It gives me great pride today to share the story and outstanding efforts of a grassroots charity organization formed in my hometown of Leamington. Hogs for Hospice was a vision of a small group of local citizens who shared a love of motorcycling and community. Recognizing that many of us will at some point require the compassionate supports offered by palliative care, this dedicated group sought to create a world-class, family-friendly motorcycle and music festival to raise money to build and maintain a world-class hospice campus while advancing health care in Leamington and surrounding communities.

This past civic holiday weekend, Leamington welcomed thousands to the 5th annual Hogs for Hospice. This event featured exceptional food vendors, a motorcycle stunt show, a guided motorcycle ride along the shores of Lake Erie to Point Pelee National Park, and it culminated in an amazing live music concert at our Sunset Amphitheatre, headlined by legendary rock band The Cult and country music artist Brett Young.

To date, Hogs for Hospice has raised over $1.5 million for Erie Shores Hospice. I want to thank and personally recognize the many volunteers, the dedicated board and everyone for their efforts to this worthwhile cause. This event could not be possible without the leadership of Joe Oswald, Donny Pacheco, Benji Mastronardi, Brian Cornies, Dave Hodare, Tim Iles and Kevin Safrance.

In 2023, we’re going to continue this tradition, and I welcome everyone to bring their families and enjoy Hogs for Hospice in Leamington.

Thank you to my colleague from Thornhill. I haven’t had a chance to meet her in person, so it was great to hear her inaugural speech. It’s probably my favourite debate—inaugural speeches—because you get to learn so much about people. She really did speak about her father a lot, and I want to thank her dad for his service in the air force.

My grandparents were in the air force as well, and so was my father, who, I often joke, jumped out of perfectly good airplanes for some reason.

Something I have found is that from your parents, you get great advice. You talked about volunteers working on your campaign. Is there anything that you learned from your dad that you would pass along to young volunteers—something that stuck with you that you thought was very valuable, that you could share with volunteers?