Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Saint Boniface—Saint Vital.

I am thankful for this opportunity to rise in the House for the very first time. I am grateful to be here. It is not lost on me what a special privilege this is.

I want to start by thanking the constituents of Fredericton—Oromocto for entrusting me with this responsibility. To be their representative here in Parliament is the honour of a lifetime.

I have always loved the Fredericton—Oromocto region. It is where I grew up, where my parents grew up and where I am now raising my children. I feel very fortunate to be able to do that.

Let me say that this campaign only made me appreciate what we have even more. Fredericton—Oromocto is a riding of about 80,000 people along the mighty Wolastoq, or the Saint John River. It is the traditional territory of the Wolastoqey, the people of the beautiful and bountiful river. It is a truly beautiful place that has sustained and nurtured life for thousands of years.

We are a riding of tech entrepreneurs, new Canadians, descendants of British loyalists, Acadians, two first nations communities, the Sitansisk and the Welamukotuk, and Canada's second-largest military base in Gagetown. It is a wonderful microcosm of this very country, with all the joys and all the challenges.

I thank the hundreds of volunteers who helped make this election campaign such an exceptional and unifying experience for all of us.

People of all sorts came out to help, many of whom had never been part of a campaign before. I had no idea what running was going to feel like. The truth is that I was nervous and scared. What I did not know was how it would feel to have people vouching for me. Volunteers were going to bat, supporting me, and going door to door in the rain and the cold, telling people that they thought I was a good guy and that I was the right person for this job. I will never, ever forget that. It meant so much to me. I thank them.

I thank my parents, Jim and Carmel Myles, who were both high school teachers. My dad taught in Fredericton. My mom taught in Oromocto. They loved their jobs and they set the standard for what it means to serve the community, to be part of a community and to love the community. I felt that during the entire campaign. Everywhere I went, I heard stories about how they had positively affected people's lives, and it was remarkable. I am sure I benefited from all of the years of their committed hard work in the community.

I thank my wife, Nina, and my daughters, Maria and Silvia. They are the ones who really convinced me to take on this challenge. They believed in me and convinced me that I could do it and that the time was right. Their support is invaluable, and I could not have done this without them.

Being here in this House is a privilege and that is not lost on me. I will not squander this opportunity and I promise to work tirelessly for everyone. I mean everyone, not just those who voted for me. That is a big part of the reason I ran in the first place. I love people, all sorts of people. I decided to run because I believe in Canadians.

I spent the last 20 years as a professional songwriter and musician, travelling all over this beautiful country. I travelled to hundreds of small towns in every province: east to west, up north, French, English, mining towns, military towns and every single big city. I will say, everywhere I went, I met decent people who cared about their communities and who wanted to build a good life for their kids in a country that they love. I did not see a country that was broken or impossibly divided. No, I saw a country of people who were fundamentally more similar than social media would ever have us believe.

Let us be honest. Sometimes we hear the same thing in politics, that we are too divided or too different to talk, to work together, to build together. I do not believe it for a second. Why? It is because I know deeply from experience that it is not the case. I learned it from being on the road for 20 years. It was also reinforced by my time campaigning. Over and over, door after door, I had so many great conversations with people who were tired of the polarization, skeptical of the partisanship and yearning for a focus on problem-solving over ideology.

Sure, there were folks who did not agree with me. That is normal. Did we still find time to have a chat about our community and our country's challenges? We did. I would say that this House, this Parliament, is no different. I really do believe that we are all here because we want to serve our communities, represent our constituents, and work hard to help build a country that we can be proud of for future generations, no matter what party we represent. I know perhaps I sound naive, but that is what Canadians want from us and expect from us. Let us keep that in mind.

There is a lot of talk about robust debate, but jeering and laughing while others are talking has very little to do with debate. I have been in show business for 20 years, and this is not show business, or at least it should not be. This is serious work and it deserves our respect. If we want Canadians to respect each other, we have to respect each other.

If we want Canadians to work together in spite of their differences, we must find ways to work together in spite of our differences too.

If we want Canadians to be united, we need to find ways to be united, and I am excited to do that. That is what I have always been interested in: building relationships across division. Why is this so important now?

It is because we are going through a very difficult period. Uncertainty, economic threats and a rapidly changing political landscape have forced us to really think about who we are as a country and how we can move forward together, strong and sovereign.

This will not be easy. It will depend on how well we can work together. Infrastructure east to west and south to north is going to require an ability to build relationships and trust from all parts of Canada and also from each side of the floor. It means identifying our common challenges and moving toward solutions together. Like the throne speech suggests, let us focus on making life more affordable, housing more abundant, our cultural organizations the envy of the world and our economy the strongest in the G7, and let us give our military the respect it deserves.

We can do this, and I look forward to working with all the members of the House on those goals every day that I am lucky enough to have this job.

David Myles