Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today on behalf of my constituents of London—Fanshawe. I am always proud to represent them. Every day I come to this place eager to work and create solutions and programs that will help my constituents. That is what they expect from me. Each person in London—Fanshawe depends on me to be honest, to act with integrity to the best of my ability, to improve this country, to expand upon the social programs and services upon which they depend, to help them and to address the issues they are struggling with.
Many of my constituents are worried about the cost of living, about feeding, clothing and housing their families, about their jobs, about their quality of life, about their health care and about their pensions. They worry about their families and friends down the street. Many worry about friends and families all around the world who want to come to Canada to share in the idea of what Canada is. Many of my constituents are terrified for their loved ones around the world, in Ukraine, in Sudan, in Gaza and in Lebanon. People in my area, in my community, are terrified. As a G7 country, they look to our government, expecting us to show leadership on the world stage to fight for a more just world.
I have spoken in this place often about how proud I am of the supports that New Democrats have gotten for Londoners and Canadians. The provision of dental care is actively helping so many in London—Fanshawe. Seniors have told me that they are relieved, because after having spent years of living in pain, they have the ability to get their teeth fixed. Also, with pharmacare, the provision of free diabetes medications and devices and free contraceptives will save millions of people millions of dollars. I am proud that I can be part of those supports, and many other New Democrats have negotiated them with the government for the people. New Democrats did that. We used our time here not to promote ourselves but for others.
I am frustrated beyond belief, because despite my being elected to help navigate these issues with my constituents, I am here today having to talk about the greed and corruption of the government. In the last month or so, I have been disappointed every day, because we keep coming back to a Conservative filibuster and a Liberal cover-up, and we continue to listen to Liberals and Conservatives compete over how bad they are. Every day in this place, Conservatives talk about how bad and how scandalous the Liberals are, and the Liberals in return talk about how bad and how scandalous the Conservatives are. Guess what. Both are terrible; they are both scandal-ridden. Here is a news flash: Each party, whether it is the Liberals or the Conservatives, has not used the power they have been given by their constituents for all of their constituents.
What so many members in this place do not seem to understand is that this place, Parliament, this access to power, is not about them. I am not here for them; I am here for the people who do not directly sit in this chamber and who do not represent billion-dollar interests or individuals who hoard the wealth and power of this nation for themselves. For the majority of their time in power since Confederation, these two parties have worked to undermine working people. They have worked to ensure that this system only benefits them and their closest friends, friends who already hold a great deal of power but are determined to never lose it.
Up until this point, I did not want to enter this debate, but after weeks of listening to Conservative after Conservative and the member for Winnipeg North, I could not take it anymore. We are debating this issue of integrity again, or lack thereof, and I have entered the fray. I cannot imagine how many hours have been spent in the House over decades debating Liberal and Conservative scandals.
Under Stephen Harper, where many of today's Conservatives cut their teeth, including the current Conservative leader, we saw the other place stuffed with party insiders who treated the public purse as theirs. They lined their pockets, only to have the Prime Minister's Office try to cover it up. In 2011, the Conservatives used robocalls to mislead voters away from the polls to try cheating their way into a majority government.
We saw the member for Peterborough—Kawartha's predecessor, Dean Del Mastro, carried away in handcuffs for breaking election laws to cheat and hold on to power. We saw Peter Penashue take illegal campaign donations and be forced out of cabinet. We saw Max Bernier, the Conservative leader's colleague at that time, forced out as the foreign affairs minister when he left classified NATO documents lying around. We saw the member for Parry Sound—Muskoka's predecessor take $50 million out of the public purse to flood his constituency with gazebos and expansions under the guise of the G8. We saw the Auditor General's investigation showing that they refused to keep a paper trail.