It is an honour and a pleasure to speak during private members’ business here this afternoon. I want to thank the member from St. Catharines for her remarks this afternoon on a very, very important piece of legislation brought forward by my friend and colleague from Hastings–Lennox and Addington, a neighbouring riding, Bill 99, Garrett’s Legacy Act. And it’s great to welcome his wife Heidi to the Legislature here today as well. I see Heidi quite often at events, along with the member from Hastings–Lennox and Addington.

Garrett’s Legacy Act, An Act to provide for safety measures respecting movable soccer goals, is what we’re talking about here today—something that hits close to home for me, actually. It was back in November 2017 when I brought the Mills family here to Queen’s Park for first reading of Garrett’s Legacy Act as a member of the official opposition. It was a few months before that, as Mr. Bresee highlighted, in May of that year—we’re coming up on the sixth anniversary of this terrible tragedy in Napanee—where Garrett Mills lost his life. The member described it so well: A 15-year-old boy who’s out in the park with his girlfriend and his best friend just hanging around, being kids, having a great time—being silly, as his dad Dave described him. I call Dave “Buzz,” Madam Speaker—Buzz is his nickname and his radio persona that he goes by. He’s a morning radio announcer at Rock 107 in the Quinte region. I’ve known Dave, or Buzz, for quite some time, and of course, have gotten to know Gwen over the last six years since this tragedy occurred.

But they were there in the park on a beautiful sunny day in Napanee, just hanging out. Garrett wasn’t a soccer player; he was just a kid hanging out in the park, having a good time with his friends. His dad told me that he had just taken up physical fitness. He was starting to get in shape. He was a bit of a beanpole, Madam Speaker. He wasn’t a big kid at all, but he jumped up to grab the crossbar of this 400-pound movable soccer goal to do a couple of chin-ups when it came crashing down and crushed his skull.

I remember when the news broke that day in the Quinte region. Buzz is a bit of a celebrity in our community, and there was a lot of grief in our community that day and for the days to come—just such a preventable tragedy in our community. So it was my honour to bring that private member’s bill to the floor of the Legislature for first reading in November 2017 and then debate it in December 2017 and get full support from the Legislature, which I anticipate we’ll get here today, for something that is as common sense as this is. I never want to predict the outcome of the Legislature, but I’m pretty sure we’re all on the same page here today around this.

Garrett lost his life that day, but as MPP Bresee mentioned, there have been over 40 young people across North America that have been killed by these tipping soccer goals. Some of them are 400 pounds, but if you push on them with your fingers in the right direction, if they’re not secured, they can fall over and kill a child or seriously harm a child. A gust of wind sometimes, if they’re not secured, can knock these nets over.

I remember at the time reaching out to a number of stakeholders, interested parties and groups to discuss whether or not this made sense to them and maybe look at red tape issues that might occur as a result of bringing in legislation like this. What would it mean? We had so much support at that time.

I jotted them down, because I remember a few of the stakeholder groups that I met with: the Insurance Bureau of Canada, the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, Parachute, the Ontario Recreation Facilities Association, Parks and Recreation Ontario and the Ontario Safety League. That was the year, Madam Speaker—I don’t know if you’ll remember—that TFC, the Toronto Football Club, won Major League Soccer that year, and they were supporting Garrett’s Legacy Act at that time. There was a lot of support to do this, to make this common-sense piece of legislation become reality and allow Garrett’s legacy to live on through this common-sense piece of legislation.

As the member from St. Catharines described, there are a lot of kids out there playing soccer and playing sports in our communities. It just makes so much sense for the personal development for these children. They call soccer the beautiful game. I think many of us would agree that teaching our children the value of hard work and discipline and teamwork really is a beautiful thing.

We’re not always able to protect our kids. Kids are going to get injured. They are going to get seriously hurt playing sports. But sometimes there are common-sense approaches that are completely preventable. These injuries are completely preventable, and these deaths are preventable. This is one of those ways. It’s up to us as elected officials to make sure that we’re passing legislation that is going to make this different.

I can tell you, I was shocked when this happened, and then I was shocked to learn that this had been going on and that 40 children had lost their lives and many others were seriously injured across North America. There have been jurisdictions, as MPP Bresee outlined, that have already passed legislation, including the Yukon, and many US states have brought in legislation to ensure that these goals are secure, that they have the weights on them, that they are attached so they won’t tip over. And they’re not restrictive. They’re not resulting in red tape.

It really hit home that a 15-year-old young girl by the name of Jaime Palm from Bradford died the same way; that a six-year-old from Wallaceburg, down in southwestern Ontario, who was actually playing soccer during a game—Mark Weese lost his life. Can you imagine what a terrible situation that must have been for everybody at the field that day? What a tragic event that was so preventable.

I had the opportunity in the spring of 2018—the Premier wasn’t the Premier then. The Premier was the candidate, and he was making his way across the province, meeting people in communities all across Ontario, including in the Quinte region. I brought him into my old haunts, Quinte Broadcasting, to meet the folks there and make an appearance on the Lorne Brooker Show and talk about some of the things that were important to him and hear from people on the radio. He met Buzz that day in the Rock 107 studio. He sat down and heard the story about Garrett and what had happened to him. I remember, as Buzz was telling the Premier about the tragic situation and how awful it was for his family and the entire community, the Premier’s eyes welled up. He had tears in his eyes and he said, “Don’t worry, buddy. We’re going to get this done for you, and we’re going to get this done for Garrett.”

Today, we have the opportunity to stand together, join together as members of the Legislature to ensure that this is Garrett’s legacy. It’s a positive, positive legacy, one that is going to save lives and prevent injuries down the road. Full marks to my colleague the member from Hastings–Lennox and Addington for bringing it forward today. Thank you.