Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel.
First, I want to say that I am always incredibly proud to speak in this chamber and to stand here as a representative of the people of Etobicoke—Lakeshore, whom I have the great fortune and honour of representing. I thank them at every opportunity I get.
I am really happy to be standing here today, talking about a very important topic. I emphasize that, because I am distinguishing it from a very important motion. The last time I spoke in the House on crime-related issues, I said something along the lines that I do not think there is anybody in this chamber or any elected official who does not believe that defending our citizens, standing up for our communities and having safe streets is critically important. I followed that by saying that I defy anybody to say that to my face. It was misinterpreted as a challenge to go outside or something ridiculous like that. The next thing I knew, it was on social media. I will reiterate what I said then. I do not think anybody in this chamber will tell me that I do not believe in the values that I just pronounced, and I know they do not either. That is my starting point.
Having said that, I am sort of sad that I missed the debate last Friday on the Standing Orders because, had I been here, I might have suggested something like changing the name of “opposition day” to “obstruction day”. The leader of the official opposition spoke in this chamber earlier today and said to “put aside partisan obstructionism”. The problem with that statement is that he should be giving that speech tomorrow morning at his national caucus meeting, not here in the House of Commons, because his comments should be directed at his own caucus members.
I thoroughly enjoy working with opposition members, particularly on the justice committee. I look across the way and say that with sincerity.