Madam Speaker, I am honoured to be here, in this historic chamber, to deliver my first speech as the member of Parliament for Vaudreuil—Soulanges.
I want to thank the people of Vaudreuil—Soulanges for their support and for giving me the opportunity to represent them here in Parliament for this term. I also want to thank my wife Paula, who was always there for me during the long campaign, my son Anderson, who every day gives me the energy I need to continue, my mother Louisa, as well as Jean-Paul and Alain, my brother Alexandre, and everyone else in my family who helped me become the voice for my community here in Ottawa.
I would like to thank the great people of Vaudreuil—Soulanges for giving me the honour to address this House today and to represent them and be their voice here in this historic chamber during the 42nd Parliament.
In short, the Speech from the Throne has been very well received by my constituents. I have had the opportunity to discuss it with a number of them since it was read by His Excellency the Governor General. I have received many positive comments and words of encouragement for this government.
I would add that this government's agenda represents the values of my constituents and Canadians, especially when it comes to equality of opportunity. This has contributed to making Canada one of the most prosperous countries in the world, a country chosen every year by hundreds of thousands of people seeking a better life.
I am convinced that this government's agenda, as expressed in the Speech from the Throne, will enable the people from Vaudreuil—Soulanges and Canadians across the country to achieve their full potential.
In the past 10 years, population growth in Vaudreuil—Soulanges has been among the highest in the country. Tens of thousands of people have chosen to make a life in our region. Many of them came for the wealth of our natural heritage. I am talking about the panoramic vistas of Mont Rigaud and the orchards of L'Île-Perrot. I am talking about the shores of Hudson, Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lac, and Les Cèdres, and all the farmland that dots our region.
That is why I join the people of Vaudreuil—Soulanges in the goal of building a stronger economy that respects our environment.
My constituents in Vaudreuil—Soulanges are looking forward to having a more robust environmental assessment system, one that will give their municipal representatives and aboriginal communities a voice in the project development process.
My constituents applaud the government's promise to invest historic amounts in sustainable and green technologies and infrastructure, and in Canada's capacity for mitigating climate change. All this will contribute to growing our economy while protecting and preserving our environment. This government recognizes that our natural wealth is above all the heritage of future generations and that we must do everything we can to protect it.
Our community has had the privilege of welcoming so many new families over the last decade, predominantly young families, like my own, with young children. These families have come from the island of Montreal, from all across the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and from all around the world. They are proud to add to the richness of culture and history that blankets our region. Our community is proud to celebrate this diversity through annual cultural festivities in the cities of Pincourt and Vaudreuil, and the citizens of my riding applaud this government's statement from the Speech from the Throne: We are as Canadians stronger “because of our differences, not in spite of them”.
I also want to state that the families that make up my riding are incredibly hard-working families. They are owners of small businesses. They are farmers, health care workers, teachers, aerospace workers, pilots, public servants, and of course, the hardest job of all, parents and grandparents. Like most Canadians, they are working longer hours yet still find it hard to make ends meet and provide for their children and grandchildren. That is why they welcome this government's pledge to increase support for lower-income seniors and to reduce taxes for middle-class families, both of which would put more money in the pockets of those who need it and less in the pockets of those who do not.
They also welcome this government's plan to introduce a more progressive Canada child benefit, a plan that, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, would lift over 300,000 children out of poverty, many of whom live in my community.
In Canada, more than one million children, or about one in five, currently live in poverty. I am proud of this government, which has decided to tackle this unacceptable situation. In doing so, we are continuing the work started by other Canadians before us, who had the courage and confidence to invest in the next generations, who are the future of our country. I believe that my honourable colleagues would agree that this is the best way to prepare ourselves for future challenges.
That is why this government will implement an ambitious plan to address issues affecting Canada's youth. As the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister for Youth, these issues are definitely very important to me and I can identify with them. In fact, my mother was a single parent, and today I am the father of a 14-month-old little boy to whom I wish to leave a legacy he will be proud of.
With this in mind, I look forward to working with the Prime Minister to increase the voice our youth has within the walls of Parliament by creating the first ever youth advisory council to the Prime Minister. I look forward to ensuring that we increase the opportunities we offer youth to serve their country, both locally and abroad. I look forward to implementing our plan to reduce the economic burden for all Canadian youth who pursue post-secondary education, and I look forward to providing economic opportunity by reducing the economic burden of unemployed youth on their families by increasing the capacity of the government summer job program over the next three years.
The idea is that if we focus our efforts on channelling the collective energy, innovation, and creativity of our Canadian youth, our country will be better off. This principle has always been one of the drivers of our country's success, and it will help us realize our full potential.
I take this opportunity to note that at one point in our history, we stood up and recognized that if we wanted our country to thrive, we needed to provide every single woman with the same rights and privileges as men. At one point in our history, we rose up to make the case for universal, primary, and secondary education to ensure that we empowered the next generation with the tools necessary to meet the challenges of its time.
Yes, at one point in our history, we recognized that providing equal universal health care for all Canadians was necessary to ensure that we met the basic needs of our population. This ensured that the thoughts of Canadians were focused not on how they would pay for their health care costs or the health care costs of their family members but instead on growing strong families, building more prosperous businesses, creating or assisting community groups, and serving our country in other ways.
These are just some of the ideas and plans that have been put in place over our 149-year history and that have helped Canadians build a Canada that every single one of us in the House can be proud of.
When we invest in Canadians, we set the stage for a stronger and more prosperous country for our current and future generations. For these and many other reasons, I am proud of the direction taken by our government since October 19.