On Friday, May 3, I had the honour of attending a ceremony at the Peterborough armouries to name a bridge on Highway 115 after an OPP officer. May 3 was chosen for the ceremony because on that date in 1928, Provincial Constable Norman F. Maker was called to attend a disturbance with a possible weapon at the Montgomery House Hotel in Peterborough. When the officers arrived, the suspect fled up a flight of stairs to his room. PC Maker and his partner pursued the suspect up the stairs, and the suspect emerged from his room with a handgun. The suspect proceeded to discharge his weapon, killing Norman and wounding his partner.

PC Norman Maker was the third OPP officer officially killed in the line of duty in Ontario’s history.

Norman Maker was only 32 years old. He was survived by his wife, Muriel, and their two daughters, Norma, who was three, and Connie, who was only three months old.

All of this came to light when Norman’s oldest daughter, Norma, passed away on December 4, 2021, and her obituary told the story of her father. From that obituary, the Peterborough detachment started the work to honour PC Maker. They found the newspaper reports and his official death certificate to validate the story, and on May 3 of this year, the 96th anniversary of the day that PC Maker was killed, he was finally honoured.

Norman F. Maker: a hero in life, not in death.

As members will see, on their desk is a notice that today is Peterborough Day at Queen’s Park. We’ll have a reception in rooms 228 and 230.

I am seeking unanimous consent to wear my Peterborough Petes jersey for Peterborough Day as well as my Trent University Converse running shoes for Peterborough Day.

—from my constituency office, my assistants Sally Carson and Jini Ganesalingam;

—from the city of Peterborough, Councillor Lesley Parnell and government relations adviser Sarah McDougall Perrin;

—from the Peterborough Petes, general manager Mike Oke and Roger the mascot;

—from the Peterborough County-City Paramedics, Chief Randy Mellow, Chief Patricia Bromfield, Michelle Walsh and Alison Gratton;

—from Peterborough county, Deputy Warden Sherry Senis, Councillor Ron Black, Tracie Bertrand, Karen Jopling and Emmanuel Pinto;

—from Miranda Water Treatment Systems, Michael Skinner and Ryan Moore;

—from Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce, Sarah Budd;

—from Trent University, Ryan Sisson, Alison Scholl, Jessica Gordon and Sabrina Kuipers; and

—from the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus, Meredith Staveley-Watson and Lauren Wilkinson.

Special Olympics Peterborough is dedicated to enriching the lives of individuals in Peterborough with intellectual disabilities through the power of sport.

The Special Olympics motto is, “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave at the attempt.” This is an organization that is very active in ensuring that every opportunity is given to these exceptional athletes.

I’ve said a number of times that everything you need to learn to survive socially in life can be learned through team sport. Sometimes you score; sometimes you’re scored on. Sometimes you compete with your friends; sometimes you compete against your friends. But most of the time, you’re on the bench and your job is to cheer on and lift up your teammates. The camaraderie that you gain from working together to achieve something will help you succeed in so many other aspects of life.

With the upcoming Provincial Spring Games in Waterloo, Peterborough will be sending a basketball team, 10 swimmers and two athletes for tenpin bowling.

Find out how you can help by going to: peterborough.specialolympicsontario.ca.

In the final seconds, Speaker, I have to give a big shout-out to the Peterborough Wolves Special Olympics floor hockey team. They were the defending champions in floor hockey nationally, and this year when they went to Calgary, they came home with the silver medal. Congratulations to the entire team. We’re very proud of you.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. The carbon tax is making life more difficult for Ontarians. The Bank of Canada’s governor has said that the impact of the carbon tax is actually four times greater than his previous estimates. People in my riding of Peterborough–Kawartha tell me that this regressive tax is causing unnecessary harm to their household budgets. It’s raising the price of everything, from filling up their cars to heating their homes.

Speaker, the people of Ontario have had enough of this carbon tax. Our government must continue to stand with them and call on the federal Liberals to eliminate the tax. Can the minister please speak to the damage this carbon tax has and why the federal government must end this regressive measure?

On March 1, I had the pleasure of introducing a brand new form of hockey to Peterborough. Volt hockey is played using specially designed power wheelchairs. The stick blade is attached to the front of the chair and a big whiffle ball is used for the puck. It’s played on a basketball court with pond-hockey-style nets.

I was first introduced to it by Karen Stintz from Variety Village when I attended the North American championships. I had the opportunity to speak to a family from Boston whose daughter was a quadriplegic. Their daughter was able to play volt hockey because the controls were adapted to work with the movement of her head. Her parents told me that they never thought that she would be able to play a team sport, and yet, here she was at the North American championships. They described it as life-altering. I knew instantly that I needed to find a way to bring this to my community.

Speaker, we worked with Variety Village, Five Counties Children’s Centre, the YMCA of Eastern Ontario, the Kawartha Komets, community alternatives and the council for people with disabilities to create the team. The final hurdle was the start-up funds. But, Speaker, Sanj Sukumaran, Deanna Hayes, Peter Lemelin and Glen White from the Under the Lock Hockey Tournament—the tournament I founded and chaired for 10 years—agreed to donate all of the proceeds from Canada’s most inclusive hockey event to start volt hockey.

Thank you to everyone who helped bring this vision to help kids with disabilities play Canada’s favourite game.

Thank you to the minister for her response. Last week’s announcement demonstrates our commitment to preserving our ecosystems across all of Peterborough–Kawartha. Ontarians want to see our government take meaningful action to ensure a healthy environment for everyone to enjoy, now and into the future.

We know that conserving natural areas such as wetlands, grasslands and forests helps mitigate the effects of climate change. That’s why we must continue our efforts and work in partnership with conservation leaders like Kawartha Land Trust to increase our opportunities to protect nature.

Through you, Speaker, can the minister please tell the House how investments in the Greenlands Conservation Partnership have enabled the government to lead the way in our conservation efforts?

From the minister’s response, it’s clear that adopting new innovations and technology processes is crucial to ensuring the continuous growth of our agriculture and food sectors, and she’s absolutely correct: The innovation cluster in Peterborough does a fantastic job of promoting it. But beyond that, I’m going to take a second and say Trent University has an experimental farm that is absolutely fantastic, and invite everyone to come down and see it.

At a time when food security is paramount, meeting the goals of the Grow Ontario strategy remains a top priority. All Ontarians deserve consistent and reliable access to affordable and nutritious food, and that’s why our government must continue to make investments that will support our farmers and food producers to enhance food production.

Speaker, can the minister please elaborate on how the Agri-Tech Innovation Initiative will help to strengthen Ontario’s agriculture and food sector?

I would like to introduce my good friends the chair of the Council for People with Disabilities for Peterborough, Andrea Dodsworth.

I’d like to introduce a good friend of mine from Hospice Peterborough: Len Lifchus.

Peterborough–Kawartha.

I’d like to invite everyone to rooms 228 and 230 for our Peterborough Day reception, where you can get your picture taken with the Eastern Conference OHL trophy, the Bobby Orr Trophy, as well as sample Ontario’s best ice cream. Central Smith Creamery is there.

Today is Peterborough Day at Queen’s Park, so I have the entire contingency up in the public gallery. I won’t name everyone, but I will name a few: Warden Bonnie Clark, Mayor Sherry Senis, Deputy Mayor Ron Black, Mayor Heather Watson, Mayor Jim Martin, Mayor Terry Lambshead, former member and mayor of the city of Peterborough Jeff Leal and Deputy Mayor Gary Baldwin. From my office I also have, in the Speaker’s gallery, Andrea Dodsworth, Jenna DePaiva, Sally Carson and Halle Kunjal.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you know, last night, my Peterborough Petes defeated the North Bay Battalion and are the Bobby Orr cup champions for the eastern conference of the OHL. So I seek unanimous consent for the member for North Bay to wear the Peterborough Petes jersey today in the chamber.

Today I’m bringing some bittersweet news from Peterborough. A good friend of mine has decided to hang up the laces, so to speak. She has been an exemplary public servant in Peterborough for close to 40 years. This Friday, April 28, will be the final day at city hall for Peterborough’s chief administrative officer, Sandra Clancy.

As a resident of the city, I had worked with Sandra on a number of different initiatives long before I was the MPP. I suppose with almost 40 years devoted to Peterborough, there are a lot of people she has worked with.

Sandra was born and raised in Peterborough and started working for the city in 1985. Some might say she wasn’t able to hang on to a job, because throughout her time, she has been the chief accountant, financial manager, treasurer, corporate services director and CAO.

She worked during a few challenging times: the great flood of 2004 and, of course, COVID-19. Although she has faced her challenges, she has remained dedicated to the people of Peterborough.

Speaker, for me, she has been a great resource. All throughout my time as the MPP, I’ve been able to reach out and discuss whatever the issue of the day was and know that Sandra was working with me to resolve it.

Sandra, I’m going to miss you, but I know that you’re only a phone call away. You’ve told me that you’re looking forward to spending more time with your kids during your retirement. So please enjoy your retirement.

As you know, the OHL playoffs are well on their way, and last night, my Peterborough Petes defeated the Ottawa 67’s. I have bets with three members here in the House.

I would seek unanimous consent for the member for Ottawa South to wear my white-and-maroon away jersey, the member for Ottawa Centre to wear my maroon-and-white home jersey, and the member for Carleton to wear my black-and-maroon third jersey in question period today.

The Peterborough Regional Science Fair conducted its 54th annual event last Tuesday. This fair is held at Trent University, bringing in hundreds of bright young students. These students showcase their experiments and compete for the Canada-Wide Science Fair. It’s encouraging to see students explore scientific explorations this way—shaping our youth to promote a better future.

From this year’s fair, four projects will be sent to the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Edmonton next month, from May 14 to 19. Peterborough’s very own Isabelle Young will be representing Peterborough at the national level, after coming in second place with her project. Her experiment specializes in forensic sciences. Isabelle is only in grade 9, but her passion for science began at a young age, and she’s now able to explore it nationally. As a finalist, she’s paired with a master’s student from Trent University to tweak and finalize her project.

Speaker, this is an exceptional way of connecting our future scientists at all different levels of education.

Congratulations, Isabelle. I wish you good luck in Edmonton. I know I speak for everyone in Peterborough city and county when I say how proud we are of you, to have someone with your passion for science. We look forward to cheering you on as you contribute not only in Edmonton but also as you progress throughout your journey in the field of science.

I’d like to welcome the Ontario Waterpower Association. It has its headquarters in Peterborough–Kawartha. They are here today with Stephen Somerville, Jonathan Atkinson, Nicholas Pender, James Carter, John Wynsma, Brianne McMullen, Janelle Fonseca and Paul Norris.

We do have a reception tonight downstairs, in the legislative dining room. I’m looking forward to having everyone there.

I just want to wish a happy 50th birthday to my constituent assistant Andrea back in Peterborough.

I’d like to welcome a couple of people from the Peterborough firefighters’ association, Mikaela McGill and Captain Jim Woodley.

Christmas is the season where we can pause and reflect on all the good from the past year that will provide us with hope for the coming year. As I pause and reflect, I’d like to share some things that I hope will be found in the stockings of some of my friends:

—for J. Murray Jones, the now-retired mayor of my home community and longest-serving warden of Peterborough county, a gift card from the classic car mechanic so Ruby will run smoothly enough this summer that he and Anne can enjoy some long drives throughout God’s country;

—for Mayor Carolyn Amyotte, a very simple request, photo radar;

—for Mayor Jim Martin, a very large excavator to dig a big hole, big enough for 128 beds on Smith Drive;

—for Mayor Senis, a round table filled with friends who enjoy the southern part of Lakefield;

—for Mayor Terry Lambshead, a season void of LDD moths so all of us can enjoy hikes throughout some of Ontario’s most beautiful foliage;

—for Mayor Heather Watson, the long-awaited high-speed broadband to be completed on time, eliminating the last dial-up in our township;

—for Mayor Leal, 11 paddles to be shared with his council so they can move the canoe smoothly through the Otonabee River, even when they hit the rapids; and finally

—for Chief Keith Knott, a return to good health so that all of Peterborough county can enjoy the wisdom and experience that he has brought to Curve Lake for so long.

From my family to yours, however you celebrate, Merry Christmas.