Mr. Speaker, as always, it is such an honour to be in the House to serve the amazing residents of Essex, and quite frankly, the region and the country. I have a couple of quick notes before I get into this very important conversation.
I just want to thank the people who put on the National Prayer Breakfast today. In my speeches, I always thank my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. This morning, everybody at the breakfast came together and truly gave all grace and glory back to him.
I want to say happy birthday to my daughter, Faith. It is coming up here very shortly, but we will not be here next week, so it is important that I say happy birthday, sweetheart. She is daddy's little girl who is not so little anymore.
My heart is with the two pilots, their family at Air Canada, and all the victims. It is ironic that the very people who get so many of us back and forth to Ottawa to do the people's work are the ones who were injured. My heart is equally with the firefighters.
Lastly, I just want to say hello to the students who got a virtual tour of the House of Commons. Thanks so much for coming on a virtual tour.
There is a reason that we have a great big windshield on a vehicle and a small rearview mirror. The small rearview mirror is so we never forget where we came from. It is vitally important to know where we came from. The reason for the big windshield in the front is not just to clean bugs off it. It is to know where we are going, and that is the plan. When people jump in their vehicles, they have a plan. They are going to the hockey rink, to the grocery store or perhaps to an Easter party.
I am so thankful to be able to stand in this place today. I will not yell, scream or get really crazy about this, because it is somewhat of a sombre moment. When I think about the assembly plant workers at Stellantis in Windsor, I also think about the tool and die makers, the mould makers, the tier twos and tier threes, and all of those who deserve nothing less than complete support and a plan to ensure that food is on their table.
I do not want to speak only about the workers. I want to talk about the businesses: the blood, sweat and tears, all the money invested, all the risks that they have taken, and all the chances to ensure that there is food on the table for those workers. It is why I am very proud to stand here, in the people's chair of Essex, to speak about the Conservatives' opposition motion to introduce a tariff-free auto pact.
I will be splitting my time, whatever is remaining, with the great member for Cambridge.
I had the great opportunity to be with the Leader of the Opposition last Friday. We started out in Windsor with an announcement, and then we crossed the border. It is the busiest international border crossing in North America. Quite frankly, it is a border that sees a vehicle's parts cross it six to seven times before the vehicle is actually assembled.
When we went across the border, our first stop was at General Motors' headquarters in Detroit. We had a great discussion, a very in-depth discussion. Basically, all the managers could say was they absolutely adored our plan, they think it is bang on, and they are dead against tariffs as well. This was from the very senior managers of General Motors in downtown Detroit, right in the middle of the big three, in the heart of the big three. That is what they said.
We then went a bit outside of Detroit to Dearborn, Michigan, to a brand new, beautiful, gorgeous Ford Motor Company facility. They basically gave us the exact same message, in that they need our plan and they like our plan. They are going to invest in Canada, and they hope that our plan helps invest even more into Canada. It truly was an honour.
I am a co-chair of the Conservative auto caucus and have been for about six years now. I have had numerous opportunities, in the past and again this year, to visit the auto show in Toronto. It is an amazing auto show, by the way. I met with so many industry leaders about the beginning of our plan and what our thoughts were, to get their feedback and to understand more about what industry needs and what we can do communally to ensure that our auto sector is absolutely strong like it used to be, so that we are not down to 1.2 million vehicles built in Canada from the two million we used to build. Let us double that.
I have built some pretty strong relationships over six years. I will even go as far as to say that, and I am going to preempt the strike during questions, I have spent a lot of time speaking to labour as well, specifically with Unifor. As a matter of fact, I had them in my office this afternoon.
I want to point out a couple of folks here.
Somebody who has become a great friend of mine is Brian Kingston, and I also admire him because he works so tirelessly. He is the President of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association, and he said, “North American integration has underpinned Canada's auto industry for over 60 years. Diversification is not an option.” Mr. Kingston goes on to say, “The policies outlined in the Conservative...plan recognize this reality and aim to make it more attractive to build cars in Canada.”
Further, Mr. Jeff Gray from Unifor Local 222 came out and said, “Finally, a common sense plan to protect the livelihood of thousands of Ontario Auto sector workers. A plan that restores past production levels and secures a long-term future”.
Those are not my words. They are from industry and labour.
I touched on tier twos and tier threes, and I will say that they truly are the backbone of the assembly plants. Without them, quite frankly, nothing gets assembled. I have visited so many mould shops and tool and die shops throughout the Windsor-Essex region, each with their own story and each with their own fastball that they can throw.
Equally, I was down in Mexico about six weeks ago on a trade with other members of the House from both sides of the aisle. We had the opportunity to meet with the Senate of Mexico, with the senators, and in a private meeting I asked what we can do to support them, but equally, how they can support us. A senator said that it is ironic that we have what they need and they have what we need. I said that what is really ironic is that when I fly from Windsor to Ottawa, there is a Mexican plane sitting on the tarmac with parts from Mexico. My point is that it is so wildly integrated that all of us must jointly work together.
I know that my time is running short. I could talk for hours on this, but obviously I do not have the time.
We have a plan to make it more affordable to buy Canadian by removing the GST on all Canadian-made vehicles, to bring home production through performance by implementing a rule that for every car produced in Canada, the same manufacturer would get to sell a car in Canada duty-free, to protect North American supply chains by maintaining the minimum 75% North American content and existing CUSMA rules of origin, and to develop automotive security and technology by creating a harmonized North American cybersecurity and data standard.
It is an honour to stand on behalf of the hard-working folks from Essex and Windsor, and I will close with this: I am here today to say no more job losses, empty promises or sacrifices from our auto workers. That is why I support the Conservative plan for a tariff-free auto pact. Essex-Windsor auto workers are among the best in the world, and their jobs deserve to be protected.
