Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to comment, because as a GTA member and as somebody whose riding borders on Toronto, and whose businesses were certainly improved by the G-20, it strikes me that what we're hearing a lot from the opposition is, why Toronto? It goes without saying that Toronto obviously had the capacity to handle such an event. It goes without saying that Toronto is the financial hub of the province of Ontario, if not all of Canada.
It also goes without saying that Ontario manufacturers have been hurt by the global economic downturn, and bringing 30 world leaders representing 95% of the world's population to the city of Toronto, with the media and all of the delegates that attend such an event, not just for the G-20 but for the time leading up to the G-20, can only be viewed as a positive thing for all of these individuals.
I actually have a visitor expressing his way into my riding on some point during the week. I wonder what his message is going to be to the people of the GTA when he expresses himself into my area. His message obviously, if I judge the members opposite, is going to be that Toronto, the GTA, is simply not a world-class city. His message is going to be that the GTA is simply not mature enough to handle such an event. His message is going to be that Canada, under the opposition coalition, will once again be a follower and not a leader.
I say with the greatest of respect to this visitor that that's simply not a message that Canadians are telling me. That's not what the people in my riding are telling me. The businesses in my riding who were able to make connections and were able to talk to the people that they actually export their products to, who mentioned...“Wow, we saw Toronto; we saw a lot of things, and we're getting to know your country a little bit better”; it was because of all of the work that led up to the G-20, all of the work that led up to the G-8, and all of those connections. They are ecstatic about what happened. The manufacturers in my area, particularly those in Markham, which is one of the hubs of manufacturing in all of the GTA, could not have been happier about this.
I simply cannot understand why it is that the members opposite simply cannot understand that Toronto and the GTA are areas that are capable of having these types of events. I guess it should be no surprise that under their watch we lost the 2008 Olympic bid. They simply have no vision. They simply do not have the same level of respect for the police forces in Toronto, they do not have the same level of respect for all of the businesses, they do not have the same level of respect for the people of the city of Toronto, in fact the entire GTA, so that they can actually host an event of this magnitude.
Let's talk about what we did here at the G-20. We saw, through the leadership of the Prime Minister, that we were able to make sure there was no banking tax. At the G-8 in Huntsville we finally made some advances on millennium goals 4 and 5.
We brought 30 of the world's most powerful leaders, as I said earlier, representing 90% of the population of this planet to the city of Toronto, with their delegates and their delegations, who visited, not only during the weekend but before that, who were in our hotels.
I believe it was the head of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association who said this was the biggest stimulus to hit the city of Toronto ever. What an absolutely incredible opportunity. What do the members opposite say? They put their hands up and simply say, well, it can never happen again. Under a coalition of the opposition, Toronto and the GTA will never ever have the opportunity to host such an event again.
It is simply absolutely staggering to me that after all of these years they still do not believe that Toronto is a world-class city. They do not believe that the people of Ontario, that the people of the city of Toronto, the entire GTA, the most powerful region in the entire country, I would submit, once the economic engine of this country and again moving towards that distinction, can hold events like this.
I can tell you I'm extraordinarily proud of what we accomplished. I'm extraordinarily proud, as I said earlier, of all the police forces. But more importantly, too, I'm excited by the connections that were made because of the G-20. I'm excited by what the business people and the manufacturers and exporters in my riding are saying are the benefits of the G-20.
I guess I would just hope that the opposition would reflect on those things. If someone asks why we are talking about thugs and hooligans, it's because those are the people who ruined or tried to ruin the G-20. Those are the people who broke the law. Those are the people who threw bricks, who put themselves in the path of peaceful protesters, of people who had a legitimate voice, of people who actually wanted to accomplish something. They insinuated themselves into that.
We discussed how many people there were. The reality is those aren't people we should be defending. We should be defending those who have a legitimate reason to demonstrate, those who have a legitimate voice. We should be condemning the thugs and the hooligans. You want to talk about thugs and hooligans? We're talking about the person we all saw throwing a brick at a Starbucks or who had a club and was trying to break windows. That's who we're talking about when we're talking about thugs and hooligans.
Again, I just have to say as a GTA member, as somebody whose riding borders on Toronto, it would certainly be refreshing in all of this if just for a moment the opposition reflected on all of the benefits, if they just for a moment congratulated the city of Toronto for what it accomplished and how it used the results of the G-20 to improve the lives of the manufacturers, of the businesses, of the people of the city of Toronto and all of the GTA, so that as we come out of this global downturn, strong as we are, we will continue to grow.
Somebody talked about economic growth. You know, I look at this and I see 95,000 jobs created. That's extraordinary. It's extraordinary, but there's a lot of work to be done still. As I said in my remarks, our recovery is fragile. Bringing all of these people to Canada, to Toronto, to make sure that global recovery continues on I don't see as a bad thing. I see that as a good thing. I can tell you that all the people of my riding certainly share that view.
I guess my message to the people of Toronto is this. At least on this side of the table, they have people who appreciate what they accomplished, who will always fight to make sure that Toronto is a place that will continue to lead not only in Canada but in the world. We will never be ashamed of what it accomplishes and what our people accomplish. We will always seek to promote it and the entire region, because it's an extraordinary place.
I encourage some of the people opposite who have not had an opportunity to come and visit not only Toronto but perhaps my riding, Markham, to see what they're talking about, what they're saying the advantages were. They might have a bit of a different perspective on this from simply coming here and bringing forward a motion that seeks to divide us, that seeks to point out the actions of hooligans over the actions of our Prime Minister and the other world leaders who are leading the world and helping make sure we have economic growth and sustained prosperity going forward.
Thank you very much.