Parliamentary Speeches
1,100 speeches by Andréanne Larouche — Page 17 of 22
Government Orders
Mr. Chair, my colleague touched on a subject that is very important to me. In fact, at yesterday's general meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, I was re-elected vice-chair. We have studied this issue extensively. My colleague mentioned that 54% of human trafficking victims are indigenous women. That is huge. He also said that before concrete sol…
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Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague, with whom I serve on the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. I must say that it is an honour to work with her. She was appointed to the committee in the new Parliament. Since I joined the committee in 2019, practically every study the committee has done shows that indigenous women are disproportionately affected. We did a study on the impacts of COVID-19, an…
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Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for her speech and for taking the time to put names to this tragedy, which I think could be called the shadow pandemic, because it happened during this pandemic. These are people we are talking about; these are numbers. In the case of missing and murdered indigenous women, it is difficult to get numbers and statistics because it is not spoken about. It is hard to sp…
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Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for her speech. She is the chair of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. Earlier I touched on the fact that the Standing Committee on the Status of Women does a lot of studies. We hear from witnesses from different indigenous communities and different groups that work with indigenous communities. The committee hears solutions during our studies. These stud…
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Madam Chair, in the wake of various government announcements last year, as my colleague from Manicouagan mentioned earlier, it is important to really listen, in a spirit of dialogue and a true spirit of reconciliation. However, I read that the group Quebec Native Women felt that Ottawa's action plan targeted and established measures that did not reflect the reality of indigenous women and their fa…
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Madam Chair, I thank my hon. colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands for her speech. We are nearing the end of the take-note debate. I agree with my colleague from Manicouagan. I too have a problem with the term “take-note”. There are 231 calls for justice, 231 ways to take action so that no more women or girls are murdered or go missing. I wonder if my colleague could comment on the fact that we are …
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Madam Chair, it appears I have the thankless task of closing this evening's take-note debate. I am speaking, albeit with a great deal of disgust, as the Bloc Québécois critic for the status of women in this take-note debate on indigenous women and girls. This debate is taking place the night before Red Dress Day, a day to honour missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. …
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Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for the question. This allows me to reiterate the importance of talking nation to nation. I mentioned it at the end of my speech. The government cannot make proposals if it has not held consultations, if it has not opened a dialogue and if it has not listened to its local partners, the first nations communities. In my opinion, this may unfortunately have an impact…
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Madam Chair, as my colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands mentioned earlier, there are more than 200 calls to action, to justice. My colleague is right: We know what they are, but we are still gathered here asking questions, thinking about what we might put in another report. It is sad. As my colleague from Manicouagan was saying, when they talk about money, it is usually for publicity, for PR, to gi…
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Madam Chair, talking about recovery, I would like to address one aspect that we must discuss. I am referring to the infamous Indian Act. We cannot consider recovery as long as this archaic law is in force. This law perpetuates all manner of prejudice towards indigenous communities. Furthermore, we cannot talk about recovery if we do not let them live with dignity. As I stated earlier, too many com…
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Madam Chair, with respect to cultural changes, I want to talk about something that I did not have the time to address. In a conversation about culture and respect for cultures we cannot ignore what happened with the residential schools. I want to say it here because it was absolutely cruel. The purpose was to “kill the Indian in the child”. No one can talk about respecting culture and then go afte…
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Madam Chair, reconciliation is essential, but we cannot talk about reconciliation unless we have discussions as equals, nation to nation. I spoke about how Canada's treatment of its indigenous peoples has tarnished its international reputation. Canada did not want to sign the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and refused to do it for far too long. That is unacceptable.…
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Madam Chair, as I mentioned, the government must absolutely invest in these communities and work and plan for the longer term. There is so much work to be done in areas such as providing housing, implementing the action plan or getting drinking water to various communities. The government clearly needs to do some long-term planning so that there is some stability here. That is also important. I al…
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Madam Speaker, there is a fraud epidemic at Service Canada, and the federal government is doing nothing to help victims. In my riding alone, over 175 people have come to me for help. Ottawa is withholding their benefits because they have been the victims of fraud. The fraudsters are the ones who should be punished, not the victims. As we speak, thousands of people across Quebec have lost their job…
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Madam Speaker, as the Bloc Québécois critic for the status of women and the vice-chair of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, I rise today to speak to Bill C-233, which amends the Criminal Code to require a justice, before making a release order in respect of an accused who is charged with an offence against their intimate partner, to consider whether it is desirable, in the interests o…
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Madam Speaker, I know that I already spoke about this issue when I gave my speech on Bill C‑8. I spoke at length about it with my colleague from Joliette, and we came to the conclusion that this interferes in Quebec's and the provinces' jurisdiction over property tax. We are accused of picking fights, but why is the Liberal government constantly encroaching on the responsibilities of Quebec and th…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Vancouver Kingsway for his speech. I find it utterly fascinating to hear the NDP and others talk about a dental program, especially now that the Liberals are saying this is their way of helping seniors. I would like to take this a little further because the NDP voted in favour of last year's Bloc Québécois motion recognizing that seniors are disadvantaged a…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague. We share files pertaining to the status of women and seniors, and we often have the opportunity to talk. Naturally, she spoke about seniors. We sometimes forget that old age security puts money back into seniors’ pockets and contributes to their purchasing power. Seniors have become significantly poorer, and were impoverished even before the pandemic. The issue…
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Mr. Speaker, in his speech, my colleague put two words together that made me cringe. He said “clean oil”. We can agree that the oil from the oil sands in western Canada is anything but clean. In any case, those two words, side by side, are a good example of greenwashing. We need to leave that behind. We have nothing against the fact that we need to invest in research and development to be able to …
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Madam Speaker, today I want to talk about budget 2022. I would like to thank my colleague from Berthier—Maskinongé for sharing his time with me. Budget 2022 is, ostensibly, “a plan to grow our economy and make life more affordable”. I doubt anyone will be surprised to hear me heave a sigh of exasperation. As I will show in my speech, there are still far too many who are not getting any help to mak…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are definitely continuing to create two classes of seniors. Not only did the government leave seniors' priorities out of the budget, but it is also trying to show that seniors do not need more support, as if seniors were spoiled rotten, as if they were wrong to worry and to want more health transfers to support quality of care at home and in long-term care facilities, as …
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals betrayed seniors in the budget. The Liberals not only failed to increase health transfers and continued to deprive seniors under 75 of the old age security increase, but they also broke their own promise, inadequate as it was, to enhance the guaranteed income supplement for the most vulnerable seniors. The Liberals promised a career extension tax credit. They promised to …
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Madam Speaker, in his speech, my colleague noted that Mr. Harper's government recognized Quebec as a nation. Since then, however, there has been no concrete action. The bill maintains Quebec's number of seats at 78, but Quebec loses relative weight because increasing the number of MPs in Canada reduces Quebec's weight from 23% to 22.51%. It is all well and good to maintain the number of seats in Q…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke about the importance of securing the supply chain, which has been weakened during the pandemic. I would like to talk about something that is very important for Quebec. The government is set to spend a huge amount of money on F-35s, but there is no guarantee of any industrial or technological benefits. Quebec accounts for more than 50% of Canada's aerospace industry.…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to hear what my colleague has to say about another aspect she only touched upon, namely the difficulty in recruiting. Does she agree that the Liberals, by filibustering at the Standing Committee on National Defence and the Standing Committee on the Status of Women when they were reviewing the cases of sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces, only made it more dif…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his intervention. He spoke a lot about the importance of being properly equipped to protect the Arctic. However, having equipment without personnel is of no use. The retention and recruitment of personnel for the Canadian Armed Forces is a challenge, and it is important to change the image of the armed forces. In the last Parliament, I studied the issue of s…
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Mr. Speaker, on this date, April 5, let us recognize everything that gets done behind the scenes in our households. A disproportionate amount of the work done by caregivers and volunteers, often called invisible work, is done by women. That is why, for the past 22 years, the AFEAS has been strongly encouraging us to take a day to reflect on what our society would be without invisible work, without…
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Mr. Speaker, seniors are worried. They are well aware that the Liberal-NDP pact leaves them out. That is why the FADOQ network announced its priorities today, ahead of Thursday's budget. FADOQ wants higher income for everyone aged 65 and up, a tax credit for seniors who keep working, a refundable tax credit for caregivers, and a long-term, no-strings-attached health care funding increase. Will Thu…
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Mr. Speaker, that is not enough. Seniors have been hardest hit by inflation, especially those aged 74 and under because the federal government abandoned them. The cost of living is going through the roof, but old age pensions are stagnating. Despite record-breaking food and rent costs, all the federal government can tell people aged 74 and under is to go back to work, as if they were just being la…
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Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a point of order. There have been discussions among the parties and I believe you would find unanimous consent for the following motion: That this House designate the first Tuesday in April as Invisible Work Day and encourage all UN member states to do the same.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech on the bill. I look forward to hearing from the member for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, especially in a context where we are truly committed to the principle of protecting linguistic diversity and, more importantly, with the number of people reporting French as their mother language in decline. The influence of people whose mother language is French is…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. Today, we are talking about inflation. One aspect of the Conservatives' motion is about inflation. I am sick and tired of hearing the Liberals say that they are listening and that they are helping seniors when they are leaving out an entire huge segment of seniors, those between 65 and 74 years of age, who make up more than half of the senior dem…
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Mr. Speaker, the “Surfe la vague”, or ride the wave, kindness challenge came to an end on March 27. Over the course of 21 days, people were asked to show kindness and empathy by taking care of themselves and others and sending messages of compassion and support to help everyone's mental health. This initiative was created by the Haute‑Yamaska regional county municipality, the City of Granby, the C…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Motion No. 45 regarding the financial security of seniors. When this was first proposed to me, my initial reaction was to think that this has already been done, and we already have solutions that could be put in place now. However, as the Bloc Québécois critic for seniors, I will give this matter all the attention it deserves. Members will understand that I ha…
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Madam Speaker, the Liberal government has shown its true colours. It is about to come into conflict with Quebec and the provinces, since this means that it categorically refuses to increase federal funding for health care with no strings attached. Whether the Minister of Canadian Heritage likes it or not, this sets the stage for a real fight. My speech will focus on three issues: the lack of healt…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question. I am going to have to repeat the same thing. My answer has several elements. They are called health transfers and they are provided for in the Constitution. As I explained, Quebec has health care and housing programs. Ottawa must transfer the money. That is how it works. With respect to health care, Ottawa does not know how to manage …
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Madam Speaker, it comes down to the new NDP-Liberal centralist alliance that categorically refuses to compromise when it comes to staying out of Quebec's and the provinces' jurisdictions.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. We have a question. It is likely that applying a fuel charge to farming businesses may not be so effective. It does not push farmers to reduce their carbon footprint. How could this issue be studied when we reach the next stage of his Bill C‑234?
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Madam Speaker, as the member for a riding where agriculture plays a key role in the economy, I am pleased to rise this afternoon to speak to Bill C-234. I want to begin by saying that the Bloc Québécois supports the principle of this bill. Even though we do not really agree with the idea of undermining the carbon tax, there is no question that farmers play an important social role and that we all …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. It gives me an opportunity to come back to something that I was only able to talk about briefly, and that is help for sectors that will continue to be affected for quite some time because of the pandemic. My colleague is right that this program dates back to December, before the arrival of the omicron variant. That seems like a lifetime ago bec…
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Madam Speaker, I am happy to speak to Bill C-8, an act to implement certain provisions of the economic and fiscal update tabled in Parliament on December 14, 2021 and other measures. The Standing Committee on Finance spent a lot of time debating this piece of economic legislation. Just as an aside, I would like to wish a very happy birthday to someone who just joined us in the House, the member fo…
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Madam Speaker, in my riding, Shefford, I attend the meetings of an economic and strategic watch committee established by the Haute-Yamaska RCM that brings together players from the economic and tourism sectors, as well as municipal elected officials and Quebec MNAs. Everyone agrees on one thing. We need predictability to keep many sectors of our economy going, including tourism, which is so import…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech, in which he talked about the importance of helping Canadians get through this inflationary period. He talked about helping families, but there is another group of people living on fixed incomes and that is seniors. My colleague just talked about an affordable housing strategy. Having an affordable place to live is one thing, but having a fixed inco…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. He talked about farmers, saying that they want to contribute to the environment, not harm it, but they cannot afford to do that. Instead of continuing to supply them with oil, what does he think about helping our farmers to be part of the solution by promoting good practices and investing in greener measures? Speaking of helping farmers turn to mor…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his speech, in which he talked about everything his government is doing with the eco-energy retrofit program. That is great, but meanwhile, his government gave billions of dollars to the oil companies again recently. This did not go unnoticed, and my colleague from Jonquière mentioned it in his speech this morning. Would it not be better to invest this …
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Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about what his government has done with respect to green or energy-efficient retrofits. That is good. In the meantime, however, the numbers indicate that his government continues to invest heavily in the oil industry and in pipelines. Would it not be better to invest that money in programs that help the victims of inflation, people with fixed incomes like seniors…
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Mr. Speaker, at the moment, it just looks cheap. The minister cannot hide behind the commission. It is up to Parliament to amend legislation, as the commission itself pointed out. It is entirely the minister's responsibility. There are exceptions to the law that allow people claiming EI to calculate their income over two years rather than 52 weeks. People who cannot work because they are sick, inj…
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Mr. Speaker, these are tough times for humanity, what with the pandemic, global warming, and the war in Ukraine. Things may look bleak, but there is hope. The future is feminist. Yes, the future is feminist. That is not just the theme of the International Day of Women's Rights, it is the promise we are making. As March 8 approaches, I want to remind members that thousands and millions of women aro…
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Mr. Speaker, this is embarrassing. During the week of March 8, a day when we celebrate women's rights, this government, which claims to be feminist, is in court to retain the right to deny employment insurance to new mothers who lose their jobs. Let us just think about that for a moment. I could not even make this stuff up. Women had to sue the Canada Employment Insurance Commission because the go…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech. However, he used somewhat of a strong word, “activist”, as if all the people who are currently demanding that action be taken to reduce our carbon footprint were all activists. The UN Secretary-General said this week that it was important, if not essential, to accelerate the energy transition. Ukrainian and other European leaders ar…
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