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Member of Parliament

Chris Lewis

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of Parliament
  • Conservative
  • Essex
  • Ontario
  • Voting Attendance: 68%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $172,107.39

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 79 - Jun/1/22
Mr. Chris Lewis (Essex, CPC)
Mr. Speaker, thank you for all the fantastic work you have done in the House in the absence of our Speaker. It is certainly wonderful to see him back here this week. I am incredibly proud of you, sir, and incredibly proud of how you have helped the decorum of the House, so thank you. Today I am lucky enough to stand for another private member's bill. It just happens to be from the member for Windsor West, who is in this chamber this evening. Before I get started on speaking in favour of Bill C-248, I have to tell a quick story. I was elected in 2019, and shortly after the election, the member for Chatham-Kent—Leamington, the member for Windsor West and I ended up in the Pearson airport in Toronto. We were stuck in a snowstorm. Previous to that, I had never had an opportunity to meet the member for Windsor West. We decided, because the airplanes were not flying and we could not get on a train, that we would take an Uber through one of the ugliest snowstorms that I have seen in recent history. We never know where life is going to take us, and it was a fantastic six-and-a-half-hour drive. I got to know the member for Windsor West quite well. On top of that story, I also want to tell another story, perhaps one for the history books or the Guinness Book of World Records for Canada. I am speaking to the private member's bill by the member for Windsor West this evening and, ironically, he is speaking to my private member's bill on Friday. I do not know the last time that two neighbouring MPs had a private member's bill in the same week. If we can get the support of the House, hopefully they will both be voted on next Wednesday at committee. With no further ado, I want to address Bill C-248. However, before I address it, I will suggest that I have done my due diligence. When I say that, I note the bill is for a green space, which is already there. It is an act to amend the Canada National Parks Act specifically to create the Ojibway national urban park of Canada. For those who do not know the riding of Essex and the ridings of Windsor West and Windsor—Tecumseh, we are somewhat landlocked in that our only way out is across the Ambassador Bridge, which, apparently by 2025, will be the Gordie Howe International Bridge, or through the riding of my other neighbour from Chatham-Kent—Leamington. Other than that, we are surrounded by three bodies of water. Land is expensive, to say the least. It is prime real estate, and opportunities for our constituents to get out and appreciate Mother Nature at her finest come at a very premium cost. I am supporting the bill to send it to committee because I have done my due diligence. I have spoken to the mayor of LaSalle, Mayor Bondy. I have met him in his office. Mayor Bondy said that at the end of the day, there is really no development around this area that can happen anyway, and if it could happen, the cost of permitting and the cost of red tape would be so incredibly high that it would not happen anyway. Ironically, I then ran into Mayor Dilkens last Thursday up in the city of Windsor. Mayor Dilkens is the mayor for the city of Windsor. I told him that I would be speaking to Bill C-248 this week. I asked him to tell me one more time whether he was in favour of it and he said, “Absolutely, I am in favour of the bill.” Why was I so happy to speak to it tonight? It is because it goes back to the conversation on green spaces. It also goes back to the conversation on mental health. We need to get people outdoors. We need to get families away from the television. We need to get people active. Through that activeness, we would have healthy, happy people who just might see a white-tailed deer. They might see one of the endangered eastern fox snakes, which does not necessarily excite me because I am not a snake lover, but we are certainly going to respect and protect them. Something else the bill would do is create tourism, tourism for Essex, tourism for Windsor West and tourism for Windsor—Tecumseh, because there would be an opportunity for our friends in Michigan, Ohio, upstate New York and Wisconsin to come over for a unique, neat national park. The opportunities are endless. I have said it before and I will say it again: Essex is truly a microcosm of Canada. It always has been. Whatever we can find throughout Canada, we can find in Essex. The only fly in that ointment is the vast beautiful land. This bill would give an opportunity specifically to the residents of LaSalle to get out and enjoy the outdoors. The only concern with Bill C-248 that I see today is that we need to ensure we keep the arteries open. When I say “arteries”, I am referring to a map. I really hope that when the bill is studied at committee, Malden Road and Matchett Road both remain open corridors for the folks who need to get into the cities, who need to get to the Stellantis plant or who need to get to the new $5-billion battery plants that are now being built, as we speak, in Windsor. We need to make sure that we save them time and save them money so that after they have a hard day's work, they can get home to be with their family. This information has been, quite frankly, exhaustive. I am so proud to stand here today, because a previous member for Essex, Mr. Watson, worked incredibly hard on this bill as well. I thank Mr. Watson for that and I hope he gets an opportunity to see this. I could go on about all the paperwork. I have a letter from the City of Windsor, with the council of Windsor unanimously saying to please do this. I am not speaking on behalf of Windsor; what I am saying is that we have done our due diligence. I have a letter from the Wildlands League, which I could read but I do not have time. It is asking us to please send this to committee. It is really neat. I also have a letter from the Caldwell First Nation, by Chief Mary Duckworth. It is from April 11, 2022. She said, “Caldwell First Nation has been involved with the Ojibway urban national park project since 2019, and we would like to ensure these lands are protected for future generations.” It is amazing how fast 10 minutes goes by in the House of Commons. It blows my mind. The last thing I will say is this. I visited a home in LaSalle two and a half weeks ago. I stood in the backyard, a beautiful place, and asked the homeowner what he thought about this. He said that it cannot be developed anyway. He said it is a great opportunity for the residents of LaSalle, and a great opportunity for folks to get out, get active, maybe smile once again and get away from the negativity. I will leave the House with one final thought. Usually, but not always, all we hear in the House is the negative side of things, but here is a Conservative incredibly excited to help out a member of the New Democratic Party because it is the right thing to do. It is the right thing for our region. I would ask that this bill get sent to committee to be studied.
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