Mr. Speaker, one of my mentors is Donna Cansfield, a former MPP for Etobicoke Centre. She once said to me, “Yvan, the most important job of a politician is not to talk, it is to listen. When you listen, you understand people's priorities, their challenges and you acquire knowledge about how to solve those challenges.”
Etobicoke Centre has, per capita, one of the largest populations of seniors of any riding in Canada, so I spend a lot of time trying to address the challenges that seniors face. I also spend a lot of time listening to seniors.
When I was an MPP, I hosted a monthly seniors' advisory group meeting to learn about and discuss how we could address the challenges seniors faced in my community.
As the MP for Etobicoke Centre, I have started to hold those meetings once again, and the turnout so far has been fantastic. We have had over 100 seniors come to each of our first two meetings. I would like to thank the seniors who have come out so far and contributed to those meetings and I would like to encourage and invite all seniors in Etobicoke Centre to join me at my future meetings. I am eager to address the challenges they face. I am eager to listen.