Parliamentary Speeches
799 speeches by Alexandre Boulerice — Page 15 of 16
Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question. An urban-rural balance is important. My colleague probably knows that I represent a very urban, densely populated riding, with a population of about 110,000 packed into just 11 square kilometres. I think that it is important that the electoral boundaries commission's calculations allow for some deviation from the average, so that …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question. I would remind him that, to achieve sovereignty, he should get himself elected to Quebec's National Assembly, if that is really what he wants. For now, here, we are trying to defend Quebec and, above all, Quebeckers. I think that the NDP has represented Quebec by keeping Quebec from losing a seat. That is a victory. With respect t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I feel like I should remind my colleague that the Bloc Québécois is not Quebec as a whole. The Bloc represents hundreds of thousands of Quebeckers, like other political parties, including those in the House, like the NDP. We took advantage of the government’s minority status to secure gains for Quebeckers, written in black and white in the agreement we negotiated, including a guaran…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, just a few days ago, the IPCC released an alarming report. This is an emergency. The future of our children and grandchildren is at risk. We must take bold action. The Minister of Environment took action: He approved a new fossil fuel project. He will continue to hand out billions of dollars to oil and gas companies. He could have said no to this project, but he said yes to more oil a…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the housing crisis is hitting people hard all across the country, and the Liberals' national housing strategy is not working at all. People are being forced to live in motels, in their cars or even on the street. The Liberals are saying that they have built more affordable rental housing, but their definition of affordable is still above market prices. It is ridiculous. These are craz…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, another IPCC report, another clarion call. Humanity has less than three years to reverse the current greenhouse gas emissions trend in order to ensure the planet's viability. We have to cut current emissions in half by 2030. We need urgent action, but the Liberals' plan is not good enough. They are counting on technology that does not work, and they are still pouring billions of dolla…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I have a question for my Conservative colleague, who gave a good analysis of how Canadians are struggling these days, since housing is so expensive and groceries are getting increasingly expensive. Why not look at where the money is, in order to help people? The banks made record profits last year, totalling $60 billion, an increase of nearly 40%. While so many are struggling, we ha…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I am a bit surprised to hear him argue against dental care. I would imagine that getting reimbursed for dental care would save people in his riding a lot of money. However, I would also suggest to him that, if we want to pay for new services, then we need to go and get the money where it can be found. What does my colleague think about a special ta…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have just rolled over yet again for the oil industry. The Prime Minister told the entire world that he would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but he just announced that he is going to increase oil production. Instead of investing in green energy jobs, the Liberals are giving a free pass to the oil companies so that they can get richer at the expense of our environment. Th…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. We agree to some extent on the analysis of the cost-of-living situation and the fact that things are tough for people, but unfortunately, we get yet another unsuitable Conservative response. We in the NDP have a crazy idea: We think we should go look for the money where it is. This year, the big Canadian banks made record profits of $77.7 billion…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my Conservative colleague and congratulate him on his private member's bill. This is a very good idea, one that the NDP and other parties have already had. It would really help people. I always like it when the Conservatives, while in opposition, do things that are good for workers. However, it did take them some time to get to this point. Why did my colleague no…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, it is not every day that I rise in the House to say that I agree with the member for Lévis—Lotbinière, but it does happen. I will warn you, however, that I may not make it a habit. I thank my Bloc Québécois colleague for her earlier comments. I believe that we can perhaps arrive at a consensus, even though it may not be unanimous, on the need to move forward with this bill. Many, if n…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the President of Ukraine is criticizing the international community for being too slow to impose sanctions on Russia. Meanwhile, Canada is home to the global headquarters of Russia's largest uranium producer. The company is owned by the Putin government, but this sector has been virtually untouched by the Liberals' sanctions. There is no way to know how many assets have been frozen in…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Drummond for his speech and for introducing this bill. I really enjoyed his historical references and the fact that he talked about people from Quebec's history who are close to my heart, particularly Simonne Monet-Chartrand and the film he talked about. I also liked his rather appealing notion of adding a “nation clause” to recognize the fact that Quebec bec…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to participate in this discussion, this debate, this conversation, on an important bill, Bill C‑246, which has to do with Quebec's place, democracy, history and the recognition of the Quebec nation. I do need to point out that the agreement that the NDP negotiated with the Liberal government includes the condition that Quebec's 78 seats be protected. That was one of ou…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I think I am totally on the topic of Quebec and what this might mean for Quebeckers. I will speak quickly. I would like to point out that, earlier, the hon. member for Drummond spoke for about eight minutes before he mentioned his bill, Bill C-246. He first outlined the entire history and digressed quite a bit. I think I am entitled to a little leeway, too. The fact that the NDP has n…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to the bill being studied this evening. However, I get the impression that it makes my colleagues from the Bloc Québécois and the Conservative Party a little nervous when we talk about the victories secured by the NDP. That being said, the NDP has long recognized that Quebec is a nation. The NDP already recognized that by adopting the Sherbrooke declaration, than…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, a lot of people are struggling. People are being robbed blind at the pumps while the big oil companies are making record profits. Families are being forced to shell out more and more for fruits, vegetables, meat, and all their other groceries, while CEOs are raking in the millions. It is time for the ultrarich to pay their fair share so that that money can be used to help those who ar…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech. Fossil fuels are not “so-called” fossil fuels. They are simply fossil fuels. Although I share my colleague’s analysis of the situation, I unfortunately do not agree with his conclusion and the solution the Conservatives want to apply. Obviously, they do not want to touch the oil companies’ profits. These profits are sacrosanct, and …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am going to ask a question in the same vein as that from the member for Drummond. The ones really benefiting from the crisis right now are the oil companies, which are lining their pockets. The Conservatives' solution is to cut government revenues, when we need that money to help people. Why not go get the money where the money is, specifically in the oil companies' profits, to th…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, I would like to recite a few lines from Gatien Lapointe's poem called Ode to the St. Lawrence: A big river flows through my country That shapes the mountains' days ... I say what grows and flourishes in my country I heard the river's deep song ... In this, the most beautiful place in the world From the Great Lakes to the ocean, the river defines Quebec, while its tributaries unite our…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to harassment complaints, workplace violence complaints, and disclosures of wrongdoing related to harassment and discrimination in federal organizations (departments, agencies, Crown corporations, etc.), for fiscal years 2019-20 and 2020-21, broken down by federal organization, by fiscal year, and for each type of complaint mentioned: (a) how many decisions were made by the organizatio…
Read full speech →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…
Read full speech →Government Orders
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…
Read full speech →Government Orders
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…
Read full speech →Government Orders
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…
Read full speech →Government Orders
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…
Read full speech →Government Orders
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…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
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 …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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 …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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 …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
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…
Read full speech →Government Orders
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…
Read full speech →Government Orders
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…
Read full speech →Government Orders
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…
Read full speech →Government Orders
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…
Read full speech →