The following was delivered in the House of Commons prior to MPs voting to select a Speaker for the 45th Parliament.
Mr. Chair, I too would like to acknowledge that we are gathered today on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.
A little over 20 years ago, I took my seat in this House for the first time, in the very last row, in fact.
I took my seat in the House a little over 20 years ago. It was a proud moment, which is why I would like to offer a special congratulation to all the newly elected members who are taking their seats for the first time today. Whether we are in the first row or the last row, like the old Montreal Forum, there are no bad seats in this arena.
We are all equal here. We have all travelled the same road, faced challenges and come up against obstacles on the way to earning the honour and privilege of being the voices of our constituents in this Parliament. Canada’s greatest asset is its democracy, and democracy lives and breathes here in this chamber.
Democracy does not end on election day. It is a living thing, and its home is here in this chamber. Ultimately, it is the quality of our democracy that makes our country strong. It reflects the strength of the nations, communities, provinces and regions that make up Canadian society.
It is rightly said that there can be no true freedom without order. Likewise, we cannot have a truly meaningful exchange of ideas without an orderly, rules-based House of Commons. There is nothing wrong with a clean, even board-rattling, polemical body check in the corners. I have been at the receiving end of a few. Robust debate is fundamental to a robust democracy, and a robust democracy is what makes for a resilient nation. The problem is when sticks go high.
Canadians want to see sticks on the ice, and it is the responsibility of the Speaker to make this so. I am an optimist; I believe it possible to skilfully and convincingly dissect and refute an argument without recourse to personal invective or intimidation. I have seen all colleagues from all parties achieve this standard.
More than 20 years of parliamentary experience has prepared me for the challenge of finding the right balance between respect and order on the one hand and vigorous debate that clarifies the issues on the other.
I have been around the block. Over the past 20 years, I have sat on both sides of the House. I sat on the opposition benches for 10 years, including when my party’s future seemed rather uncertain. I have also sat for a total of 10 years on the government benches. I know both sides of the coin and am sensitive to the needs of colleagues on both sides of the House.
It is important to remember that the Speaker is also an administrator, overseeing the operations and services of the parliamentary precinct. My 20 years have given me a thorough understanding of the workings of the administrative apparatus on Parliament Hill and its regulatory framework.
We have a duty to Canadians and to ourselves, a duty to cultivate our parliamentary democracy in an increasingly turbulent world where many argue that democracy is just too inefficient and time-consuming.
Canada has always been about values. It was the will to affirm a distinct set of values on the upper half of the North American continent that led to the creation, against all odds, of this confederation of founding peoples and nations, and diverse and proud regions. While our neighbour to the south may be modern-day Rome in size and power, we are Athens in culture, values and democracy. That is how we must see ourselves. That is who we must be.