Mr. Speaker, coveralls matter. They matter because they are worn by people, workers who get up day in and day out and make all our lives better.
With me here in Ottawa are the coveralls I last wore when I worked in the patch in Alberta. They bear my name and the company's name, but more importantly, these coveralls symbolize the current plight of every unemployed energy and construction worker in Canada. Right now there are over 100,000 pairs of coveralls stuffed in duffle bags, hanging in closets and not being used, all because of destructive government decisions.
The energy I helped extract from the ground likely ended up in the gas tank of a mom taking her kids to soccer, music lessons or school; maybe in a truck bringing fresh fruit and vegetables, lumber or consumer electronics to a local store; possibly in a tractor by a farmer preparing his fields to grow food for the world, or maybe even in an air ambulance that just saved someone's father, mother, sister, brother or child.
Coveralls matter. A government that forgets this does so at its own peril.