Thank you.
I want to talk to you a bit about a little incident that happened to me on Wellington Street. At this time, the most dangerous thing on Wellington street is that it is a street with no real purpose. There are cars driving on it and pedestrians walking around pretty much everywhere in the street, plus bicycles and scooters; it is an absolutely dangerous place.
I have to tell everyone that last spring, I almost lost my life on Wellington Street. It was when the traffic lights were still operating to control vehicle traffic. One of my colleagues stopped me at the last minute, just before a car flattened me.
I want to thank the Parliamentary Protective Service, which helped me bring this up with the municipality of Ottawa. I wrote to the mayor of Ottawa and received a reply from a political staffer. However, because a traffic study had to be done, it took a month before the traffic lights were removed and stop signs put up, when it could have been done in two days.
At present, the lives of parliamentarians and users of Wellington Street are being put in danger by maintaining the street's undefined status. What can we do to improve the situation and protect the parliamentarians and visitors who are currently using this artery?
Is it the role of parliamentarians to go and do traffic control and tell people to stop and pay attention? I don't think so. When politicians are allowed time to make decisions to protect people, we have cases like mine, where it took me a month to get an answer.
I don't think we are best placed to decide the best measures. Do you sincerely think that parliamentarians, elected representatives, are best placed to make decisions about the security of a place like Wellington Street?