Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Brampton East.
I am honoured to rise in the House today as we mark the opening of the second session of this remarkable 43rd Parliament; a Parliament unlike any other before it.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created one of the most challenging health and economic crises our country has ever faced, and in cross-border communities like Windsor—Tecumseh, we have felt the full force of COVID-19's terrible impact. As a proud manufacturing region, many of our workers did not have the ability or the choice to take their work home during the shutdown; either one was in the factory or one was not. The closure of the U.S. border not only deprived our community of visitors and commerce that keep our businesses vibrant, but it also forced the gut-wrenching separation of families and loved ones at a time when they were needed the most. As a region with the largest concentration of greenhouses in North America and hence the largest concentration of temporary foreign workers, we saw how quickly and ferociously COVID outbreaks could spread in the agriculture sector.
Few communities in Canada faced all these forces at once, but we more than faced these challenges. In the face of COVID-19, the residents of Windsor—Tecumseh rallied together like never before, and here is just one incredible example. On June 27, a miracle happened. Communities across Windsor—Essex came together and, with the help of 10,000 volunteers, collected over two million pounds of canned goods and donations to help feed the most vulnerable.
As members can see, the residents of Windsor—Tecumseh are incredibly resilient and incredibly compassionate. Our community was able to weather this storm in part because we felt we had a partner and friend in the federal government in Ottawa. Since March, our government worked at lightning speed designing new programs and benefits to support Canadian workers and businesses through this challenging period. As the member of Parliament for Windsor—Tecumseh, my goal was to ensure that our constituents' voices were heard and reflected in the decisions being made in Ottawa. Each day, we spoke with countless residents, workers, business owners, organizations, mayors, farmers and nurses. Each night, we transmitted everything we heard directly to cabinet ministers who quickly crafted programs in response, such as the Canada emergency response benefit, which helped nearly nine million Canadians keep the lights on and cover the cost of rent, groceries and other expenses. Three million-plus Canadian employees remain connected to their employers through the Canada emergency wage subsidy program. I spoke with workers at Ford and FCA's Windsor assembly plant, and small business owners like Mike, the founder of Advance Electric and Controls, who said that the wage subsidy was a lifeline that kept the company going and took care of families. Restaurants, cycle shops and hair salons were able to continue because of the wage subsidy and because of the $40,000 emergency business loan that supported over 750,000 businesses.
When we designed the programs, we did not always get it right the first time, but we kept listening to Canadians and kept adapting to make sure we protected the health and livelihood of Canadians and Canadian businesses. While the pandemic has certainly exposed major weaknesses in our systems and institutions, it also brought to light an incredible sense of community. Signs popped up on lawns and in windows across Windsor—Tecumseh thanking essential front-line workers. Manufacturing companies in Windsor—Essex converted their operations to produce PPE and medical supplies. Windsor Mold Group partnered with the federal government to produce two million face shields for health care workers. Hiram Walker and Wolfhead Distillery shifted production from whisky to hand sanitizer. Ford Motor Company, CenterLine, Cavalier Tool and Valiant began manufacturing face shields, face masks and protective clothing. The Windsor Essex Sewing Force recently pieced together its 25,000th mask. It is inspiring but not surprising to see the number of local companies that stepped up.
When it became clear that the pandemic was impacting low-income women, seniors, persons with disabilities and those experiencing homelessness, our government crafted the $350-million emergency community support fund to leverage the great work of charities and local not-for-profits to support vulnerable neighbours.
In our region alone, over $2.3 million in community support funding was distributed to local organizations through trusted local partners the United Way of Windsor-Essex and the Windsor-Essex Community Foundation. Lorraine Goddard, Lisa Kolody and their teams were chosen based on their commitment to collaboration and an ability to respond quickly to emerging needs in our community.
The local Alzheimer's society and several other organizations collaborated on the Windsor-Essex seniors call assurance program, which provided outreach and social support to seniors in isolation due to COVID.
Big Brothers Big Sisters developed a virtual learning program for at-risk youth in priority neighbourhoods.
The Arts Council received funding for their art share initiative, which helps grow Black and indigenous cultural spaces, connections and professional development opportunities.
Family Services developed the COVID-19 counselling support line to help residents access much-needed professional counselling services.
Since the start of the pandemic over 50,000 children and adults received food assistance in Windsor-Essex. In April, the Prime Minister announced the federal investment of $100 million to create an emergency food security fund to boost the efforts of local food banks. The Windsor Essex Food Bank Association received over $500,000 in direct funding and purchased food from the emergency fund. This important investment will allow June and her team at the Unemployed Help Centre to continue operating drive-through food hubs, ensuring that our most vulnerable neighbourhoods and neighbours have access to fresh food throughout the winter.
I am proud that our federal investments have helped these essential organizations continue their vital work during the pandemic. They are what makes our country so great and they have a strong partner in our government. That has been the signature approach: working together, all hands on deck, partnering with community organizations, collaborating with the province and working together with our mayors. This has been a true team Canada approach.
When Mayor Dilkens and Mayor McNamara told me that the city of Windsor and the town of Tecumseh, like many cities and towns across Canada, were struggling under the costs of COVID, we listened and we got to work. Within weeks our government put forward $19 billion in safe restart funds to help municipalities. Our two communities of Windsor and Tecumseh received close to $19 million to help keep services going.
When Ontario opened schools back up and parents were worried about the safety of their children, our government provided $2 billion in a safe return to class funding. Our local Catholic and public school boards received $6 million to purchase PPE and retrofit their classrooms to make them more safe for our children.
What I am most proud of is not just what our government has done to help Windsor—Tecumseh during the pandemic; what I am proud of is the vision we have outlined in the Speech from the Throne of what we are going to do next. The vision outlined in the Speech from the Throne feels like it was written by a resident of Windsor—Tecumseh, for the community of Windsor—Tecumseh.
Protecting Canadians from COVID-19 remains our top priority, which is why we are accelerating the production and distribution of vaccines, COVID testing and PPE. At the same time, we have committed to developing an affordable Canada-wide early learning and child care system that works for parents and their kids. Establishing national standards for long-term care and accelerating the national universal pharmacare program will provide seniors the level of care they deserve, while lifting the burden of expensive medications for all Canadians.
One pillar of the government's vision is to protect jobs, workers and their livelihoods. Modernizing and expanding the EI system, while at the same time establishing a Canada recovery benefit, creates a safety net for workers not able to work, for those not eligible for EI and for families taking care of loved ones.
There are two additional key commitments that will have a huge impact on the residents of Windsor—Tecumseh. Our government has committed to making historic investments to make Ontario and our region a global leader in the manufacture of zero-emission vehicles, batteries and clean technology. We are already seeing the fruits of that commitment with a $2-billion investment in the Ford plants in Windsor and Oakville. That is combined with a commitment to make the largest investment in Canadian history in the training and upskilling of Canadians to guarantee our workers and our residents of the skills necessary to thrive in the economy of today and tomorrow. These investments protect the health and well-being of Windsor—Tecumseh residents, while at the same time protecting jobs that drive our region's economy and prosperity.
Over the last year, it has been a privilege to serve the residents of Windsor—Tecumseh during these difficult times and it has been an honour to be part of a team and government that is focused on the right things, the only thing, which is the health, safety and well-being of Canadians.