Erskine-Smith makes farewell speech in House of Commons as he steps down from position as MP for Beaches-East York
With the House of Commons rising for its summer adjournment this Friday, Beaches-East York MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith gave his farewell-to-federal-politics speech to fellow Members of Parliament on Wednesday, June 17.
First elected as Beaches-East York MP in the 2015 federal election, Erskine-Smith was subsequently re-elected to the seat in the 2019, 2021, and 2025 elections.
His political career also saw him make an unsuccessful bid to become leader of the Ontario Liberal Party in late 2023, and most recently he sought the nomination to be the provincial Liberal candidate in Scarborough Southwest for the upcoming Ontario byelection that will be held in that riding.
Erskine-Smith finished second in the Scarborough Southwest nomination race, losing by 19 votes to Ahsanul Hafiz. Claiming a number of irregularities and concerns regarding the May 9 nomination meeting’s voting process, Erskine-Smith challenged the results to the Ontario Liberal Party. That challenge was overruled after an arbitration by the party and Hafiz declared the winner in a statement released on May 24.
While he has not yet fully said if he will still continue to seek the provincial Liberal leadership, it seems less unlikely after the events of the May nomination meeting. In May, Erskine-Smith also confirmed he would step down as Beaches-East York MP at the end of this Parliament’s spring session which is June 19.
At this time, Erskine-Smith’s future political plans, if any, are not known.
However, there will be an event for his supporters to wish him farewell as MP on June 25 at the Brunswick Bierworks on Curity Avenue starting at 5:30 p.m. Those wishing to attend the farewell event must register in advance, and can do so by going online to https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/a-farewell-to-nate-erskine-smith-mp-for-beaches-east-york-tickets-1990812758552?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Below is an abridged version of Erskine-Smith’s farewell speech in the House on June 17:
Thank you, Beaches-East York
Giving a farewell speech in Parliament feels a little like delivering a eulogy at one’s own funeral.
So, if I leave you with anything, let it be my personal gratitude for the opportunity to serve – to make a difference – and the unending importance of doing politics differently.
Politics is like pushing a boulder up a hill. All of us feel that at times.
It is rewarding and frustrating. It is meaningful progress and unfinished work.
Sometimes it rolls back down on you, and sometimes you get it to the top (and sometimes only think you’ve got it there).
Three things matter as you’re pushing that boulder uphill.
First, you need ambition. And I don’t mean ambition in personal title. I mean ambition in ideas.
Second, you need a team. No one accomplishes anything alone, and I wouldn’t have accomplished anything that I have over the years without my team.
Third, you need persistence. Shaw once said that “the reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” In politics, one needs almost unreasonable persistence at times.
Now, it does, sometimes, pay off. I’ve been lucky to be a part of efforts to deliver progress at times:
- Stronger climate action and accountability for my kids and hopefully for our economy. Introduced and worked to improve climate accountability legislation and a consistent advocate for smart climate policy and greater ambition.
- Action to reduce poverty, including the Canada Child Benefit, increases to GIS for seniors, a new Canada Workers Benefit, and a new Disability Benefit. I’ve been directly involved in advocacy to improve these benefits and while there’s unquestionably more work to do (ex. OAS reform could end seniors’ poverty without a new dollar), there’s also been significant progress.
- Action to defend competition and protect consumers. I’ve regularly worked across party lines at committee to protect consumers and hold CEOS of oligopolies accountable. For example, when grocery CEOs colluded to cancel pandemic pay for low-income workers, we delivered recommendation that the government acted on to criminalize wage fixing.
- Getting more housing built. I was lucky to play a larger role in those efforts and advocacy. There’s now a broader understanding of the need to end restrictive zoning and get out of the way so the private market can deliver. More work is still needed to deliver non-market housing and truly treat housing as a home first.
- Action to protect animals. Founded an animal welfare caucus, and led efforts to end the captivity of whales and dolphins, ban shark finning, end testing on animals (especially cosmetic testing), strengthen the Criminal Code against animal abuse, and more. If you told me before I was elected that I’d be at a press conference alongside Dr. Jane Goodall and Murray Sinclair advocating for treating animals humanely, I would not have believed you.
- Treating addiction as a health issue and Canadians as responsible adults. In one case, we legalized cannabis and the sky didn’t fall (and now I’m no longer a criminal). We’ve also made progress in treating substance use as a health issue, although still more for us to do to follow the evidence and save lives.
- Being there for our community. There in the pandemic to ensure thousands of constituents could access benefits and supports when they needed them most. There for the Danforth families to support them through tragedy and call for sensible gun control. There to help constituents raise new issues, including a childhood cancer survivor realize $30 million for pediatric cancer.
- Defending human rights and civil liberties. Questioned the constitutionality of the government’s first assisted dying law and defended death with dignity. Questioned the overbroad use and invocation of the Emergencies Act. Helped to fix overbroad anti-terrorism legislation. And defended international human rights, including Rohingya refugees, Uyghurs, Hong Kong democracy activities, Palestinians, and more.
- Making politics about ideas. This was a promise I made in the nomination back in 2013/14 when I was first starting out in politics. I’ve done my best to explain my reasons for votes and to push new ideas onto the government’s agenda. In the pandemic, we transitioned from hosting regular town halls to hosting the Uncommons podcast. And I’ve been lucky to have many colleagues in this place join me for conversations across the aisle to really make politics about ideas.
Yes, I leave with a sense of accomplishment in some ways.
And also a sense of unfinished business.
I do hope future Parliaments will take the ideas of wealth inequality and generational fairness more seriously.
That there will be action to ensure that in a wealthy country like ours, we don’t see people live in poverty and that we see all people live with a core sense of dignity.
That we see transformational action to deliver competition. We shouldn’t be a country of oligopolies.
That we see a wartime effort to build housing, transit, and clean energy infrastructure.
And that we take international peace, assistance, and cooperation more seriously. We could use more Pearson in this moment.
Now, this is a job that comes with little job description. It is what you put into it. It is what you make it.
I’ve had some roles over the years – the anti-poverty caucus co-chair alongside Senator Pate, our animal welfare caucus, 416 caucus chair, chair of the Canadian group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and yes, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure. One of the busiest times of my life (and while it was only 4 months, I did serve under two Prime Ministers).
But the role I have lived the most, the one I’ve worked hardest to make a reality, is simply to be a principled voice in Parliament.
One that takes ideas seriously. Is willing to work across the aisle. Acts with integrity. And more than anything, is honest. The value that should be the most important in this place.
As I’ve said before, no political party represents our views perfectly. We find the party that best represents our views and values, and we engage, debate, and organize to bring our party and country closer to those goals.
I’ve seen my role as one to push the government to be the best version of itself.
Yes, that means disagreeing at times. At one’s best, making that disagreement about ideas. And, more often than not, with the benefit of time and persistence, seeing change.
When you take a step back, not only do we agree on more than we disagree, but so many of us care about the same approach to politics when we step outside of this place.
When I was first running in a nomination – 29 years old with no idea what I was doing – a friend of mine from law school gave me the book The Tragedy in the Commons. It is a series of exit interviews from former parliamentarians. It’s really a series of laments.
They all say basically the same thing: that they got to Ottawa and wanted to make a difference. But when they got here, they read the canned talking points, delivered the pre-written speeches, and voted how they were told. And they didn’t make the difference that they set out to make.
When I got elected, I was determined to not give an exit interview like that. And in the back of my mind, I always kept this quote from Kurt Vonnegut: “We are what we pretend to be, so we should be careful about what we pretend to be.” I happen to think it’s doubly true in politics.
Now, this is my last speech. To judge the end, one might go back to the start. And in my very first speech, I “stressed the importance of independence in the House, the importance of thoughtfulness, and the importance of reasonable disagreement.”
We should all act how we want this place to be.
We need more ideas, more independent thinking, more honesty.
Honesty is central to trust. And trust is at the heart of our representative democracy.
So amidst the centralization, the pressure, the Whip (the Whip’s couch), act how you want the place to be.
And yes, I can hear the common answer: but isn’t politics a team sport?
First, I would say that we are trustees in the public interest, even if it means the occasional visit to the Whip’s office. Yes, we all win elections as a team. But we should remember why we win elections. We win elections to serve ideas, we don’t come up with ideas to serve elections.
Second, we’re also voices of our home communities, and those home communities are our team too. When I go back to my local grocery store, and I see a friend from high school, they are my team. When I go back home and see the volunteer who knocked doors with me in the snow in 2015, they are my team.
I’ve been a proud member of the Liberal caucus since 2015. I’ve been prouder to be the representative for Beaches-East York.
I want to say thank you to Beaches-East York, to everyone back home.
Thank you to supporters, for everything.
And thank you to Amy and my family, mostly for putting up with me, but also for standing beside me.
To see Erskine-Smith’s full speech to the House, please visit this link below:
