Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Yellowhead.
It is of course an honour to be speaking today with my distinguished colleagues surrounding me, and making my maiden speech in the House of Commons. I am especially pleased to be responding to this throne speech.
I must begin where it all starts and ends, and that is with the hard-working, very welcoming and completely engaged people who make up the many amazing communities of Parry Sound—Muskoka. I want to thank them for their support and their trust and for giving me what is really the opportunity of a lifetime to serve in this chamber. I promise to not let them down.
I am also blessed to have multiple families, including the Koop family and the Schaal family. I want to thank my brother Mike Koop and his tireless wife Kirsty for all their help in my campaign. I want to thank Susan and Dr. Peter Schaal for their endless support and love as well.
Like all the members in this chamber, I had a lot of help getting here and I owe a debt of gratitude to so many outstanding people. I give my thanks to Myke Malone and Kirsten Baker, my outstanding campaign managers. I give a special thanks as well to my campaign chair, Holly Thompson, and to Liam Broad, who helped staff our Parry Sound office under the guidance of my campaign mom, Bev LeDrew.
In Huntsville, Laurie Davison managed our office while her husband Rick worked on signs with the help of so many volunteers like Ned Joiner, who has been there for every one of my municipal campaigns. I thank them all for putting in so many hours on my behalf.
I also want to thank the Lubbelinkhof family, Paul, Greg, Krista and Dick. I might add that Dick, at the age of 80, put up 100 signs the day the writ dropped.
I also met cousins I never knew I had, like my cousin Art Aitchison in McKellar. Who knew he was an election sign guru, but he was.
Bruce Hemphill in Gravenhurst put up so many signs his wrist had to go into a cast at the end of the campaign.
Of course, I send huge thanks to my Muskoka dream team of Kim Sasson, Tami Mattice and Kelly Draper, door knockers extraordinaire.
All of these folks, along with Gord Haugh, Gail Finnson, Keith Montgomery, Landon French, Kirby Hall, Michelle Fraser, Jeff Watson, Gordie Merton and so many others, I thank from the very bottom of my heart.
Our nation is seized with challenges, including national unity, pipelines and infrastructure. There are immense pressures on health care and education. There is the declining state of our economy. Internationally, we are at odds with China and most certainly Iran. If ever there were a time for strong, principled leadership, it would be now.
We came out of the last election a divided nation: east and west, rural and urban, young and old. We are divided on the environment, on energy, on social issues and on our place in the world. If ever there were a time for inspired leadership, it would be now. If ever there were a time to start bringing Canadians together, it would have been in the government's throne speech.
I was not expecting miracles, not from the current government. However, I was expecting at least some acknowledgement of the problems and some understanding of the great need to bring Canadians together. Instead, we got business as usual. We got a lot of words and very little action.
I got into public life to change that kind of thinking. I am here to bring people together, not divide them. I am here to find real solutions to real problems and not to score cheap political points. My family and friends did not work so hard for me, and the people of Parry Sound—Muskoka certainly did not vote for me, for just more business as usual. I believe Canadians deserve much better than that, and I believe we members of Parliament can do better than that.
I do not pretend to have all the answers, but I have learned a few things after 25 years in public life. First, I have learned that communication is, first and foremost, about listening. Second, there are always more than two sides to every issue. Third, there is nothing we Canadians cannot achieve if we reject the divisive politics of region against region, urban versus rural, and rally to those great nation-building values upon which we have built the greatest nation on earth: freedom, opportunity, support for those in need and our devotion to fairness and justice in this tumultuous world.
That is the kind of can-do attitude that has always served my constituency well, whether it was the outstanding work by my predecessors, such as the legendary Stan Darling and more recently Tony Clement, or whether it was rolling up my sleeves with my fellow mayors, such as Graydon Smith in Bracebridge or John Klink, the district chair, to build Muskoka's health and transportation infrastructure.
Parry Sound—Muskoka has always succeeded when we work as a team. We must do this for Canada. Let us put aside the petty partisanship and rally behind real leadership that is willing, able and ready to bring this country together. I am not convinced the government's throne speech does that and yet I know that Canadians deserve better.