Parliamentary Speeches
836 speeches by Christine Normandin — Page 2 of 17
Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is a bit rich to hear the government say that the time has come to move quickly, considering that the issue has been dragging on for 11 years and that the government tried to sweep the misconduct scandal under the carpet. The government has just told us that since our work in committee is not to its liking, it is going to impose closure. I repeat, the Liberals are imposing closure …
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Prime Minister explained that he wants new pipelines because he is a nationalist. Canadian nationalism means dirty oil. Quebeckers do not identify with that and should not have to pay for it either. Last week, Ottawa confirmed that it wants to allocate $10 billion in public funds for a new pipeline. Yesterday, the Prime Minister put $25 billion into a sovereign wealth f…
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Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of buzz in Ottawa about building a new pipeline in western Canada, but no one in the private sector is interested because demand for oil is going to peak in 2029. It is not profitable. What is profitable is investing in the transition, funding clean technologies, and funding climate change adaptation, yet the Prime Minister of Canada tells us that, in the name of Canadi…
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Mr. Speaker, we may be asking for quiet, but we are not asking for members to be muzzled and, unfortunately, that is exactly what I will be talking about today. When members take the floor, we tend to say that we are pleased to rise, but that is always a little less true when the government has just announced a gag order or closure motion on a bill or motion. Unfortunately, that is what is happeni…
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Mr. Speaker, I get the impression that the parliamentary secretary spent my entire speech not actually listening to me. I said it once, I said it again, I have repeated it ad nauseam: We do not agree with how they scraped together their majority, but the fact remains that the government has a majority, and, as we have said repeatedly, the composition of the committees must reflect that. We disagre…
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Mr. Speaker, I am going to go back in time. Members will recall that a lot of new laws were created at one point in this Parliament, during COVID‑19. During COVID‑19, we had to make a lot of changes to how we did things, particularly to allow members to speak away from their seats, to allow online voting, to start implementing certain things. It faded a bit once there was a Liberal-NDP majority, b…
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Mr. Speaker, this seems to be a case of “shut up” or “keep talking”. That is how the government works. The Liberals will do anything they can to avoid accountability when questions are being asked. It is a different way of doing things, but it is clear that the Liberals want as little transparency and accountability as possible, so that they can do things however they like. Even the Prime Minister…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon for her excellent question. I really enjoy listening to her in the House as well. It is okay to praise one another from time to time. I get the feeling that, unfortunately, one of the things we will be doing the most in the coming weeks is praising one another because we will unfortunately have a much harder time hol…
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Mr. Speaker, not only is the Prime Minister not getting any relief from the Trump administration with the tariff crisis, but, with tomorrow marking a year since he took office, the situation is worse now than it was at the outset. The way the new U.S. tariffs are calculated is a direct attack on our economy. By taxing all products containing steel or aluminum based on their full value, Washington …
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Mr. Speaker, again, when we debate motions under time allocation, we cannot exactly say that it makes us—
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Mr. Speaker, since the Prime Minister was elected a year ago tomorrow, the situation with Donald Trump has not improved. It is getting worse. That is why, tomorrow, the Prime Minister has to make good on the empty promises he has been making for a year now and come to the aid of Quebec's economy. That is why we need a wage subsidy to prevent a wave of layoffs. That is why there needs to be support…
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Mr. Speaker, this gives me an opportunity to talk a little more about how I see things. The government seems to want to change the composition of committees not in response to a past problem but rather because it wants to anticipate future problems it might encounter. It wants to give itself all the flexibility it needs to ram bills and motions through and to prevent studies from being carried out…
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Mr. Speaker, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu is not Montreal, yet the federal government treats it as if it were Montreal when applying temporary foreign worker program rules. As a result, because the unemployment rate is high in Montreal, we are not allowed to hire or retain workers in Saint-Jean, even though our unemployment rate is low. Everyone has spoken out against this policy: the city, members of…
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Mr. Speaker, the federal government, in its laziness, assumes that all towns within the same census metropolitan area are the same, but I repeat: Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu is not Montreal. People from Montreal will not travel two and a half hours by public transit, one way, to come here and work. Let us not forget that we are a strategic national hub for defence and that, at a time when the federal…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister will be celebrating the first anniversary of his election on April 28 with an economic update. He promised to resolve the tariff crisis quickly, but it is hitting harder than ever—
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Mr. Speaker, I was pleased to hear the applause. The Prime Minister will be celebrating the first anniversary of his election on April 28 with an economic update. He promised to resolve the tariff crisis quickly. However, it is hitting harder than ever, with new tariffs on the total value of processed products. The Bloc Québécois has laid out what we expect in terms of better support for Quebec's …
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Mr. Speaker, the tariff crisis is exposing all the cracks in the system. Washington's new tariffs clearly show that EI needs a complete overhaul to cover more workers. With the dramatic increase in the cost of living, seniors between 65 and 74 years of age deserve an increase in their old age pension. With Quebec sawmills closing one after another, the forestry industry obviously needs help to dea…
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Mr. Speaker, today is Earth Day, but it does not really feel that way here in Parliament. Yesterday, sources confirmed that the government is pressing ahead with its obsession over a new oil sands pipeline. It is testing the ground for a pipeline that would transport an additional one million barrels of dirty oil every day from Alberta to Vancouver. That is one million more barrels every day, whil…
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Mr. Speaker, Earth Day should not just be acknowledged. Thanks to the Liberals, Earth Day must now be a day of resistance. Yesterday, we learned that the Liberals are moving ahead with their new dirty oil pipeline out west. That is not all. Last Thursday, we learned that Canada hit a brick wall in 2024 with its greenhouse gas reduction targets, and it is because of the oil companies. The year 2024…
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Mr. Speaker, in a video, the Prime Minister told those hoping for a return to normalcy with the United States that “nostalgia is not a strategy”. That is fine, but we have been waiting for his strategy for a year. Meanwhile, Washington has started taxing our steel- and aluminum-containing products on their total value. This is a disaster for hundreds of businesses and our resource processing secto…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister still has to deliver results. Two things: First, the fact that he is describing our relationship with the U.S. as a weakness shows that the negotiations are not going well. Second, although the government is talking about economic diversification, 80% of our trade is with the U.S. and that cannot be redirected overnight. Meanwhile, some Quebec businesses have had to…
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Mr. Speaker, I think it was fairly clear when I described the issue of nomination papers and the fact that electors can only sign once. The Bloc produced a supplementary report on this topic and tabled it at the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs when we were looking into the longest ballot committee. It is reasonable to expect that we will be proposing amendments about this as well…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister got himself elected on a promise to protect the economy from Donald Trump's tariffs, but yesterday he had no idea what the Bloc Québécois leader was talking about when he informed him that Washington had changed its steel and aluminum tariffs. Americans are now charging a 25% tariff on the total value of all products containing steel or aluminum. They are taxing not…
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Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump's new tariff calculations threaten the entire industrial landscape of aluminum and steel processing in Quebec. As a result, companies like BRP are collapsing on the stock market and others are set to reduce their production or shut down, like Venmar in Drummondville. The Prime Minister must support Quebec's aluminum and steel, including its processing. He must also help o…
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Mr. Speaker, in my case, my riding will not be changing its name. In fact, a short name like Saint-Jean is quite inclusive and the people of Saint‑Jean identify quite well with that name. Rather, I was talking about the work that my colleagues have done, specifically to ensure that the identity of their region is honoured. This was done through consultations with various municipal officials and, i…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question and his comment. We will discuss riding names in private afterwards. As for the question about the longest ballot committee, I think that the other measures already included in the bill, namely making it an offence to encourage people to sign more than one ballot and having one official agent per riding, are already enough to address this issue. A…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking the government House leader and the member for St. Albert—Sturgeon River for their highly informative and interesting speeches. I would also like to thank the government for taking the time, with this bill, to consult the opposition parties and listen to the different suggestions and recommendations that we made. The bill seeks to reform the Canada El…
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Mr. Speaker, I've already commented on that, but one proposal for public funding that we felt would be a reasonable compromise was to bring back the per-vote amount that used to be allocated to each party. That ended under Stephen Harper. At the time, it was about $1.75 per vote. One idea would be to reinstate that at $2. We could certainly discuss the particulars, but, hypothetically, if it were …
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Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question. Obviously, nothing should be done in isolation when it comes to foreign interference. I certainly appreciate Bill C-25. However, is it sufficient on its own? Will it alone be enough to counter foreign interference? Obviously, it will not. We cannot resolve everything through a single bill that targets something very specific, namely the Canada Elections …
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Mr. Speaker, we have no problem with funding going to English-language regional news outlets, but it should not come out of French-language media outlets' funding. If outlets are added to the independent local news fund, money should also be added. We would obviously not have this problem if the Prime Minister had not abolished the digital services tax. The government could have provided decent fu…
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Mr. Speaker, regional news is in jeopardy, and this is even more true for regional news in French, which is why the independent local news fund, or ILNF, is so important. Ever since the CRTC allowed 15 English-language stations from the Corus group into the fund, the share of funding going to French-language media has plummeted. The only two eligible French-language groups have lost nearly half of…
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Mr. Speaker, instead of expressing disappointment with Michael Rousseau, the Prime Minister should lead by example. Instead, he is likely the only prime minister in half a century not to have a francophone speech writer. His government has made unilingual English appointments, starting with Governor General Mary Simon. It was under the Liberals that the federal public service became the worst econ…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said he was very disappointed with Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau for expressing his condolences in English only. However, he has no business being disappointed. Three years ago, his government voted against requiring leaders of companies like Air Canada to be bilingual. His government is being sued by the organization Droits collectifs Québec because it is not com…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Earlier, you rejected a question from my colleague from Rivière-du-Nord. The underlying intent of that question was to determine whether the government plans to veto the notwithstanding clause. I would argue that the answer to that question pertains specifically to the administration of the government, regardless of who asks the question. By your logic, I w…
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Mr. Speaker, at the risk of repeating myself, you have nonetheless prevented a member from asking a question simply because it was related to a party's mandate. I want to reiterate that, in this instance, MPs cannot be dissociated from their role as party members because, as such, they are voting at the convention and giving themselves a mandate. When viewed in that context, the question was entir…
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Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to quickly discuss a supplementary opinion to the report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.
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Mr. Speaker, first, I want to thank the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs for the collaborative approach it has taken to ensure that elections run smoothly, which unfortunately has not always been the case. The Bloc Québécois supports all of the recommendations in the report except one, and that is the recommendation that seeks to limit the number of nomination papers a voter can s…
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Mr. Speaker, what is happening at the Supreme Court goes beyond political allegiances. Yes, secularism is being debated today in relation to Bill 21, but there is also the notwithstanding clause, and that is far more significant. That clause enabled us to require that signage be in French in Quebec. The notwithstanding clause has enabled us to pass no fewer than 41 Quebec laws throughout history, …
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Mr. Speaker, what is happening today at the Supreme Court is the ultimate constitutional power grab. The Government of Canada is not content to simply attack state secularism by challenging Bill 21. It wants to prevent Quebec from passing any law that Ottawa does not like by limiting the use of the notwithstanding clause. The Liberals are using the highest court to undermine Quebec and diminish th…
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Mr. Speaker, on Monday, March 9, the government proposed a take-note debate on the conflict in the Middle East in response to requests from the Bloc Québécois and the Conservative Party. It has been eight days since the Ali Al-Salem military base was attacked by Iranian missiles. It has been eight days, and the Liberals have not seen fit to mention it to parliamentarians. The information was made …
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Mr. Speaker, the Ali Al Salem Air Base was the target of an Iranian missile strike on March 1. This military complex is home to Camp Canada, a Canadian Armed Forces operational base. In other words, on March 1, Iran targeted Canadian military personnel. The government, the Minister of National Defence, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and, of course, the Prime Minister, were aware of this attack on…
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Mr. Speaker, 85,000 seniors have been having problems receiving their OAS payments since the new Cúram computer system was implemented. One federal public service union is even describing Cúram as the new Phoenix. Cost overruns for implementing Cúram are already approaching $5 billion, 10 times more than SAAQclic, which caused a real scandal. When we raise these issues, the minister accuses us of …
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Mr. Speaker, Cúram is a financial disaster, but for thousands of seniors, it is also a human tragedy. Some people are having to go into debt to pay their rent, buy groceries and pay their bills. The government keeps defending its decision to replace an outdated system with a malfunctioning system. Cúram has left thousands of seniors worried and anxious since it was first introduced. Will the gover…
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Mr. Speaker, let us come back to the Cúram software. It is causing problems with the old age pensions of 85,000 seniors and has racked up $5 billion in cost overruns. All of this could have been avoided had the Liberals done their homework because Cúram has caused these sorts of problems all over the world. Australia experienced problems with Cúram in 2006, North Carolina in 2012, Minnesota in 201…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals could have avoided the Cúram fiasco by looking at the problems it has caused all over the world, because this has been going on for 20 years. They also could have listened to the Auditor General who noticed that the costs were skyrocketing in 2023. Perhaps they could have also listened to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, which looked into this in 2023, and espec…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals say that it works, and that it does not cost a lot. That is exactly why the National Assembly unanimously called for an independent public inquiry. If we relied on the Liberals we would never get a clear picture of Cúram's problems because they do not see a problem. For them, it is not a problem if 85,000 pensioners receive OAS cheques containing errors. For them, $5 bill…
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Mr. Speaker, we would like to revisit Cúram, the Liberal Party's success story that is causing problems for 85,000 retirees. Yesterday, the Minister of Jobs and Families said that this is not a big deal for those who are not receiving their old age pension. She said it does not matter because these are not payments that people depend on every month since they are new applicants. All retirees inclu…
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Mr. Speaker, the Cúram software and its $5 billion in cost overruns is the last straw for Quebec. The Quebec National Assembly just unanimously adopted a motion that points out that significant cost overruns in federal government IT projects are a waste of the tax dollars paid by Quebec taxpayers. Every elected official in Quebec is calling on the federal government to launch an independent public…
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Mr. Speaker, the Quebec National Assembly unanimously adopted a motion pointing out that the cost of the Phoenix software skyrocketed from an initial budget of $309 million to a total cost of $5.5 billion. It also noted that the cost of ArriveCAN went from $80,000 to $60 million and that now, Cúram has already exceeded its initial budget of $1.75 billion to reach $6.6 billion. Meanwhile, the Liber…
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will be voting against the motion.
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