Parliamentary Speeches
1,041 speeches by Alexandre Boulerice — Page 16 of 21
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…
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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…
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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 I really enjoyed his historical references and the fact that he talked about people from Quebec's history who are close to my heart, particularly Simonne Monet-Chartrand and the film he talked about.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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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 →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 →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 …
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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 →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…
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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 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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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 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 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 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 →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 …
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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…
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…
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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 …
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
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, 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
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 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 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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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
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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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…
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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…
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…
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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 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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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, 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, 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 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 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…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the Prime Minister has been absent since the beginning of the convoy crisis, and that is nothing new. He has been absent when it comes to the housing crisis, the increased cost of living, the climate crisis and health transfers. Today, people feel neglected and abandoned. They want a Prime Minister who does not wait for the worst to happen before taking action. Why…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from La Pointe-de-l'Île for his speech. I obviously agree with him that our public health care system has really been devastated by the Conservatives' cuts to provincial transfers, cuts that the Liberals maintained. However, my colleague and I do not quite agree on the impact of a universal public pharmacare program, which would not only enable the public health n…
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Madam Speaker, we have arrived at many of the same conclusions. Conservative cuts to health transfers did a lot of damage, and the Liberals only compounded the error, which bears repeating. The health care system is under pressure, and the federal government needs to increase transfer payments in a sustainable, stable and permanent manner. We are aware of this, and we agree. There is also another …
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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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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I agree with him on some things, but not so much on others. I think that the Conservatives have hit the nail on the head with this motion in that Quebeckers and Canadians have had enough, particularly with the yo-yoing on some measures. They are frustrated and fed up, and that is understandable. However, I find the wording of the motion rather id…
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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, 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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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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