Parliamentary Speeches
772 speeches by Alexandre Boulerice — Page 15 of 16
Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, workers at the Office of the Auditor General have been on strike for three months and without a contract for more than three years. The President of the Treasury Board's absence and silence are not helping the situation. The strike is dragging on and that is having a negative impact on performance audits of this government on important issues like emergencies, cybersecurity, homelessn…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Drummond. I always enjoy having these types of discussions with him. This sometimes turns into debate, but it never really escalates. His bill is indeed very interesting. It is totally logical and consistent with the point of view I just expressed, in other words, that there are many criteria for establishing the representation of citizens in the House. His…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech, and I would like to ask him a question. Quebec's political weight is already part of the criteria that must be met in order for Quebec to be brought back into the Constitution, in particular as part of the Charlottetown accord, which guaranteed that Quebec would never have less than 25% of the total number of seats in the House of Commons. This a…
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to take part in this important debate. I will be sharing my time with my wonderful colleague, the member for New Westminster—Burnaby, who will have some very interesting things to say. I look forward to hearing him. Like many of my colleagues in the House, I would like to take a few moments to express our solidarity with the Ukrainian people who have been living th…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I believe I was quite clear in my speech. The equality of citizens is clearly a basic principle of democracy, but the demographic formula is not the only one we use. There are several others. We have shown that. This has consequences for the Prairies, the Maritimes, and Quebec as well. We can consider this discussion because we live under a sys…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from New Westminster—Burnaby for his question. I have been a member of Parliament for nearly 11 years now, and in my experience, the NDP has always been focused on Quebec and its place, on respect for the Quebec nation, and on protecting the French language both in and outside Quebec. The 2012 bill reflects that. Our party also adopted the Sherbrooke declaration…
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Mr. Speaker, according to the latest IPCC report, the window is closing for us to secure a livable future for our children and grandchildren. The report is chilling. According to experts, the climate crisis has already caused irreversible damage. Global warming is happening too fast, and all this Liberal government has to offer is empty rhetoric. First the Liberals bought a pipeline, and now they …
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Mr. Speaker, more than half a million refugees have left Ukraine in the wake of the brutal invasion launched by Vladimir Putin. They are travelling in crowded trains, by car, and sometimes on foot, carrying hastily packed luggage, especially women and children. These people are seeking refuge while Putin is bombing their homes. The Liberals have turned their backs on refugees in the past and recen…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. He raised some important points. However, does he not recognize that despite the fact that the streets of Ottawa are calmer today, some real threats remain? There are two places near the capital where truckers are waiting. There are also truckers who have been stopped with a convoy at the Pacific Highway border crossing in British Columbia. This is…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague from Louis-Hébert raised some very relevant points. He touched on the issue of freezing the bank accounts of individuals or businesses involved in the organization of these illegal occupations, who often have ties to the far right. Does he not find that cutting off the funding of all those who want to destabilize our democratic institutions is an extremely effective mea…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. We all understand that after two years, people are fed up, tired and frustrated. I also understand the right to be heard. I have attended enough protests to be heard a few times. However, the right to be heard is not the right to honk horns day and night for 10 days in downtown Ottawa; it is not the right to harass and terrorize the public. I do …
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague made a number of very interesting and relevant points in his speech. As the Bloc's foreign affairs critic, does he not find the foreign and American financial interference to be disturbing? What does he think about the fact that this act allows us to follow the money, as Ed Broadbent said? This money was intended to destabilize democratic institutions. This should concern…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Manicouagan for her speech. We both agree that the Prime Minister and the Liberal government let the situation fester. The Prime Minister was missing in action, and therefore this crisis was not resolved as quickly as it should have been. Will my colleague not admit that in the face of a convoy organized by the far right and radicals who said outright that …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I am a little surprised by the position taken by the Conservative Party over the past few weeks. The Conservative Party is the party of law and order, yet several Conservative MPs supported a movement that wanted to use force to overthrow a democratically elected government. It says that right on its Facebook page. Not only is the party of law an…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. We agree that the situation deteriorated and got way out of hand because of the Prime Minister's inaction. As for the act itself, is my colleague not reassured by the fact that its application is limited to 30 days, that fundamental freedoms are upheld and that 20 members can call for its revocation and trigger a vote in the House? The chief of the…
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Madam Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate the Parliamentary Protective Service, the interpreters, who enable us to have this debate, as well as all law enforcement agencies over the past few days. I have a question for my colleague from Sherbrooke. Why wait three weeks? People drove thousands of kilometres. We knew they were coming. They wanted to overthrow a democra…
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Madam Speaker, we know that the Emergencies Act is reasonable and moderate. It gives parliamentarians the tools they need to do checks. The use of this act is time limited. It will be in effect for 30 days and can be revoked in three days by a vote in the House. I would like my hon. Liberal colleague to explain why it took so long for the government to act. The people of Ottawa are the ones who ha…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I want to clarify one thing. No one’s rights and freedoms have been suspended. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms continues to apply while the Emergencies Act is in force. That said, I would like to know the state of mind of the members of his political party. There is a convoy that came from far away, that announced that it wants to dis…
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Mr. Speaker, we agree that the act should not apply in Quebec because there is no way to do that, and we were prepared to support the motion moved by the Bloc Québécois yesterday in that regard, before the Liberals blocked it. What made me uncomfortable about the Bloc Québécois leader's speech was when he made some questionable historical associations involving us by bringing up some painful memor…
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Madam Speaker, I would first like to say that I hold the Liberal government responsible for letting convoys organized by the far right take over Parliament and illegally occupy downtown. I would like to look at this from another angle. The War Measures Act is a painful and traumatizing event stamped in the collective memory of Quebeckers. However, it cannot be compared to the Emergencies Act, whic…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to mention that I will be sharing my time with my distinguished colleague from Elmwood—Transcona. This is an exceptional, unprecedented and extremely concerning situation that has ramifications for the health of our democracy and the future of political debate and vitality in Canada and at the federal level. The first thing I would like to point out is what and who we are…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. It certainly has been a little hard to keep up with the Bloc Québécois's position on this situation these last two weeks. First they accused the government of doing nothing, of failing to act. They demanded it help the people of Ottawa. Now that Ottawa is preparing to use these tools, such as freezing bank accounts to put the financial squeeze on…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question. If there are people of good faith out there who want to express their opinion, that is fine. However, they have unfortunately been dragged into a movement organized by people who self-identify as being with the far right. It is clear. The connections have been made. We have received dozens of reports from people in Ottawa who have been insul…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. I expected my comments and my argument to get her attention. We agree on the fact that this need not apply to Quebec. I agree with the members of the National Assembly of Quebec, since we do not need this in Quebec. There is no illegal occupation or siege there. With respect to the comparison to the War Measures Act, it was people from the Bloc Q…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question. The bill has the support of several important groups, such as the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and the Coalition for Culture and Media in Quebec. It is also being closely watched by francophone communities outside Quebec, which are very interested. I remember meeting with people from Acadian cultural societies i…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his lyrical musings about his love for Quebec culture, which I share as well. He made me think of the anthropologist Claude Lévi‑Strauss. In a debate where he was asked whether humans were part of nature or culture, Lévi-Strauss answered that it was in man's nature to be cultural. We are therefore not human if there is no culture. I believe that the way peop…
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Madam Speaker, I am familiar with Bill C‑11, having spent a lot of time working on the previous bill, Bill C‑10, which addressed the same issues but was not passed by the Senate. This is a new version, but it is almost identical to Bill C‑10, with some changes. To set the stage, I think it is important to talk about tax fairness. Yesterday, I was listening to prominent left-wing economist Thomas P…
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Madam Speaker, given that we agree with the principle of supporting our cultural community, our artists and our creators, we will definitely push for a bill that does exactly that, with the necessary corrections. I talked about two of them earlier. The NDP will therefore work constructively at committee to improve Bill C-11 and address the problems. However, I would encourage the federal governmen…
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Madam Speaker, I share his sense of urgency. A considerable amount of money is being stolen from artists every month and every year. I am not an artist, but I am quite familiar with their situation because my brother is part of the Quebec folk band Le Vent du Nord. Members of the band are paying close attention, and they want the government to act as quickly as possible. I think we can do that bec…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. I know that there is a very active and vibrant artistic community in her riding that has been weakened by the laissez-faire approach of successive federal governments and by the current crisis, which is still ongoing. I think she made an excellent point. As a progressive opposition party, we must be very vigilant about the powers given to the C…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia for her excellent intervention. This reform of the Broadcasting Act could indeed have been a good opportunity to do that. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has beautiful, modern facilities in Montreal, but unfortunately, the corporation itself could use a little updating in terms of its mandate, its role and its resourc…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. We agree on two points. Yes, people are fed up and we need a plan. However, the motion moved by the Conservatives today is a straightjacket. There is no nuance and the conclusion has been written in advance. The motion calls for all restrictions to be lifted, no matter the circumstances or context, with no accounting for science or public health re…
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Mr. Speaker, the entire discussion today is a reminder of how Canada's major railways have enjoyed immense power and totally unacceptable benefits and privileges for decades. This is still true, because they have often become corporate citizens that are not very good for their communities. Recently, a 31-year-old woman died on the outskirts of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie and Mile End because there w…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech and his historical reminders complete with quotes that are indeed shameful in this day and age now that we have zero tolerance for racism. I would like to ask him a question. Today's debate takes us back to a time when the federal government was the board of directors for the Canadian bourgeoisie. Are things fundamentally any different now? Consid…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Laurentides—Labelle for her speech and her very relevant comments. I also thank the various Quebec stakeholders who are trying to address this major crisis. This is a Canada-wide crisis. In the past six years, nearly 25,000 people have died in Canada, which is an average of 20 people a day. This number is particularly high in British Columbia, which sees six …
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians across the country are struggling to pay for groceries and rent. Demand for food banks is skyrocketing. Where is the Prime Minister? What is he doing? The city of Ottawa is under occupation. Residents are being harassed, and their city is being taken over. Where is the Prime Minister? What is he doing? We expect the Prime Minister to step up during times of crisis, but he ha…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his speech. I agree with him on one point: The Liberal government bears some responsibility and leadership is lacking at the moment. That is why this protest, this siege or occupation of Ottawa, has unfortunately been dragging on for 10 days. I would also like to point out the cacophony of noise coming from the Conservative Party at the moment. This convo…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. She provided some interesting angles and perspectives, but I would like to come back to something that was said earlier by her colleague from Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia. She said that the Liberals were hiding behind jurisdiction to explain their lack of responsibility and leadership. She even mentioned that since this is happening in Ottawa,…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) recipients who received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, the Canada Recovery Benefit, the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit and the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit: (a) what are the details, including the findings, of any studies, analyses, estimates or projections of the impact of reducing the monthly amount of the CCB; (b) for the documents i…
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With regard to the Canada Workers Benefit (CWB) recipients who received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) and the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB): (a) how many CWB recipients received the (i) CERB, (ii) CRB, (iii) CRCB, (iv) CRSB; (b) of the applicants in (a), how many single individuals reported i…
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With regard to the Canada Workers Benefit (CWB), broken down by province: (a) how many recipients had their CWB reduced because they received income support from a COVID-19 financial assistance program, such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit; and (b) of the applicants in (a), what was the average monthly reduction in their CWB payment, broken down by each month in 2021?
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Mr. Speaker, thousands of migrants are fleeing persecution and seeking refuge in Canada. They are not illegal, just desperate. The Liberals decided to help a Liberal Party donor make money at these people's expense. Rather than resolving the situation, the Liberals are writing cheques to a friend to lease land near Roxham Road to house asylum seekers. However, all the Liberals had to do was withdr…
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Mr. Speaker, on Saturday I was in Anjou where I joined many families in a march against gun violence in the wake of the recent death of young Hani Ouahdi, who was gunned down. People were obviously very concerned about young people accessing guns, the flow of firearms and the fact that we have to do more to limit access to guns. People also talked a lot about the lack of community infrastructure a…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her speech. I found her ideas to be consistent with the NDP's progressive vision. I took part in a march last Saturday in Montreal, with families wanting to condemn gun violence on the streets. Concerned parents have said that their children hear gunshots in the neighbourhood almost daily. A 20-year-old man died recently. Street gangs are recruiting child…
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There is a little blue dot too, Madam Speaker. We are debating a motion from the Conservative Party that identifies a real problem but offers a bad solution. I think it is important to have this discussion to actually see what the real solutions are for this housing crisis. The housing crisis has reached catastrophic levels in many Quebec and Canadian towns and cities, particularly in Montreal, wh…
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Mr. Speaker, 160 professionals at the Office of the Auditor General have been on strike since November 26. Seventy-five per cent of them are women. They have been working without a contract for three years. These employees ensure that the government is accountable to the public. They are essential. What are they asking for? They are asking to be treated the same as every other public servant, noth…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to hear him say those words. My colleague proved that I was wrong and that the Conservatives can say the words “social housing”. However, they cannot commit them to paper because they forgot to put them in their motion. The problem is only partly solved, and there is still a long way to go. If my colleague is concerned about truly affordable social housing, co-operative…
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Madam Speaker, the member is looking at this all wrong. The problem is not the amount of land. The problem is that people are spending too much money on housing and living in poverty. I am less interested in the 12% or 19% of available lands than I am in the 23,000 Montreal households on waiting lists for social housing. We have to take care of people first. If more land is needed after that, fine…
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Madam Speaker, once again, it is the same thing. Is housing a problem for seniors in this country? Yes, it is. These individuals are often on a fixed income and they are seeing rents go up. It is a real problem. However, the Conservatives offer no real solutions. If the federal land they want to free up is used by developers to build condos for the wealthy, that will not help impoverished seniors …
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Madam Speaker, I want to start by saying that I will be sharing my time with my excellent colleague from Vancouver-East. I feel compelled to follow up on the comments of my colleague from Longueuil, who very proudly represents the Quebec wing of the Conservative Party, by voting for a motion that is full of holes. I will, however, correct something he said when he stated that the Liberals took up …
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