Goldie Ghamari - Inaugural Speech

00:00:00.000 Thank you. I will recognize the member from Carleton.

00:00:09.000 Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

00:00:11.000 Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Congratulations.

00:00:16.000 I have the confidence that you will be fair in your judgments

00:00:20.000 and in your representation of this sacred institution.

00:00:23.000 I also wanted to acknowledge this territory as a traditional

00:00:26.000 gathering place for many people, including the Mississauga

00:00:29.000 of the Crédit. I look forward to continuing the historic relationship between First Nations and

00:00:34.620 the Crown. On June 7th, the people and families of Carleton chose change. People like Earl Stanley

00:00:42.900 from Metcalfe, who celebrated the 25-year anniversary of Stanley's Old Maple Lane Farm,

00:00:48.320 a family-run hospitality venue in Metcalfe. People like the former mayor and then city

00:00:54.600 Councillor of Rideau-Golburn, Glenn Brooks, his lovely wife Gail Brooks and their entire

00:01:00.680 family. People like Stephen and Brenda Lewis and all their friends and family out in Ashton.

00:01:07.080 Elizabeth McNee, Greg Thurlow, Phil McNee from Osgoode who had never been politically involved

00:01:12.760 before. Peter and Karen Gartenberg in Manitick, Rich and Joanne Wilson in Manitick, Norm and Sue

00:01:19.640 Hotchkiss in York's Corners, Dave Eggett and Karen Newell in Greeley, Roger and Penny Graves,

00:01:26.680 Dave Lee, his family and all his friends and neighbours in Stittsville, including those who

00:01:31.480 had never voted Progressive Conservative before, Joyce Wood, who told me that in her youth she was

00:01:37.320 involved with the young Liberals and would never get involved politically, and Ted Wood out in

00:01:42.920 Burrits Rapids. Kirsten Jensen, a young mother and first-time voter in Richmond.

00:01:48.920 Mr. Speaker, local business owners like Cameron Kalos, who owns a local coffee shop in Richmond,

00:01:55.080 and Mike from Mike's Garden Harvest in Manitik chose change. Local and well-known Carleton farm

00:02:01.240 families from Kenmore and Vernon all the way to North Gore, many of whom have been in the farm

00:02:07.160 for generations, including the Scoutons, the Acres, the Fosters, the Samples, the Nixons,

00:02:13.000 the McCormicks, the Blacks, and countless more. They all chose change. I met hundreds of first-time 0.99

00:02:19.480 and young voters at the doors, including Elena Heider, Jeremy Liedtke, John Buchan, Rory Tyler,

00:02:26.840 and Shayla Hotchkiss. Countless doctors, professionals, business owners, people who had

00:02:32.680 never been politically involved or who had never voted PC before. There are too many

00:02:37.480 to name, Mr. Speaker, but all of them decided to help me on my journey to represent the

00:02:42.680 people of Carleton, to voice their concerns, to resolve their problems and to bring positive

00:02:48.600 change not just to Carleton but across Ontario. On June 7, Mr. Speaker, over 50% of Carleton's

00:02:55.720 voters chose to put their trust and faith in me. I will be forever grateful to them and words will

00:03:01.640 never express the depth of my gratitude. To those who did not vote for me, Mr. Speaker,

00:03:06.940 I want to make it very clear that when I say I'm here to represent everyone, I truly

00:03:12.180 mean it. Carleton is a brand-new riding, comprised of Nepean Carleton, Carleton Mississippi Mills,

00:03:18.980 and Ottawa South. I wish to recognize the previous work done for the riding of Carleton

00:03:26.660 by MPP Jack McLaren, Minister Lisa McLeod, MPP John Frazier and former MPP Norm Sterling.

00:03:34.420 I look forward to continuing to work with the Minister and with MPP John Frazier as

00:03:38.940 well as Minister Fullerton, all of the Ottawa region MPPs and my federal counterpart, the

00:03:44.500 Hon. Pierre Polyeb and local municipal politicians.

00:03:49.120 The riding of Carleton is home to 102,915 people.

00:03:57.240 It covers the entire southern and rural portion of Ottawa's municipal boundaries, as well

00:04:02.160 as three rapidly growing suburban communities, Stittsville, Riverside South and Findlay Creek.

00:04:08.800 Carleton is a wonderful mix of rural and urban, old and new.

00:04:12.600 In fact, a month ago, the Richmond Village Association celebrated the 200th anniversary

00:04:18.160 of the town of Richmond, a beautiful area that predates Confederation itself.

00:04:24.740 Agriculture is not just an extremely important sector of the economy, but it is also a way

00:04:29.260 of life. In fact, some of Carleton's families go back generations to the first settlers

00:04:34.900 on the land. Carleton's farmers play an important role in Ottawa. John and Sandra Vandenberg

00:04:40.860 of Rideau Pines Farm in North Gore supply produce to top-tier Ottawa restaurants like

00:04:45.700 Becta and Play. Tom and Marlene Black on Fallowfield Road have donated part of

00:04:51.040 their farmland to the Ottawa Food Bank in support of their community harvest

00:04:54.700 program and in 2016 the Black family farm donated over 90,000 pounds of fresh

00:05:01.200 produce alone to the food bank. The Richmond and Metcalfe fairs both predate

00:05:06.600 Confederation and every year farmers from across the region gather to

00:05:11.580 participate in the Ottawa Carleton Plowman's Association plowing match.

00:05:15.840 Carleton's community and business associations are numerous, vibrant and

00:05:20.100 diverse. We have countless community parades, festivals, art shows, sporting

00:05:25.260 competitions, Canada Day celebrations, Christmas events and more. It has been

00:05:30.720 truly a pleasure getting to know the people of Carleton. The friendships that

00:05:34.680 I have made and the lessons that I have learned will last a lifetime and the

00:05:38.840 most important lesson I have learned is to listen with both ears. Mr. Speaker, it is truly a

00:05:46.160 privilege for me to rise in this House today to address you and my fellow members as the

00:05:51.920 democratically elected representative for the new riding of Carleton. And I do not use the phrase

00:05:57.940 democratically elected lightly. You see, Mr. Speaker, I was born in Iran in 1985, shortly after

00:06:05.380 the Iranian Revolution that overthrew the Shah and replaced him with a 0.90

00:06:09.940 theocracy ruled by strict Islamic ideology, a theocracy overrun with 0.55

00:06:14.620 corruption and greed, a theocracy that throws people in jail for criticizing 0.98

00:06:19.060 the government, hangs homosexuals, stones women, and allows its citizens to suffer

00:06:23.880 and live in poverty while pocketing billions of dollars in oil money. My 0.98

00:06:28.840 father, having lived in Texas for almost a decade in the 70s, returned to Iran

00:06:33.180 after the revolution had taken place to settle down and start a family. When I

00:06:37.740 was born, he looked at the infant girl in his arms and realized he could not

00:06:41.940 raise a daughter in that environment. And so, Mr. Speaker, my parents gave up

00:06:46.740 everything they owned, said goodbye to their families, and on May 24, 1986, we

00:06:52.800 landed at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport in Montreal. My parents had two suitcases,

00:06:58.800 $50 in their pocket and a one-year-old baby girl, me. They had no friends, no

00:07:05.280 family, no contacts. My father tells me that our first night in Canada he rented

00:07:10.600 an unfurnished apartment. My parents slept on newspapers that night and I

00:07:15.360 slept bundled up in my father's jacket. My parents gave up everything they had so

00:07:21.220 that they could raise their family in a free and democratic country, a country

00:07:25.800 like Canada. They came here with nothing and they expected nothing. My parents taught me to work hard,

00:07:33.480 to play by the rules, to be thankful for our freedoms and most importantly Mr. Speaker,

00:07:39.000 to respect and to give back to the people and communities that built Canada and made it the

00:07:44.600 best country in the world. If someone had told my parents that not only would I be the first person

00:07:50.680 in the family to become a lawyer but also the first person to uh or sorry but also that 32 years

00:07:59.480 later i would have the opportunity and privilege to serve the people of ontario right here in the

00:08:04.360 house as the first ever iranian immigrant woman to become a canadian politician i don't think

00:08:10.440 they would have believed it.

00:08:23.400 And Mr. Speaker, the fact that the Progressive Conservative Party of

00:08:27.480 Ontario is the first party to welcome someone like me into its

00:08:31.160 fold speaks volumes about our party's commitment

00:08:34.520 and dedication to equality and equal opportunity for everyone.

00:08:39.000 This government is truly a government for the people.

00:08:42.440 The throne speech was a clear indication of that fact, and I echo Mr. Downey's comments in that regard.

00:08:47.740 I am excited and hopeful for what this government can and will do in the next four years for the people.

00:08:55.840 I hope that my story and my journey inspires others to give back and serve their communities in any way possible.

00:09:02.860 I am incredibly grateful to the people of Carleton for placing their confidence in me,

00:09:07.680 And I promise to do everything in my power to ensure that their voices, concerns, and needs are heard in this House.

00:09:14.560 Thank you.

Goldie Ghamari - July 16, 2018

Inaugural Speech

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