Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, last week, along with my colleagues, I had the privilege of meeting with some of the largest companies in my riding. They all told me the same thing: they are feeling the impact of the U.S. tariffs, economic uncertainty, the current recession and labour shortages. Most concerning is that several of them told us they have never been consulted by the Liberal government on the future of …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Canada is the only G7 country in a recession. Yesterday, my colleague on the other side responded by trying to convince us that their approach is working. She said, “It is working.” However, a tremendous number of people back home are telling me that they feel a lump in their throat when they get to the supermarket checkout, praying that the payment will go through, because they are n…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Canada is the only G7 country in a recession. The Liberal recession is not just a graph. It is parents standing silently in front of an empty fridge when the children ask what is for dinner. It is watching children go to school on an empty stomach when our food banks can no longer provide. If the crisis is global, as the Liberal government claims, why are our communities the only ones…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would simply say to my colleague that the federal government invests astronomical sums, more than $1.2 billion a year, in culture in Quebec and across Canada. I sit on the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, and during our most recent studies, we were told that money is not currently an issue. Rather, more authority is needed to ensure wider distribution across Canada. I theref…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I have a quick question for my colleague. How much money have the Liberals managed to raise so far with the 5% that was already in place? How much money do they estimate they will raise with the 15%? Who will end up paying the 15%, at the end of the day? Obviously, it is not the government. The government is going to pocket the money and may well redistribute it. That is what the Libe…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome my newly elected Liberal colleague. I could give her the opportunity to answer a question in French, since she says that she has learned French. There is no reason to be embarrassed about speaking English or French when in the House of Commons. I would simply like to know who, in the end, will pay the 15%? She can give a very simple answer.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of families in Quebec who are sick and tired of being bled dry. On May 21, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the CRTC, made a unilateral decision that is out of touch with reality. It announced that it is tripling the tax on streaming platforms from 5% to 15%. That is aggressive taxation. Let us think about this for a second. The i…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his French. That is a really great question. I have anglophone colleagues who are making incredible efforts in French. In fact, some come to study in La Pocatière, in my riding, in the summer. The answer to that is the consumer. At the end of the day, it is the consumer who is going to pay this 15% tax, which used to be 5%. By the way, that 5% tax has still no…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague that we can have regulations in Canada and that we can make all kinds of decisions. The problem is that all the decisions the Liberal government has made over the past 11 years have been to impose taxes, fees and all sorts of regulations, left and right, that inevitably have an impact on the cost of the products we consume. This is true for housing, it is tru…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, let us talk about advertising. The Canadian government is currently running 80% of its ads on platforms owned by the tech giants. It gives them money every day, millions and millions of dollars in advertising, instead of advertising in our local and regional organizations and media. I will ask my colleague again. How much money did the government collect with the 5% it implemented thr…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am going to ask the member the same question I asked her colleague earlier. This 15% tax that the government is about to charge on cultural products will in fact be foisted on the public. Who is really going to pay this 15% tax on digital products at the end of the day?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I challenge the Liberal Prime Minister to look a young Quebecker in the eye and tell them that the economy is doing well. How can he justify the 91,000 jobs lost so far this year in Quebec, including 43,000 in April alone? The Liberal Prime Minister is racking up endless credit card debt, and our young people will be getting a bill that they will never be able to pay. It is unbelievab…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, here is the definition of this costly Liberal Prime Minister: more agencies, more taxes, more spending, more credit card spending, more interest payments on the credit card and more job losses. It is always the same old story. The proof is that, after 11 years of Liberal government, all that the government is doing right now is losing jobs. When will the Prime Minister realize that th…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, he is talking about fiscal restraint when the Liberals just doubled Canada's deficit. The current Prime Minister is an illusion. Contrary to what my colleague is saying, Canada is currently shedding jobs by the tens of thousands every month. Quebec alone lost 43,000 jobs in April, bringing the total job losses in 2026 in Quebec to 91,000. That is the fault of Liberal management. How c…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, with all due respect to my colleague, she is taking us for fools. I hope I do not look like a puppet. Canadians are not stupid. Everything the Liberals are doing is going on the credit card. The reality on the ground is clear. Groceries are getting more and more expensive, household debt is rising and food banks across the country are overwhelmed. How can the Liberal government clai…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, how can a G7 country brag when families are cutting back on groceries and skipping meals just to make ends meet? The Dalhousie University report states in no uncertain terms that Canadians are buying what they can afford, not what they need to eat. It is always the same old story with the Liberals, the same old tune on repeat. They pull out the credit card and spend without a second…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today marks 12 years since I have had the privilege of becoming the member of Parliament for my constituency, now known as Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata. I was first elected in 2009 and, although I lost by nine votes during the “orange wave” a year and a half later, that gave me the determination to return in 2015 to continue my work. The greatest satisfaction as …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, that is what Trudeau was saying 10 years ago. My colleague's comments make it clear that the Liberals are completely out of touch with Canadians' reality. Families are cutting back on groceries, young people are giving up on the idea of buying their first home and seniors are continuing to work after retirement to be able to survive. Meanwhile, this government continues to spend reckl…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, after 10 years of Liberal governments, it is the same old story: more spending, more debt, higher taxes and a spike in the cost of living. This economic update proves that nothing has changed. The current Liberal Prime Minister is continuing his predecessor's policies and out-of-control deficits. He has even doubled the deficit, contrary to what the Minister of Industry just told us. …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals now have a majority and have decided to secure a majority on committees by adding not one, but two members per committee. If that is not an abuse of power, I honestly do not know what is. Can my colleague explain why, under a Conservative government, we would never have dared to do such a thing?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, after a lifetime of working, twice as many seniors can no longer afford to retire and have to keep working past age 65 just to make ends meet. That is alarming. The price of everything, including groceries, rent and gas, is going up. Many people now have to count every penny, even after a lifetime of work, and have to find a second career. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister continues to ra…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, it seems that many people do not realize that it is easy to announce one program after another, but, at the end of the day, it all goes on the government's credit card, with no real limit. However, there is, in fact, a limit. An unpaid credit card balance at the end of the month means interest charges. It always means more spending and more deficits. The interest charges amount to ove…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my constituents, I would like to present, as my colleague from Montmorency—Charlevoix has done, a petition concerning fisheries and the abundance of striped bass in the St. Lawrence River. When I was young, there used to be striped bass fishing competitions and we would see monster-sized fish. That fishing has disappeared over time and striped bass have been reintroduced.…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, cutting 10¢ from a litre of gas right now is like trying to put out a fire with a glass of water. Canadians need a lot more relief than 10¢ a litre. The Liberals asked us if we had any good ideas. Well, eliminating all federal taxes on gas and diesel by the end of the year would be a relief measure for families, farmers and businesses, not only in Côte‑du‑Sud—Rivière‑du‑Loup—Kataskomi…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, in our regions, travel is not an option; it is a necessity. Our young people rely on transportation to get to school and to their activities, but the skyrocketing price of gas is hurting our transport companies, and our young people are paying the price. In the meantime, the federal government is raking in billions of extra dollars from higher oil prices. Yesterday, the Liberal Prime …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said that Canada would be the best-performing economy in the G7, yet here we are as the worst: more than 100,000 jobs lost in two months, the second-highest unemployment rate, the highest household debt and the highest food inflation in the G7. Instead of solving the problem, the Prime Minister continues to block projects, impose taxes on production, and inflate the…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I spoke to farmers in my riding recently and they have had enough. They are paying more and more for inputs like gas, fertilizer and farm equipment all because of the Liberal carbon and clean fuel taxes, for example. Meanwhile, grocery prices continue to rise and everyone is paying more and more, which is really hard on families. When will this Liberal government finally stop going af…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Ottawa does not just have a software problem. It has a systemic problem. Every time the Liberals hire a private firm, costs skyrocket and accountability goes out the window. First there were Phoenix and ArriveCAN, and now we have Cúram, which is costing $6.6 billion. Half of that money is going to consultants, while thousands of seniors are waiting for their pensions. When will the Li…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, we thought we had seen it all with Phoenix and ArriveCAN, but then Cúram came along and surpassed even Quebec's infamous SAAQclic fiasco. That says a lot. The Liberals said they would be responsible with taxpayers' money. Instead, we are at $6.6 billion and seniors are still waiting for their pension benefits. The worst part is that half of that money is going into the pockets of cons…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the college and community innovation program supports research centres like Solutions Novika, Biopterre and Optech in La Pocatière. These centres support entrepreneurs' efforts to innovate and create jobs in the regions. However, the government is set to cut 30% of their budget. Meanwhile, it is throwing more than $6 billion at the the Cúram fiasco and continues to spend billions of d…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers saw the cost overruns of SAAQclic. Hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted. That is a drop in the bucket compared to the federal fiasco involving Cúram, which cost $6.6 billion instead of $1.6 billion. That is $5 billion in cost overruns for a failed software program that was supposed to deliver old age pensions and does not even work properly. Currently, there are 86,0…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, the Prime Minister promised to fix all our issues, but thousands of Canadians are still struggling to make ends meet. In January, Canada lost 25,000 jobs. In addition, since the start of his mandate, $58 billion has fled to the United States. That is unacceptable. The Prime Minister is in luck. We, the Conservatives, have proposed a Canadian sovereignty act to protect our industries…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague from Mirabel on his speech and thank him because it is a speech filled with compassion for the people of his riding. He is right to say that, whether working on Parliament Hill or in their riding, elected members are there to represent the people who elected them. I therefore offer my colleague my heartfelt congratulations. My colleague was not an M…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, we learned today from the member for Beauport—Limoilou that the cost of the Quebec City tramway has risen to $13 billion, whereas it was estimated at about $750 million several years ago. Now, it is going to cost $13 billion and construction has not even begun. Obviously, we are all in favour of public transit. Nevertheless, we are currently talking about 20 kilometres of tracks costi…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today, buying groceries in Quebec has become a luxury. Food inflation is 6.2% higher than last year. It is the worst in the G7. In 2026, feeding a family of four will cost an extra $1,000. That is mind-boggling. Grocery prices are rising twice as fast in Canada as they are in the United States, and 2.2 million people are visiting food banks every month. Why is everything more expensiv…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, we are seeing evidence of the housing crisis on the streets and in the homes of Quebeckers. Families are being forced to choose between paying rent and putting food on the table. Young people are putting their plans on hold because they cannot find affordable apartments. According to a Leger poll, one in five renters in Quebec had trouble paying their rent last year. In Montreal, it i…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said that we should judge him by the prices at the grocery store. Well, Canadians have judged him. Groceries now cost twice as much as they did 10 years ago, and the latest food price report says that the cost will go up another $1,000 next year for a family of four. Today, families are telling us that they have to choose between milk and fruit or even skip the occa…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his moving speech. Of course, our thoughts are with him and his family following the loss of his son. I recently had an opportunity to speak with a nurse from Rimouski who works in a hospital emergency department. She told me that fentanyl is becoming a serious problem, even in the regions, along with marijuana, of course, since it was legalized. My colleague …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank some people who mean a great deal to me. We know that our role as members of Parliament would not be the same without our teams, and mine is no exception. Annie Francoeur, who has worked with me for more than 12 years, is not just my right hand; she is both my hands. She is continuing to rest after our accident in October. We miss her ver…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak honestly about the budget tabled by the Liberal government. It is a budget that lets down families, workers, businesses and, above all, strategic economic sectors such as softwood lumber. The Prime Minister's recent budget talks about a generational investment plan. It is more like generational debt. It is 404 pages of promises. In our communities, it rings hol…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, my Bloc Québécois colleague is right about seniors. There is nothing in this budget for them. It is extremely disappointing. She is absolutely right. As for the softwood lumber issue, people do not want government assistance or a handout. They want to make a decent living from their jobs. Business owners want to make a profit from their sales. The problem is that they can no longer …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, unfortunately, I cannot swear in the House of Commons. I can assure everyone that it is not for lack of desire. If I could, he would be getting an earful. The reality is that the Liberals have been in power for 10 years. They have been running deficits for 10 years. They are bringing up Harper again. Harper was prime minister in 2008, during the worst global crisis since the 1930s. …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his kind words. My colleague said 35%, but it is actually up to 45%. That last 10% the U.S. President tacked on was really a death knell for every softwood lumber industry in my riding. It was the straw that broke the camel's back. Let us remember how the Prime Minister danced when he said “elbows up”. I honestly cannot wait to see if he will be dancing elbo…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, people in our regions are fed up with seeing one set of rules for ordinary people and another set of rules for the Prime Minister's buddies. While families are cutting back on groceries and 2.2 million people are visiting food banks, the Liberal government found a way to help Brookfield, the Prime Minister's former company. This giant company hid profits in tax havens and dodged $6.5 …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, December is shaping up to be the toughest month in decades. Back home, the director of Moisson Kamouraska told me that demand is literally exploding. Across Quebec, we are talking about 3.1 million requests in 2025. That is 37% more than in 2022. The demand for Christmas hampers is going to be off the charts. With the price of food going up, eating is becoming almost a luxury. The Lib…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, like my colleague, I represent a region, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, that is obviously very heavily forested. It borders the United States. In my region, as in his, jobs are extremely important in communities, especially smaller ones. He referred to some of the communities in his region. It is not just forestry jobs that are affected by the current U.S. tariffs…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I want to mention that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from North Island—Powell River. Today, I am going to talk about my region, the Lower St. Lawrence and Chaudière‑Appalaches. It is a corner of the country filled with hard-working people, small businesses, rural roads and community pride. In short, people there just want to work and earn a decent living. The Lower St. Law…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, we listen to the industry just as much as the Bloc Québécois does. The Bloc Québécois do not know everything. We listen to industry as well. We proposed several measures to the government that it could have included in its budget to allow housing construction, such as cutting red tape. The idea is not to create new agencies for building houses. Public servants are already looking after …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, forestry is critically important in my riding. It is not complicated. We are right next to the United States, to the American border. I will give a very simple example. One of the largest manufacturers, Groupe Lebel, sources lumber from the United States, transports it to Saint‑Pamphile for processing and resells it to the United States. That means it is American lumber, not Canadian lu…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, the answer is quite simple. We do not want more bureaucracy. What we want is to be able to build homes. Currently, the number of houses being built in Canada is at its lowest level since the 1970s. What has the Liberal government built? It has not built any houses during all these years. Instead, it has built bureaucracy. That makes no sense. All these bureaucrats are not the ones build…
Read full speech →