I would like to acknowledge a young man from the Carleton riding who has overcome the greatest of obstacles in pursuit of his dream. Arthur Hamlin is from the Ottawa suburb of Riverside South in the riding of Carleton. He grew up in a family where his father, grandfather, uncle and brother all played professional football. Arthur was on his way to adding his name to that list after accepting a scholarship to Colgate University.

In 2021, Arthur noticed a lump on his neck. Antibiotics prescribed by his trainers did not help. When he returned home to Ottawa, an ultrasound and biopsy confirmed his worst fears: He had cancer.

He stayed home from school for a year and underwent six months of aggressive chemotherapy treatments for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He got a job at a local gym and worked out at 6 a.m. on mornings when he was able to do so.

In 2022, he was cancer-free. He went back to school at Colgate and played for two more seasons while furthering his education.

On Friday of last week, Arthur Hamlin’s dream finally came true. He played his first CFL game as a member of the Montreal Alouettes for a game at TD Place in Ottawa, the stadium where he grew up dreaming of playing in the CFL. He played in front of his family, friends and everyone who supported him through his battle with cancer.

His attitude and perseverance have inspired everyone in the Carleton riding, especially me. Thank you for being an amazing and inspirational role model. Arthur, you have made us all proud.

I want to thank my friend the member from Chatham-Kent–Leamington for his remarks, as well as the member from Carleton.

Just spending so much time in the municipal sector, both as a councillor for eight years and about 20 years as a civil servant myself, working on housing applications, I’m delighted to see this bill, because, quite frankly, there is a lot of process involved, a lot of ways that we are stalling the ability to provide housing for people.

I’m hoping the member from Chatham-Kent–Leamington can elaborate a bit on the kinds of changes that he sees for his community happening. Potential developments had been stalled, and with the passage of this bill, we’ll be able to see them realized.