Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak today. I will be sharing my time with the member for Willowdale.
First, I would like to congratulate all members of the House. As they say, there is not a bad seat in the House of Commons, so congratulations. We have a lot of work to do. Welcome to the 45th session of Parliament.
I just reminded myself that throughout our political careers, we should never lose sight of the fact that it took a lot of people to get each and every one of us here. We should never forget where we came from and who helped us get here.
I have been elected for 22 years. I started off as a school board trustee and then was a provincial member. This is my second term in the House of Commons.
I want to thank the people of Scarborough—Woburn for putting their faith behind me and supporting me during the election. I want to thank volunteers. We had a lot of volunteers, hundreds, who came out for the campaign. I thank, of course, my team at the constituency office. Without them, it would be very difficult for me to do my job. I thank my campaign manager and CFO and the entire team. Of course, I also thank my family: my wife Lori and my daughters Maren and Myla.
Again, I thank the people of Scarborough—Woburn. I appreciate that they have put their faith in me.
If members were in Ottawa last week, or anywhere in the country, actually, they may have noticed that something special happened. We had a throne speech and the King came to deliver that speech. It was a pretty big deal. I thought it was a fabulous speech.
One of the pieces that really resonated with me was the King's position and words on democracy, as reflected through, of course, the government's position. He talked about democracy in the world and how everything is shifting. We have found ourselves at a place where the world is shifting and where there is more division and uncertainty.
Canada is not immune to that. We are feeling pressure. We feel our economy being challenged, as well as our safety and way of life. Global trade is being redefined. At home, we are struggling with the threat of tariffs, which compromise industry and make life more expensive for people overall.
We are seeing threats toward our democracy. I want to talk a lot about democracy today. We see the changes taking place around the globe, with attempts to overturn elections; democratic backsliding with governments weakening courts, media freedoms and civil liberties; and crackdowns on opposition and the free press. There is a lot happening in this country and a lot happening around the world, and Canada is not immune to the challenges that democracy faces.
In Canada, we have a strong democracy, but we need to pay attention to the challenges we are facing. We have seen the rise over the last little while of polarization and extremism in this country, with increased hostility, misinformation, divisive rhetoric and an erosion of respectful democratic discourse; foreign interference, which we are all concerned about; online disinformation; and an increase in hate. We have seen a massive increase in hate, and we as Canadians should not tolerate that.
Even during the campaign, I saw many different types of interference. Hundreds of my signs were destroyed. Pieces of literature were being distributed, which I am sure folks saw, with disinformation about churches and other religious institutions having their charitable status removed. There was misinformation about the sale of homes and capital gains, even to the point where letterhead was being manipulated showing positions by governments and parties that were not real. We have had politicians decide not to run because of the threats they have felt, and the media and reporters have talked about this as well.
One thing that always fascinates me about democracy is who shows up to vote. We know that there has been a statistical decline historically in voter participation. The good news is that in this election, the numbers increased compared to the election in 2021, but we are seeing a decrease compared to the period from post-World War II to the 1980s, when we saw about 75%. In 2008, the lowest numbers came forward, at 58%, and in the recent election in 2015, we saw 68.3%. We are seeing an increase right now, but traditionally over the last 30 to 40 years, we have seen a decline.
Democracy matters in this country. Democracy is what keeps our country moving forward and is going to be our pathway forward to strengthen the relationship of all Canadians. I am a big supporter of the preservation and promotion of democracy because it gives people a voice. When a good democratic institution is working, people feel like their voice is being reflected in it. Democracy protects our freedoms. The freedom of speech, the right to vote, the freedom of the press and the right to protest are not just ideals; they are foundations to a strong democracy.
Democracy creates space for change, which is really important, especially in a time like now when as Canadians we need to make sure there is space for discussions and respectful discourse. Then at the end of the day, we can bring forward the type of change necessary.
Democracy also keeps our government leaders accountable. It is so important because it allows us to make changes if we do not like a politician or a party. That is what is beautiful about democracy. It reflects who we are and allows us to build a stronger future together.
We must meet the challenges our country faces, and there are many challenges. As I said, our entire global trading system is being reshaped by the threat of tariffs and the divides that people are working behind the scenes to create. We need to take on these challenges, and having a strong democratic system is the key to continuing to build a strong country.
The government in place under our new Prime Minister is going to look for ways to take on trade and create economic fairness to make sure that we not only continue to build a relationship with the United States and redefine this relationship, but also open up trade routes and trade relationships around the world. I have always talked about how Africa is on the rise, and we as Canadians should be looking toward Africa as we look for ways to reshape and rethink our entire trading system.
We have to invest in the Canadian economy. We have diversity here. We represent all countries around the world. We need to leverage that to build a stronger economy, and we need to build this future together. We know that democracy is not perfect, but we also know it is the best system we have in place to shape our future. It reflects our values of fairness, justice and opportunity.
We are going to look at how we move forward to build stronger, safer communities. We are investing more, as the throne speech said, in defence, securing our borders and keeping communities safe. We will look at how we spend and will look for ways to reduce the growth taking place naturally through inflation and other systems to keep it at a reasonable rate that is good for Canadians.
We have to embrace technology, automation and AI, and look for ways to strengthen our country by making sure that at the end of the day, we take advantage of them.
We will also keep investing in national programs such as child care, pharmacare and dental care. Of course, we are promoting a tax cut, which I hope all members of the House will support.
In my final 30 seconds, I would like to say that as Canadians, we stand for fairness, democracy and inclusion. We protect the vulnerable, fight climate change and push forward on reconciliation. We celebrate our bilingualism, multiculturalism and shared values, and we step up to big moments. Through war and global challenges, we are always called to lead, and we will continue to do so. Let us shape a Canada that works for everyone, not just today but for generations in the future.