To the finance minister: With the cost of living rising throughout the province, working people in Ontario and in my riding are being impacted by what feels like increasing prices on all day-to-day essentials. While the GTA is home to many hard-working Ontarians, it is also one of the most expensive regions to live in Canada. Food insecurity affects almost one in five Toronto households. Recently, the University of Toronto released a report that shows that nearly 16% of Canadians live with food insecurity.

As families’ basic needs continue to increase, we know that many families will have challenges, especially with a Liberal carbon tax that raises the cost of everything.

Speaker, can the Minister of Finance share what our government is doing to provide financial relief for the people of my riding and for all hard-working Ontarians?

Mr. Speaker, many Ontarians, including in my riding of Brampton North, are concerned about the cost of gas, which the NDP would like us to raise on hard-working Ontarians. For far too long, we had a Liberal government, supported by the NDP, that continued to impose new tax on new tax, increasing the financial burdens on hard-working Ontario families. Because of their reckless policies, we saw how they made life more unaffordable for not only my constituents but for all Ontarians.

They brought in a devastating carbon tax that raises the cost of everything. They implemented gas tax hikes with the HST. They made life less affordable for all Ontarians.

During the last provincial election, there was even a candidate, Mr. Speaker, if you can believe it, who was a former MPP, who called high gas prices a blessing in disguise.

Can the minister please tell us how our government—

Thank you for the opportunity to rise in this House.

I’d like to thank the voters of Brampton North for putting their trust in me to be our community’s voice here at Queen’s Park.

Given it’s the first time I’m speaking, I’d seek the consent of the House to speak a little about my life, my family, my riding and what drove me to politics.

Brampton North is a riding made up of several incredible neighbourhoods in—as you would expect from the name—the north end of Brampton. We have my neighbourhood of Heart Lake, home to many families who moved into Brampton in the 1980s and 1990s. Heart Lake is blessed with a vibrant natural ecosystem and with beautiful trails and wetlands built into the neighbourhood, like Loafer’s Lake and Etobicoke Creek. Just to the north of us, we have Snelgrove, which is kind of an unofficial part of Heart Lake, depending on who you ask. Snelgrove lies at the very north end of our riding and is known for the iconic water tower at Mayfield and Hurontario.

If we look east of Highway 410, we have the neighbourhood of Springdale. Springdale is a bit of newer neighbourhood in our city, home to beautiful parks, our local hospital—Brampton Civic—the Trinity Common shopping centre, and is also home to many new Canadians who have come to our country in pursuit of a better life. Brampton could not be any luckier, Mr. Speaker.

The impact our new neighbours have in making Brampton a place we should all be proud to call home is significant. We truly have some of the strongest, brightest and most humble. Ontario is a place where it doesn’t matter where you come from, who you love or how you choose to worship God; everybody has a place here, and everybody deserves a chance to succeed.

Interjections.

And I’d remind my colleagues in the House this is a participation sport, Mr. Speaker.

On the northwest end of Springdale, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that we have our very own Rosedale Village. This is a seniors’ community with its own golf course, shuffleboard and events centre. It is also one of the best places for young up-and-coming politicians to receive either sage advice or a firm kick as required. Last, but certainly not least, we have the very north end of old Bramalea—specifically M, N, J and P sections. These are some of the oldest homes in my riding and have some of the features like Professor’s Lake in P section or Mackay’s Pizza in M section. Anybody who grew up in Brampton would know they have the best stuffed Jamaican patties, certainly in the city—some would posit, the entire known universe.

Brampton is one of the fastest-growing communities in our province and in our country. We have one of the most diverse cities in the world and also one of the youngest populations of any major city in our country. You can certainly see this reflected in myself and my colleagues the honourable President of the Treasury Board, the member for Brampton East, the member for Brampton Centre and the member for Brampton West. We are a young, diverse, hungry team who are ready to fight tooth and nail to get things done for our residents.

It’s a privilege to represent the beautiful neighbourhoods and people of Brampton. It is the honour of a lifetime, and the responsibility that that privilege carries is not lost on me. I know that I would not be in a position to carry this responsibility without the love and support of my family: my father, Duncan; my mother, Lesley; my brother, Calumn; my sister, Alanna; my partner, Emily; our dog, Charlie; my niece, Olivia; my nephews, Conor and baby Shea; my quite large group of cousins, uncles, aunts; my living granny, Cathy McGregor; and my three other grandparents who are no longer with us today but I know would be very proud to see me in the House today.

My granddad James McGregor, was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was an incredibly gifted jazz musician, playing in bands in Edinburgh’s vibrant nightlife of the day, and actually accomplished and performed his mandatory service in the band in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces. If anybody in the House has had the opportunity to hear me sing, either in English or in Punjabi, that all came from the musical knack of my granddad, and I’d humbly submit to the House that sometimes I wish a little bit more of that talent rubbed off on me—but then I guess I wouldn’t be doing this.

My granddad James passed away from Alzheimer’s. His family misses him everyday. My immediate family—my uncles Rob and Brian, my uncle Al, my aunt Diane—we all miss him very dearly.

My granny Cathy McGregor—maiden name Cathy Cool—was born in Montrose, a small town on the east coast of Scotland. I owe my granny for my budding sense of humour and my love of McDonald’s French fries, as well as for what my family affectionately refers to as the “Cool glare.” We are blessed to still have my granny with us. She lives in Manchester, near my uncle Rob and my uncle Brian. I know she’ll be watching this speech with immense pride. My granny is also hard-of-hearing, so I’ll look at the camera and just say, “Granny, turn the volume up and put the subtitles on and keep the headphones in. I love you very much.”

On my mother’s side: My grandpa David Hamilton and his wife, Ella Hamilton, came to Canada from Belfast, Northern Ireland. My grandpa came here in the 1950s, actually, on a boat down the St. Lawrence River. He got a job digging roads at the city of Toronto and eventually became a union member at CUPE. He established himself here in Toronto, in Canada, and then flew back to Belfast to fly his family back over to Canada. He had a strong work ethic, and to this day, I still remember a lot of the advice that he gave me. I have a tendency to try to carry too many things at one time, and my grandpa would have called that “a lazy man’s load.” He would have said, “Go back and forth,” and I even heard his voice running in my head last week, as I tried to cart out my garbage bin and my recycling bin at the same time and kind of stumbled over myself. I could hear him in the back of my head calling me a lazy man, and, like all things, he was right. If he wasn’t right, he damn well would make sure that you knew he was right.

We remember my grandma Ella Hamilton for always being the best-informed person at the dinner table. She was well read, intelligent and opinionated. My grandmother had to leave formal education earlier than she would have liked to in order to support her family. She always instilled in her children and her grandchildren a passion for lifelong learning and for doing the right thing.

It’s tougher than I thought it would be, guys.

Speaker, actually, if you had asked my grandma while she was with us, she would have told you that she always knew her grandson would get elected but that he was serving in the wrong party. That’s because both my grandparents on my mom’s side were staunch NDP supporters.

Interjection: Nobody’s perfect.

Mr. Speaker, if you knew my grandma and my grandpa, they would have enjoyed that partisan jab and probably would have put me in my place quite handily.

They both left us in recent years. They also left six children, 16 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren—an incredible legacy—and we all miss them very dearly.

My father, Duncan, came to this country at the age of 15, back in 1968. He loves sports. He was a pretty good soccer player in Scotland, which meant, when he moved here, he was a fantastic soccer player at the time, although I think our boys and girls now would give him a bit more to think about. My dad became a big hockey fan when he moved here, and can you believe that in 1968, when he moved here, he was ecstatic that he had a Stanley Cup-winning team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, to support? I apologize to all members of this House for any bad fortune that my dad brought with him and would just acknowledge that he also made his children Toronto Maple Leafs fans. We all suffer with you in solidarity—although I do have my parade float out in the garage. I’m ready to bring it out in about October after we win a couple of games. I’ll see all you guys out there.

My dad is a great salesman, a mediocre handyman and a halfway decent golfer when he gets out of his own head. More importantly, he’s a tremendous mentor, coach and father, and he has instilled in me the importance of showing up when it matters. I can count on two hands the amount of hockey or soccer games of mine that he missed growing up, and my sister would say the same thing about her figure skating events. He has a saying: It doesn’t matter what you do the night before; you always wake up for work, and you always wake up for golf. His actions also show that you show up when it matters for your kids.

My mother and he were in the stands here during the swearing-in, and I know that they’re watching this on the legislative TV channel right now as well.

Hi, Mom. We’ll talk about you next.

My mother, Lesley, moved to Canada when she was two years old and grew up in a household with five siblings fighting over only one bathroom. If anyone has met my mother, you know she is always the smartest person in the room, and dare I say, the smartest person even when she’s not in the room. My mother taught me and my siblings to work hard, think for ourselves and, most of all, be kind to others. She taught us to always look after your family and to remember what is actually important in life.

As children, we always think that our parents are superhuman, and we don’t think anything can faze them or move them. It was only when I became an adult and grew up that I realized exactly how much my mother has been able to overcome in her life. The amount of emotional strength and intelligence she has shown is what led her children to be able to have such great lives ourselves.

She began working as a secretary in a small chemical company but rose up the ranks to become a general manager and then eventually bought out the company, Cromac chemicals, where she still works with my father and serves as the president. My mother is a boss in every sense of the word when it comes to her family and when it comes to her small business. She continually inspires me to keep pushing forward and demand excellence from myself and from those around me.

My parents moved to Brampton to raise their family, and that is where I was born, at the former Peel Memorial Hospital. We’ll get back to that in a minute. As I mentioned, I grew up in a neighbourhood called Heart Lake. Growing up in Heart Lake, one thing I quickly realized was how far behind Brampton trailed compared to other large cities in Ontario. I mentioned before, Brampton has been one of the fastest-growing cities in the entire country. It’s currently the ninth-largest in all of Canada. Seeing this great diverse community that I’m proud to be part of be ignored year after year under prior governments not only confused me but hurt me. I grew up here. My neighbours are good people, and they deserve the same level of care as everybody else in Ontario.

For over 15 years, the former Liberal government neglected us by closing our hospital—Peel Memorial—attacking our manufacturing sector that so many of us work in, and failing to invest in critical highway structure, like Highway 413.

I view politics as a public service, and service to the public is exactly why I chose politics as a profession, because I knew my community needed representation that would stand up for our neighbours and stand up for our residents.

Mr. Speaker, I’ve said this to some of my staff and campaign staff: I think I’ve done almost every job in politics—middle management and below—that you can think of when it comes to partisan politics. During my time working for the Minister of Red Tape Reduction when he was a federal member for my area in Brampton, I would put labels on envelopes. I would carry his bags. I remember I got a big promotion one time where I got to go through the main email account and click the flag on the emails that were important and delete the ones that were not important.

I also had the pleasure of managing the campaign in 2018 for the member for Brampton West, where we won a riding that had not gone PC in many, many years, and we won it by 490 votes.

I had the pleasure of working on the staff of two other members of this House. The Honourable Minister of Finance—I’ll always remember working to support him as he delivered the 2021 budget, where we invested in a new medical school for our community in Brampton and the re-investment in turning Peel Memorial back into a second hospital for our residents.

Thank you, sir, for allowing me to do that and for your fierce advocacy. In many ways, my election and the election of my colleagues in Brampton, I think that was one of the biggest proof points that this government had our city’s back—was in that budget. It was an honour to serve with you, sir.

Most recently, I worked for the Honourable Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Certainly, as a millennial Canadian, I would like to commend the minister for his work to get more shovels in the ground and get houses built quickly. The housing crisis is one of the biggest issues facing my generation in this country. The minister is a complete class act, and working for him for a year, I learned a lot about how to be a good parliamentarian and how to be a good public servant.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t speak about the former member for Ajax, Rod Phillips. I had the privilege of serving in his office when he was the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks and the Minister of Finance. I’d like to thank him in this House for his mentorship. I wish him all the best as he pursues a private life.

Mr. Speaker, I am in this House to be a voice for Brampton North and specifically a voice for Heart Lake, a voice for Snelgrove, a voice for Springdale, a voice for Rosedale Village, a voice for the M, N, J and P sections. I stand on the shoulder of my family, who have loved and supported me, and the other shoulder is the mentors who have helped shape me and my career.

Brampton North is a riding, as I’ve said in this House before, where we are simply tired of waiting. We’re tired of waiting on the highway in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the 410 to get home to see our families. We’re tired of waiting in the Brampton Civic waiting room, where incredible staff are beleaguered by the demands of our growing and aging population. And we are catching up from 15 years of a lack of critical investment in our city. We’re tired of the studies and the committees and the working groups; we demand action. We demand a government that gets things done. That is exactly what we are here to do. That is exactly what I will be doing as their voice here at Queen’s Park, as the member of provincial Parliament for Brampton North, so long as I am able.

As mentioned about my NDP grandparents, growing up in a family where we didn’t always agree has helped shape my politics. I look at the former member for Brampton North, Kevin Yarde. Kevin and I didn’t always agree on policy, but what we did and do agree on is standing up for our residents and fighting for our community.

Mr. Speaker, outside of this chamber there is not an NDP Ontario and a PC Ontario; it’s just Ontario.

In my PC riding, we have a thriving natural ecosystem with Etobicoke Creek, Loafer’s Lake and Professor’s Lake that requires a whole lot of conservation.

And in NDP ridings like my colleague from Niagara Centre’s, I’m sure they would prefer that the government’s hands stayed out of their pockets too.

When I think about what an Ontario looks like that we want to build together, and the responsibility that we all have as parliamentarians, I think about record-level investments in hospitals to support our health care system, which has been neglected for far too long. I think about bringing and welcoming and attracting talent from other countries and harnessing the talent that we have in our own country to fill almost 400,000 unfilled jobs that we have here today. I’d like to thank the Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development for his work on that file, as well. That number, about 370,000, was actually a lot smaller when I started as a candidate. I was nominated in about October, so I think when I first said that number, it was around 280,000, give or take. The skills shortage, the labour shortage in our country and in our province is only getting worse, and we need to take firm, decisive action to make sure that we’re working for workers—workers like my grandpa, who was digging roads at the city of Toronto; workers like the auto workers at the Stellantis plant who are starting the new EV production of the EV SUVs, due in large part to and thanks to this government’s billion-dollar investment in the community.

We all have a responsibility to stand up for workers, especially standing up for new Canadian workers. Growing up in my family and in my community, we always wanted to make sure that when somebody came into our home, we made them feel welcome. Well, we’d be remiss if we invited people into our home but we didn’t build any highways for them to drive on, if we didn’t build hospitals for them to go to when they got sick, if we didn’t invest in manufacturing jobs and opportunities so that they would be able to have a place to work.

That is exactly what I am here to do as the voice of my community of Brampton North. Certainly, that is what our party and our government are here to do, as the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. I pledge to my residents to always use my voice to stand up for my community. I am eternally grateful for their support.

I pledge to always put workers first, to fight for better health care for our city, and to fight for better infrastructure and stand up for families who are going to work every single day and trying to get back to their families every single night. With the highway infrastructure and the transit infrastructure we’re going to put in place, we’re going to extend family hours, we’re going to shorten rush hour and finally give my community, which is a community that is very tired of waiting, a reason not to wait any longer.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues and I thank you for the time today to speak a little bit about myself, my community and my family. I look forward to continuing to serve with you all in this House and this Parliament.