Parliamentary Speeches
836 speeches by Christine Normandin — Page 15 of 17
Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I certainly do not presume to know what is going on in the heads of all 338 members. I think that would be really tiring, and I would be exhausted at the end of the day, so I will not speak on their behalf. What I do know is that, even though the motion is not binding, as it merely states an established fact and says what Quebec is doing, people find it upsetting. That reason alone is…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. To paraphrase the premier of Quebec, we end up chatting so much that it feels as though we are having our own little party over here. Naturally, I do not believe the bill has enough teeth to really ensure the protection of French; what it seeks to protect is bilingualism. Protecting bilingualism means protecting English. People need to know this;…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I understand that it is important for the Conservatives to cut spending. However, some of that spending is still vital. I am thinking, for example, of the support offered to farmers. The $1,500 they receive when foreign workers arrive will be reduced to $750 in the coming days. I would like to hear what my colleague thinks about this. Should we mai…
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Liberals rejected a Bloc Québécois motion condemning the conflation of the horrific attack in London with a Quebec law. The member for Mississauga—Erin Mills defended the rejection of the motion by conflating yet another issue. She said that Canada is a multicultural society where everyone should feel welcome, and that laws like that of Quebec do not help to create this…
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Mr. Speaker, the motion that the Liberals rejected had three objectives. It reiterated our condolences to the victims' families and friends and to the entire community of London because they are the ones we should be talking about today, not political parties and especially not Quebec. The motion reiterated that everyone must denounce hatred and violence, and that misguided conflation must be avoi…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. The Minister of National Revenue boasts about having injected $1 billion into the fight against tax evasion. Had this been done properly, perhaps she would have had more money for her fishing wharfs, which are not getting enough funding. There is one approach that would cost absolutely nothing, and that is making regulatory amendments to eliminate …
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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 this House offer its deepest condolences to the family of Salman Afzaal and Madiha Salman, to friends and to the community of London following the tragedy of last Sunday; that this House strongly denounce all forms of hatred and violent crimes; th…
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Mr. Speaker, even though I have not had the pleasure of knowing you for very long, I, too, would like to begin my speech by thanking you for your services and wishing you a very well-deserved retirement. I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak to Bill C‑254. I would like to digress somewhat and even look back in time to explain. I apologize in advance if this feels like Groundhog Day for …
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Madam Speaker, since we will not be voting on this motion until Monday, am I to understand from my colleague's amendment that we will not be able to retroactively say that tomorrow's sitting will be extended?
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Mr. Speaker, right now, one in two SMEs are turning down contracts because they are short on workers. There is no way to get temporary foreign workers in to help because of delays in Ottawa. The minister cannot blame the pandemic for that, because, way back in 2019, the Bloc Québécois was already speaking out about the fact that processing times for applications from Quebec had more than doubled. …
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased that we have come back to questions and comments. I will take the opportunity to say that despite the uproar around the current debate, there is no reason to abandon our decorum and lose our dignity as MPs. Some of the comments we have heard are cringeworthy to say the least. The government's decision to move a time allocation motion to speed up the work in committee is…
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Madam Speaker, last month, we learned that the minister deliberately slowed down the processing of permanent residency applications from skilled workers who had been selected by Quebec. Now we learn that he is delaying not only applications, but also access to information requests filed by people who want to know what is happening with their case. The problem is even worse for Quebec applicants. T…
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Madam Speaker, we know immigration delays are endless. However, we learned today from the Information Commissioner that the federal government is also taking it upon itself to decide who is asking too many questions and deliberately delay their files. The commissioner said that Immigration Canada arbitrarily tacks on extensions to avoid responding to access to information requests from people who …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to point out and remind the House that the narrow-mindedness was not on the part of the Bloc Québécois this time, but of the other parties that were hell-bent on including something which was not an essential condition for the first peoples of this land and which, in a way, may even have denied their inherent rights. On the choice of words, these can sometimes carry eno…
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Madam Speaker, the last time I checked, the terms of the Meech Lake accord, which were prerequisites for Quebec to recognize the Constitution, have still not been fulfilled. Given these circumstances, I think we can mention that we do not recognize the Constitution.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Fredericton for her speech, and I would also like to say hello to her little boy, who is absolutely adorable. My colleague is not a member of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, where the wording of the oath of citizenship was discussed. This evening, we heard from members who seem to be somewhat insensitive to how Quebec feels about …
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Mr. Speaker, the federal government is asleep at the wheel when it comes to the temporary foreign worker file. I am not the one saying that. It is the Quebec minister of labour. He is fed up with the fact that, every year, farmers and business owners are unable to get their workers on time. There are major administrative delays, the workers are getting stranded because of the chaos at the Canadian…
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec is quite bluntly asking the minister to hand the temporary foreign worker program over to Quebec if the minister cannot handle it himself. We are past the discussion stage. Half of SMEs are turning down contracts right now because of the labour shortage. These files need to be processed more quickly, the government needs to make the 10% cap more flexible so that companies can h…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. We cannot overlook the current court challenges with regard to compensation for the victims of St. Anne's residential school. I would like my colleague to say a few words about the time, energy and especially the money that has been devoted to this challenge. Could it not be used for something else? Does this not also send the message of a step bac…
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Madam Speaker, I rise today in the House, feeling both sad and bitter, to speak to Bill C-8, which would amend the citizenship oath to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's call to action number 94—
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Madam Speaker, I was saying that I felt sad and bitter about this bill, which we, the Bloc Québécois members, will soon be voting against. We were going to support it, but we are forced to oppose it. Even today, we are forced to vote against it although we did try to amend it so we could support it. Why is the Bloc Québécois opposed to this bill, whose commendable intent should be self-evident? Wh…
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Madam Speaker, I will give a two-part answer, as that was a two-part question. With respect to the first part, obstructing legislation seems to be a much more automatic response for the Liberals than it is for the Bloc Québécois. That said, with respect to including recognition of the Constitution, we agree that it does exist and we are aware of that. My colleague rightly said that everyone follow…
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Mr. Speaker, for once, Air Canada is not the top source of complaints to the Commissioner of Official Languages. Of course, no one was flying this year. I bring this up because Air Canada is subject to the Official Languages Act, but the company still could not care less about French. The problem is that the federal government's strategy to protect French is to expand the application of the Offici…
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec wants Bill 101 to apply to federally regulated businesses to make French the language of work. In its white paper of linguistic reform, the federal government says that it plans to use the Official Languages Act to protect French. It is not the same thing. Bill 101 protects French. The Official Languages Act protects bilingualism. Bilingualism is doing just fine. It is French t…
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Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for her speech. Given the topic we are discussing, I have no desire to ask her a political question. Instead, I want to ask her a philosophical question. During the recent crisis we went through, my leader talked about having a nation-to-nation discussion. Right now, however, one nation is staggering under the weight of the history it carries on its back, while th…
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Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for his speech. I would like his thoughts on the fact that money was announced in past budgets for certain Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action, including calls to action 72 to 78. The $33 million that was announced did not actually materialize. It was not earmarked so that it could be spent. I would like to know if we constantly need to have a new …
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Madam Chair, the government unfortunately likes to brag about setting aside money to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action. In 2019, the government announced $33.8 million over three years to implement calls to action 72 to 79. However, that money was not budgeted in the main estimates for the three following years. My question is simple. Where did that money go?
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Madam Chair, I truly want to thank my colleague for his very emotional and very moving speech. I would like his comments on the following. This evening, all our eyes and our attention are turned to this horrifying story that has just been uncovered, but we need to take action all year long. For instance, we must take action when we debate the budget that covers so many things. My colleague was tal…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. As he mentioned, this evening we are reflecting, apologizing and making amends, but we will have to get back to taking action. Indeed, we may have dragged our feet a little in the past. If we had not been so slow to act, we might not be here today, discussing the Kamloops residential school or even this entire issue. We might not be in a position w…
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Mr. Speaker, I am rising on the same point of order. We have spoken with the upcoming speakers and they have agreed to forgo the period for questions and comments after their speech if the others will as well.
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Madam Speaker, I am asking the question because, in the white paper announcing its language reform, the government does not say that it wants French to be the language of work in Quebec. Rather, it says that it will extend the application of the Official Languages Act to all federally regulated businesses. The government does not want to defend French in the workplace. It wants to defend bilingual…
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Madam Speaker, I would really like to say that I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak to Bill C-233, which was introduced by the member for Yorkton—Melville, but that would be a lie. Unlike what some would have us believe, Bill C-233 does not seek to restore the balance between the situation of young girls and young boys. It is not a bill to combat sexism. It is anti-abortion legislation…
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Madam Speaker, the Bloc Québécois and all Quebeckers want Bill 101 to apply to federally regulated businesses. When we ask the minister about this, she tells us that she will protect the right to work in French, but that is not what Bill 101 is for. This bill does not protect the right to work in French; it makes French the language of work across all of Quebec. Does the minister want to protect t…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. The Conservatives are obviously not happy about Bill C-21. I think that was to be expected, even though the bill only sets out half-measures, particularly the fact that the buyback program is optional. Does my colleague agree that, since the government was introducing a bill in this regard anyway, it could have gone with one that was much clearer…
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Madam Speaker, Quebec's legislation on medical assistance in dying requires that a doctor who does not practise MAID refer the case to a doctor who does. The bill my colleague has introduced would make this requirement in Quebec illegal. I do not need the details, but I would still like to know whether my colleague agrees that the bill not only interferes in Quebec's jurisdictions but also specifi…
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Madam Speaker, today I rise in the House to talk about the budget implementation bill. Talking about the bill, however, means backing up a bit and talking about the budget itself. Members will recall that the Bloc Québécois voted against the budget on April 26, which came as no surprise because that is what the Bloc Québécois said it would do. We said we would not support the budget unless it cont…
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, we had a historic opportunity to come together to unanimously recognize the Quebec nation and its common language of French. Unfortunately, it was a missed opportunity. All the motion did was confirm that section 45 of the Constitution exists and point out that Quebec chose to use section 45 to state that it forms a francophone nation. Will the government confirm that the C…
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Mr. Speaker, the minister is being cautious and evasive in her answer, but I would like to reassure her that this is not an ambush. We are seeking a consensus. I am simply asking her whether she agrees that the Canadian Constitution exists and, if so, whether it contains a section 45 that allows Quebec and the provinces to amend their respective constitutions. I am then asking her whether she agre…
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Mr. Speaker, I, too, am pleased to speak to Bill C-237 on a national framework for diabetes, which was introduced by the member for Brampton South. I think it is worth pointing out that we are talking about a bill and not a national strategy, even though we have had a lot of discussions about this in the past. The advantage of a bill is that the legal framework makes it possible to ensure better e…
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Mr. Speaker, the purpose of Bill 96, an act to protect French, the official and common language of Quebec, is to ensure compliance with Bill 101. Clause 65 clearly states that any enterprise or employer carrying on its activities in Quebec is subject to the act, and that includes federally regulated enterprises. We know that the Minister of Official Languages is working on her own language reform.…
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Mr. Speaker, everyone agrees that we need to better protect French as the language of work in Quebec. That is precisely what I want to ask the minister about. In all of the discussions on Bill 96, no one in Quebec has indicated that the federal government should be exempt from applying Bill 101. Everyone wants the federal government to abide by that bill, which it has spent over 40 years circumven…
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Madam Speaker, there was no interpretation during the last intervention.
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Madam Speaker, yesterday, Quebec introduced a bill to promote and protect the French language. Many Quebeckers have the future of French at heart, but obviously not all. The Minister of Indigenous Services said that the bill was worrisome. He believes that promoting our common language is being done at the expense of minorities. However, his own government recognizes the special situation of Frenc…
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Madam Speaker, my question was about the statement made by the Minister of Indigenous Services who, I must say, made a mistake. He thought he was defending a minority, but yesterday he took the side of the huge anglophone majority in North America over the future of a minority language that is the common language in Quebec alone. Once again, we are forced to remind members that the only official l…
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Madam Speaker, we have heard a lot about how Bill C-15 could potentially affect Quebec and its ability to make sovereign decisions. I would like to hear my colleague's thoughts on how Bill C-15 is connected to Quebec sovereignty.
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Madam Speaker, that is a little ironic because, yesterday, when we were debating the Bloc Québécois's opposition day motion, I talked about how one can be for a bill but against using closure to pass that bill. The same principle applies here. I agree with Bill C-15. I realize that it needs to go through quickly. However, I do not agree with the government's approach. It has clearly done a poor jo…
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Madam Speaker, we are offering to help the government to work on a compromise and a consensus. Again, however, the door is closed even though what we are asking for makes sense. My colleague asked a good question. It is true that in a minority context, and especially during a crisis, we have to try to reach a consensus and a compromise. The government is behaving like a majority government. That i…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today on this opposition day, especially since we have heard a lot of hasty conclusions during this debate. The most recent example was from the member for Outremont. She just said that the Liberals do not want an election and that it is clearly the Bloc Québécois that wants one, since it votes non-confidence in the government and is trying to make the governmen…
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Madam Speaker, this question has many elements. I will nevertheless take the time to acknowledge my colleague from Louis-Hébert, whom I met in another life. I share his sentiments. I appreciate him very much as well. I look forward to seeing him in person in the House and discussing our previous lives and even politics. I would like to provide another Bloc Québécois quote from the same article. It…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I have great respect for the member for Kingston and the Islands. I would like to believe that he does not take intellectual shortcuts so easily, but I hear him say that the Bloc wants an election, the evidence being that the Bloc Québécois members have voted non-confidence 14 times. Perhaps I should give him a chance to reconsider. Does the memb…
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