Madam Speaker, I rise today to give my maiden speech and to speak to today's Conservative motion on taxes.
I would like to start with what brought me to run for the riding of Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, and that was the passing of my friend and mentor, my predecessor, Gord Brown, who dutifully served in this House for the residents of Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes and all Canadians for many years. Gord was a great Canadian, and I learned a lot working with him. He was very generous with his time in teaching me about the work he did and the work we can do as parliamentarians for our communities.
In seeking the nomination, I had great support from my constituents and my community. The list goes on and on. There were people like Randy and Gloria Stowell, Ena and Rick Ward, Nancy and Chris McCluskey and Tory Deschamps and Erin Merkley, to name a few. With the support of those volunteers and supporters, old and new, we achieved a positive result. It brought me to be able to campaign in a by-election, where I heard about many of the things being discussed in this House today: affordability, taxes and the direction of our great country.
I had many volunteers who helped me. There are too many to name. The days started with Bob Hayes pounding in signs at all hours. There was Reilly Dwyer, my financial agent, and Michael Jiggins, Renee Jackson, Andrew McCue, Ken Neuman and Isaac Roke. The list goes on and on of people who were committed to delivering a Conservative member back to this House to advocate and fight for the things that are important to them. As I said, those are the things being discussed here today.
I would be remiss not to mention my family and the support of my mom and dad, Chris and Anne Barrett. My mom took an interest in politics very early on in life and, in fact, was raised here in Ottawa. She never sat in the gallery in the chamber to attend a debate. The first time she took a seat in the gallery was the day she watched me take my seat in this great place and took in question period. I am so blessed to have had the support and to have had them present here that day.
I had many mentors over the years, including Jack Doyle and the McCluskey family, Peter, Bonnie and Ian. Of course, I had my siblings, my sister Allison and her husband Kyle MacDonald; my brother Matthew Barrett and Sulin Quant; and Liz and Rob Waring. My in-laws, David and Arlene Bruce, filled a very special role during my by-election. My wife and I had had our fourth child, James, who arrived prematurely. They were very giving of their time and their house, along with Natalie and Mike Coulter, Tiffanie and Rob Comeau and of course, their children.
I would like to mention my grandparents, Francis and Betty Barrett. Francis was a civil servant, serving the RCMP and CSIS. They were unable to join me on the day of my swearing in but did watch from home and were so proud.
I know that right now at home, eating three bowls of plain noodles with just butter on them, are Luke, Ama and Michaela, and beside them is James, with my wife Amanda.
I mentioned that my son James arrived prematurely. That my wife Amanda knows the importance of the work done in this place was very apparent to me. After a week in hospital with James, my wife said to me, “This is great.” I looked at her, and I looked at James. They were both alive and healthy, and I thanked God and said, “Yes, this is great.” She said, “Yes, now we are not going to have a baby in the middle of an election.” She is such a wonderful supporter. She knows that I have spent my life wanting to be here. I worked incredibly hard to join the 337 parliamentarians who work in the best interests of their communities and their ridings, and I am honoured to join them. I consider it a blessing and something I have been called to. I am honoured to be here.
I did also say I would speak to our opposition motion today, and it is so important to do so. These are the things I heard about across my riding as I met thousands of my neighbours and constituents. I knocked on many doors and sat at many kitchen tables, which was a nice relief because it was very cold to stand on the doorsteps at the time.
When the Conservative government was in power, it delivered on its words with great action. That is juxtaposed against what we heard in 2015. There was a promise of three modest deficits in exchange for an infrastructure program the likes of which we had never seen.
In my riding alone, the former Conservative government delivered infrastructure, as it did across Canada. There was a $12-million investment in the Port of Johnstown, in partnership with the municipality and the Province of Ontario, and $110 million were invested in broadband in eastern Ontario. After my election, I met with chambers of commerce, business leaders and members of the community regarding access to broadband. Many would be surprised to know that many Canadians do not have access to reliable Internet for their businesses and homes and for their kids to do homework. That is sorely lacking.
Today, I call on the government to make that investment, to invest in our rural communities and invest in broadband, as the Conservative government did when in power.
The Conservatives made $25 million in investments in local infrastructure for roads, bridges and facilities across my riding, and a $60-million investment at the two international border crossings, which eased both tourism and trade in eastern Ontario and in my riding of Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes. We have seen what an effective infrastructure program can look like. We have seen what happens when a government lives the phrase “deeds and not words”. That is what we saw with the previous Conservative government.
Now we have a Liberal Prime Minister whose failure to get tariffs lifted after renegotiating NAFTA is hurting businesses. We have businesses that are paying tariffs when they buy the raw material and when they export the finished product. They are getting hit both times, and they do not understand why the government will not stand up for them.
Canadians are tired of paying for the Prime Minister's mistakes. They know that his out-of-control spending and ballooning deficits will be the taxes of tomorrow. Tomorrow is not that far away.
On April 1, we will see the implementation of a carbon tax in Ontario. It disproportionately and unfairly targets all people, including the people in my riding of Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.
We have just experienced very Canadian, very cold weather. We have one of the coldest climates on the planet. Heating our homes is not a behaviour that needs to be corrected. Driving a car to work or taking children to dance, hockey or soccer is not a behaviour that needs to be corrected. Driving to get groceries or to the doctor is not a behaviour that need to be corrected with a carbon tax.
The good people of Westport would love to hop on the GO train to head over to Merrickville, or take the SkyTrain from Kemptville to Cardinal or take OC Transpo from Gananoque to Prescott. However, public transit is not available throughout most of my riding, and it is not available throughout most of Canada.
We need a government that is going to reduce the burden on Canadians, cut taxes and make life affordable. That is what we are calling on the government to do. That is what the residents of Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes sent me here to do, with the support of the people I listed and the support of hundreds more.