Goldie Ghamari - February 01, 2022


MPP Ghamari, Minister MacLeod & Minister Cho announce $170,000 investment for seniors in Ottawa


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Length

33 minutes

Words per minute

143.02438

Word count

4,846

Sentence count

95

Harmful content

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


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Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for this very exciting announcement.
00:00:06.080 My name is Goldie Gamari, and I'm the Member of Provincial Parliament for the Riding of
00:00:09.920 Carleton, and it's an honor to be joined by my Ottawa colleague, Minister Lisa McLeod,
00:00:17.320 and also the Honorable Minister Raymond Cho, Minister of Seniors. And with that, I'm going
00:00:25.680 to pass it along to minister Cho to make some remarks and then following that I'm going to pass
00:00:33.680 it along to minister McLeod thank you very much minister Cho thank you for the introduction my
00:00:42.240 favorite MPP Marie I want to also say hello to really hard-working minister Lisa McLeod
00:00:53.280 i'm glad that she's with us hello minister and my pleasure to meet jane martill senior manager
00:01:04.640 community programs and operation of a rural self senior services and the yunsuk lee president of
00:01:15.520 Otawa Korean Evergreen Society
00:01:20.360 Hello
00:01:23.360 If you were in Korean,
00:01:25.520 Happy to see you
00:01:27.360 Yes, happy to see you
00:01:30.640 Evergreen Society,
00:01:33.280 Otawa
00:01:35.280 Sang-nok-hye 0.99
00:01:38.000 I will be happy to see you 0.97
00:01:41.280 Thank you
00:01:42.880 Oh, it's a big organization.
00:01:52.960 Happy New Year.
00:02:01.120 MPP Gamari, I'd like to say a few words about the importance of a senior community grant.
00:02:12.880 thank you minister please go ahead okay before i do that uh i want to thank you for the tireless
00:02:23.920 work and services that you're providing to everyone in your writing the greater carlton and auto area
00:02:34.160 you are doing amazing job thank you MPP Gammari thank you the people of Carlton should be proud
00:02:45.020 of how hard you are working for them and the leadership that you are providing each and
00:02:53.060 every day in your writing at the Queen's Park as well senior community grants are incredibly
00:03:01.820 important not only for seniors who will benefit directly from this funding but
00:03:13.840 for everyone in Carlton these organizations are the glue that keep our
00:03:23.360 Ontario seniors together. They are the heartbeat of our neighborhoods. This funding will help
00:03:34.080 make each organization stronger and we need these kinds of investment now more than ever. The COVID-19
00:03:45.040 global pandemic has been difficult for us all it has also been particularly
00:03:54.480 challenging for ontario seniors seniors organization help us overcome social isolation
00:04:04.000 they are where we meet people and build lasting relationship
00:04:10.960 Seniors groups keep our seniors fit, active, healthy and both physically and mentally.
00:04:20.560 And today, MPP Gamari, I'm very proud to be here with you to celebrate this marvelous organization
00:04:32.480 and how they are supporting our seniors. Thank you so much for inviting me.
00:04:40.240 Thank you very much Minister Cho for joining us. Today is certainly an exciting day for
00:04:46.160 our community and for seniors living here at home in Carleton and across Ottawa.
00:04:52.000 As you mentioned Minister, the Seniors Community Grant Program enables municipalities and local
00:04:56.960 organizations to deliver programs for Ontario seniors to stay fit, active, healthy and socially
00:05:03.120 connected with their communities. Our government is investing $170,000 by supporting seven projects
00:05:10.080 across Ottawa through the Seniors Community Grants Program. Ontario is committed to investing in
00:05:16.160 seniors and their communities to stay fit, active, healthy, and connected with their communities.
00:05:22.560 I'm pleased to speak a little bit more about the two projects in my riding, Rural Ottawa South
00:05:28.720 Support Services and the Ottawa Korean Evergreen Society. However, before I do so, I would like to
00:05:34.960 first introduce the Honourable Minister McLeod, Minister of Heritage, Tourism, Culture and Sport
00:05:40.800 to make some remarks and speak about this amazing grant as well. Thank you. Minister?
00:05:46.000 Listen, thank you so much, Goldie. It's a pleasure to be here. I appreciate you
00:05:49.120 organizing this. You're doing a wonderful job and I know I can't turn around without seeing
00:05:54.000 you working for the folks at the Osgoode Care Centre or the Rideau Osgoode Senior Support
00:06:01.200 services and so many others so congratulations and keep up the great work and I'm just delighted
00:06:07.040 that my really good friend and colleague Raymond Cho has joined us today. Minister Cho has been
00:06:13.120 nothing short of an incredible advocate for those with seniors across Ontario and those with
00:06:19.520 accessibility challenges and his advocacy has been felt across the province because of that work at
00:06:25.840 the cabinet table and being very persuasive with both myself and my other colleagues around that
00:06:32.080 table, but also with the Premier. Him and the Premier are quite good friends and when Raymond
00:06:38.400 speaks on behalf of seniors, it's hard not to want to make sure that we support him in every single
00:06:45.840 way possible. I want to wish those that are celebrating Lunar New Year, Gang Haipat Choi.
00:06:51.520 i'm excited obviously to do some in-person and some virtual events uh as as we continue to ease
00:06:57.840 restrictions and and i know um i know the last uh two years have been very tough particularly
00:07:03.760 for our seniors uh before i just get into some of the matters at hand um with with the success of
00:07:10.160 these grants uh and two of which are in in the pan i did want to say to all of those assembled
00:07:15.360 i know we have a number of stakeholders here uh on behalf of our government myself and goldie as
00:07:20.720 local members you know Ottawa is our home and yes it is the seat of Parliament yes it is a nation's
00:07:27.360 capital but it is also home to the seniors on this call it's also the home to a million residents
00:07:35.280 who live work and play here who raise their families who work and take the bus to work or
00:07:41.360 roads and bridges and and other modes of transportation it's where we send our children
00:07:47.040 to school and i know the last couple of days have been very frightening for my residents in ottawa
00:07:52.800 and as the person who's responsible for speaking on behalf of the city of the cabinet table
00:07:57.840 obviously it concerns our entire city it also impacts the tourism hospitality culture sport
00:08:05.120 and recreation sectors and i just i wanted to say that um i i've been monitoring the situation over
00:08:12.400 the past weekend i've been in constant contact with the solicitor general as well as the um
00:08:18.400 as as the chief of police and and the premier's office and him himself uh just monitoring that
00:08:23.680 situation and and i have appealed uh for the protesters uh to go home it's time for our
00:08:30.240 residents to be able to get safely back to work uh and for our students who have been um you know
00:08:37.920 afflicted without being able to go to school for the past number of years. When they finally got
00:08:44.400 to start learning, some of the children in the Corps were then again sent home to work and do
00:08:51.040 their school work at home. And I think in the spirit of getting past COVID-19 and working
00:08:57.360 through that together, I would just again appeal to those protesters. You've made your point,
00:09:03.840 we understand where you're coming from but it's now time for the city of Ottawa and the residents
00:09:09.760 who live here and call Ottawa home to get back to to get back to what they do best so with that I
00:09:16.560 also recognize there are a number of seniors who have been impacted by that and they've been
00:09:20.560 impacted by this entire COVID-19 and that's why I'm really delighted that this grant is going to
00:09:27.600 be making its way at a very organic and grassroots level not only in the PM but throughout the rest
00:09:32.560 of Ottawa as well and I'm really excited for two organizations that I've had the pleasure of working
00:09:37.520 with for the past 16 years to receive these grants and I think as you see on the on the call here
00:09:42.880 today Ottawa is also a very fast-growing very diverse city and that's why I think the grants
00:09:48.000 that were made today are really important to bring seniors out of isolation particularly those
00:09:53.920 in marginalized communities or new Canadian communities who find comfort in staying with
00:10:01.200 their own cultural communities which is which is why i'm just really delighted that um that we are
00:10:07.040 supporting the uh the indo-canadian community center and my friend ken who's been bringing
00:10:13.440 indo-canadian seniors together for many many years and for them to be able to get a 25 000 grant
00:10:20.320 uh to empower and support seniors is really incredible and i want to thank the minister
00:10:24.480 for recognizing their hard work and the dedication of ken and his team um also brad spooner's been
00:10:29.680 been working very hard at the NPE and Ride Owosgoo Community Resource Centre for many, many years.
00:10:34.620 And I really am excited for the program that they're bringing older adults together. And I
00:10:40.760 think it could come at a more meaningful time. And I'm looking forward, Goldie, when the pandemic
00:10:46.840 is over to doing what I used to do when the riding was NPE and Carlton, and maybe we could host it
00:10:51.180 together. But I used to do a couple lunch and learns and bring the seniors together. And I used
00:10:56.940 make the sandwiches so i'm looking forward to getting back to those to those days and working
00:11:01.260 with these organizations in order to support them and bring them back together i know i've spoken
00:11:05.900 too long but i'm really excited because a little bit of money for these not-for-profit organizations
00:11:11.660 goes an incredible way uh government cannot and should not do it alone um and we need great
00:11:17.100 community partners and minister raymond show has has found a way uh to get to those seniors in my
00:11:23.260 community and across the rest of the province in order to do that so thank you very much for
00:11:27.180 the opportunity and thank you Goldie for including me and for organizing this today thank you so much
00:11:33.020 Minister McLeod I look forward to trying out some of those sandwiches I've heard great things about
00:11:39.900 and so with that I'd also now like to speak a little bit about the grants for some of the
00:11:46.780 organizations in my riding the first one is rural ottawa south senior support services
00:11:53.980 and i'm pleased to be joined by jean martell who's the senior manager of community programs
00:11:59.740 and operations as well as france connor program manager for friendly voice and it's really
00:12:06.140 exciting to announce today that our government is providing ross with 25 000 as part of the senior
00:12:14.220 community grant and part of this is going to go towards the really important work that ross is
00:12:20.300 doing we're investing in ontario seniors to help address the issue of social isolation during covid
00:12:27.100 19 and a friendly voice program was started by ross actually back in 2018 i remember
00:12:34.460 is when our government first provided funding for this program and since then it has just
00:12:40.780 ballooned it's a program that's not just being used by seniors in carlton um or ottawa but my
00:12:47.340 understanding is all across ontario as well and it's become uh almost the the model um for other
00:12:54.380 organizations uh to to look at so with that i'd like to introduce jean martel and france connor
00:13:03.740 to say a few words about this exciting investment thank you very much thank you
00:13:10.780 All of us at Rural Ottawa South Support Services couldn't be more excited to receive this grant to support the A Friendly Voice telephone line for seniors.
00:13:21.780 The Government of Ontario has been an incredible supporter of our phone line and we're very grateful for the opportunity to work together through this generous grant to recruit and train the growing number of volunteers required to staff our expanding phone line.
00:13:36.780 We're especially pleased that the government of Ontario recognizes that a friendly voice is an innovative response to the growing crisis on loneliness and isolation with seniors in the province.
00:13:47.780 Thanks to this grant, we will have the capacity to ensure that there is always a warm and caring volunteer available to speak with an Ontario senior who needs a friend.
00:13:58.780 I'd like to pass it over to France and she will give you some background information on the program itself.
00:14:06.780 thank you jean and thank you goldie for having us um so as mentioned loneliness and isolation can
00:14:15.420 lead to significant physical and health issues among seniors that is very concerning so like
00:14:19.820 goldie mentioned a friendly voice was launched in december of 2018 to provide a free confidential
00:14:24.620 warm line for older ontarians 55 plus who just want to chat with a friendly person who cares
00:14:31.100 without expectation or judgment whether they are struggling with loneliness or simply looking to
00:14:36.460 stay socially healthy and add some connection to their routine we offer an empathetic ear and good
00:14:41.660 conversation a friendly voice relies on and is powered by trained volunteers and without them
00:14:48.140 engaging in friendly conversations would not be able we would not be able to provide this service
00:14:53.500 so our phone line is available seven days a week from 8 a.m until 10 p.m
00:14:57.660 thank you very much for that and i'm really excited and looking forward uh to seeing how
00:15:08.060 this program continues to grow i think it's so important um especially for for seniors who are
00:15:13.820 isolated in rural areas like here in carlton i'd now like to introduce another amazing organization
00:15:21.100 uh the ottawa korean evergreen society to say a few words and before before i introduce everyone
00:15:27.980 i just want to say um i have a soft and i have a very special place in my heart for non-profit
00:15:34.380 organizations that support seniors my mom actually works at one in the york region area
00:15:41.260 she's been working there for over 10 years now and that that organization they've branched out
00:15:49.500 and they provide services to seniors from various cultures and in various languages. So my mom
00:15:56.220 is responsible for the Iranian branch of the wellness and diversity program at
00:16:04.140 CHATS, which is Community Home Assistance to Seniors. It's a non-profit in the York Region
00:16:10.700 area. I used to volunteer there when I was younger, this is well back before I got elected,
00:16:18.060 and you know one of the most important feedback that we received even as a volunteer there was
00:16:24.060 for a lot of seniors especially newcomers there's a language barrier and so that language barrier
00:16:30.460 adds an extra layer of isolation because it's difficult to get information or it's difficult
00:16:36.860 to reach out and and feel in connected to the community because of that gap in language barriers
00:16:45.820 and so organizations that not just provide services to seniors but provide services to
00:16:51.740 seniors in their own languages i think it's critical and it's an important part of our
00:16:56.460 community and with that i'm so thrilled to have the ottawa korean evergreen society here
00:17:03.260 and they are receiving a grant of 24 700 dollars and with that i'd like to introduce
00:17:11.180 the President of the Ottawa Korean Evergreen Society, Yoon Sook Lee, Vice President Thomas Ryu,
00:17:18.460 OKS Advisor Jung La Cha, and also the Treasurer Thomas Yoo, to say a few words. Thank you very much.
00:17:27.980 Thank you. Thank you, Minister Cho and MPP Gamari and MPP McLeod for supporting our association.
00:17:38.140 we are extremely grateful for receiving this grant this has been a very difficult time for
00:17:44.860 seniors in our community but the seniors community grant is helping us pursue 0.97
00:17:51.500 creative and engaging activities to help address isolation of older adults in the auto korean
00:17:58.860 community by connecting senior members through various programs such as cooking class physical
00:18:07.260 exercises, visitation, etc. We hope to enhance the spirit of community and promote a healthy
00:18:16.000 and happy winter season. It has also been very important to be able to deliver Korean
00:18:24.160 programs, as you all said, and we are very welcomed and supported by MPP Gomari and Minister
00:18:31.980 show and your understanding and recognition of the importance of senior cultural programming
00:18:41.580 really does make a difference to us so my sincere thanks to you all thank you very much
00:18:53.980 thank you thank you very much um programs like a friendly voice and a project to
00:18:59.020 address isolation of older adults, help keep seniors connected so they don't feel the weight
00:19:04.220 of being alone during this time. We're also providing grants to three other organizations
00:19:11.900 in the Ottawa area. There's the Centre Multiseries Funko Fund de l'Ouest Ottawa Inc., which is
00:19:18.300 receiving $24,270. Jewish Family Services of Ottawa is receiving $23,649 and Old Forge Community
00:19:28.780 Resource Centre is receiving $23,509. I think with these investments that our government is making
00:19:37.500 today, it shows that Premier Ford and our entire government is committed to the safety and well-being
00:19:43.260 of Ontario seniors and we're proud to invest in projects that are helping to meet the needs of
00:19:48.300 seniors in their community. This funding promotes healthy, fit, active, safe activities in our
00:19:55.020 communities close to home with our neighbors friends and family today's funding project
00:20:00.860 helps to promote senior health and well-being again i'd like to thank minister cho for joining
00:20:07.260 us today i'd like to thank minister mcleod as well for joining us and i'd like to thank
00:20:13.580 ross and korean evergreen society for joining us as well with that that concludes our announcement
00:20:20.780 and we'll now turn to the media if there are any questions
00:20:28.460 if anyone has any questions please use the raise hand function
00:20:37.740 no questions
00:20:40.620 okay well thank you everyone this concludes oh
00:20:43.180 uh there's a question in the chat hey sorry can you hear me this is g from cbc ottawa yes
00:20:52.940 i wasn't quick enough on the on the mouse there for the raise hand thank you for your time today
00:20:58.220 um i just want to switch back to what uh mr mcleod addressed earlier which is the the ongoing convoy
00:21:05.180 situation in ottawa i'm wondering if both mpp gamari and the minister can both take this question
00:21:11.500 And, you know, we're day five into an ongoing situation.
00:21:16.120 And Minister, you mentioned a few moments ago
00:21:19.920 that it's time for the protesters to leave
00:21:22.940 and you've appealed to them to do so.
00:21:24.400 But I'm wondering if each of you can speak more specifically
00:21:28.360 on what you would like the city of Ottawa
00:21:31.820 and its police service to do in the next day
00:21:35.700 to facilitate what you want to see happen,
00:21:38.860 which is the protesters leaving.
00:21:40.360 What exactly would you like to see them do?
00:21:42.320 Understanding, of course, this is a difficult situation,
00:21:44.740 but what would you like to see happen?
00:21:46.900 I just wanna first say that I think the city of Ottawa
00:21:49.920 and the mayor and the police have done good work.
00:21:56.420 What I think would be more helpful at this particular time
00:22:00.800 is for the federal government to take a proactive approach
00:22:05.800 active approach to listen to the reasonable elements of of this to try and de-escalate it
00:22:13.960 i am not happy that people are clogging our downtown making it difficult for seniors to
00:22:21.000 get to medical appointments i'm not happy that law-abiding business owners have been roughed up
00:22:28.360 I'm not happy that the shelter at the Mission has had to face difficult situations on top of
00:22:36.600 the difficult situations that they already deal with and I'm not happy that our hoteliers have
00:22:40.920 been harassed and verbally abused. I don't like national symbols being defaced and I think that
00:22:49.880 that all should be called out and condemned but at the same time I'm sure that there are many law
00:22:56.600 law-abiding citizens that are there that are reasonable that shouldn't be painted with that
00:23:01.400 brush and I really feel that the leadership needs to come from the federal government which is why
00:23:06.840 those protesters are there I have incredible faith in the Ottawa public police services and I know
00:23:16.580 the mayor is equally as frustrated I'm asking the protesters to please be reasonable understand that
00:23:25.320 are children that need to go to school in the area, there are seniors that need to go to medical
00:23:29.720 appointments, there are small businesses who only got to start to reopen yesterday that now have to
00:23:35.560 be shut, and there are social services that have seen an increase in their flux, and so I think
00:23:46.680 I would just appeal to all reasonable elements here, and that includes the protesters, it also
00:23:53.480 includes federal government to have a discussion in the Ontario legislature we have a motto that
00:24:02.840 that Minister Cho and MPP Gamari and I abide by it's here the other side and I'm not saying I
00:24:11.320 agree with the Prime Minister I'm not saying I agree with the protesters I'm not saying I disagree
00:24:15.400 with either of them in this particular case but the only way that this is going to be de-escalated
00:24:21.240 in my opinion watching what i'm seeing is if there is leadership and that leadership has to
00:24:28.680 come from the federal government and the the municipal and this goes back to my point
00:24:35.000 this is not just the federal seat of parliament it is a city where a million people live work and
00:24:41.960 play and not all on parliament hill and uh this has been incredibly taxing it has children afraid
00:24:49.960 it has people being harassed verbally, it has people being blocked out of their business.
00:24:56.440 That is not a peaceful protest but inflaming situations doesn't help either and I'll leave
00:25:03.720 it at that and perhaps Goldie has a little bit more to offer. Thank you Minister McLeod I agree
00:25:12.120 with everything that you're saying. The right to peaceful protest is core to our Canadian identity.
00:25:21.320 It's an important part of democracy. People have the fundamental right to make their voices heard.
00:25:28.600 However, at the same time, the key part here is peaceful protest. And when you have people
00:25:37.000 who are harassing store owners um people who are not following the mask mandate um i heard on the
00:25:45.400 on the radio today that the rito center is going to remain closed because um people uh back on
00:25:52.520 saturday were were gathering inside in the hundreds and ignoring the mask mandate um and so
00:25:59.160 the mall decided to shut down again i think this is the you know fifth day now
00:26:06.040 you know that decision impacts everyone it impacts employers it impacts young people
00:26:12.440 who work there it impacts people who go to the mall for various reasons it impacts our
00:26:21.720 entire community um when you have people who are um defiling monuments um desecrating statues uh
00:26:31.560 that's not right that's not appropriate and i don't really think that's peaceful protest
00:26:37.000 um you know when i heard about uh what happened to the terry fox statue um i was so shocked um you
00:26:44.280 know i made a statement about it on twitter on saturday um i you know terry fox is a childhood
00:26:50.600 hero a canadian icon uh you know a national treasure um and you know the way that i responded
00:26:58.760 to that is i decided to make a donation a personal donation to the terry fox foundation as a positive
00:27:05.480 way to honor his his legacy um and i think to what minister mcleod was saying uh you know as elected
00:27:12.360 officials it's important to lead by example um the people that are protesting um are waiting to
00:27:20.200 hear from the federal government and it seems that there's currently no leadership so
00:27:27.960 in terms of de-escalation and protesters leaving chief slowly spoke about that yesterday and i
00:27:35.400 also want to thank the ottawa police for everything that they have done and continue to do
00:27:40.840 to not just de-escalate but to keep everyone safe and i think sometimes people forget the the hard
00:27:48.680 work that the ottawa police do um because when when a protest happens and there are no incidents
00:27:56.600 people say oh well then we didn't really need police presence did we but perhaps the reason
00:28:01.880 there were no incidents is because the police were working to de-escalate and to make sure
00:28:06.760 that incidents didn't happen so obviously um you know i'm not aware of everything that's
00:28:12.280 that's going on and she slowly uh spoke about that quite extensively yesterday but i want to thank
00:28:17.880 him and i want to thank the ottawa police and all first responders for everything that they are
00:28:22.280 doing um and i would you know my appeal to the protesters is uh you do have a right to protest
00:28:29.080 whether or not um i agree with with the position but please keep it peaceful please keep it
00:28:35.320 respectful because your protest is having the exact opposite effect of what you would like to
00:28:43.800 see your protest is extending the lockdown your protest is keeping people in their homes it's
00:28:50.200 keeping seniors isolated and the message has been received but please respect the people that are
00:28:59.000 living in ottawa um because they need to get on with their lives as well we're all in this together
00:29:05.560 so that's uh that's how i feel about that thank you thank you to both of you for that just a quick
00:29:12.920 follow-up for for the minister uh minister you talked about the notion of needing leadership
00:29:19.080 on this convoy from the federal government i'm just wondering if you can spell out more
00:29:23.160 specifically what precisely it is you would like the federal government to do in uh to to bring
00:29:31.400 the ongoing cluster to an end well obviously i support vaccine mandates uh because we have
00:29:39.080 brought that in as a government i obviously support the masking and social distancing
00:29:43.800 um no sectors have been more hard hurt and during this pandemic than the sectors i represent around
00:29:48.760 the cabinet table um and they are now being hit again as a result of this uh this this protest
00:29:57.320 um but it seems to me laying the blame at the city of ottawa um is is not the appropriate place
00:30:03.640 because quite frankly this is where i separate sort of official ottawa which is parliament hill
00:30:09.000 from the rest of us who live work and play here and raise our children here and retire here um
00:30:14.760 you know we're we're the ones that are um um you know dealing with this and i think
00:30:20.280 um you know i think that the federal government um needs to maybe tone down some of its rhetoric
00:30:27.160 and and perhaps um you know have a conversation with the more reasonable people uh that are part
00:30:34.920 of this protest um i i have a hard time believing that all of them um are are filled with with um
00:30:42.760 hateful rhetoric i think that there there has to be a way to tone this down and these protesters
00:30:51.160 um some of whom are truckers others um who have other agendas came to our city um to deal with the
00:31:00.440 the federal government and they will stay here until the federal government um does something
00:31:08.760 and i i don't think it's up to the ottawa police to take every single protester and
00:31:13.400 and get them out of the city.
00:31:15.100 I really feel that the folks that are here
00:31:18.920 are here to be heard by the federal government.
00:31:23.620 And I think that there needs to be a leadership there.
00:31:29.460 I think they, you know, I'll tell you something.
00:31:33.460 I've been protested a lot in my life.
00:31:36.240 I've had death threats.
00:31:37.880 I've lost stickers put on my campaign lawn signs.
00:31:45.120 I have had police protection
00:31:48.400 for the better part of this four year mandate.
00:31:52.660 But I have to tell you every time
00:31:54.400 that there is a protest at my office
00:31:57.360 and people are angry at whatever,
00:32:02.740 if I'm not there, I ensure that one of my staff
00:32:07.020 goes out and speaks to the organizers,
00:32:09.700 lets them hand us the petition or the letters,
00:32:13.120 assure them of their grievances.
00:32:15.080 We allow the use of our watch room.
00:32:20.340 It really is how you treat people.
00:32:23.120 And I'm not saying that you need to acquiesce
00:32:27.020 to those elements of society
00:32:30.260 that have transcend upon our city that have been vile.
00:32:35.080 And, but there are some hardworking people
00:32:39.960 that I have seen on the clips on TV.
00:32:42.120 And I think to ask those people
00:32:45.120 and just really try and take the temperature down.
00:32:52.780 I have a 16 year old daughter who was afraid
00:32:54.980 on Friday night of all of this.
00:32:57.760 My partner, my husband works on Parliament Hill
00:32:59.740 and was yelled at and called a traitor.
00:33:02.300 I have had friends downtown try and help get me to get them to their medical appointments.
00:33:08.220 I've had other friends that have been barred from their workplace.
00:33:12.380 This is becoming very personal for the people of Ottawa.
00:33:16.220 And I don't want to see a police officer hurt when I feel that taking the temperature down
00:33:22.260 in the room is probably the best path forward.
00:33:26.280 But I'll leave it to the federal government to determine those next steps.
00:33:30.860 But I certainly I certainly am of the opinion that our civic leadership through Mayor Watson
00:33:38.160 and his council are not to be blamed for this.
00:33:42.600 Thank you for that.
00:33:46.260 Thank you, everyone.
00:33:47.260 Thank you, Minister.
00:33:48.260 seeing as there are no more questions, that will conclude today's announcement.