Mr. Speaker, it is a tremendous honour to be here to make my first speech in this Parliament, my first speech ever as a member of Parliament. Getting here was, as for all members of Parliament, a challenge. We navigated a very tough campaign. I have to give particular thanks to the people I would not be here without. One of them is in the House today, my wife Jennifer, without whom I would not be the man I am today. I am so tremendously grateful that she has been by my side for this journey. I also want to thank my parents, Jim and Trish, who instilled in me the values of hard work, with the encouragement and motivation to be anything I could be. That is a path that has brought me to where I am today in front of you, Mr. Speaker. I thank all of them.
To the people of Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, I am very aware as I enter this chamber that this seat does not belong to me. It belongs to the people of my riding. I vow and pledge to be a faithful custodian of this seat, however long I have the honour of sitting in it, and to serve and represent my constituents.
One thing I love about my riding is how much of the wide array of Canada is embodied in it. We have rural communities and small towns. We have the fast-growing city of St. Thomas. We have the incredibly vibrant community of London. My riding is home to beachside villages and fisheries. We have small businesses and manufacturing powerhouses. We have 1,400-plus farms, ranging from small family farms that feed the communities around them to large agricultural enterprises whose harvests end up on plates around the world.
The county of Elgin and the riding of Elgin—St. Thomas—London South are a success story, and it is my honour to represent them in this chamber as their member of Parliament. The community is incredibly vibrant. From Rodney to Straffordville, from Port Glasgow to Port Burwell and from Eagle and Iona Station to my beloved Lawton's Corners, my riding is made up of incredible communities filled with incredible people. I get to represent them, everyone, regardless of how they voted, the farmers, the artists, the entrepreneurs, people who have just made Canada their home for the first time and people who helped settle this country and settled the community generations ago.
It is people in these rural and smaller communities in particular who have felt most neglected by the last 10 years of the Liberal government. It was their struggles that motivated me to jump into politics. As a journalist and broadcaster, I could not spend an election with the stakes so high on the sidelines. I had to have a hand in the solutions.
Like most in this chamber, I spent the campaign knocking on doors. I spoke to thousands upon thousands of people in my riding, and I want to share a few of the stories that stood out and that I carry with me today.
One was about a retired teacher from St. Thomas, a woman who said she had voted Liberal every single election in her entire life. I asked her, “Why not now?” and she said, “I just cannot.” Now, a good politician probably would have taken the vote and walked away, but as a journalist I asked one further question: “Why?” She said that her sons are 28 and 30 years old and live with her, and that unless things change, they are never going to be able to move out.
That one conversation I had is so similar to countless more of people whose families could not develop and thrive the way that most Canadians dream, the way that people in my riding dream, because of Liberal government policy, which has made home ownership a fantasy rather than a dream and an aspiration.
There was a business owner in Aylmer in the machining sector who felt the combination of taxes, regulations, red tape and, yes, the carbon tax made it so unaffordable to do business in his own community that he would be better off to just shut down and retire or move to another country, like the United States. That was before the threat of tariffs. We were already on a weakened economic footing because of the last 10 years of the Liberal government.
I met one couple in London that did everything right. They worked, saved what they could and supported their children, but now their landlord is selling the house they rent. They were convinced, with the prices of rent and the unaffordability of a home, that they were going to be homeless. This is not what should happen in a country that has as much to offer as Canada.
These are the stories that stay with me. These are the stories that are etched on my heart as I enter this chamber. These are the stories that motivate the work I seek to do here as a member of Parliament. However, these struggles and these stories did not disappear on election day. These people are still out there. Their struggles are still out there and they deserve action. That is exactly why it is incumbent on us in this House to provide and deliver.
I got into politics to serve these people. I got into politics to serve these constituents. I also got into politics to make Canada a freer place. In the last decade, the Liberals have put freedom in their crosshairs in more ways than I could list in the time I have here.
The Liberals have tried, in their paternalistic fashion, to censor what Canadians see and say online. The Liberals have told parents how to raise their children. They profess to support press freedom while banning independent journalists from even reporting on them, something that is a fundamental charter right in this country.
The Liberals have threatened the charitable status of houses of worship and have at the same time turned a blind eye to rampant vandalism and the arson of churches. For some, turning a blind eye was not enough. They actively or tacitly condoned such actions. This is a party that has imposed Laurentian elite policies on communities that never asked for them and that I can tell members, having gone through this election, do not want them.
I am here to tell the Liberals that their assaults on freedom will not stand. I am putting them on notice right now. I am here because I love my country. Unlike the Prime Minister, who picks whichever passport is most convenient in a given moment, I actually love Canada. Canada is the only country I have ever called home. It is the only country that I have any desire to be a citizen of. It is an honour and a privilege to be a Canadian.
I have always been proud of my country. I have always stood for my country. Unlike Liberals, who wrap themselves in the flag when it is politically convenient, I am not a fair-weather patriot. We will always, on this side of the aisle, stand up for Canada, be proud in our Canadian identity and be proud of our country. This means being proud of the institutions of this place, being proud of our history, being proud of the people who built this country and standing for those who seek to celebrate and preserve Canada. That is what brings me here. That is what I will do as a member of Parliament.
I do not like the fair-weather patriots, those with their new-found celebration of Canadianism, with their flags still creased and wrapped in plastic, practically, as they seek to lecture Canadians on what it means to be an elbows-up Canadian. I will always wave and have always waved the Canadian flag proudly, and I will not stand by while those who were denigrating people for doing that years ago claim to have the moral high ground on what it means to be a Canadian now.
This is a chamber that gives those who sit in it a tremendous honour to be part of the direction this country is going to take. I do not enter into that lightly. I am honoured to be here. I am grateful to my constituents and pledge to serve them and all Canadians. May God bless the work we do in this House and may God bless Canada.