Thank you to the member from Brampton North for that very good question. Russia’s war in the Ukraine, tension in Asia and inflation that we haven’t seen in four decades are driving up global prices, but this government will always be there for the people of Ontario in these uncertain times. That is why our government raised the minimum wage, and will raise it again in October to $15.50 an hour. That is why we eliminated the need for licence plate stickers and renewal fees, saving drivers up to $120 per year. That’s why we’re proposing the enhanced LIFT tax credit, providing additional relief for those making less than $50,000 a year. With this change, 1.1 million low-income workers would see an additional $300 on average in tax relief in 2022.

The best way to support workers and families is to put more money back into their pockets, Mr. Speaker, and that’s exactly what this government is doing.

Let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, for families trying to make ends meet, high gas prices are never a blessing in disguise. This government understands that high gas prices are a financial burden on many Ontarians, taking hard-earned money out of their pockets—for families, for workers and for seniors. That’s why this government is focused on keeping costs down. That’s why this government eliminated the Liberals’ cap-and-trade tax scheme. This government temporarily cut the gas tax by 5.7 cents per litre through our Tax Relief at the Pumps Act.

Mr. Speaker, the facts speak for themselves. According to Statistics Canada, the price of gas fell furthest in Ontario because of our gas tax—

Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.

That concludes our question period for this morning. This House stands in recess until 1 p.m.

The House recessed from 1137 to 1300.

Mr. Shamji moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 10, An Act to amend the Executive Council Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act with respect to the publication and treatment of mandate letters / Projet de loi 10, Loi modifiant la Loi sur le Conseil exécutif et la Loi sur l’accès à l’information et la protection de la vie privée en ce qui concerne la publication et le traitement des lettres de mandat.

First reading agreed to.

I have a petition and it reads:

“Gun Violence Is a Public Health Crisis.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas gun violence and its devastating impact on communities is a deepening public health crisis in the province of Ontario;

“Whereas the number of firearm incidents is increasing each year, and the widespread trauma associated with acts of gun violence often goes unrecognized and untreated;

“Whereas the government must give communities the resources that they need to heal, including OHIP-funded counselling for those affected;

“Whereas the government must give funding to local public health boards for hospital- and community-based violence intervention programs;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to direct the Minister of Health to adopt Bill 9, Safe and Healthy Communities Act (Addressing Gun Violence), 2022, into government legislation.”

I will sign the petition and give it to page Tanisha.

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—

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas the current Niagara health system restructuring plan approved by the Ontario Ministry of Health includes removal of the emergency department and associated beds and ambulance service from the Welland hospital site once the Niagara Falls site is complete, creating inequity of hospital and emergency service in the Niagara region and a significant negative impact on hospital and emergency outcomes for the citizens of Welland, Port Colborne and all Niagara;

“Whereas the NHS is already experiencing a 911 crisis in EMS, a shortage of beds and unacceptable off-loading delays in its emergency departments across the region;

“Whereas the population in the Welland hospital catchment area is both aging and growing;

“Whereas the Ontario Legislature passed a motion by” the “Niagara Centre MPP ... on April 13, 2022, to include a full emergency department and associated beds in the rebuild of the Welland hospital;

“Therefore, be it resolved that we call on the government of Ontario to work with the Ontario Ministry of Health and the Niagara Health system to implement motion 47 to maintain the Welland hospital emergency department and adjust its hospital plan accordingly.”

I proudly add my signature and forward it to the Clerk.

I’d like to thank all the individuals at Campus Vision UWO who signed the following petition. It’s entitled Petition to Save Eye Care in Ontario. It reads:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas the Ontario government has underfunded optometric eye care for 30 years; and

“Whereas the government only pays on average $44.65 for an OHIP-insured visit—the lowest rate in Canada; and

“Whereas optometrists are being forced to pay substantially out of their own pocket to provide over four million services each year to Ontarians under OHIP; and

“Whereas optometrists have never been given a formal negotiation process with the government; and

“Whereas the government’s continued neglect resulted in 96% of Ontario optometrists voting to withdraw OHIP services beginning September 1, 2021;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To instruct the Ontario government to immediately commit to legally binding, formal negotiations to ensure any future OHIP-insured optometry services are, at a minimum, funded at the cost of delivery.”

I fully support this decision, will affix my signature and deliver with page Pania to the Clerks.

When we last debated, the member for Simcoe-Grey had the floor, and he can continue.

Further debate?

I’m very honoured to rise this afternoon to speak to government motion number 2, regarding my appointment as Deputy Speaker and the appointment of other presiding officers of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

Speaker, during the past four years, I have admired the work that you do in your role as Speaker. You do an admirable job of maintaining order in this House, which at times can be impossible, because at times, emotions are running high and debate can get fairly rowdy. I want to assure you and other members of the Legislature that I truly understand the obligation of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker to maintain order and decorum in an impartial manner, in a way that rises above political affiliation. The roles of Speaker and Deputy Speaker are non-partisan apolitical roles, and I’m humbled to be considered to be appointed Deputy Speaker.

Many people in the House know that prior to becoming the MPP for Flamborough–Glanbrook, I spent 35 years as a broadcast journalist. Most of that time, or at least part of that time, I was able to cover stories that were heartfelt. I was born and raised and grew up in northern Ontario, as I’ve mentioned many times. That opportunity to live in northern Ontario as a young adult and to work right across Ontario in the broadcast media gave me a genuine understanding of the differences between communities across Ontario, their challenges, their strengths. It was a unique experience that I’m proud that I can bring to my job as MPP for Flamborough–Glanbrook.

Thirty-five years ago, social media did not exist, and most people relied on traditional journalism as the source for their news. I was really, really proud of the role that I played, reporting on the events of the day in communities right across, as I said, Ontario, telling the stories of the people who were about to shape our future. Some of those stories, as I mentioned, had happy endings and involved really good people who simply wanted to make a better life for themselves and for their families.

I want to share one story of a man and his wife, who I came to know and came to love: Ray Lewis. Back in 1932, Ray Lewis became the first Black Canadian Olympic medal winner. He finished bronze in the 4 by 400 at the Los Angeles Olympics. His story was compelling. It was tragic. I remember he was a porter for the railroad. When they would work and stop the train, he would get out and train by running beside the train. That was one of the ways he was able to improve his time and eventually compete at the 1932 Olympics. His wife, Vivienne, was absolutely beautiful. I spent hours with them, documenting their story, and it was one of the stories I was most proud that I produced in my time at CHCH-TV. I used to take her grocery shopping. In turn, she would make me this pound cake that I swear was the tastiest cake I’ve ever had. It was one of those stories that I’ll never forget—people who enter your life who you want to maintain a lifelong friendship with.

Another couple I came to know and love came into my life during the Bosnian war. I was assigned to cover one of the first couples that who came to Canada. They actually came to Hamilton, as refugees from Bosnia. When I showed up at their motel room, I recognized that they were about the same age as myself and my husband, and their children were the same age. The woman, the mother of this couple, of these children, spoke a little bit of English. So we chatted, and we chatted, and we chatted, and we chatted. I thought, “I can’t believe this. Here is a woman, her husband, her very young children, his brothers”—who all had worked for the Canadian government, by the way. One had worked for the Red Cross, one was a translator for the Canadian government, and one was a judge. The judge’s name was on a hit list, and they had to flee. I remember them telling me the story. It was so compelling. These men were six-foot-three, six-foot-four, and they had all packed into a car. When they got to the border to flee Kosovo, somebody recognized them at the border. His name, as I said, was on a hit list. The guard was actually a friend and snuck them out. They left with nothing. They came to Canada with nothing. I became really good friends with them. They would come to my house. Our kids were the same age; they played. Today this man, who came over here with his young family with absolutely nothing, is a family physician in London, Ontario. It’s just such a remarkable story.

These are the good stories, the good people in Ontario. Unfortunately, as you know, not all news is good news. I spent a lot of my time as a journalist, really, documenting the ugly side of humanity.

Back in the 1990s, again, I travelled to Doha, Qatar, as a young journalist to report on the Canadian troops at Canada Dry One. I absolutely love our military. I have such deep admiration and respect for any man or woman who will don a uniform and fight for their country. I assumed that sentiment would be prevalent in Qatar. You have to remember that back in the 1990s, this was in the height of very biased reporting when it came to the Gulf War—jingoism. As I ventured out into the streets while setting my camera aside and started talking to many of the locals, I was shocked to discover that we weren’t being embraced with open arms. There was another side to the story: people who were not happy that Canada had sent its troops to Doha, who weren’t pleased that the base was located just outside of Doha. It was just such an eye-opener because, as I’ve said, we were at the height of this patriotism, and I was realizing that, once again, as a journalist, there are two sides to every story. It was a side I had to tell—the side that, yes, we were very proud of our troops, but there were also other people who were questioning why we were there in Doha.

Being objective isn’t always easy, but I have to tell you again: I haven’t always been partisan. I spent a great deal of my time as a reporter covering all levels of government, from city hall to provincial government—one of the reasons I got into politics—to federal government. But we had to do it. We had to do it objectively. The story wouldn’t go to air if we showed any form of bias. I had a job to do. I had an opinion, but that opinion could not come through in the work that I was filing.

The most difficult part—I found, in my career as a journalist—of having to be objective was when I started to cover trials. I covered trials, actually, throughout my career, and some of the horrific trials, too. This was back in the 1990s. We had the Paul Bernardo murder and abduction of young girls Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy. These were horrific stories that dominated our headlines and really captivated all of our attention. My colleagues—one of whom still works for me today—actually had to sit in those courtrooms and listen to those stories and still come out with an objective report.

One of the last stories I covered was the Tim Bosma murder trial. Again, your job is to report the facts as you sit and listen to the pain that his family went through as the evidence came forward when they were trying the two accused, Mark Smich and Dellen Millard.

The last trial I covered, actually, before I ventured into municipal politics was that of a young man. He was only 18 years of age, and he had been out with his friends on what we call Supercrawl in Hamilton. It’s a big deal in the city of Hamilton—probably 100,000 people walking around, a lot of people on the street. He had been out with a bunch of kids. They had a few drinks, perhaps, before they went into a bar. He was underage. He went into the bar, came out, bought a girl a rose. We often see street vendors in there, encouraging the young men to buy their date a rose, which he did. He ventured a little down the street, turned around the corner, was just in front of a Tim Hortons, and a man he had encountered earlier in the evening—a man in his fifties—fatally stabbed him. And that was it. It was horrific.

This young man was Portuguese. We had translators in the courtroom. His mother sobbed throughout the entire trial. It was gut-wrenching, and it was very difficult not to portray the pain and sorrow of all of these family members because of the absolutely unnecessary death of this young man who was simply turning a corner and walking down the street—but we had to.

The man was convicted of second-degree murder. I remember, months later when I was politicking, knocking on doors, I ran into the accused’s sister, who was quite upset with the reporting because she felt we didn’t show the other side and who she claimed was the victim, who was actually the man who was accused in the murder of this young man.

Speaker, the reason I’m bringing these stories forward is because in the role of Deputy Speaker, in the role of Speaker, you have to be objective. I’ve spent 35 years covering many, many stories where it would be so easy to simply state your opinion, to include your opinion in something because that’s how you feel, because you’re emotionally invested in the story of the day, but you can’t. That’s not your job. Your job is to look at all of the facts, present all of the facts and be as objective as possible.

Speaker, I believe that my experience in broadcast journalism has really prepared me well for this role. As I’ve mentioned, journalists are obligated to be impartial. We are required to hear and to consider all opinions and views on all issues. As a reporter, I had to reach out, speak to people and listen to the views of all of those people who were involved in the story, regardless of whether I agreed with them or not. I wasn’t allowed to allow my own opinion, my viewpoint, my bias, to get in the way of a balanced report, and I’m very proud of the role I played in that.

When I was a news reporter, I covered Hamilton city council, which I eventually ran in, and I had to report on the opinions and priorities of the councillors of the day. I kept my opinions to myself. My views were not reflected in my public reporting. I could not be accused of being a biased reporter.

For members of the opposition who may not think that I can relate to the so-called ordinary working people, my father was a railroad engineer. My mother was one of only four women in an executive role, as a receptionist who worked at a mine in our local community, and I went on to become the leader of our bargaining unit at CHCH in Hamilton. I understood the issues that faced the rank-and-file workers, and I fought to protect their wages and benefits and to improve working conditions, especially for the more vulnerable employees, and I was often clashing with management. I know how to negotiate. I’ve sat at the negotiating table, advocating for members. I was a voice for my colleagues.

During the recession in 2008, Canwest Global was threatening to simply shut down CHCH-TV. More than 150 jobs were at stake, and I went to bat for the employees and for CHCH Television itself. I travelled to Ottawa to speak before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and a parliamentary committee to fight for CHCH and to fight for all other struggling independent television stations. I wanted to preserve local news.

Speaker, I’ve been here for four years now. I know how the legislative process works. I’ve served on numerous committees, and prior to being elected to represent the people in Flamborough–Glanbrook, I served on Hamilton city council. I did so with respect and decorum. I received a lot of pushback as, I would say, one of the few Conservatives on a very left-leaning council. I received a lot of pushback from other councillors and members of the public—pushback from people who wanted to protect their own agendas and their own pet projects—but I stood my ground and respectfully defended my decision.

There has been a lot of discussion in this House recently about the importance of diversity and representation, and I am truly honoured to be appointed Deputy Speaker. I believe I have the background and experience to do the job well. I’ve been recognized for my work in advocacy in my hometown of Hamilton. I was recipient of the YWCA Woman of the Year in politics. And I never miss an opportunity to encourage women to run for political office. I served on the National Advisory Board for Canadian Culture. I’ve served on many local boards, such as Banyan Community Services, a not-for-profit organization serving at-risk youth and people with disabilities.

I’m a strong voice for my community, and I’ve been there championing local causes. I’ve been promoting initiatives that offer people skilled training, because I believe it’s the path to getting a better, well-paying job. I have assisted manufacturing firms in their bid to grow their business. I’ve been a voice for job creation in Hamilton and right across Ontario.

I’m both honoured and humbled by this appointment as Deputy Speaker. I promise you I will be fair and impartial. I will respect the integrity of this House. I will respect the role of each and every member of this House. I will respect parliamentary traditions, which include the right to be heard. I understand that debate can get very emotional, and I admire my colleagues, who are passionate about the issues that are most important to them, but in my role as Deputy Speaker I will ensure that debate is conducted in a respectful, courteous and civil manner. I will do my best to treat each member fairly. I will listen to each member respectfully and objectively.

This is my second term serving the people of Flamborough–Glanbrook. I’ve been in this House now for over four years, and I understand that members have differing views on issues. We all come from differing backgrounds, cultures and experiences. I’ve been in the thick of it. When the debate turns contentious—and heated at times, in fact—you have called me out on a few occasions, Mr. Speaker, but that’s because I’m passionate about the issues that I believe are important to people across Ontario and to people in this House. But, Speaker, you were doing your job. You were maintaining decorum and order in this House.

Speaker, if this motion is passed, I will be honoured and grateful to sit in the chair to serve as Deputy Speaker of the House.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise in this House to deliver my inaugural speech today. I’m honoured to represent the people of Timmins.

I want to recognize the historical connections of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit nations to this land. I was the first mayor of Timmins to acknowledge the traditional territory before the council meetings in Timmins, and today I would like to acknowledge the people of Mattagami First Nation who are part of Treaty 9 and have traditional territory in Timmins.

I would like to start, Mr. Speaker, by thanking my family for their support and encouragement throughout my journey to become a member of provincial Parliament. Thank you to my loving wife, Debbie; my children, Shaelah and Stewart, and their spouses, Lance and Alicia; and our grandchildren, Ella, Alivia and Charlie.

I’d also like to thank my campaign chairman, Gaetan Malette, who was the architect of my campaigns as mayor for Timmins, and certainly the architect during the campaign for MPP here.

I have deep roots in Timmins. My father was born in 1920 behind the mill of the Dome mine, very close to a place called Little Italy. My father’s parents arrived in Porcupine to farm, not to mine. Both the Stewart family and the Pirie family were farmers from the Ottawa Valley. The Piries arrived in Canada in the late 1800s, and the Stewart family arrived in the middle of the 1700s—both families from Scotland.

My grandparents came up north from the Ottawa Valley to farm; they, however, were not the first. The TNO railway was constructed to get to the farming areas of the Lesser Clay Belt and Great Clay Belt of northeastern Ontario. The TNO, you may not know, but it’s now called the ONR. The railway was built to join the trans-Canada rail systems in Cochrane. It was envisioned that Cochrane would grow to be the size of Winnipeg, with good reason, as there are 10 million acres of arable land in the Great Clay Belt, more than Manitoba.

Cochrane has been a rail centre for quite some time. You may not know this—everybody knows that Tim Horton is from Cochrane, but his father was a railway man, and he worked along the railroads. It may be of a little bit of interest that Conn Smythe started his career before the First World War—I guess he was rebelling, with his father—and he had a homestead just to the west of Cochrane. He gave that up; it was a bad idea. He sold that, and the individual he sold that farm to, unfortunately, died in the great 1916 forest fire. So I guess we’re very lucky that Conn decided to move out of Cochrane.

Cobalt: As the railway was being developed, they found silver in what is now Cobalt. Cobalt was by far the largest silver camp in North America, making the bonanza deposits in Nevada small, in comparison. These deposits in Cobalt at their height produced 40 million ounces of silver a year—a huge production. These discoveries quickly led to the rush of exploration in Gowganda, Elk Lake, Larder Lake, Swastika, Kirkland Lake and the Porcupine.

Cobalt was the reason why the Haileybury School of Mines was established, which is still one of the campuses of Northern College. These campuses also include Kirkland Lake, Porcupine and Moosonee. Moosonee is the only campus on a saltwater coast in Ontario. Yes, we have a saltwater coast in Ontario.

Moose Factory was established by the Hudson’s Bay Co., which was formed on May 2, 1670. For a time, James Bay was a flourishing centre of international trade. The trade went north to the coastal communities and from there to Europe.

I have maps from the early 1800s, where northern Ontario is far better-mapped than southern Ontario. Lakes in my area, like Night Hawk Lake, Frederick House Lake and Porcupine Lake, are well-mapped and have the original Indigenous names. They were the original trading routes that the Indigenous people used to get into the coastal areas.

Early mining maps show clearly the trail from Fort Matachewan and the very upper reaches of the Montreal River. This was one of the original ways the Indigenous people travelled to get to the northern coastal areas from the Ottawa and Montreal river systems to the Mattagami and Moose systems to bypass Abitibi River, which was treacherous through the Abitibi Canyon. Those sites now, of course, have all been harnessed by hydro and are generating millions of kilowatts of power a year.

An Indigenous man by the name of Stephen Lafricain was the last factor of Fort Matachewan, and he was instrumental in the discovery of gold in Porcupine. Stephen’s father was Jamaican, and his mother was Inuit. He was born in Labrador around 1830. An interesting anecdote is that he served with the Union forces in the Civil War. In that time, well-to-do individuals could buy out of their services, and Stephen took up that opportunity. He ended up working in the fur-trading industry with Hudson’s Bay, and his earliest trips in Porcupine were around the 1880s. As you could expect, he knew the region very well.

While wintering in the Night Hawk area, Harry Preston came to know Stephen over a couple of winters. In that period, Stephen told Harry where to find gold in Porcupine. Harry Preston was a member of the Wilson party, which discovered the Dome mine—the Big Dome, as we call it. The Dome mill is still operating and will continue to operate for quite some time. It is where the ore from the Borden mine, Canada’s first all-electric mill, is being processed.

There is L’Africain Avenue in Matachewan, and perhaps someday we’ll have a street in Timmins named after Stephen in the Porcupine. But I digress.

By 1920, my grandparents had left farming because mining was simply the best economic opportunity in the region, with mines being found on a regular basis. My grandparents raised five children: four boys and one girl. The youngest, my Uncle Bill, lives in London with his lovely Jean. Jean will be 88 years old soon. My Aunt Jean was also Jim Prentice’s aunt. Jim was, in my opinion, perhaps the best Prime Minister we never had. Mr. Prentice’s career intertwined with mine somewhat, particularly with Indigenous affairs, and he and I became good friends.

Mr. Prentice’s father was Eric, or Doc. At 17, Eric, or Doc, was the youngest individual ever to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was the older brother of Dean. Dean, in the off-season, used to come and visit his dad and mom who were the custodians for the Dome public school and lived in the school. Dean played for the New York Rangers, and it was a thrill for all of us young kids when Dean showed up.

My dad started to work at the Dome after he finished his grade 13 at 16. He did not see much need to advance his education as, in 1936, thousands of men were lined up for jobs in mines out of Porcupine and, quite frankly, he did not, nor did his family, have any money to go on to university. He often told stories about thousands of men lined up for one job at the Dome. So he stayed at the Dome and worked there. He started at 16 with the kid bull gang; you couldn’t work underground, but you could work on the surface. He married my mother before leaving to go to war, and the only place he ever lived outside of a mining village, up until he retired, was during his tour of duty in the Second World War.

My mother’s family was British. They weren’t English—my grandmother was very strident on that—they were British. My grandfather was born in London. He was 15 when he joined up to join the First World War. He decided—when he got into France and he was in the trenches, he thought that wasn’t such a good idea. He told his commanding officer that he lied about his age. The commanding officer said, “You’re out of luck. You’re going to stay there,” and he had to stay there. So he survived the First World War.

He met my grandmother while he was going through the discharge process. My grandmother was one of 28 children—not all of them survived, as you can imagine. Both grandparents were Roman Catholic. Because of the number of kids in my grandmother’s family, she was raised by an uncle, as my grandmother used to say, who had some means, and she was raised in Bath, England.

When my grandparents got married, they flipped a coin to see if they would immigrate to Australia or Canada; Canada won. They started their life in Canada, living outside of Guelph on a farm. Again, better economic opportunities appeared in the form of a job in an auto plant in Oshawa, and that is where my mom was born, one of five girls and two boys.

The Depression arrived in 1929. My grandfather would not go on the dole, as he called it, so when he lost his job, they simply closed the door, leaving everything as it was. They moved north to a little place called Larocque, which was on the ONR line. My mother would tell us how she felt when they left their house in Oshawa, containing her bedroom with her dolls and her dollhouse, with only their suitcases and just simply shut the door behind them, leaving her, as a six-year-old little girl, devastated. They spent the first winter in a sod hut on the side of a hill, attempting to earn a living farming. He realized quickly that there were better opportunities in Porcupine, and they moved there.

Again, life was very tough. They found a place to stay in an old bunkhouse at the Little Pet Mine south of the Dome Mine, in the bush with only a dirt floor. Again, my mother used to tell us stories: They had to strip the moss off the rocks to seal the cracks between the timbers to try to stay warm in the winter and keep the bugs out in the summer. I cannot imagine what my grandmother thought about that, as a young woman who was raised in Bath, England. My grandfather worked in the boiler rooms in Oshawa and, as such, he found work in the powerhouse at the Dome and was given a house in Dome-Ex, and that’s where my dad lived as well. Life began to get a little bit easier.

My parents started to date, and if you can imagine this, because my grandparents on my mother’s side were Roman Catholic and my father’s grandparents on his side, of course, were Protestant, they would get into fist fights, once again proving that children are smarter than their parents, if for no other reason than they are able to leave the parents’ bias behind.

My dad and mom married before my dad entered the navy and learned his trade as an electrician there, serving as a chief petty officer on a corvette. My father worked for the Dome for 47½ years and was the chief electrician there. My parents never owned their own home, but they raised seven children, two of whom were born during the war—my older brother and older sister. All of them were successful.

My father, mother and all of my siblings felt very, very proud of the fact that they, obviously, spent their early days in these little towns called Dome and Dome-Ex, which revolved around mining. Our lives just simply revolved around that. Our outdoor rink was right beside our house. We literally lived on the outdoor rink during the winter. We skated across the laneway to the rink in the morning, and we kept our skates on over lunch as Mom put carpets down over the kitchen floor. In the summer, we had tennis courts, ball fields, soccer fields.

Mining was intertwined with our lives on a daily basis in these villages. In the wintertime, while playing hockey on outdoor rinks, we counted the skips of ore hoisted to the surface, and in the summertime the doors were opened to cool the big hoist room motors, and as such we could actually see the Lilly controllers spin and hear the signals calling out indicating what levels the men wanted to go to. We had an elementary school, Dome Public School, and a grocery store and curling rink.

We kept time by the Dome whistle, which was a steam whistle that announced shift changes and noon-hour. Once a year at New Year’s, at 12 midnight, it rang for two minutes. It also used to ring every November 11 just before 11 o’clock, just to announce to all the workers that, of course, there was Remembrance Day. It also rang when there was trouble in the mines, a sound which caused the hair on the back of your neck to stand on end.

We and everyone who ever lived there felt that it was the best place in the world. Mining was just great. The career was a great way to live. My son feels the same, and he is now the fourth generation to work in the mining industry, in Porcupine at the Dome site.

So with this description of the mining life in Porcupine, it was a real shock to find out early in my career that the mining industry were the bad guys. I lived in a mining community that did progressive reclamation well before there were any regulations to do so. We were excellent corporate citizens with full social licence from the communities to operate, and yet we were the bad guys. In the movie Avatar, the mining guys really are bad guys, but they had no resemblance to the mining guys I knew of. We all seemed to be tarred with the same brush, and it troubled me.

In my career, I was lucky enough to travel all around the world, taking part in every facet of the mining process, including exploration, mine development, front-office activities and as an executive. The mines of the world are never found in resorts; they are found in the middle of countries, and that’s why I’ve travelled to the interiors of many countries across the world. I’ve seen the grinding poverty in South Africa and in Manila. I have worked through the political instability of Latin America and Venezuela. I have worked in developing countries like Papua New Guinea. We operated mines in Tunisia, and we closed mines there as well. But in every community that we operated in, in every country, we saw how mining elevated the standard of living, including Indigenous communities here in Timmins and in Canada. Whenever I arrived back home in Vancouver or Toronto, I felt blessed that we lived in a country like Canada that was democratic, and also a country of peace and prosperity. I was proud to work in the Canadian mining industry.

Mr. Speaker, I saw how through using industry-leading practices like revenue-sharing agreements, the five signatory nations of the Musselwhite agreement lifted the standard of living in all of these communities, to the point that other Indigenous nations were asking us to explore in their territory. I know the tremendous potential of revenue-sharing agreements and the power of economic reconciliation.

I’ve worked with Wahgoshig Resources, the economic development arm of Wahgoshig First Nation, and formed a diamond-drilling company building capacities and competencies. As the WFN lifted their standard of living, they built better housing and health clinics, all because of the development on their traditional lands and taking advantage of the mining opportunities then.

I know how enlightened the Critical Minerals Strategy is, with its promise of economic advancement and transformation to a green economy, matching the mineral potential of the north and the economic might of the south. We cannot achieve our climate goals without developing these critical minerals. We are no longer the bad guys; as I said, we cannot be green without mining.

I know this government believes in mining for all the right reasons, and its actions to make things happen have been proven by Côté Lake, which languished for 17 years despite the backing and support of the local Indigenous partners prior to this government appointing a senior environmental officer to steer this project through. It’s a critical mass of ounces, 20 million ounces—that’s a world-class deposit.

That’s why I felt so grateful to walk into the chamber in the magnificent homage to democracy and peace here in Ontario. I will admit that when I walked through the doors in this Legislature, it was an overwhelming experience. My brothers and sisters felt the same way because of our family’s rich history with mining in Ontario. The fact that I was walking down these stairs was an honour because of what Canada and Ontario has to offer.

Our country is blessed with solutions to the problems we experience in our communities, but I know things still aren’t perfect. We have 41,000 people in Timmins, and I know that number was on the downward trend. I’ve seen how economic challenges can lead to poverty, as well as mental health and addictions crises. At any given time, 95% of our homeless in Timmins are from the coastal communities. From my experience in the mining sector, I know the mining sector can provide solutions to our most serious problems by building communities and creating career paths that lead to prosperity.

Developing mines provides opportunities for Indigenous communities to participate and become leaders as we develop the green economy. Just last week, I participated in an honouring ceremony with the Chief of TTN, Bruce Archibald; RoseAnne Archibald, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations; Alison Linklater, Grand Chief to the Mushkegowuk; and Victor Linklater, Deputy Chief of NAN. These are the leaders of the TTN community, a community that is fully supportive of the Canada Nickel project just to the north of Timmins and is participating as an owner.

This is how you achieve economic reconciliation. This is a green project, and the ore is hosted in serpentine which absorbs CO₂. The TTN own the power transmission and, as such, I said during the ceremony that TTN is helping in solving the climate crisis. Mining is the solution to the climate crisis. I’ve always said you can’t go green without mining. Additionally, every parent wants their children to have a better life than they did. These projects allow this to happen.

Timmins is a vital economic engine of northeastern Ontario, but we can do better. We need to continue to open more mines and create opportunities for all people to enter the workforce and succeed, and for the Indigenous people to participate in economic reconciliation. We have to keep developing our agricultural sector to support our Mennonite community, who are rapidly redeveloping dormant farmland.

We have a government that is going to build the infrastructure we need to support new mines and resource development, including building roads to the Ring of Fire. That’s exactly what we have in Premier Ford’s government.

I look forward to serving the people of Timmins in my capacity as MPP and serving the entire province as Minister of Mines.

Further debate?

Further debate?

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.

C’est un privilège et un honneur de me lever ici en Chambre aujourd’hui, en présence de mes collègues députés, pour faire mon discours inaugural.

Je veux prendre l’opportunité de me présenter. Je suis Stéphane Sarrazin, Franco-Ontarien, fier député de Glengarry–Prescott–Russell, ancien maire de la municipalité d’Alfred et Plantagenet et président des comtés unis de Prescott et Russell.

Le 2 juin dernier, j’ai eu la chance et le privilège de me faire élire dans notre belle circonscription dans l’Est ontarien, où j’y demeure depuis ma naissance. J’habite dans un village qui s’appelle Alfred, un village qui est situé sur la vielle route 17 transcanadienne et qui était nommé la capitale de la patate frite du Canada à une époque. Le nom du village provient de l’honorable Francis Eugène Alfred Évanturel, qui a été président de l’Assemblée législative, ici même, de 1898 à 1902, le seul président francophone de l’Assemblée à ce jour.

J’imagine, monsieur le Président, que sa chaise était au même endroit que la vôtre. On peut, de nos jours, visiter l’église du village d’Alfred pour voir la chaise originale de l’ancien président, plus au moins. On peut aussi voir la photo du Président Francis Eugène Évanturel parmi celles des anciens présidents ici même à Queen’s Park.

Je suis ici aujourd’hui grâce à l’aide de plusieurs personnes, et j’aimerais profiter de cette occasion, ici même, pour les remercier, en débutant par ma conjointe, Chantal, qui est là. Chantal est toujours là pour me supporter dans tout ce que j’entreprends. Le travail de député est semblable à celui de maire. Sans aucun doute, Chantal fera une excellente dame de député, car elle a été une mairesse exceptionnelle pour la municipalité d’Alfred et Plantagenet. Je voulais te remercier, mon amour, d’embarquer avec moi dans cette nouvelle aventure.

J’ai deux filles, Rebecca et Vanessa—14 ans et 18 ans—qui ne sont pas ici aujourd’hui, qui semblaient avoir quelque chose de plus important à l’horaire. Vous savez, à l’âge de 14 ans, 18 ans, on a beaucoup de projets. Elles devront sacrifier la présence de leur père pendant les prochaines quatre années. Elles devront partager leur temps avec plus de 100 000 résidents de la circonscription de Glengarry–Prescott–Russell. J’imagine que les avoir avec nous pendant quelques semaines à Toronto, les emmener faire du magasinage dans les boutiques du centre-ville, pourrait compenser pour le manque de temps avec leur père.

Merci à mes parents pour m’avoir transmis plusieurs valeurs, comme celle d’avoir le désir d’aider les gens de ma communauté.

J’aimerais remercier aussi les 10 maires des comtés unis de Prescott et Russell et de la municipalité de Glengarry Nord. Je vais les nommer :

—Paula Assaly, qui est maire de la ville de Hawkesbury;

—M. Robert Kirby, maire de la municipalité de Hawkesbury Est;

—M. Pierre Leroux, maire de la municipalité de Russell;

—M. Normand Riopel, maire de la municipalité de Champlain;

—M. Daniel Lafleur, maire de la municipalité de Casselman et président des comtés unis de Prescott et Russell;

—M. Yves Laviolette, maire de la municipalité d’Alfred et Plantagenet, celui qui m’a remplacé suite aux résultats des élections provinciales en juin dernier;

—M. François St-Amour, maire de la municipalité de La Nation;

—M. Mario Zanth, maire de la municipalité de Clarence-Rockland;

—M. Jamie MacDonald, maire de la municipalité de Glengarry Nord; ainsi que

—M^me Carma Williams, « deputy mayor » de la municipalité de Glengarry Nord et présidente—« warden »—des comtés unis de Stormont, Dundas et Glengarry.

C’est en majorité l’idée et l’appui de ces 10 maires qui m’a incité à me présenter comme candidat aux élections provinciales. Ces 10 collègues de travail qui sont devenus des amis proches ont mis leur confiance en moi, et j’en suis très reconnaissant. Je vous promets que je saurai bien vous représenter ici à Queen’s Park. Juste pour vous dire—croyez-le ou non—la grande majorité de ces maires étaient réunis avec moi, avec plusieurs personnes et des journalistes dans une salle communautaire, pour suivre les résultats durant la soirée des élections du 2 juin dernier.

J’aimerais aussi remercier les membres de mon équipe qui ont travaillé sur ma campagne électorale :

—M. Mathieu Dumont, gérant de campagne;

—M. François Bossé, directeur financier de la campagne de l’association de Glengarry–Prescott–Russell;

—M. François St-Amour, président de l’association du Parti conservateur de Glengarry–Prescott–Russell; et

—mes spécialistes en communication, Ghyslain Hotte et Maxime Hupé.

Merci aussi à tous les membres de l’association locale. Merci à tous les bénévoles qui ont travaillé lors de la campagne. Certains d’eux étaient des amis, des voisins, des membres de la famille. Tous étaient là pour me venir en aide.

Je voudrais remercier les députés provinciaux de ma circonscription qui m’ont précédé. Il y a encore des gens de l’équipe de l’Assemblée législative qui me font part de comment c’était plaisant de travailler avec M. Jean-Marc Lalonde, qui est maintenant à sa retraite en tant que député mais qui est encore très impliqué dans notre communauté. J’ai eu la chance de m’entretenir avec M. Lalonde lors du tournoi de golf, vendredi dernier, de notre député fédéral. Il fêtait ses 87 ans. Il est encore très actif dans la communauté.

I would also like to thank all of my Glengarry–Prescott–Russell constituents, all these supporters who voted for me and have confidence that I will be a strong voice here at Queen’s Park. I want to reassure you that I will do my best to give you the representation you deserve, which is the representation you did not get for the last four years.

Mes chers électeurs, chères électrices, je suis très reconnaissant de votre appui qui nous a mené à une victoire le 2 juin dernier. Beaucoup d’entre vous ont voté pour la première fois pour un candidat et non pour un parti politique, et sachez que je m’engage à travailler fort pour vous et notre belle région de Glengarry–Prescott–Russell, qui, pour les gens qui ne savent pas, débute à la frontière de la province du Québec, à environ 40 minutes à l’ouest de Montréal, et qui s’étend jusqu’à la ville d’Ottawa. En fait, c’est approximativement 100 kilomètres de bord riverain de la rivière des Outaouais qui nous sépare de nos voisins québécois.

Beaucoup d’opportunité dans la circonscription de Glengarry–Prescott–Russell : nous sommes situés entre Montréal, Ottawa et Cornwall, à proximité des autoroutes 401, 417 et des frontières de l’État de New York. Dans notre région, on voit souvent des familles où il y a un conjoint qui travaille à Ottawa et l’autre travaille à Montréal. Certains de nos villages à l’est d’Ottawa ont connu une croissance résidentielle incroyable dans les dernières années.

Beaucoup d’opportunité pour les entreprises, en plus d’être une grande région agricole : plusieurs personnes, sûrement de mes collègues ici, sont des consommateurs de nos produits tels que le fromage St-Albert, qui est reconnu pour ses « curds », et aussi la bière Beau’s, juste pour en nommer quelques-uns.

Quelques belles activités ont lieu dans certains de nos villages. Les Glengarry Highland Games dans le petit village de Maxville, le Beau’s beer Oktoberfest à Vankleek Hill, le festival country de Wendover, le Festival de la Curd de St-Albert et plusieurs foires agricoles.

Notre circonscription est située dans l’Est ontarien, qui est la plus grande région francophone de l’Ontario. J’aimerais dire à ces francophones que nous continuerons, avec l’aide de la ministre des Affaires francophones, l’honorable Caroline Mulroney, à travailler à améliorer les services aux francophones pour plusieurs années à venir. Je remercie la ministre Mulroney et son équipe pour le travail incroyable qui a été accompli durant les derniers quatre ans.

L’université francophone de l’Ontario a ouvert ses portes à l’automne 2021 à la suite d’une entente entre le fédéral et la province. Ce même leadership a également permis la création de la Fédération des gens d’affaires francophones de l’Ontario, qui fournit un espace de réseautage important pour les entrepreneurs, les commerçants et les chefs d’entreprise de langue française. En même temps, Sarnia est devenue une région désignée en vertu de la Loi sur les services en français, et plus d’écoles primaires et secondaires de langue française ont été construites à travers la province. Sans oublier : la première modernisation de la Loi sur les services en français en 35 ans, l’octroi de la gouvernance par et pour les francophones à l’Université de Hearst et le financement de nos organismes et de nos petites entreprises francophones.

Je veux mentionner que j’ai la plus grande admiration pour la ministre Mulroney, et félicitations pour le travail qu’elle et son équipe ont accompli.

J’aimerais partager avec vous une expérience que j’ai vécue à ma première visite ici à Queen’s Park, le 15 juin dernier. Probablement beaucoup d’autres nouveaux membres ont eu la chance d’arriver ici, puis d’avoir cette expérience-là. Je sors du taxi qui m’avait transporté de la station de train Union Station jusqu’ici à Queen’s Park. Je me dirige à l’entrée principale avec un bagage, n’ayant pas accès à ma chambre d’hôtel avant 16 h, un peu curieux à savoir comment j’allais me présenter à ces agents de sécurité. En montant les marches, les agents s’adressent à moi en français. Ils me disent : « Bienvenue, monsieur Sarrazin, et félicitations pour votre victoire. » Mais quelle belle surprise de voir ces gens qui ont pris le temps d’étudier la liste des nouveaux élus pour nous souhaiter la bienvenue. J’étais vraiment très impressionné.

Par la suite, on m’offre un tour guidé avec un guide francophone qui m’explique les moindres détails du bâtiment et de son histoire. Nous entrons ici même dans la Chambre de l’Assemblée législative, puis à ce moment-là, nous voilà en présence d’un guide qui offre une visite à un groupe d’élèves francophones assisté de plusieurs enseignants. Piqué par la curiosité et croyant que personne ne savait qui j’étais, je demande à la guide si je peux poser une question. Ma question avait pour but de savoir de quelle région de l’Ontario provenait ce groupe d’étudiants, mais avant même que je pose ma question, l’employée de l’Assemblée législative, qui est la guide, prend la parole en s’adressant aux visiteurs et leur dit : « Je vous présente M. Stéphane Sarrazin, député de Glengarry–Prescott–Russell, une des plus grandes circonscriptions francophones de la province. » Bien, vous ne pouvez pas savoir à quel point j’ai été surpris et submergé d’émotions. C’était très gentil de la part de ces employés-là. Je voulais dire un merci spécial aux employés de l’Assemblée législative d’être tant attentionnés à travailler avec les membres élus. Je voulais les remercier pour ça.

Now to my MPP colleagues, I would like to apologize in advance to you and the Legislative Assembly translators as I will often slip some English words while speaking in French. Donc, I believe that is the reality of many Franco-Ontarians, especially in the northern Ontario region. We call that “franglais.” I admit that it will be fun to see many of you, the members, quickly grab the headset to get translation when I address you in French. I am assuming that you all could have guessed from the start that I was a francophone, and you noticed my French accent, of course.

A lot of my English colleagues make some incredible efforts to communicate with me in French and many of them would really like to learn to speak French. Ces gens-là, on les surnomme des francophiles. A francophile is a person who admires francophones and their language, and I would like to tell you, my colleagues, that I’m very thankful for that.

Like I was mentioning earlier, as a mayor and a warden, I had the opportunity to sit on many councils and committees. I was involved with Prescott-Russell economic development, Prescott-Russell tourism, public works, social services, a long-term-care facility, emergency services, the local police board, a conservation agency, the Eastern Ontario Health Unit and the Eastern Ontario Agri-Food Network. I believe I was very fortunate to be involved with many organizations over the past years and be able to better understand our challenges in the riding.

I’m proud to be part of a team of great people who are all here for the same reason, which is to serve their constituents. An MPP’s responsibility is one that no one should take lightly. I am really impressed by the team, and I’m positive that we will work together to get a stronger Ontario.

Comme mentionné lors du discours du trône, notre province, notre pays a connu durant les dernières années des situations sans précédent. Nous avons de gros défis à relever, et les citoyens s’attendent à ce que les membres du gouvernement travaillent ensemble pour y arriver.

L’inflation est au plus haut niveau. Les chaînes d’approvisionnement sont fragiles à la suite d’une pandémie mondiale et la guerre en Ukraine—de grosse conséquence sur le portefeuille de nos citoyens et nos entrepreneurs. J’ai confiance que notre gouvernement sera fiscalement responsable et remettra l’Ontario sur la voie de la prospérité.

Encore une fois, j’aimerais terminer mon discours en m’adressant aux citoyens de Glengarry–Prescott–Russell. Je serai là pour vous représenter en tant que député pour les prochains quatre ans et je vous remercie pour votre confiance. Merci beaucoup.

Further debate?

Thank you very much.

Point of order.

Again, I would like to express my gratitude for being in this beautiful chamber. I keep looking at these lights and ceilings and can’t take my eyes off it. I love the fact that the people of Cambridge gave me the trust to elect me to sit in this room with this esteemed group, everybody on both sides of the aisle.

This morning, I started talking about Cambridge, a place with vitality, innovation and quality of life. That’s my city part of my riding. I also have a countryside of my riding called North Dumfries township. It’s picturesque. It’s mainly agricultural. Its quaint location and proximity to many large economic centres along the 401—and, like Cambridge, the 401 doesn’t run exactly through it but very close to it. It’s also at a main rail hub with Canadian Pacific that runs through Cambridge also.

North Dumfries is named after a Scottish settler—and I’ve got a little bit of Scottish history beside me, but Riddell is also an old Scottish name. It’s a scenic area that wraps around the city of Cambridge, and it’s located on the south end of the region of Waterloo. The township’s population is about 10,500—not big—with Ayr and Branchton being the largest communities, and settlements of Roseville, Clyde and Reidsville, as well as the Greenfield Heritage District. It’s a peaceful retreat with the countryside charm of rolling hills, ponds, rivers and trails. It’s a go-to destination if you want to have some recreation and relaxation.

People in the riding, whether it’s on the street or in a restaurant or in a campaign office or knocking on doors, would ask me why am I getting into the world of politics. I would tell them, “I’m a lifelong resident of the area, and I’ve always wanted to get involved and make positive change.” And that’s my credo: make positive change.

I’m going to steal from Will Bouma right now. I believe in treating people how I’d like to be treated and leaving things better than I found them.

I have a crazy background. I started off going to school for photography for three years. I worked for the Edmonton Journal and hated it. I saw a side of life that our esteemed member on the other side was mentioning about news, and it just wasn’t for me. But my dad was an electrician. My grandfather was involved with Tender Tootsies slippers, which I’m sure maybe your moms wore at one time.

I was raised around factories, so I thought, “I’ll be a millwright.” I went to school for that and started working at a company in Cambridge called Dresser Industries, building oil rigs. Then I started getting promoted up. They sent me to school for industrial engineering, where I graduated from Conestoga College. Then I did my degree at Wilfrid Laurier and the University of Chicago. And then somehow, I got into working black-box projects for General Motors, Ford and Toyota. I was one of the first people to be sent over to Toyota City in Japan. It opened my eyes like you would not believe.

As that industry started to shut down and move a lot to the States, I got into tire companies. I was the assistant manager of quality of Uniroyal-Goodrich up in Kitchener. We were bought out by Michelin. They looked at me and said, “We’re making you a field engineer,” so I used to go all over Canada, place tires in various facilities and then just report on them to the engineers in Clermont, France and in Greenville, South Carolina, just on their progress. But a lot of my friends from U-G ended up going over to Bridgestone. When I finished at Bridgestone, I was one of the national sales managers, and I thought it’s time to retire.

I was fooling myself. I can’t sit still. I love working. So I got into teaching. I went back and I was a professor at Conestoga College, teaching creative industries. I love that too, but I’ve always wanted to get into political life. I remember an MP in Cambridge named Max Saltsman who had business dealings with my father. He took us up to Ottawa and gave me a tour of the Parliament buildings, and I got bit—just like a tick, only I didn’t get Lyme disease from it.

Part of the thing that was bothering me: The past Liberal and NDP governments left the province in a mess, and I just wasn’t satisfied with that situation. I put my name out there and got a call on New Year’s Eve, of all days, that they’re interested in me being a candidate in Cambridge, so I went for it. About four months after that, I talked to the Premier. We got along, and I thought, I want to do this. But I had a big problem. The New Blue Party was formed in Cambridge, and everyone in this room knows what that is, and that was going to be my biggest challenge, I thought.

Basically, the riding association was destroyed. I had to rebuild that. I had great help from a lot of people. Peter Tudisco was our president. Dr. Matt Stubbings was my campaign manager—a lot of you know Matt; an amazing person. And probably the best person I had to deal with was my wife, Suzanne. She became my CFO. John Wright was my vice-president. Rob Leone, who sat in this chamber too, was on my board. And I had a guy named Nicholas Ermeta, who’s a councilman in Cambridge. He knocked on 10,000 doors for me. I have hobbies. I was a baseball coach. I’m a ski race coach out of Glen Eden, so my knees are gone. How this guy did 10,000 doors, I’ll never know. But in total, we knocked on over 16,000 doors, which was amazing.

There were all these hard-working people who believed in our cause, who were willing to go out there and donate their time, their money, and ultimately their votes to make this happen, and I will never forget them.

I would like to thank MPPs Mike Harris, Will Bouma and Monte McNaughton for helping me out too.

One of the largest advantages I had over other vying candidates—and it was kind of interesting—our campaign office was beside a Dairy Queen. In June, it was getting a little hot. May was hot, and everybody liked going to Dairy Queen. So that was my advantage. I used it for door-knocking schedules so they could have a break on a hot day.

Our government, under Doug Ford’s leadership, has been blessed with a second term and is working hard to correct all those issues and move forward with innovation, growth and prosperity for all Ontarians. I would like to mention a few of those examples that intrigued me—things that have been done and are going to be done:

—the spending of over $1 billion building five transmission lines to address electricity needs;

—$91 million to help electric vehicles and chargers to become more accessible;

—spending $3.5 million over three years, starting in 2022-23, to support over 3,000 hospital beds;

—$2.8 billion over the next three years to make temporary wage enhancements for PSWs;

—$142 million to recruit and retain health care workers in underserved communities;

—investing an additional $114 million over three years in skilled trades. Working with Monte on visiting Conestoga, the new campus, was invigorating;

—making Ontario the electric car manufacturing leader in North America, and I think that’s where we’re going;

—$91 million to help make electric vehicle chargers more accessible—I mentioned that already;

—introducing a new science and technology curriculum;

—spending over $40 billion in the next 10 years on hospital infrastructure. My colleague here from Brampton North mentioned the Peel hospital being shut and then reopened. The fact that we’re building the first medical school for doctors in over 100 years is amazing;

—spending $124 million over three years to modernize clinical education for nurses;

—$42 million over two years to support the expansion of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in Ontario; and

—reducing barriers to make it easier and quicker for foreign-credentialed health workers to begin practising in Ontario.

It just goes on and on. I could probably talk about this for an hour, but I’m not going to.

I want to go back to what I said earlier. The people of Cambridge have put me in this honoured role. I am deeply honoured, and I will do my best to bring their voice forward in this chamber.