Mississauga–Erin Mills. We hosted the event at Classic Bowl, one of the largest bowling centres in Canada. It was lots of fun and a great success. We were expecting 150 guests at the event, but we had over 860 people who ended up attending. I would like to thank the community for participating and for their continual support.

On that note, Mr. Speaker, I am proud of what we were able to accomplish these past months at the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, where I served as a parliamentary assistant for the past four years. It’s one of the province’s richest ministries, fostering strong interconnected communities and aligning closely with my own goals of multicultural outreach. My deepest gratitude goes to the minister for his leadership on the portfolio and for giving me the opportunity to work closely with him,

Last week, I was honoured to be appointed as the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery. I would like to thank the honourable Premier and the minister for putting their trust in me. In my new role, my goal shall remain—as it has always been—to make life easier for all Ontarians. I am honoured to be entrusted with this responsibility, so help me God.

Today I’d like to introduce and welcome to Queen’s Park Linda Tracey, the CEO of Marianhill long-term-care home in Pembroke. She’s joining AdvantAge Ontario today for their advocacy day, and they’ll be having a reception in the evening, as well. I hope everybody can join. Welcome to Queen’s Park, Linda.

I’m honoured to welcome to Queen’s Park today my lovely wife, Kate Bartz, the mother of our daughter, Annie, who’s at Queen’s Park.

I also want to welcome to Queen’s Park today the chair of the Office of the Worker Adviser of the WSIB, a former labour leader and skilled-trades worker, Pauline Niles. Welcome to Queen’s Park today.

Il me fait plaisir d’introduire le président de l’AFO, M. Fabien Hébert. Je sais qu’il y a beaucoup d’organismes francophones aujourd’hui ici dans la Chambre. Je voudrais vous souhaiter la bienvenue et aussi une joyeuse Journée internationale de la Francophonie.

That concludes our members’ statements for this morning.

The member for Ottawa South is seeking the unanimous consent of the House that, notwithstanding standing order 67, the time for debate on the supply bill, Bill 77, be allocated as follows: 54 minutes to each of the recognized parties and 12 minutes to the independent members as a group. Agreed? Agreed.

Today, across Ontario, Muslim families are preparing for the holy month of Ramadan. This Wednesday, Ramadan will commence after sundown.

Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, as well as faith, prayer, alms and pilgrimage. Ramadan is a time for fasting and sacrifice. It’s a time for prayer, reflection and spiritual growth. And it’s also a time to strengthen ties with family and your community.

I’m looking forward to the many iftars that we’re going to have in Ottawa South. And to our Muslim friends and neighbours: Thank you for giving your children the gift of faith. It will sustain them.

I wish for all a joyous and meaningful month of Ramadan. I know it’s early, but let me be the first to say, Ramadan Mubarak.

I’d like to warmly welcome everyone from Feed Ontario to Queen’s Park today, with a special shout-out to Pauline Cripps, who’s the administrator of the Guelph Food Bank. Thanks for all the great work that you do.

Speaker, I seek, through you, your respect and support to wear a Carleton University Ravens hoodie in the House today, because the women’s and men’s basketball teams both won the national championship last weekend—first time in 38 years.

I had the honour to spend St. Patty’s Day morning with my friends at Community Living Chatham-Kent to learn more about the Outward Bound program and to see first-hand their investments in technology made possible by a successful Ontario Trillium fund grant.

This organization supports more than 550 people and their families across our municipality. Under the leadership of their executive director, Ron Coristine, this amazing team works to enrich the lives of people with diverse abilities by providing quality services and meaningful, inclusive opportunities. Guided by principles to provide services that are fiscally responsible, person-centred and based on informed choice and positive outcomes, Community Living C-K promotes physical and emotional well-being, flexibility and a deep respect for cultural differences to ensure everyone has the opportunity to thrive, be active and contribute to our community.

Early in the pandemic, Community Living was quick to adopt technology to ensure these strong relationships between staff, clients and families remained intact. Thank you, Community Living Chatham-Kent, for all the important work you do every day in our communities, and congratulations on your successful grant application.