Mr. Chair, through you to Mr. Jaffer, one of the stories I did mention in my maiden speech in the provincial parliament was that when I used to go the University of Toronto, which is right next door to Queen's Park, I used to work in a restaurant as a dishwasher. I would actually be taking the sidewalk that is right behind Queen's Park. One of the stories, as I said, was that as an 18-year-old travelling by Queen's Park, I never imagined that a first-generation immigrant would actually get the opportunity or the honour to sit in that assembly one day and perhaps try to make a difference.
You know, I tell these stories to the candidates who come in--we call them candidates--for citizenship, and I say, “Folks, get involved. Get involved politically. It does not matter which party you want to get involved with, and if you don't like any of them, put your name forward. It can be done. You can actually put your name forward, and if you work hard and people believe in you, one day you can get elected.”
Without getting into political partisanship, I always ask them to get involved in every political level. You know, we also say everything is politics. There's politics at home, there's politics at school, there's politics at work, and there's politics in Parliament.
Thank you.