Mr. Speaker, it is with a profound honour that I rise for the first time in the 45th Parliament to speak to my colleagues about the Speech from the Throne.

Let me start by congratulating every single member on having been elected to Canada's Parliament. It is a momentous occasion for all of us in our personal journeys and our journeys on behalf of our families and our community. My profound congratulations go especially to all the new members who have joined. What a remarkable opportunity to serve our community and, most importantly, to serve our country.

I would be remiss if I did not first say some thank yous while standing here in front of all members. I will start with my family. I want to thank my partner, Andrea Dicks, for her remarkable support and endorsement. Like many spouses, as everyone knows, she is somebody who was always there, looking after the kids so that we could be out there for five, six weeks, day in and day out, knocking on doors and meeting constituents. We would not be able to do the work we do without supportive families and, in my case, Andrea.

I want to thank my two children. Rafi just turned 13 a day before the election, on April 27. He was worried about whether he would have his birthday dinner or not. We made sure that happened after I took him canvassing with me. He was great during this election. He knocked on a lot of doors and brought some of his friends as well. My daughter, Elliana, who is nine years old, also came canvassing with me quite a few times. This was a bit of an interesting experience, because my kids are old enough now to participate. It was fun. I was able to spend time with them.

Of course, I want to thank my parents, my father, who I call daddy, and my mother, Ammi, for all their support and for always being there for me. I am grateful to them for the opportunities they have given to me.

Campaigns are nothing without volunteers. All of us know that, and my campaign was no exception. Hundreds of volunteers came out to support me in our campaign. These people are neighbours, friends, colleagues and community folks who came in, day in and day out, because they were excited to build a strong Canada. They really saw the Liberal Party and the Prime Minister, the member for Nepean, as the leader who can really lead our country in the next chapter of our growth to make sure that our country and our economy are strong, but most importantly, that we are an independent country. I will speak more to that a little later.

I want to thank the staff in my office, who worked extremely hard in anticipation of the election and between elections, for the good work they did. I want to thank them for having faith in me and for working alongside me in serving our constituents here in Ottawa Centre.

My most important thank you is to my constituents in Ottawa Centre, who have trusted me yet again and given me the opportunity to serve our community. They came out in the thousands to vote for me. They allowed me the opportunity and the time at their doorsteps to have very thoughtful, mindful conversations about the issues of the day and the direction our country needs to take.

I have always gained so much from my constituents since 2007, when I ran for the first time provincially. This was my sixth election and it is the fifth time that I have had an opportunity to serve my community of Ottawa Centre. I am absolutely humbled by their trust, their wisdom and their desire to give me an opportunity to be their voice. I will honour that every single day.

This election, in my view, was different from every other election I have been part of, whether as a volunteer or as a candidate. This election was really about the future of our country and about the direction we want to go in to build a country that is strong and independent, both politically, when it comes to our sovereignty, but also in terms of our economy, the kind of economy we will build. Those were the conversations I had.

It was a very historic moment, having our sovereign, the King, present the speech himself. I was lucky, like many of my colleagues, to be in the Senate by the bar to listen to the speech. There were two passages that really jumped out at me in the speech, that spoke to me directly with regard to the conversations I had with my constituents during the election campaign.

The first one was at the beginning of the speech. It is this: “Democracy, pluralism, the rule of law, self-determination, and freedom are values which Canadians hold dear, and ones which the Government is determined to protect.” Democracy, pluralism, the rule of law, self-determination and freedom are the values we will all agree defines who we are as Canadians.

The reason this passage jumped out at me is that it took me back to my origin story, about how I came to Canada. I was not born here. Some members have heard this. I was a teenager, 15 years old, when I came here. Both of my parents were lawyers, but they were not able to practise for a single day in Canada, because their credentials were not recognized. Like many immigrant families, they bought a small business, a motel in Niagara Falls, Ontario. A recession hit and we lost everything. My family of five moved into a small two-bedroom apartment. My mom and dad got one room, my sister got the other room and the boys got the living room. My brother, being older than me, slept on the couch. I slept on the floor. My family worked extremely hard every day. We had our community, and we were proud to be part of this new society, this new country. The opportunities that were given to us, even though we were not Canadians at that time, allowed us to be successful.

However, what is most important is the reason we came to Canada. Both of my parents were involved in the pro-democracy movement in the country I was born in. In fact, my father led a pro-democracy march and was imprisoned. He was sentenced to nine months as a political prisoner. I was 10 years old at the time. It is part of my memory and has defined who I am today. Therefore, when I see words like “democracy”, “pluralism”, “rule of law”, “self-determination” and “freedom”, that is what this country has given to me.

My story is not unique. That is the story of so many Canadians from different generations who chose to be part of this country and are working hard to contribute. These are the values that define us and that we honour. I was excited and thrilled to see those words mentioned in the speech.

The second passage was toward the end of the throne speech, and I think everybody noticed. It was when the King said, “As the anthem reminds us: The True North is indeed strong and free!”

Yasir Naqvi

$503,232.00