Parliamentary Speeches
1,041 speeches by Alexandre Boulerice — Page 21 of 21
Government Orders
Madam Chair, I thank my colleague from Shefford for her speech and, as I mentioned earlier, for her dedication to women's rights. Like the Liberal member who asked a question before me, I would like her thoughts on toxic masculinity. Where does it come from, and how can women, men and fathers like me address it? How can we prevent toxic masculinity, not only among women's partners, but also among …
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Madam Chair, honourable colleagues, I wish I could say that I am pleased to take part in tonight's debate, but I hate the fact that we need to have this debate at all. The truth is, we should all be panicking. We should all be terrified that we need to have a debate because there have been so many cases of femicide in Quebec and Canada. It is absolutely terrible. These are not just tragedies invol…
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Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for her question, which is very much appreciated. I have been working closely with women's organizations in Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie and throughout Montreal for nearly 10 years now. I take part in campaigns and initiatives to create safe spaces and healthy environments in both the public and private spheres, and to establish a dialogue. I promote the work of acti…
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Madam Chair, I thank my colleague from Shefford. She is quite right to point out that our thoughts are also with the families and loved ones of the women who were the victims of brutal murders, of femicide, because they were women. I think we need to say that and to use that word, as the leader of the NDP did today. I want to come back to violence against women on social media. We know that social…
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Mr. Speaker, what we just heard was a pre-election speech full of partisanship. It is actually quite interesting. I would like to say one thing before I begin my speech. As the NDP deputy critic for the environment, I must point out that the announcement about an endangered species in the St. Lawrence River, the copper redhorse, did not get the attention it should have from the Liberal government'…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals make themselves out to be allies of students, but they are all talk and no action. What we see here is a record of failure. Not only did the Liberals break their promise to extend the moratorium on debt repayment, they also continued charging interest on loans. This is Liberal hypocrisy in action. The NDP just proposed a plan that will help students actually reduce their …
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With regard to the support units and bases of the Canadian Armed Forces and subcontracts, broken down by fiscal year since 2011-12: (a) what are the details of each contract, including (i) the supplier, (ii) the amount, (iii) the commodity description, (iv) the sourcing, sole or not; and (b) for each contract in (a), why was this work not performed by the Department of National Defence?
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be participating in this important debate with my colleagues this morning on a motion to designate an emancipation day. I would like to congratulate the member for Richmond Hill and thank him for moving this important motion, which gives us all an opportunity to discuss and debate not only recognition of Black history in Canada and Quebec, but also the history of sla…
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Madam Speaker, when the heritage minister appeared on the show Tout le monde en parle last November, he said that web giants would finally be forced to pay taxes as of the next budget. Surprise, surprise, the Liberal government just ruled out tabling a budget in March, so this is being postponed once again. It turns out that the Prime Minister is not the only one who wants a spring election. The c…
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Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the scandal involving sexual misconduct in the military and the Liberals' attempts to hush it up, there is no telling what tomorrow may bring because the story keeps changing. With each passing day come new revelations about the Prime Minister's failure to act on the serious allegations against General Vance. What else will come to light today or tomorrow? Who knows? …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech, her interventions and her commitment to this issue, which is vital, in every sense of the word, to thousands of people in Quebec and across Canada. The NDP has long supported expanding EI sickness benefits to 50 weeks. We have spoken about this a lot and asked a lot of questions. This is an issue we will continue to support because it is the right …
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Madam Speaker, I would be remiss if I did not mention a story that made headlines today. Apparently the Privy Council Office tried to submit thousands of pages of documents in English only to the Standing Committee on Health and thus to the House of Commons. Despite all their promises and talk, clearly the Liberals still could not care less about French and consider it a second-class language. I t…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I, too, am angry about the Liberal government's inability to help the airline and aerospace industries, which provide a lot of jobs. I want to come back to what my colleague said about our inability to produce vaccines in Canada. Because of previous Liberal and Conservative governments, Canada has lost its ability to manufacture vaccines. Over the …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. He spoke about sectors that have been abandoned by the Liberals, in particular the airlines and tourism. I would like to talk to him about culture, because I know that the cultural sector is flourishing in his riding, and the people of Abitibi take great pride in it. I recently met with the Conseil québécois du théâtre, which told me that Revenue…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Thérèse-De Blainville for her speech. Her Bloc Québécois colleague, the hon. member for Shefford, spoke at length about the rising cost of medications for seniors. As everyone knows, a true public, universal pharmacare plan would lower drug costs. All the unions in Quebec, including the FTQ, the CSN and the CSQ, are calling for such a plan. Wh…
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Mr. Speaker, the main thing they want to do is to renege on their promise yet again. Yesterday, when the Liberals rejected our pharmacare bill, they showed us that what really matters to them is big pharma and rich insurance companies. The Liberals have been procrastinating on this issue for 24 years, but in Quebec, there is a large coalition in favour of such a plan. The FTQ, CSN and CSQ all supp…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Edmonton Strathcona for her excellent comments concerning the need for a universal public pharmacare program that would make such a difference for our seniors, especially when it comes to the accessibility and cost of medications. Everyone would benefit. Unfortunately, yesterday, three parties joined forces against the NDP's proposal, which woul…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Trois-Rivières for her question, because it is particularly relevant. It is something we are currently facing. Many seniors are alone and live on a single income. Most of them are women. The vast majority of these women did not have steady jobs or jobs with supplementary pension plans when they were younger. That means that they do not have a su…
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Mr. Speaker, speaking of short memories and memory loss, my hon. colleague should remember that he was part of the Conservative government that wanted to increase the retirement age and the age to qualify for old age security from 65 to 67. This decision would have stripped all seniors in Quebec and Canada of tens of thousands of dollars. It was particularly cruel towards people who had no income …
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Mr. Speaker, I am extremely pleased to be participating in this important debate today. I thank my NDP colleague from Hamilton Mountain for all the work he has been doing for years on behalf of seniors. It is much appreciated and is part of our fundamental values. Before I actually begin my speech, I cannot help but point out the absurdity of the reply the Conservative member from Lévis—Lotbinière…
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Mr. Speaker, in Quebec the mistreatment of seniors at CHSLD Herron is the stuff of nightmares. Elsewhere in the country Revera is being flagged. I would remind hon. members that Revera is owned by the federal government. As if that were not enough, there is more bad news: apparently a subsidiary of Revera has engaged in the most despicable of tax evasion schemes. This is public money that is slipp…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today to participate in this extremely vital and important discussion on the document tabled by the Minister of Official Languages. I want to take a moment to say that, as a Quebecker, I had the good fortune to be born into a francophone family. My father was a poet and a writer, so I grew up in a home where I was literally surrounded by books. All of the wal…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a well-known fact that when it comes time to support French education, the Liberals have a habit of dragging their feet. The official languages in education program has been frozen for years, even though student enrolment is on the rise. In Alberta, Campus Saint-Jean is under attack from the Kenney government. In Ontario, Laurentian University is fighting to survive. What will i…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part in this evening's important discussion on Bill C-223. I have been listening to my colleagues speak in the House for a little while now, and I think we all agree. The bill's objective is clear. We support the objective, which is entirely laudable and noble: to stand up for the French language, for the place of the French language and for the demographic weight…
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Mr. Speaker, after consultation among the parties, I believe you would find consent in the House for the following motion: That the House condemn the Facebook decision to ban content from Australian media on its social network and affirm that intimidation by Facebook has no place in democracy—
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...and call on the government to introduce a bill that would force web giants to pay their fair share for their use of media content.
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Mr. Speaker, following consultation with the parties, I believe you will find unanimous consent of the House for the following motion: That, given that working conditions of interpreters have deteriorated since the beginning of the pandemic affecting their ability to provide quality service in both official languages, a service that is essential to the work of parliamentarians, the House express i…
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Madam Speaker, our seniors built our society, and we are lucky to reap the benefits. Unfortunately, the pandemic has demonstrated that the Conservative and Liberal cuts have undermined our health care system. Seniors have been left to fend for themselves and sometimes abandoned. The staff are exhausted from working in deplorable conditions. It is a national disgrace. Our seniors deserve better. Th…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals believe they are handling the climate crisis better than the United States, but the opposite is true. The Biden administration has halted the Keystone XL pipeline project, whereas the Liberal government is promoting it and spending billions of dollars buying Trans Mountain. President Biden is showing leadership by eliminating subsidies for fossil fuel companies, whereas t…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table a petition signed by approximately 1,000 people in support of a petition started by Stéphane Handfield. We have learned from Mathieu Paiement's documentary, Les poussières de Daech, that there are children with a Canadian parent who are currently trapped in refugee camps in northeastern Syria. They are living in extremely poor and even inhumane conditions. These …
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Madam Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague. When we talk about trade agreements, we are obviously talking about trade or industry partners, but also sometimes competitors, as he pointed out. I want to focus on the aerospace sector, which has been seriously neglected by the Liberal government. The United States has a national aerospace strategy. Canada does not. The United States uses the …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. He mentioned the United States' Buy American Act. What does he think about the possibility of a “Buy Canadian Act”? For public transportation and aerospace projects in particular, the percentage of the labour that is done here in Quebec or in Canada is much lower than what other countries require. Why should we not have similar measures to protec…
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Mr. Speaker, on January 29, 2017, at 7:45 p.m., worshippers were gathering for prayers at the Quebec City mosque. In that moment, no one could have anticipated the horror that awaited them. A few minutes later, hatred and racism in their worst form took the lives of six people and injured eight others. Some will be scarred for life. Today we mark the fourth anniversary of that tragedy. This sad ch…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I would like to say that his last comment made me laugh. In my opinion, the free trade agreement with the United Kingdom demonstrates that instead of learning from their mistakes, the Liberals are repeating them. The NDP shares the concerns about protecting supply management, which we defended tooth and nail. Former MPs Brigitte Sansoucy and Ruth E…
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Mr. Speaker, Air Canada flight attendants have been the victims of a serious injustice. The Liberals could not care less about workers and are allowing large corporations like Air Canada to manipulate the Canada emergency wage subsidy with impunity and for their own benefit. Rather than maintaining the employment relationship with thousands of its employees, Air Canada is pocketing as much it can …
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With regard to the design and implementation of the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s $10 billion growth plan announced on October 1, 2020: (a) were contracts awarded to private suppliers and, if so, how many; (b) what are the details of each of the contracts awarded in (a), including the (i) date the contract was awarded, (ii) description of goods or services, (iii) volume, (iv) final contract amount,…
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With regard to the design and implementation of programs and spending measures relating to COVID-19, broken down by program and spending measure: (a) have contracts been awarded to private-sector suppliers and, if so, how many; and (b) what are the details for each contract in (a), including the (i) date the contract was awarded, (ii) description of goods or services, (iii) volume, (iv) final cont…
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With regard to investments in Canada Revenue Agency tax compliance measures to crack down on international tax evasion, since the 2016–17 fiscal year, broken down by fiscal year: (a) how many auditors specializing in foreign accounts have been hired; (b) how many audits have been conducted; (c) how many notices of assessment have been sent; (d) what was the amount recovered; (e) how many cases wer…
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With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency and spending related to the “Panama Papers” and “Paradise Papers”: (a) were contracts awarded to private-sector suppliers, and, if so, how many; and (b) what are the details for each of the contracts in (a), including the (i) contract award date, (ii) description of the goods or services, (iii) volume, (iv) final amount of the contract, (v) supplier, (vi) c…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals claim to want to help workers, but that is not the case. Because of the Liberals' gross incompetence, thousands of people were told that they were entitled to the CERB. The truth is that the government changed the rules halfway through the game. Today, the government is asking those people to pay back the money they received, money that they have already spent on grocerie…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. What is happening now is that the Liberals are handing out millions of dollars to big businesses, which pass on this money to their shareholders in the form of dividends. Because of confusion over the Canada recovery benefit, workers are now being forced to repay significant amounts of money, tens of thousands of dollars in some cases. These work…
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