Parliamentary Speeches
683 speeches by Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe — Page 4 of 14
Government Orders
Madam Speaker, my colleague is someone who is really in touch with her constituents. I think that everyone in the House and everyone in her riding knows that. I would like her to tell us how important border security is for the people in her riding. I would also like her to talk about how border security has been neglected over the past 10 years. What would a bill that secures the border mean for …
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Mr. Speaker, this bill was introduced two days ago, and we have had to analyze all 130 pages of it. At first glance, we are generally in favour of the bill in principle. However, given that it is 130 pages long, affects more than three departments and could possibly amend some 20 laws, I hope that the minister agrees with me that it will require thorough, detailed work in committee. There is no wa…
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Madam Speaker, the Liberals have indeed been lax on many issues. It is abundantly clear that border security and the immigration department have been mismanaged for the past 10 years. I believe, and I am sure everyone will agree, that the most dysfunctional department in the federal government is the immigration department. Today, we will look at what the Liberals are proposing in Bill C‑2 in term…
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Madam Speaker, I do not believe that this bill is anti-refugee and anti-immigrant.
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Madam Speaker, I am clearly more focused on immigration-related issues, covered in parts 7, 8 and 9 of the bill. My colleague can correct me if I am wrong, but the bill appears useful on the issue of car theft in that it will make it easier for authorities to inspect the contents of certain containers in ports and certain shipments on trains. I think I am correct in saying that. That is already a …
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Madam Speaker, do I have 30 minutes to answer that? I hope that the answer to my colleague's question is yes; sadly, however, I do not know exactly how that will happen. Is improving processing times really a government objective? I am not convinced that it is. The fact remains that it is not right for a G7 country to take four, five, six or seven years to process a refugee claim filed in-country.…
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Madam Speaker, this is my first speech in the House, and I am truly pleased to see you sitting in the Speaker's chair because, as you know, you are my favourite. As this is indeed my first speech in the House in this 45th Parliament, I would like to thank the citizens of Lac‑Saint‑Jean from the bottom of my heart for placing their trust in me for a third time. It is an honour to represent them in …
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Yukon did not answer the question from my colleague from Repentigny, but it is not that complicated. A tax was scrapped, and then a rebate cheque was sent out to offset payments that had not been made. So much for sound fiscal management. This measure is going to cost Canadian taxpayers $3.7 billion. The worst part is that Quebeckers did not get that cheque, but th…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his excellent speech and, most of all, for the excellent answer he just gave to our Conservative colleague. Is the government doing something different in the 2024 fall economic statement when it comes to the oil and gas industry? Has it suddenly decided, in this economic statement, to give less money to the oil industry by way of subsidies and tax c…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, on December 4, my beautiful riding of Lac-Saint-Jean celebrated the official inauguration of the Bois Francs Bio Serra's new facilities. The company will change its name to Mono Serra Group Scierie. With an investment of nearly $25 million at a time when the forestry industry is facing numerous challenges, I am both proud and optimistic to see such a project come to life in the munici…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, three Chilean asylum seekers escaped from the Laval immigration holding centre. These are people with ties to international organized crime who were subject to a removal order. The three escapees are just the latest in a long line of nearly 750 asylum seekers in Quebec who are inadmissible for security reasons, yet the federal government is not deporting them. These people are a threa…
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois has been sounding the alarm since the safe third country agreement was renegotiated in 2023. There is a loophole that enables people who cross the border illegally to claim asylum after hiding for 14 days. On Friday, a CBSA report obtained by the media confirmed that, just between April and September 2023, nearly 2,000 people took advantage of that loophole and clai…
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Mr. Speaker, it is basically the minister's job to answer questions. This is question period. The government has known for over a year that the 14-day loophole is being exploited. The Liberals have known for over a year that thousands of people are crossing the border illegally to seek asylum. They have known for over a year that criminal smugglers are abusing vulnerable people for as much as $45,…
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Madam Speaker, what I particularly like about debates in the House is that we learn so much. I just learned that my Conservative colleague has admitted, in answer to my colleague from Edmonton Strathcona, that climate change is caused by humans. We can look at the blues. The Conservatives, they tell us, are very focused on government spending. Now that we know they admit that climate change is cau…
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Mr. Speaker, we told the government so. Today, the Journal de Montréal reported a surge in the number of asylum seekers at the borders. The Lacolle border crossing received more than 80 between Saturday and Sunday, four times the recent average. In the words of a vice-president from the Customs and Immigration Union, they do not have enough employees to receive that many people. This confirms two …
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Mr. Speaker, it is mind-boggling. Everyone warned them. We knew that the Liberals were not good at managing the borders, so the Bloc Québécois warned them before the U.S. election that migration at the border would go up if Donald Trump won. Quebec warned them. Immigration lawyers warned them. Community organizations warned them. We warned them. Despite all those warnings, the union tells us that …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I want to say that I really enjoy listening to the speeches given by my hon. colleague from Calgary Nose Hill. She has a lot of experience. Do not worry, I am not about to sing any Francis Martin songs tonight. Maybe I am being naive, but since the member does have experience, I came up with an idea that I would like to run by her. I would like her to tell me if it makes sense. What…
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, François Legault announced that he would be deploying the Sûreté du Québec, or SQ, to patrol Canada's borders. The SQ will have to do the federal government's job for it because no one in Quebec believes that Ottawa is prepared to manage a potential wave of migration. This is what things have come to, but it is not as though the SQ is looking for work. It has to patrol the …
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Mr. Speaker, they certainly have shown that over the past few years. Quebeckers do not believe this Prime Minister can deal with a wave of migration caused by Donald Trump. They saw how he dealt with the borders during the pandemic. They saw how he dealt with Roxham Road. They saw how he took to Twitter to invite the whole world to come to Quebec, then shirked his responsibilities when our intake …
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Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump is doubling down on his plan to deport millions of people. Yesterday, he floated the idea of declaring a national state of emergency to free up the necessary resources. Once again, we have every reason to fear a wave of migrants heading for our borders. Once again, we get the impression that criminal smuggling networks are one step ahead of the federal government at the b…
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Mr. Speaker, that is interesting. While we are wondering whether the federal government has sufficient resources at the border to deal with immigration, while we are wondering whether human smuggling networks are one step ahead of the federal government, yesterday, the Liberals announced that hours of service are being reduced at 35 border crossings, including 10 in Quebec. The federal government …
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Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and, if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That the House: (a) salute Mr. Irwin Cotler's contribution to the defence of human rights and the fight against racism and anti-Semitism; (b) recall his political contribution as Attorney General and Minister of Justice from 2003 to 2006, and that it c…
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That is confusing, Mr. Speaker. The Prime Minister not only could have acted faster on immigration, he should have acted faster. First of all, he should have thought about integration capacity before drastically increasing the population as he did. Second, he should have listened to everyone warning him that it was not working, but he was too blinded by his multiculturalist fantasy to base his imm…
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Mr. Speaker, it is not as though no one told him to be careful with the immigration targets. His own officials warned him in 2022 that these immigration targets would aggravate the housing crisis and access to public services. The Bloc Québécois had been warning him for years that adopting the Century Initiative targets was totally irresponsible. Quebec has been warning him for two years that our …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, this morning, The Globe and Mail reported that Irwin Cotler, the former attorney general of Canada, was the target of an assassination plot by the Iranian regime. For over a month, Mr. Cotler has been living under police protection because an authoritarian regime wants him dead. Mr. Cotler, a human rights activist and staunch opponent of racism and anti-Semitism, had provoked the wrat…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is incapable of acknowledging that he is to blame for the crises surrounding the all-too-rapid hike in immigration numbers. Even in yesterday's mea culpa, he was still looking for someone else to blame, be it the pandemic, businesses or schools. He, however, is the one who issued every permit. He is the one who accepted McKinsey's immigration targets despite our war…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals claim they are prepared for a potential surge of migrants in response to Donald Trump's threats of deportation. However, being prepared means keeping an eye on the borders. Under the safe third country agreement, anyone who crosses the border secretly can apply for asylum in Canada after 14 days. Since the closure of Roxham Road, the vast majority of the RCMP officers hav…
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec continues to take in more than its fair share of asylum seekers, yet there is still no plan to distribute the numbers more equally among the provinces. This is a serious matter, especially as migration could skyrocket again with tomorrow's U.S. election. Donald Trump has announced that, if he wins, he will launch the biggest deportation program in American history. He wants to …
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Mr. Speaker, governing is all about planning ahead. At every single opportunity, the immigration department has proven itself incapable of planning ahead. We will keep asking the minister for details about his plan because without details, we have no good reason to believe that a plan exists. If Donald Trump wins tomorrow, he has promised to deport 18 million people. Our agencies tell us that they…
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Mr. Speaker, if he does not want to answer questions, he does not have to attend question period. The last time Donald Trump threatened to deport people, many headed for Canada. That led to the problems at Roxham Road, the consequences of which are still being felt today. Roxham Road became a problem because the federal government did not have a plan. The Prime Minister literally extended an invit…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, this gives me the opportunity to again say that I listened to my colleague's speech. We have been here almost a month and, frankly, I think that was the best speech we have heard on this question of privilege. I was listening to him and thinking that his speech tops them all. I want to congratulate him because it was so unique. I have never heard anything like it. He presented some …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, it is too bad, because I do not think that everyone is going to put on their earpiece and understand what I have to say today. I really want to congratulate my colleague because it has been almost—
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Mr. Speaker, the proposed new thresholds are a step in the right direction, but they still force Quebec to choose between accepting more immigrants or losing political weight within Canada. That being said, Quebec's main concern is still temporary immigration and, above all, asylum seekers. There is still no plan for distributing asylum seekers among the provinces, and Quebec is still taking on ne…
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Mr. Speaker, since we still have no migrant distribution breakdown for the provinces, we run a real risk of seeing migration skyrocket following the U.S. election in 12 days' time. Without presuming to know the outcome, we are aware that Donald Trump plans to deport 11 million people. Our agencies have told us that, if he wins, they expect a lot of people to pack their bags and head for Canada. Th…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have finally started listening to the message passed on from Quebeckers by the Bloc Québécois. Instead of raising their immigration target to 500,000 people a year, they are going to lower it to 365,000 by 2027. If Quebec were to accept the federal government's new target, it would have to welcome more than 80,000 immigrants a year. That is more than the target set by Que…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, the House has been paralyzed and we have been unable to work for nearly a month now, as my colleague from Joliette said. In the meantime, we agree with the Conservative Party that to end this paralysis, the government needs to hand over the documents. In his speech, my colleague said that we serve our constituents, that we represent them and they expect us to do our work. That spoke…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today, October 23, a major figure in regional agriculture is stepping down from his post. After eight years serving as president of the Union des producteurs agricoles, or UPA, for the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean region, Mario Théberge, a dairy and grain farmer from Normandin who is well known at home and respected by his peers, will hand the reins over to the next generation, who are mor…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, my leader has indeed started the process and I think that he will get his security clearance shortly. There are just a few small formalities left. He did indeed decide to move forward responsibly so that he could verify whether Bloc Québécois candidates or members have been directly or indirectly, wittingly or unwittingly involved in foreign interference. I would be surprised if that …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, I have asked my Liberal colleagues a question a few times. They have yet to respond. I just listened to the minister's speech. She was very passionate and emphatic. I could tell she really believed in what she was saying. Someone on the Liberal side will have to explain to me, then, why it took so long. A motion was adopted here in the House of Commons in November 2020 to establish …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I think that, by having this debate this evening, we will be able to take a closer look at this issue, come up with suggestions and perhaps some solutions, and reach a consensus. This debate enables us work across party lines and to try to sit down together as responsible parliamentarians. Unfortunately, what may end up happening this evening is that the Liberals and the Conservatives…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, we are here this evening to talk about foreign interference, and the Prime Minister provided information last week about how Conservative members, former members or candidates allegedly had something to do with India's foreign interference. That is our understanding. Now, the leader of the Conservative Party and member for Carleton is refusing to get his security clearance. I am not l…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, the member who spoke before my hon. colleague did not answer the question I put to him. I would like to ask my question again in the hopes of getting an answer from his colleague from the Liberal Party. We are talking about taking action against foreign interference, and we are talking about government responsibility in relation to this scourge. My question is about government respons…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, I think I will be lucky. I think this is the fifth time that I am asking a member of the Liberal Party this question. What is more, I get along fairly well with my colleague who just gave an excellent speech. We have the good fortune of being able to serve together on the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Develo…
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Mr. Speaker, I am sorry about earlier. I know that you are fair. I did not mean to criticize you. I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Montcalm. The consequences of foreign interference are quite real. They are real for security, for democracy and for the well-being of our communities. Last March, the foreign interference commission heard testimony from several representatives of var…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, that is a legitimate question. The leader of the official opposition aspires to be the prime minister of Canada. Today, he is telling us that he does not want to get his security clearance or see the documents because it would prevent him from speaking publicly about the issue. Is he saying that, if he ever becomes the prime minister of Canada, he will refuse to see sensitive informat…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, here is what is likely to happen tonight. The Conservatives are going to say that foreign interference is all the Liberals' fault. In response, the Liberals will say that it is all the Conservatives' fault. My colleague just spoke about government accountability. On November 18, 2020, the House passed a motion calling on the government to create a foreign agent registry, and that did …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, these days we are hearing a lot of things about asylum seekers, and not very thoughtful things. It makes people lose sight of what is important. There are too many asylum seekers in Quebec for our capacity to accommodate them. We are incapable of providing services to these people, who are living in misery. There are some provinces that can help them but are refusing to do so. The onl…
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Mr. Speaker, while the government does nothing, in Quebec, we no longer have classes available for the children of asylum seekers. We no longer have teachers to assign to the classes we do not have. We are no longer able to supply food banks. We are in the midst of a housing crisis. As we speak, new people are arriving at Montreal's Trudeau airport to claim asylum. They will join the ranks of the …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, let us stick with that theme. If we travelled with the DeLorean from 1867 to today, we would see all kinds of scandals. There would be only two guilty parties: the Liberals and the Conservatives. Since 1867, we have become used to it. Let us come back to October 2, 2024, because I am being magnanimous with my esteemed colleague on the Conservative side. My question is very simple. Wha…
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Mr. Speaker, of course the Bloc Québécois supports the principle of the motion. What bothers us is the wording. The Conservative motion does actually identify a serious problem, namely the mismanagement of Sustainable Development Technology Canada. However, the motion is problematic in its current form. The first item, calling for all documents to be tabled within 14 days, is completely unrealisti…
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