Madam Speaker, I am honoured and humbled to be representing the people of Markham—Unionville. They have entrusted me to be their representative and to speak up for issues that are important to them. I have promised to listen, understand, consult and advocate for them in the House of Commons. I sincerely appreciate and respect their support for me to be their representative.
I would like to thank my community, my campaign team and especially my family: my wife Anna, my son Aaron and his wife Tiffany, and my daughters Samantha and Andrea. It was their love and support that gave me the energy and strength to succeed in my campaign. My family, together with my campaign team, have worked tirelessly to knock on doors in sunny, rainy, snowy and windy conditions. I deeply appreciate all their dedication and support.
As the voice of Markham—Unionville, let me paint a brief picture of my community based on an event I attended just this past weekend in my riding. I gave the closing speech for the 2025 National AccessAbility Week hosted by the NorthStar Special Needs Society. The initiative was designed both to reduce stigma and to raise awareness about disability within Asian Canadian communities. At its root, the event was about creating new narratives for Asian Canadians in the face of long-standing cultural norms, especially around disability. I was the chair of a mental health foundation, and I know that stigma in all societies in general is still very strong, especially in Asian Canadian communities.
What we see in Markham—Unionville is an immigrant community that is forging a new identity in our vibrant Canadian mosaic. Moreover, Markham—Unionville embodies the upwardly mobile middle-class Canadian dream that all immigrant communities aspire toward. It is a riding that has maintained a balance between industry, farmland and urban life. We have industry in the form of both locally grown talent like Novo Plastics and internationally recognized giants like Honda Canada. In the north, Markham—Unionville is filled with serene farmlands, while in the south is a bustling urban environment. Our commercial districts are filled with multi-generational small businesses like Lucullus Bakery and Congee Queen. Altogether, Markham—Unionville is the postcard city for the Canadian dream, with an enviable quality of life.
Let me take a quick moment to define what the Canadian dream is. It is as simple as owning a house on a safe street, where children can play at ease, where seniors can go for a carefree walk and where cars do not go missing in the night. It is shocking to hear about all the car thefts emerging in my community. This is a canary in the coal mine. The Canadian dream is faltering and has been for quite some time. The fabric of our mosaic is coming undone at the seams.
As members of the official opposition, it is not merely our duty to hold the government to account for the agenda that it outlined last week. We are not merely here as policy critics, but as a fellow pillar of governance. We provide hope to Canadians that things can and will get better. The Conservative priority for this session of Parliament is a Canada that is affordable, safe, self-reliant and united.
When I campaigned to my community in Markham—Unionville, I repeated two core promises: One, we will restore safety on our streets by repealing Liberal laws and locking up repeat offenders. Two, we will bring down the cost of living with a budget that cuts spending, taxes and inflation.
I had the pleasure of reading the Prime Minister's mandate letter before hearing the throne speech last week. If I did not know they were put together by the Liberals, I would have mistaken them for something produced by a centre-right party of the last few decades. Thus, one fact is clear to me for this session of Parliament: We are focused on priorities that have been universally championed by Conservatives for decades upon decades. Safe communities with an affordable quality of life are a singular battle cry for Conservatives everywhere.
The Liberals are uniquely ill-equipped to truly deliver on the community safety file, not because of ability, but because of contradictions inherent in the coalition that forms their support base. A safe community requires that we solve both the crime and the drug issues while simultaneously dealing with overwhelmed health care, housing, job markets and immigration levels. Crime, drugs and an overwhelmed social infrastructure are all intertwined in fostering unsafe communities. In juggling all these competing priorities, some will fall by the wayside, explicitly because the coalition that forms the Liberal support base will not allow the Liberals to turn 180° on all their prior commitments.
The prior Liberal commitment on crime is expressed in Bill C-75, the catch-and-release bill. It allows repeat offenders to be released on bail within hours of arrest, and they then often go and promptly reoffend. Only repealing these Liberal commitments can give judges the freedom to allow minimum sentencing.
I was discussing this issue with the deputy chief of police of our great York Regional Police. We have discussed that the police force is discouraged because criminals are released before the paperwork is done. Our frontline police force and their families are fearful every day with these repeat dangerous criminals free on the streets. The throne speech commitment to increasing the RCMP force neither goes far enough, nor should be the only focus.
The prior Liberal commitment on drugs is expressed in Bill C-5, which eliminated mandatory jail time for the production and trafficking of hard drugs like fentanyl. Is it not odd that the Liberal throne speech decreed a desire to block the flow of fentanyl, yet their previous legislation allows fentanyl traffickers to avoid jail term? Bill C-5 allows house arrest for these criminals. This means they can just walk out their own front doors and be on the street immediately, pushing hard drugs in our neighbourhoods.
Moreover, the drug issues require not merely that we stop the drug kingpins and their drug trade, but further, that we have a robust program of treatment in place. The throne speech did not go far enough on the drug file, as it made no mention of addiction treatment programs. This is something that we Conservatives are committed to. Will the government repeal Bill C-5 and Bill C-75, which the Liberals put into place?
I want to remind this House once more what the Canadian dream has always been. Canadians want to own a house on a safe street where children can play at ease, where seniors can go for a carefree walk and where cars do not go missing in the night. The Liberals have presented an agenda that speaks about reducing fentanyl flows and increasing the RCMP force. However, their commitment toward Bill C-5 and Bill C-75 is a threat to Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
My colleagues across the aisle have voted for a Canada where repeat offenders are to be released on bail within hours. They have legislated into being a world where the producers and traffickers of fentanyl get house arrest instead of jail time. I cannot in my right mind consider the Liberals to be a party ready to protect the communities of hard-working Canadians, no matter what promises they have provided in their throne speech agenda.
We Conservatives are a government in waiting. We are the hope of Canadians for a future that can and will be different from the status quo.
Last, I urge the Liberals to provide Canada with a spring budget. Canadians want an open and accountable government with a plan for how to keep our communities safe and our cost of living under control.
