Recently, I was proud to announce that five organizations in Mississauga–Lakeshore have just received almost $500,000 through the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Resilient Communities Fund. This includes $99,000 for the Eagle Spirits of the Great Waters to support local events and workshops with Indigenous elders and traditional healers. Many of these are at the small arms building, where CreativeHub 1352 also received $26,000 for their arts, culture and heritage programs.

The Canadian Community Arts Initiative also received $71,000 for its programs and events, including the South Asian arts and heritage festival of Mississauga.

Finally, at a time when access to mental health support is so critical, I am proud to report that the Distress Centres of Greater Toronto received $100,000. Their highly trained volunteers provide emotional support to people in distress every day at their telephone helpline. This funding will help strengthen this coverage during the critical overnight hours.

Lastly, ISNA Canada received $200,000 for a new addictions support program to help work toward long-term recovery for some of the most vulnerable people.

Speaker, I want to congratulate all these incredible non-profits again, and I want to thank them for everything they do every day to support and protect our most vulnerable. On behalf of all the members, we appreciate everything you do here in Ontario.

Good morning and es salaam aleikum. The month of March is a very special month in my riding of Mississauga Centre as so many of my Muslim Canadian friends and neighbours are observing the holy month of Ramadan. The holy month of Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by Muslims worldwide. It is observed through acts such as fasting, undertaking acts of service and spending time in prayer and reflection.

Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam, and practitioners of the faith are called on by the Quran to “eat and drink until the whiteness of the day becomes distinct from the blackness of the night at dawn, then complete the fast until night.” The reason for fasting during Ramadan is to remind Muslims that all individuals are similarly needy upon the assistance of God and that there are less lucky individuals who need their assistance.

I want to speak about one young man. His name is Beberg Khan. He’s a staff member, part of the Kusendova team, and he has been on my team since 2022. He’s currently practising fasting as part of his religion. I’m just so proud to have Beberg as part of my team. Even during the election, which happened to be in May, he was door-knocking every single day, even at the same time as he was fasting. I’m so proud of the growth that he has achieved. There are many Muslims like that in my riding of Mississauga Centre. For me, as a Christian, it’s just so heartwarming to see that we can celebrate together in unity. That’s exactly what Ontario is about.

Thank you. Ramadan Mubarak.

If I was to borrow Bonnie Crombie’s housing plan, I would have the massive record that she had as the mayor of Mississauga. What did we see? The population of Mississauga actually decreased when the population of the province was exploding. In fact, in her last months in office, she had a massive start of 12 homes in her community. So thank you very much. I don’t think this caucus here wants to borrow anything from that small group of individuals over there who, for 15 years, stood in the way of building homes.

You know who agrees with me? The former Liberal cabinet minister who testified at one of our hearings and said that the crisis started under the Liberal watch, Mr. Speaker.

What I’m going to do is this: I’m going to put infrastructure in the ground, and I’m going to make sure we build millions of homes instead of the hundreds that they would like to build.