Parliamentary Speeches
1,041 speeches by Alexandre Boulerice — Page 4 of 21
Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I do not wish to speak for my colleague, the member for Victoria, our environment critic. I am not familiar enough with this issue to provide an informed answer. However, I would like to keep speaking to the responsibility of the current and former Liberal governments as it relates to concerns over the commission's independence and potential conflicts of interest. During the testimo…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Louis‑Saint‑Laurent for his speech. I too am very proud to represent Quebeckers. I would like to ask him a question about the planned radioactive waste dump in Chalk River. There is a great deal of public concern about it. Several municipalities have spoken against the project, as have several Algonquin first nations. What does my colleague make of the issue …
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Madam Speaker, I am having a hard time understanding the rules of the House. Conservative MPs recently attacked the member for Timmins—James Bay, saying he was anti-Semitic. The Conservatives regularly attack ministers by saying that they are incompetent. Why can the member for Montcalm not say that the parliamentary secretary is ignorant?
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Montcalm not only for his speech, but also for his extensive and truly exemplary work on this issue. I share his impatience and frustration with the Liberal government's inaction. My question concerns the impact that this has been having on Quebec physicians since yesterday. Quebec physicians are in an impossible situation, caught between Quebec legislation th…
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Madam Speaker, it is pretty mind-boggling to hear the parliamentary secretary to the leader of the Liberal government right now. We are talking about a fundamental issue: dignity of human life and respect for people. Unfortunately, unless the Supreme Court or the Quebec Superior Court asks the government to take action, it does nothing. The special joint committee has been making recommendations f…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague really emphasized the importance of not acting hastily. I think that was the main thrust of her speech. I have been here quite a while. The debate on MAID began in 2017 or 2018. That is going back a ways. The courts forced the government to act. A joint committee of the House of Commons and the Senate was struck that made recommendations. We have been talking about this…
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Madam Speaker, the member for Montcalm is absolutely right. There is a critical moment during the reflection process after a diagnosis. People do not decide out of the blue that they want to make an advance request for MAID. They are already involved with a system of professionals that includes people whose job is to uphold ethical standards. Quebec's health care system has ethics specialists on s…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to inform you that I will be sharing my time with the exceptional member for New Westminster—Burnaby, who is sure to shed a great deal of light on this fundamental issue. I would like to take 30 seconds at the beginning of my speech for something more personal. Today is October 31. A year ago, my partner's mother, Debbie Djevahirdjian, passed away. Today is the annivers…
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Madam Speaker, we have been discussing this issue here in the House, in various committees and in the Senate for almost 10 years now. Do the Liberals understand that by dragging their feet, they are playing into the hands of the Conservative Party, which wants nothing to do with medical assistance in dying? It is like a new alliance but against the interests of the people and against the interests…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his kind words. The Quebec law is clear. If the Conservatives want to respect the provinces and provincial jurisdictions, they must align themselves with the Quebec government, within the framework of this law. I do not understand why, sometimes, they claim they are the provinces' closest allies and that they respect jurisdictions and, other times, when it d…
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Mr. Speaker, thousands of renters are worried that their landlords might be using YieldStar software to collude in fixing and increasing the rents they charge. In the U.S.A., the FBI launched an investigation into this software. YieldStar is known to be used by large landlords in Canada. However, the Liberals and the Conservatives refuse to investigate the matter in order to protect the profits of…
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Mr. Speaker, yes, I did hear about that. I was really stunned. What a blatant contradiction. I think my colleague used the word “hypocrisy”, and that is exactly what it is. What the Conservatives want to do is cut programs that sometimes work. That program is working so well that some Conservative members want their municipalities' projects to be approved. However, the Conservative leader wants to…
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Mr. Speaker, there are tax exemptions and loopholes, particularly with the capital gains tax, that allow these large trusts to get out of paying their share of taxes. This encourages them to buy more units, hundreds of units. That hurts tenants. The NDP believes that if these big funds cannot guarantee that they are going to keep certain units affordable, they should be taxed more or prevented fro…
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Mr. Speaker, indeed, it is not as though the solutions were not known. The problem is that this issue has gone unaddressed for years. There have been federal cuts since 1994 that have never been restored. The affordable rental housing deficit is even more striking when we consider the development of social housing. In six towns in Quebec, the share of social housing built between 2000 and 2023 ran…
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Mr. Speaker, I did not have enough time during my speech to adequately describe how expensive housing is for households. Households that spend more than 30% of their income on housing are poor and vulnerable. Do members know how many households are currently in this predicament? The answer is 1.6 million Canadian households, including 373,000 Quebec households. Yesterday, the Front d'action popula…
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Mr. Speaker, I move that the 12th report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, presented on Thursday, October 26, 2023, be concurred in. First, I would like to say that I have made the excellent choice to share my time with the member for Port Moody—Coquitlam. I am pleased to rise in the House to speak to a subject …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I want to reassure my colleague. I do not need his confidence to do my work. Let us look at the real issues. Instead of all this taunting and filibustering in Parliament, can my colleague, unlike the other Conservatives I have asked, guarantee to seniors in this country that the Conservatives will extend and conserve the dental care program that has already helped 240,622 Quebeckers…
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Madam Speaker, in his speech, my colleague said something important. He said that we must be extremely careful with taxpayers' money. I agree. At the moment, however, I think that Conservative measures are wasting a great deal of taxpayers' money. On the topic of saving money, the NDP decided to create a new dental insurance program that is saving people a lot of money, especially seniors and peop…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to ask my colleague from Louis‑Saint‑Laurent a question. A while ago, he criticized the Liberal government for being incapable of saying yes. I am going to give him a chance to say yes to a question that I think will come as no surprise to him. To help seniors who are often struggling, living in poverty or grappling with inflation and the rising cost of living, we…
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Madam Speaker, I am guessing my colleague will not be overly surprised by the question I am about to ask him. I am desperately trying to find a Conservative who will tell me the truth on this subject. Earlier, he said that we are here to work, to take care of people and to improve people's quality of life. I could not agree more. That is why the NDP forced the minority government to set up a denta…
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Mr. Speaker, do members know how many people are turning to food banks to be able to eat? What would be a good guess? We are talking about two million people, which is 90% more than five years ago. While people are going hungry and community groups are overwhelmed, the Liberals just sit there, looking smug. When will they have the courage to go after the ultrarich, who are stuffing themselves sill…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is giving speeches on his own motion and delaying the Conservatives' own motion, and it is kind of a waste of our time. I want to take this opportunity to say that, this morning, I was proud to find out that 240,622 people in Quebec have received dental care thanks to the work of the NDP, which made this negotiation happen and reached this agreement with the minority go…
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Madam Speaker, I am going to take advantage of my colleague's speech to ask him the same question I asked one of his Conservative colleagues earlier, although I received no answer. I think that this is something I am going to have to emphasize over the next few days and weeks. I was very pleased to find out that 240,622 Quebeckers have used the new dental care program and are getting their dentist…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to present a petition signed by several hundred people, which reminds us that the House recognized Quebec as a nation and that the family reunification thresholds imposed by Quebec are causing unfair delays for Quebec sponsors. The petitioners are calling on Parliament to rule on the constitutionality of the thresholds for family reunification in Quebec and on the constitutiona…
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Mr. Speaker, more and more people are becoming vulnerable and falling into poverty. One study reports that, month by month, 40% of Quebeckers are just $200 away from bankruptcy. The situation has reached such a crisis point that the expression “tightening one's belt” is literally coming true. Twenty per cent of people are eating less just to save a little money. That is just plain wrong. It shows …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to ask my Conservative colleague a question. We are in an odd situation. The Prime Minister has said that he was informed that some Conservative members and candidates are or were under foreign influence. The leader of the Conservative Party asked the Prime Minister to provide the names of those people, which is obviously completely illegal. Then,…
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Mr. Speaker, a rather sinister spectacle has been unfolding over the past two weeks as the Liberals and the Conservatives play their partisan games. Meanwhile, work on behalf of Canadians has come to a standstill. I would like to ask my Conservative colleague a very specific question. We, the NDP, managed to force the government to provide dental care to seniors. If his party comes to power, will …
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Mr. Speaker, people are dying in the streets, on park benches, in alleys and sometimes in portable toilets. The number of deaths among the unhoused has skyrocketed. In fact, it has tripled in recent years, and this is just the tip of the iceberg considering that a lot of deaths are not even recorded. The housing crisis kills. Liberals and Conservatives alike have allowed this crisis to fester so t…
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Mr. Speaker, in 2015, the Liberals promised people a major employment insurance reform. They promised to give everyone better access to EI, to take into account seasonal industries, to protect self-employed workers and to put an end to discrimination against women. Nine years later, it is clear that nothing has been done. The Liberals once again dragged their feet and failed workers. That is why a…
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Mr. Speaker, according to a new report, living costs are rising faster than incomes for the bottom 40% of families. Roughly speaking, almost half of Canadians are getting poorer and poorer. Ordinary folks are struggling while the rich line their pockets. On top of that, the Conservatives are announcing that they would cut programs that help people, like dental care and pharmacare, programs that we…
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Mr. Speaker, when the NDP gets to work, results follow. Thanks to NDP pressure, Premier Legault reversed his heartless decision to take dental care away from Quebeckers. Now let us take a look at the Liberals' track record. Remember the Prime Minister's promises? He promised more doctors, more nurses and a health care system that works for everyone. Nine years later, 500,000 Quebeckers do not have…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague from Nunavut is asking a question that is extremely important, not only for the St. Lawrence River, but for all riverbanks throughout Quebec and Canada, and Nunavut as well. I think this recommendation is crucial. The federal government must not shirk its responsibilities with regard to defending our environment, our ecosystems and the banks of all these rivers, the tho…
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Mr. Speaker, I am extremely glad to speak to this very important motion on shoreline erosion along the St. Lawrence River. Quebeckers and Montrealers have a very strong connection to the St. Lawrence River. It is a huge part of Quebec's identity, and we are attached to the river and all its tributaries, all the rivers that flow into this very large and beautiful river. I am from Saint-Jean-sur-Ric…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his important question. As far as river areas, rivers and the St. Lawrence are concerned, it is actually somewhat complicated. It is a bit complicated. For example, the surface of the water, what is under the water, the shoreline and the animal species that live there all fall under different jurisdictions. It is rather difficult to keep track. I quite agree…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my Conservative colleague for asking such a good question. The Liberals' inaction when it comes to defending the monarch butterfly at the Montreal airport is obvious. This Liberal government's track record on defending the environment over the past nine years is very disappointing overall. We supported the government in exchange for progress in areas like dental care and pha…
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Madam Speaker, the first petition I am going to table today is about the environment. Scientific assessments have shown that environmental crises are ramping up. I am talking about climate change, the collapse of biodiversity, pollution, resource depletion and the most severe long-term form of environmental damage, ecocide. Domestic ecocide legislation has been proposed in Brazil, Scotland, Chile,…
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Mr. Speaker, the housing crisis is raging across the country. Rents have doubled under the Liberals. People cannot find housing they can afford. The Conservatives want us to believe they hold the solution, but they are part of the problem. When the Conservative leader was the minister responsible for housing, he built six housing units. He let big developers snap up 800,000 homes so they could get…
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Madam Speaker, the second petition I would like to present has to do with women and parental leave under the Employment Insurance Act. Under this act, women, who are already at a disadvantage in the labour market due to injustices and inequity, are still the ones to assume more family responsibilities. It is women who take nearly all the weeks of parental leave following the birth of a child. Howe…
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Madam Speaker, we will budget whatever amount is needed to lift people out of poverty. It is as simple as that. That is vital. In any case, that money will come back to the community and stimulate spending in our local economy. It will be good for everyone. It will be good for these people, as well as for local businesses. Earlier today, the member for Winnipeg North said that his party would like…
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Madam Speaker, things are going very well in Montreal. I thank the member for his concern, but he does not have to worry about me, because I have a lot of support. I would like to ask the Conservatives a question. During the dark years under Stephen Harper, cuts were made to public services and direct services to the public. Are the Conservatives prepared to commit today to maintaining the gains t…
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Madam Speaker, that is an excellent question from my NDP colleague from Nanaimo—Ladysmith. I would point out that most economists agree that eliminating the poverty associated with having a disability would reduce overall poverty in Canada by 40%. That is significant. I repeat, 40% of poverty would be eliminated if we had a serious measure. The member is asking a great question. When the Conservat…
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Mr. Speaker, folks often say that there are four stages in politics. The saying goes: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” Judging from my colleague's speech, we are in the third stage. However, I vividly remember the dark days of Harper's Conservative government. They attacked seniors by forcing them to retire two years later. They attacked veterans …
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Mr. Speaker, I am not going to get into a debate over jurisdictions or centralization. I have a lot to say about that and I know that my colleague likes that topic. I like when she defends the Constitution, it is really interesting. I would like her to talk about the disappointment in the disability community. There was a promise to lift these people out of poverty and the government came up with …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for that speech, which was both sensible and sensitive. I clearly remember the dark days of the Harper government. The Conservatives cut services to the public, to the poorest and most vulnerable. They cut everything from services for veterans and the unemployed to public services. The NDP made dental care for people with disabilities a reality, and they have be…
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Madam Speaker, I am very honoured to have the opportunity to speak today. I would like to point out that I will be sharing my time with the incredible member for Winnipeg Centre. I cannot help but notice that the Conservative member for Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, who just finished his speech, did not answer my question. Nor did he answer the question from the member for Kitchener Centre, who asked wheth…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to again list the local organizations that do truly incredible work in the community and that I have the pleasure and honour of representing here. The list includes the Association d'aide et de loisirs pour personnes à autonomie réduite, or ALPAR; the Regroupement des organismes spécialisés pour l'emploi des personnes handicapées; the Association multiethnique pour l'in…
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Mr. Speaker, homelessness kills. That is not a metaphor, it is a sad reality. People are dying in the street. That is why the federal housing advocate urged this Liberal government to take meaningful measures to deal with the encampment crisis. Not a single thing has happened since. The minister has done nothing. People continue to spend the night in their car or on the street. It is a real crisis…
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Madam Speaker, I have a whole lot of smart things to say. I wonder what the minister would say if there were no dental care. The Liberals voted against dental care in the last election. We forced them to implement it. Now, 200,000 Quebeckers are reaping the benefits thanks to the work of the NDP. I would like to hear the minister say one thing. I would like him to say “thank you”.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my Green Party colleague for his question, which is very compassionate. As social democrats, we in the NDP share his concern. If we want to help a person with a disability, we have to do it for their entire lifetime. My colleague is perfectly right in saying that a person's disability does not end at 65 and that just because old age security exists does not mean that w…
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Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question. I too am very interested in knowing where the Liberal government is at the moment. It is a minority government. I get the impression that the Minister of Finance is dealing with a hot potato and does not know what to do with it. I would say to my Bloc Québécois colleague that it is a bit risky to bet on a royal recommendation to get help for seniors. I a…
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