Government Orders
Madam Speaker, what is going on right now is rather ironic. In fact, it is beyond irony. It is black comedy. Here we have a Liberal bill that we agree on, which talks about reconciliation with indigenous peoples and the need to consult them in advance. However, just yesterday, this same government announced an agreement to shove a pipeline down the throats of indigenous people in British Columbia …
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Madam Speaker, this is no time to celebrate. The Canada-Alberta oil deal announced yesterday is climate betrayal. We were worried that the Liberals might announce one new pipeline in the west. Instead, they announced that there could be several, in addition to the Trans Mountain expansion, to extract at least 1.4 million more barrels of oil per day. The Liberals are also openly threatening to impo…
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Madam Speaker, we are debating the bill introduced by my Conservative Party colleague, who was elected in Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, in British Columbia. I salute him and I would like him to know that I have the utmost respect for him, despite the fact that I strongly disagree with his approach. His Bill C-235 proposes to amend the Criminal Code so that, in cases of murder preceded by kidnapping o…
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Madam Speaker, I want to repeat my question for my colleague. If he is truly serious about his initiative, then he must promise the victims today that if this bill passes and is later struck down, and if the Conservative Party ever forms a government, it will use the notwithstanding clause to uphold the bill.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I fully understand the emotional weight he carries. I have some questions for him, and later on I will explain why I think his bill will be difficult, if not impossible, to implement. I want to hear him on what he said, because he is aware that there are constitutional issues at play. There is a charter article against cruel and unusual punishmen…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to follow up on the question from my colleague who just spoke about temporary immigration. I want to know what my colleague thinks about the request made, particularly by chambers of commerce, but also by many businesses, including some in my riding. They want a grandfather clause or some other measure to allow some sort of exception for temporary workers already on-site …
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister loves to travel, yet he snubbed the UN climate change conference in Brazil. He chose not to show his face, meanwhile Canada was being criticized by the entire planet for its environmental backtracking. Canada won the fossil of the day award, a disgrace worthy of the oil monarchies. Canada was also ranked 61 out of 67 countries for its poor climate performance, provi…
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Mr. Speaker, on Monday, I spent time with 60 seasonal workers in Grande‑Rivière, in my riding in the Gaspé region. Together, we realized that this budget does not say anything about EI reform. There is, however, an increase in the number of weeks for long-tenured workers. That is nice for them. They might be able to make it to the end of the year. However, in my riding, people are seasonal workers…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like my colleague to share his opinion on the following issue with the House. The deficit is very high. The government could have increased its revenues with the digital services tax. Recently, there have been job losses at one of Quebec's largest private broadcasters, TVA. The government could have not only generated revenue with this digital services tax, but also invested i…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague. I share some of his views, particularly with regard to the government's lack of rigour in presenting this budget, which really involves some creative accounting. Every member who stands up is telling the government that the way it is presenting the numbers makes no sense. I have a question for my colleague about fiscal restraint. The deficit is very high. We are …
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Mr. Speaker, no, they are not making any progress in the fight against climate change. While Canada places far down the list of the world's worst performing countries, the Liberals are trying to sink it even lower. At the very moment that Canada was disgraced in front of the whole world at COP30, the Liberals were negotiating with Alberta to build another pipeline for western oil. As if investing …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for taking the time to explain his vision. Bill C‑15 includes legislation on the high-speed rail network to govern the high-speed rail project. We are in favour of this project. However, I would like to remind the House that in the Gaspé there is a rail line being refurbished from Matapédia to Port‑Daniel‑Gascons and that Via Rail, which is funded by taxpayers in …
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Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague's speech. The Bloc Québécois shares some of his views, including on the fact that the deficit is very high and that public funds must be used wisely. One of the expenditures in this budget is subsidies for the oil industry. Roughly $9 billion a year is given to the oil industry. It seems to me that if there is one sector of the economy that should be abl…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague a question about something that is of great concern to us in the Bloc Québécois. At the end of Bill C-15, which is quite lengthy, there is a part that gives a minister the power to decide that a law will not apply to certain companies. This greatly expands the minister's discretionary power. It may even be a step toward arbitrary use of power. It also …
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Mr. Speaker, there is one thing missing in this budget that we would have liked to see. It is the renewal of the fisheries fund. I come from Gaspésie. In the Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands, the fisheries fund has historically made it possible to invest $40 million to spur innovation and promote scientific research. The fund's goal was to ensure that the fisheries sector remained up to da…
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Mr. Speaker, illegal lobster fishing is putting the species at risk, and that is what concerns fishers the most. They want to protect the resource so that their kids and grandkids get to fish too. We can do something about illegal fishing; all we need to do is enforce the law. All that the fisheries stakeholders who appear before the committee are asking is that officers be allowed to do their wor…
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Radio-Canada's Enquête aired a shocking report on lobster smuggling in New Brunswick. This is troubling for the people of Gaspé and for the Maritimes as a whole. The problem is all the more serious given that, for the past several weeks, troubling revelations have come to light at the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans about political interference in fisheries offic…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear my colleague's thoughts on a subject that is of great concern to me as the member for the Gaspé region and the Magdalen Islands and the Bloc Québécois critic for fisheries and oceans. I know members of the Conservative caucus are also concerned about this. There are a number of things missing from the budget, which fails to respond to a number of crises. In partic…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech and for her comments, particularly on trade and the importance of market diversification. My question concerns a topic of great importance to the people of the Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands. That topic is the fishing industry. The Quebec fisheries fund is a $44‑million fund that the federal was investing in. It was stimulating innovation and fundin…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear my colleague's thoughts on a subject that I think we are both concerned about, and that is the government's failure to renew the fisheries fund. Personally, my interest centres on the Quebec fisheries fund. For her, the Atlantic fisheries fund will be top of mind. This is a fairly big disappointment considering that this budget fails to address a number of crises,…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague a fairly specific question. I represent a riding where many people fish for a living, and I am the Bloc's fisheries critic. One of the big surprises in this budget is that there is nothing to renew the fisheries fund. The fisheries fund is approximately $40 million. The Government of Quebec provides 30% of that, while the Government of Canada provides …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his Bill C‑244, which will allow us to address an important topic. When we leave dry land and set sail, the ship that carries us transports us to another world. Things are different at sea. The horizon stretches out all around us, the air is salty, and the sky is vast. Boats are a gateway to other places, but they do not last forever. Boats wear out, break dow…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his work and for his speech. We will indeed be able to work across party lines on this bill. My question concerns one of the clauses. The bill, which is fairly specific and targeted, includes four clauses. One of the clauses amends the Canadian Environmental Protection Act prohibition that no person may dispose of a substance in the sea, which encompasses the …
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Mr. Speaker, it was a foggy July morning in Sainte‑Thérèse‑de‑Gaspé, back home in the Gaspé region. The boat glided slowly over the calm waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We left the harbour, passing by a Coast Guard vessel. Seagulls watched us from a distance. The cliffs were peaking through the fog as we headed out to sea. The atmosphere on the boat was relaxed. The salty air permeated though …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Edmonton Griesbach for his account and the testimony he presented to us in the House. We have to understand the pain and suffering that victims go through when they have to return to the Parole Board. Everyone can understand that. Has my colleague considered alternatives to limiting the number of times a murderer can apply to the Parole Board? Has he consider…
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Madam Speaker, the Liberals have the choice of three parties to support their budget. Of course we would prefer that they work with us because our demands meet the needs of Quebeckers on health and seniors' purchasing power. We would like them to invest more in Quebec than in the oil companies or in tax breaks for big tech. It is up the Liberals. What is the choice of the Liberals right now? They …
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Madam Speaker, Halloween is here, as we have just heard, and the Liberals are trying to give people a fright. They are threatening to call an election if their budget is not passed, yet they are a minority. All they have to do to get their budget passed is come to an agreement with the Bloc Québécois, the Conservatives, the NDP or any of the parties. The Bloc Québécois's demands concern Quebeckers…
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Madam Speaker, I have two questions for my colleague. I know he is quite capable of answering more than one. My first question is this. What does my colleague make of the current situation in Parliament? Two opposition parties worked together in committee to improve a bill, to make it better and more reasonable. Now, with this debate, all the work that was done in committee could be completely tos…
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Mr. Speaker, today we are here to debate Bill C‑243, introduced by my colleague from Edmonton Griesbach. Under this bill, someone who has been convicted of first- or second-degree murder will no longer be able to apply for parole a second time if their first application is refused. That person would have to wait a minimum of five years before submitting a new application. Before discussing the bil…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague a question. What is the factual basis for the government's claim that the bail system is broken? When the Minister of Justice announced Bill C-14, he said that accused persons had a "get out of jail free" card, and that being granted bail was incredibly easy. The figures show that, in Canada, 71% of inmates in provincial or territorial prisons are curr…
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Mr. Speaker, I have a question for my colleague. The Minister of Justice said that under the current system, when someone is charged, they have a free pass that they can show and they will be released right away. I want to know the factual basis for that claim. The figures show that, in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada, 70% of people in provincial prisons are currently awaiting trial. By comparison,…
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Mr. Speaker, earlier I asked one of the member's colleagues to give us the facts that the government is working from to call for an amendment to the Criminal Code's bail provisions. I did not really get an answer earlier. We were told that some people were complaining. I will give the government another opportunity, through the member, to explain to us the current problem with the bail system. Wha…
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Mr. Speaker, what tool is missing from the Criminal Code that judges can use to keep potentially dangerous individuals in remand until their trial?
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Mr. Speaker, under the Criminal Code, a person charged with murder is held in custody before their trial. Certain reverse onus provisions already apply. For example, if a person has been previously convicted or discharged of a charge of intimate partner violence, if it happened before and the person is charged again, the onus is reversed. This makes it much easier for the Crown prosecutor to keep …
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Mr. Speaker, today we are debating Bill C-14, which was introduced by the Minister of Justice last week. When he introduced the bill, he said it was important to get rid of the “get out of jail free” card. That is really what I want to focus on, even though there are a lot of other things in this rather dense bill with 80 clauses. Among other things, the bill proposes to amend the provisions on in…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague says that the demand is real. I know that people are worried, including in his home province of Manitoba. Yes, they do not feel safe, but we have to look beyond feelings. We have to look at the Criminal Code as it stands and the values that underpin it, including the presumption of innocence. We will study all that. There is a risk that, in responding to a perception of b…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. It really is so important, because what people want is reassurance. Perhaps the first thing to do is explain to people how the system works now, which is why I humbly took some time to explain the current rules. I think one way to provide that reassurance is to help them better understand how criminal law works.
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Mr. Speaker, today we are debating Bill C-3, an act to amend the Citizenship Act. This bill responds to a court ruling. Let us take a look at the historical background. In 2009, the Harper government amended the Citizenship Act to prohibit the transmission of citizenship beyond the second generation for children born outside Canada, even if their parents are Canadian. In December 2023, the Ontario…
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Mr. Speaker, in the amendments that were voted on in committee, there is this notion of righting wrongs as well as setting guidelines and ensuring that people who become Canadians continue to maintain a genuine connection to their new country. Can my colleague discuss another key amendment, which provides for the publication of an annual report to determine the impact of this legislation? My colle…
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleague said, today's debate raises important questions about democracy. What role do judges play and what role do legislators play? The judge said it was discriminatory and told legislators to do their job and determine what the real connection is between a Canadian born abroad and his or her country. A guideline has been proposed, a reasonable limit that mirrors the immigrat…
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Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump has broken off talks. We are a long way from an agreement, despite the Liberal rescue promised during the election campaign. Yes, some things are unpredictable, but other things are in Ottawa's control, including how we protect our people. As yet, assistance for the lumber sector is still on hold. Three hundred jobs were lost at Paccar because of truck tariffs. Meanwhile,…
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Mr. Speaker, the idea of diversifying our trade partnerships over the next 10 years, as the Prime Minister proposes, is a good one. However, for workers in our sawmills, at Paccar, at our aluminum smelters and steel plants, 10 years is forever. The Prime Minister has an obligation to get results for Quebeckers now living with a sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. We need the diversificatio…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague the following question: What is the purpose of parliamentary committees? I understand what my colleague is saying, and of course, the House is sovereign in its votes, but the committee, which includes members of recognized opposition parties, worked hard to improve the bill. Today, the government is trying to undermine the work of the committee by join…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for asking her question in my language. Obviously, that is basically what we are saying. My fear is that this is going to make the entire process futile and pointless. In other words, we will meet in committee, decide on certain things, then return to the House and tear up everything we did. I think we need to find a way to include the amendments we …
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Mr. Speaker, indeed, we support the principle behind Bill C‑3. In the course of our work and research, we realized that, of course, wrongs need to be made right, and we agree in principle, although the impact of this could be quite significant. That is what the Parliamentary Budget Officer told us. Up to 150,000 more people could become Canadian citizens unless we establish guidelines. At the leas…
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Mr. Speaker, the people of the Gaspé have been abandoned by Via Rail, which refuses to reinstate the service it used to provide there, despite the $1.3 billion it receives in federal assistance for things like operating regional routes, and despite the $355 million that Quebec has spent on repairing the rail line as far as Port‑Daniel. Via Rail takes money from Ottawa to serve the regions, but it …
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Mr. Speaker, I was congratulating my colleague on her speech, firmly rooted in the reality of her constituents. I would like her opinion. We in the Bloc Québécois think that the government is mismanaging public finances and that our deficit is much too high and is the result of several bad moves. One of those bad moves made by Mr. Carney's government was to cancel the carbon tax—
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Mr. Speaker, I noticed that my colleague used the word “discipline” in her speech and that she spoke on the importance of being disciplined and diligent when managing public finances. I would like to hear what she has to say about the action taken by her government immediately before the election, when it eliminated the carbon tax and refunded Canadians outside Quebec and British Columbia nearly $…
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Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague for his passionate speech. One of the problems we have when we talk about public finances is that there is no transparency right now. We still do not have a budget. I would like to discuss something with my colleague. When the votes were tabled in June, we noticed certain things. First, transfers to individuals will hardly increase at all, and federal bureaucrat…
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We will get there, Mr. Speaker. This government's decision to repeal the carbon tax outside Quebec in the middle of an election campaign meant that nearly $4 billion was refunded to people who had not even paid it. I understand that my colleague from the Conservative Party was probably opposed to carbon pricing, but does she agree with me that giving away nearly $4 billion in election handouts in …
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