I want to go back to the part where we are not a banana republic. I want to make sure that the people out there understand that we are not a banana republic. We will not go under that banana republic label, because we are a country with a rule of law. We are a country that respects the law. We are a country that understands what law is all about.
Why do people come to Canada from all across the globe? They want to come to Canada because we are a democracy. We follow the law and we respect each other's freedom, rights, religion and sexual orientation. We respect what food you eat, where you live and who you hang out with.
I choose to hang out with my colleagues across the aisle here. I'm so happy to be able to hang out with all of you. Nobody made me do this. I worked hard to be here.
I'm so happy that I'm able to see all of you here today, because if it weren't for my quick thinking and a little police motor vehicle manoeuvre, I might not have been here with you this morning because of the accident I had last night. If you want proof, I do have a police report to show that I was in an accident and that the car was damaged quite extensively.
Anyway, going back to democracy, we are living in a democracy, and I firmly believe that we should leave the police to do the job they are paid to do or they are entrusted to do or they are sworn to do. They are sworn to secrecy. They are sworn to confidentiality. They are sworn to fulfilling their duties as police officers. It's the highest honour.
Being a member of Parliament is such an honour for me. I get to be in a place where only 338 members get elected to be. Some 128,000 residents live in my riding of Markham—Unionville. It was good enough for them to think that I deserve to be here, that I should be here, because I represent them.
One of the reasons I am representing them here is that out of the 128,000 people in my riding, 66% are of Chinese descent. That's the largest Chinese population in any riding right across Canada. For me it's important to reflect the community that I live in and I represent.
Apart from speaking four dialects of Chinese—Mandarin, Cantonese, the dialect of Hubei and Hakka—I also speak Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi and a little bit of English. It helps me to communicate and meet with my residents and to help them in the best way I possibly can, to advocate on their behalf and make sure they understand that I will take their voice to Ottawa, because for me, together we achieve—