Speech from the Throne
Motion for Address in Reply--Debate Continued
October 28, 2025
Your Honour, honourable senators, first, I will take the opportunity to thank you, Your Honour, the Usher of the Black Rod, Clerk Anwar and their teams, as well as my Independent Senators Group colleagues and all senators across the chamber. I would also like to thank the Senate administrative teams, including security and facilities; and my own team — John Inca, Julie and Sola — for the tremendous professionalism and support shown to me since my appointment.
Special thanks to Senators McBean, Saint-Germain and Harder for their advice and moments of levity as I calibrate myself inside and outside this chamber.
Thanks as well goes to my seatmate, Senator Arnold, who assures me that I’m not alone on my own island figuring out this august place. If she were to peek in my desk, she’d see that I have extra-strength crazy glue so that if she tries to go somewhere, I can put my plan into action.
While they’re not here today, I also thank my mom, Dilu; my father, Aba; my sister, Amina; my brother-in-law, Tomas; and my incredibly amazing niece Hailie. It is because of their love, support and encouragement that I stand here.
I’m a big believer in community, and I’m honoured to be part of this one, a place where you can speak freely, act independently and bring your own brand of curiosity and courage to addressing issues that define us as a nation.
As I reflect on how I will serve in this role, I marvel at the symmetries that have framed my journey to this moment. It’s not lost on me that former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau welcomed my parents, my sister and me to this amazing country as political refugees, and 53 years later, former prime minister Justin Trudeau appointed me to the Senate, a place that is entrusted to serve and protect the very institutions that gave us refuge and hope. Neither is it lost on me that I’ll end my career in the same place where it began, on Parliament Hill. So I stand before you, humbled by the immensity of this privilege and motivated by the duty to serve.
My love of Parliament Hill began 30 years ago. I was fresh out of university and landed a job with the Honourable Paddy Torsney, my Member of Parliament for Burlington. Later, I had the pleasure of working with the Honourable Anne McLellan while she served as Minister of Justice, then Health and then Public Safety and then as Deputy Prime Minister.
These two incredible women gave me the opportunity of a lifetime to serve Canadians in a unique and impactful way by moving forward legislation on gun control, same-sex benefits, environmental protection, anti-terrorism and the creation of the Public Health Agency of Canada, among other investments and initiatives.
Now, my engagement with the Senate began quite informally. Former senator Raynell Andreychuk learned that I was from Uganda. As the former High Commissioner to Kenya and Uganda, she thought it would be nice for us to have lunch. She was kind, insightful, approachable and oh-so-very glamorous. I remain grateful that she took the time to tell me about the work of a senator, because she planted the seed.
More formally, my exposure to the Senate came through the many different occasions my minister appeared before Senate committees. I was struck by the calibre of the questions, the sense of purpose and, of course, the commitment to good old‑fashioned debate — and there were some truly feisty moments. Those experiences shaped my appreciation for the important work that is done here. I know all too well the difference that the Senate can make. I have seen it, and I’m deeply honoured now to be a part of it.
With that in mind, I’d like to focus my remarks on the difference I hope to make and provide a sense of the issues I will champion and the way that I will champion them.
Perhaps because I’m a product of others creating opportunities for me when I was young, or it’s because I’ve witnessed the incredible impact the committed, creative and connected young people can have — whatever the reason — I believe, now more than ever, we must continue to create opportunities for young people to thrive today and into the future.
Those who know me will recognize this as familiar ground. As a political staffer, a social entrepreneur, a CEO and a board member, I’ve always tried to be a voice, an ear, an ally and a champion for young people.
In the Speech from the Throne, His Majesty King Charles III said:
We owe it to this generation, and those who succeed us, to think and act for the greater good of all.
To accept this challenge, first, we need to face some hard facts.
Last November, as CEO of The King’s Trust Canada, I commissioned Deloitte to provide an up-to-date study about the economic and social costs of youth unemployment and its long-term impact on our country. We already knew the situation was dire, but it was hard to cut through the noise and get government and media to focus on the crisis, and that’s what it is. So we decided to put a number on it. Once you quantify the cost of wasted potential, it becomes impossible to ignore.
The report Failure to Launch was clear. First the bad news; I will get to the good news. In July 2024, the youth unemployment rate hit 14.2%, its highest level since September 2012 excluding the pandemic years. This past July, it rose to 14.6%. Canada is moving in the wrong direction. While some of our peers — the U.S.A. is at 8%, Germany at 6%, Japan at 4% — are stabilizing or improving. Our numbers are getting worse.
Youth unemployment results in higher expenditures on a range of government services, including the criminal justice system and health care, in particular mental health and welfare. Given the focus we have on AI now, it’s worth noting that by 2030, nearly 40% of the jobs in Canada will be disrupted by automation and AI. That’s not a distant forecast; it’s right around the corner.
Now for the good news. A reduction of youth under- and unemployment in Canada could result in an $18.5 billion increase of real GDP by 2034. If we seize the moment, 228,000 jobs will be created, generating $9.2 billion in wages and an increase to government revenues of $5.3 billion.
Honourable senators, these numbers are more than data points. They are young people delaying their independence, questioning their futures and losing hope. This impacts our economic and social systems in ways that are dangerous not only for young people but for everyone. For example, employers are already having shortages in health care, skilled trades and technology. Youth unemployment fuels anxiety, depression and despair. Indigenous, racialized, rural, disabled and newcomer youths face even greater barriers.
Demographic shifts mean that Canada’s prosperity tomorrow depends on young people today. In other words, our aging population will rely on the productivity, the tax contributions and the innovations of the next generation.
And then there are the political risks. A generation that feels excluded is a generation that disengages: lower voter turnout, less civic participation, eroding trust in our institutions, reduced engagement with volunteerism and public service, diminished willingness to challenge injustice or advocate for change. These are not abstract concerns. They strike at the very foundation of our democracy. When young people feel unheard or sidelined, the health of our democratic institutions is directly threatened.
So what can we do? Just as we have embraced gender-based analysis, we would benefit from applying a youth lens to legislation. Imagine if every bill we debated and every regulation we passed were consistently assessed not only for their fiscal or gender implications but also for their impact on young Canadians.
Supporting young Canadians requires bold, practical action. I’ll give you just a few examples: updating policies for automation in the gig economy, where many young people are working; incentivizing employers to hire and train young people at a scale not done before; investing in programs that reflect current needs and solve for the long term, not just for the summer; using data to guide evidence-based solutions; and investing in youth sport, which has proven to improve employability skills and mental health — and as we all know, sport is a nation builder. Go, Jays, go!
These are some of the areas where I hope to lend my voice so that young Canadians see an opportunity and are empowered to seize it.
Honourable senators, investing in youth is not charity, and it’s not optional — it’s nation building. If we ignore this moment, we will inherit slower growth, deeper divides and weaker institutions. History will judge us not for the debates we’ve had but whether we rose to meet this generation’s defining challenges. I sincerely hope that we do not legislate as if youth are a side file, because youth are the main file. They are the future of our economy, the guarantors of our democracy and the innovators who will harness technology in ways that we can only imagine.
Honourable senators, let’s imagine Canada 20 years from now. Will our young people look back and say that we had the foresight to prepare them, that we treated their future as the defining issue of our time? Or will they say we failed them by looking away when they needed us the most?
I want to share with you just a few examples of what I have experienced when listening to and working in service to youth. During my time as the CEO of the Malala Fund, I had the extraordinary opportunity to meet with refugee girls in Lebanon. Malala and I travelled there with Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, to announce our partnership. At one point, we sat in a circle with these young women, and one by one, they told us what they had gone through, but really what they wanted to share with us was where they wanted to go.
Despite what they had experienced — war, witnessing the death of parents, not going to school for months, living in camps — each of them spoke of their desire to return to their country, get an education, acquire skills that would let them give back to their communities and provide for themselves and their families. Their resilience was palpable. Many of them are on their path to becoming health care professionals so that they can save lives, and one will become an architect to rebuild her own town — literally.
In Canada, I have been blessed to meet hundreds of young people who tell me they did what they were told. They were told to go to school and graduate, and that they would get a good job. They would earn a great living. They would be able to buy a house and build a family. For hundreds of thousands of young Canadians, they feel they did their part, but it has not paid off.
Senators, this isn’t about blame; it’s about course correction. We made the promise. If the promise cannot be kept, it must be revisited. The future of youth is not an abstract debate; it’s the competitiveness of our economy, the survival of our democracy and the future of Canada.
I hope to meet this moment with courage and contribute as if the future depends on it, because it does. Colleagues, it is my honour to work with you in service to Canada, the best place in the world in which to live, to learn and to love. Thank you. Shukran. Meegwetch.
Honourable senators, I am proud to rise today in this chamber for my inaugural speech in response to the Speech from the Throne.
I am delighted to be following Farah, who was sworn in with me on the same day.
I was an Italian kid who grew up in Little Italy in Windsor, Ontario, the southernmost city in Canada — it’s 800 kilometres south of Vancouver, to be exact — practically surrounded by two Great Lakes, Ontario and Erie, and a stone’s throw from Detroit, Michigan. It is the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe people of the Three Fires Confederacy — a fact that, I admit, I didn’t know while I was growing up.
Some would call playing road hockey with my brother on the street the idyllic Canadian upbringing, until you hear that I was the designated goalie and regularly took shots to the midsection. It was perhaps a harbinger of things to come in my career; most of the time it was great, but every now and then, a hard, cold tennis ball to the gut.
My parents were Italian immigrants from the 1950s. My dad learned English by reading the newspaper. He was a carpenter who went to work in an auto parts plant. My mom landed at age 11. She learned English quickly and became the friends-and-family translator for all the people receiving government mail. She started work with Immigration Canada as a stenographer — and actually wrote with that — and retired years later as an immigration officer. She was an office favourite of many immigrant clans, because that’s how they arrived in Windsor at the time. She would speak to them slowly, articulating every letter, because she knew it would help them to understand. Sometimes she continued talking like that when she arrived home, and we would say, “Mom, you’re not at work.”
My family has always been deeply involved in our Italian community. Our heritage comes to us by way of northern Italy, more specifically, the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. We were active members of our region’s Fogolar Furlan Club. I eventually became the first Canadian-born female club president. In 1962, each member of a small group of immigrants contributed $1,000 toward the purchase of land to build a large building to house the club. Thirty years later, we had the honour of hosting a Canadian citizenship ceremony.
Thirty years after building this Italian club, the bricklayers, cement pourers and drywallers hosted an immigration ceremony — the first time the government did so outside of government buildings.
The Minister of Immigration at the time, Sergio Marchi, was originally from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region as well.
That was the day I met my first senator, who was also from the region of Frioul-Vénétie Julienne. Many of you will remember — I hope — Senator Peter Bosa.
In the midst of a typical high school life — school, sports, my job at McDonald’s, my big union job at A&P — I received a fateful call. It was 1974, and Herb Gray’s office called me and invited me — he was the local MP — to come to an event to meet the Prime Minister.
Looking back, I don’t think Herb Gray knew his volunteers called me. I don’t think he knew that I actually attended the event, but for me it was a pivotal moment, not just for meeting the Prime Minister and Herb Gray, but for understanding the machinery of politics. I was hooked.
In 1981 I attended the University of Port Elizabeth in South Africa. I was a Rotary student. Apartheid was the government policy. Nelson Mandela was still in jail. It was the first year that university allowed all races to enroll.
In addition to experiencing the country’s beauty and getting my national colours in volleyball, I had a critical awakening in my political thinking. Imagine if your life’s outcome were based on whether your SIN started with 01 or 04, which depended, in turn, on the colour of your skin.
I am convinced that government can destroy, but it can also be the partner that enables people to reach their full potential. I am forever grateful to the Rotarians I met over the years, both as a student, and then when I worked for Rotary years later. They provided me with valuable insight — global and local — that serves me to this day.
In this first speech, we’re supposed to share thoughts about what brings us to this great hall. For me, it’s as much about people as it is about events. My husband, Jim Bennett, is one of those people. Unlike me, he comes from a very political family. His father was a Member of the House of Assembly, or MHA, in the same district where he himself became one 40 years later. He would be on the west coast of Newfoundland, where we need a little more representation with the Newfoundlanders.
No one would predict this particular pairing. We only met because he ended up at the University of Windsor’s law school. His view has always been that you regret the things you don’t do. As a lawyer, he loves fighting for the underdog. “The big guys can take care of themselves,” he says. “It’s the little guy that needs the help.”
I served in government for 16 years. In cabinet, you aren’t able to pick your posts. You sort of hold your breath and hope for the best. Premier Dalton McGuinty gave me great portfolios, such as education, where my challenge was class size — having to bring them down to 20 students or fewer for all kids Grade 3 and under, and all the capital requirements that ensued.
Another one was community and social services, where only creativity can move us forward on so many difficult files. We had a few firsts there: welfare reform to ease people back into the workforce and opening adoption records.
A really creative solution came with my colleague John Gerretsen, the former Minister of Housing. With a massive federal allocation of units at that time, he handed over the capital for the housing units while I found funds for the services needed for people with developmental disabilities. I argued, “You’ll still hit your target, but we’re just expanding who gets them.” There are still not enough spaces today, but we moved the needle.
Responsible for the secretariat for women’s issues, we created a domestic violence action plan that involved 12 other ministries, which was unheard of at the time.
It was the move to economic development and trade in 2005 that began my obsession with how public policy can impact our economy. I wanted as much passion shown for the economy as we shower on social issues.
There’s nothing like a Great Recession to focus the mind. We found partners to get assistance to companies quickly. We stepped up to reverse the decision by Ford to close the engine plant in my own community. We stepped up to save GM and Chrysler, which are companies that would not exist today had the provincial and federal governments not stepped in — companies that should feel a stronger loyalty to us today.
We knew we had to go where there could be opportunities. We organized our first international trade mission to Alberta. We brought manufacturers and opened the door to the oil and gas sector to get them into a very different supply chain. Of course, this couldn’t have happened without my colleague who was a minister from Alberta, first as the Minister of Finance and then the Minister of Industry, calling on her contacts to meet our companies.
A journalist from Calgary called me for an interview. “So here comes Ontario, tail between your legs, looking for work.” I answered, “Yes, absolutely.” That stopped him cold.
It was a big hit, culminating in a reception that featured Alberta’s captain of industry, Ron Southern, and, of course, Iris Evans, the minister who opened doors for our companies. The first year featured 30 Ontario companies. By the third year, there were 200. Iris and I always kept in touch over the years, and I’m delighted that she is here in the gallery today.
We’re in that tough economic spot today for altogether different reasons, and we need to look for new markets and new ways of doing things. Back then, we wanted to engage the EU in trade negotiations. Peter Mandelson, then-EU commissioner, said, “If the provinces aren’t interested, why would we bother?” So former Quebec minister Raymond Bachand and I headed off to Brussels and said, “Here is 70% of the GDP of the country. We want a deal.”
It was the first trade deal that actually placed the provinces at the table in those negotiations.
Canada has been really good at inking agreements, and we need to operationalize them. Businesses take customers and logistics that are the most lucrative. That’s what they’re supposed to do. What we need to do is make those C countries a consideration for their business.
I am delighted to see our focus on infrastructure, especially transportation. We’ve had great corridors that run north and south, which is the same way that trade is constantly running. Highway 401 goes through the Ambassador Bridge, along the interstates, all the way to the Mexican border, with 25% of that trade coming right through my community in Windsor.
If we’re serious about new markets, we have to consider ports, rail and airports for people and cargo and make it as smooth east and west as it is north and south, and we must seriously listen to our business community about the regulations required to make this trade happen.
Our country doesn’t just order companies to invest, divest and expand. Other countries do that. Our public policies have to help, and they need to want to do it.
Canada has always been good for its word in international agreements. We always abide by tribunals and dispute mechanisms. When our friends don’t abide by lawful trade agreements, why should we? The pandemic was a watershed moment for many of us.
On a positive note, it gave me a chance to start taking French lessons again. I promise that, with time, I will get to the point where I can deliver an entire speech in French.
But here is the biggest thing that happened to me since the pandemic: I am still fixated on the localization of our supply chain. Still they decided to go back to their old ways as soon as the pandemic was over, with the same customers importing and exporting goods and services. To the extent that it is competitive, we need to cut our risk for them. What is missing to do that and find the local alternatives? It’s data and the analysis of that data.
Let’s start with the public sector. There is no data collected that tells us what level of expense is made here in Canada at the municipal, regional, provincial and federal levels. How much do we localize? How much is imported? Surely that’s an easy place to start feeding those billions of dollars to our own companies right now.
In the 1980s, Industry Canada used to collect all manner of data about everything that was imported into the country and where it was going. Staff would manually pore over the lists and spreadsheets. They would see what was coming and what potential there was to do it here. We stopped that collection sometime in the early 2000s, probably never contemplating that there might be a risk to 75% of our trade, as we’re seeing today. We need that data, and we need to analyze that data. We did it in an era of manual lists. Imagine what we could do today.
In both those instances, not only do we keep that money roiling around our economy, but it also gives our start-ups the opportunity to have that first big customer, and it helps our struggling businesses find new business right here at home — no currency fluctuations and no border delays. You get the picture.
Am I in the right place to work on these economic issues in order to offer solutions to help our economy? I think that I am.
I see some of the giants with whom I’ve worked in the past.
There is Clément Gignac, the very one who walked me into this building on day one.
He and I organized the first joint cabinet meeting between Ontario and Quebec, among many other initiatives together.
I worked with Tony Dean, the former secretary of cabinet at the Ontario legislature, who deftly stickhandled a government from deficit to surplus and expanded services while we were at it.
There’s Peter Boehm: While Ambassador to Germany, among his many diplomatic roles, I saw a finely tuned, economically minded ambassador who made even the Germans giddy about the prospects of business with Canada.
I am honoured to be in this chamber of sober second thought. We are here to give solid advice about legislation and about unintended consequences, using our experiences to make laws better.
I noticed that the successes I’m most proud of only happened because somebody else stepped up — somebody partnered, lent a hand and joined in. That is the best of the Canadian story, and I hope you all will help me write the next chapter.
Thank you.
