I rise today to remember the remarkable life of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who sadly passed away last week. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney had a massive impact on Ontario and Canada. His vision and his leadership profoundly shaped our nation.

Serving as Prime Minister from 1984 to 1993, he challenged the status quo for a better country from coast to coast to coast. He championed economic and tax reforms to build a stronger economy. He was the driving force behind the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement and later NAFTA. He’s the reason that today we do over $1.2 trillion in two-way trade with the United States every single year.

He was a larger-than-life figure who not only reshaped Canada’s political landscape but also its place on the world stage. He gave our country confidence that we never had before. He carried great influence with global leaders like President Ronald Reagan, President George H.W. Bush and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. And he used that influence to play a leading role in ending South Africa’s racist apartheid system and in the international response to the Ethiopian famine.

Prime Minister Mulroney was instrumental in negotiating the landmark acid rain treaty. He knew that a strong economy and a strong environment go hand in hand, and it’s a lesson that I carry with me today.

Even after politics, he never stopped serving the people. He became an elder statesman, an adviser to so many of us.

On a personal note, he was a mentor, he was a role model and a friend. I have so many fond memories of him. I used to call him when I needed advice. When I was faced with a tough decision, he was always quick to answer the phone. And he had the best stories. If you’ve ever heard Prime Minister Mulroney’s stories—he had the best stories, and he always had a way to lift you up. I used to tell him after our chats that I felt so inspired and ready to take on the world.

Mr. Speaker, I’ll tell you a personal story: My mother, when she was sick—she loved the Prime Minister. He gave her a CD. I don’t know if people realize there’s a CD out there of the Prime Minister with all his songs and with his voice. She would be playing it all the time. I came home one day and heard Brian Mulroney’s voice singing, and I thought, “Okay, Mum, where’s he hiding?” She had his CD, and I thought, “Boy, wouldn’t this be an appropriate time to give him a call?” I gave him a call. He answered, and I said—I always called him “Prime Minister”—“Prime Minister, I walked into the house and my mum was listening to your song.” He said, “Can you pass the phone to your mother?” I passed it to her, and he started to sing. By the time he was done, my mother was a puddle on the floor. He was such a true gentleman.

Brian was so proud of his family: his wife, Mila; his four children, Caroline, Ben, Mark and Nicolas; and his many grandchildren.

I see so much of Brian’s best qualities in Caroline. I see the kindness, the intelligence and selfless service. I told him—just bear with me. I told him that when his daughter—because anyone knows that when you have a daughter—sons are sons; they’re great too. But when you have a daughter—now his daughter was stepping into the big leagues. She was coming down here, and I think—when you talked to him about Caroline, you could hear it; you could see it in his eyes. She was the apple of his eye. I think I gave him comfort—and not that she needed this, believe me. Caroline is one of the smartest, toughest women I know, and everyone knows that. I said, “I will protect her with my life. I’ll make sure I look after her.” The ironic thing is she’s protecting me and looks after me all the time. It just gave him comfort. When you would talk to Caroline about her dad, she would light up, just light up. You could see the glow in her face.

I just want to say, our prayers are with the Mulroney family, and especially Caroline. On behalf of the people of Ontario, I want to offer our condolences, our prayers, our thoughts to the family.

And I want to thank you for sharing your dad with us, Caroline, for so many years. While he’s left us now, he leaves behind a legacy as a trailblazer, as a visionary, as one of the greatest Prime Ministers in Canadian history, as a great man. He’ll be dearly missed by all.

I just want to say thank you to his family and to the Prime Minister for serving. May God bless Brian Mulroney.

Applause.

Here we go again, Mr. Speaker: not doubling down, tripling down, quadrupling down; quintupling down, and I’m proud of it. I’m proud to go out there and tell the people who are seeing violence in their homes, violence on the streets, violence in our subways that we’re going to get judges that are actually going to keep these criminals in jail.

There isn’t a person around the Toronto GTA who hasn’t faced some sort of crime—a gun to their heads in their homes, hand over the keys, kick in the doors—only to see these—

Interjections.

But the Liberals and NDP, they think that’s fine: “Let’s stay the status quo.” I’ll tell you one thing: We aren’t staying the status quo. We’re going to get judges that are tough on—

Interjections.