Parliamentary Speeches
1,397 speeches by François-Philippe Champagne — Page 28 of 28
Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, I would say that we are standing up, and we share the member's goal, and I think the goal of all members in this House, around affordability, competition and innovation. The member will know that our government has been relentless in promoting competition to lower prices while working to improve the quality and increase the coverage of telecom services in Canada. We are ensuring tha…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague, for whom I have a lot of respect. As he knows, we are still working toward offering affordable prices to every Canadian in the country. We are ensuring that there is greater competition in the telecommunications sector and that there is innovation. That is why we always promote competition in order to lower prices, while striving to improve quality and incre…
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Mr. Speaker, the recipe for success is to be relentless in focusing on affordability, competition, innovation and connectivity across Canada. That is why our government, since day one, has been relentless in promoting competition to lower prices, while working to improve quality and increase the coverage of telecom services in Canada. What I do every time I talk to executives in the telecom indust…
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Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague well knows, our government has been relentless in promoting competition to lower prices, while working to improve the quality and increase the coverage of telecom services in Canada. We are ensuring that Canadians pay affordable prices for reliable Internet services, regardless of where they live in our nation. We will keep on working with service providers and in…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague. He should know that our government is constantly fostering competition to drive down prices across the country, while at the same time working to improve quality and, of course, expand the coverage of telecommunications services in Canada. We are working to ensure that Canadians pay an affordable price for effective Internet services, wherever they live. We …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her excellent question and also her hard work on this file. Canadian innovations in clean technology are at the core of our green recovery. That is why I announced $44 million in funding for innovative Canadian businesses earlier today. With our investments in firms such as Optel Group in Quebec City or PyroGenesis in Montreal, we are enhancing support for Canad…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Brampton South for her leadership on this very important file. Members will be interested to learn that last week I was pleased to announce a historic $200-million investment in Mississauga’s Resilience Biotechnologies to help increase manufacturing capacity for a range of vaccines, including those that use the mRNA technologies. This is yet ano…
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Mr. Speaker, this is a data integration project based on records retrieved from administrative data. The population of interest for this project is living survivors who married or entered a common-law relationship with a veteran on or after the veteran’s 60th birthday. The objective of the study is to estimate the size of the population of interest and provide its socio-economic portrait. In respo…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her excellent question and for all her hard work. We recognize that the aerospace sector and its workers were hit particularly hard by the pandemic, which is why budget 2021 includes historic investments. These investments include more than $1.7 billion to foster innovation and $250 million to better position our small and medium-sized businesses. Aerospa…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent question. Unlike Stephen Harper's Conservatives, our government understands that the important decisions that affect our families, neighbourhoods and businesses need to be based on world-class data and on major socio-economic trends. The census is a unique opportunity to help our communities and our economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. I u…
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Mr. Speaker, I would say to my colleague that this is highly offensive. Since the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have focused on investing in made-in-Canada vaccine candidates across the nation and on increasing our domestic biomanufacturing capacity. Like Providence Therapeutics, every company that came forward was reviewed by the COVID-19 task force, which is made up of leading scien…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for that excellent question. I am pleased to announce that the 2021 census is officially under way as of today. Our government has invested in modernizing Statistics Canada to ensure it can continue to deliver relevant, world-class data. Statistics Canada employees have worked tirelessly to adapt to the COVID-19 situation. I encourage all Canadians to visit c…
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Mr. Speaker, according to Labour Force Survey, LFS, estimates, there were 1,746,900 people employed in the manufacturing industry in February 2021, virtually unchanged from February 2020, when there were 1,747,200. The source is Statistics Canada, Table 14-10-0355-01 Employment by industry, monthly, seasonally adjusted and unadjusted, and trend-cycle, last 5 months (x 1,000), found at www150.statc…
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Mr. Speaker, aaccording to Labour Force Survey, LFS, estimates, there were 4,992,000 employees with union coverage in Canada in February 2021, compared with 4,930,700 in February 2020, an increase of 61,300, or 1.2%. The Labour Force Survey does not collect information about the former union coverage status of people who are no longer in the labour force, that is, who are not employed or unemploye…
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Mr. Speaker, according to Labour Force Survey, LFS, estimates, there were 8,733,600 employed women in Canada in February 2021, compared with 9,082,500 12 months earlier in February 2020, a decrease of 348,900, or 3.8%. Over the same period, the number of women in the labour force, either employed or unemployed, fell by 73,700, or 0.8%. The source is Statistics Canada, Labour force characteristics,…
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Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada released the results from the 2019 Survey of Financial Security, December 22, 2020. The survey showed that almost one-third, or 30.2%, of Canadian families were debt-free in 2019, virtually unchanged from the 2016 results. For those who held debt, the median value of debt in 2019 stood at $79,000 per family which was about $6,400 less than in 2016 after adjusting for…
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Mr. Speaker, according to Labour Force Survey, LFS, estimates, in February 2021, compared with 12 months earlier, there were 406,000, or 50%, more people working fewer than half their usual hours for reasons likely related to COVID-19. The LFS does not collect information on whether an individual’s earnings have changed over time. However, the following information about the number of employees in…
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Mr. Speaker, according to Labour Force Survey, LFS, estimates, there were 1,019,000 employed students aged 15 to 24 in February 2021, compared with 1,199,700 in February 2020, a decrease of 180,800, or 15.1%. This figure is not seasonally adjusted. Over the same period, the number of students in the labour force, employed or unemployed, fell by 77,300, or 5.8%. This figure is not seasonally adjust…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Let us look at the facts. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. Within 12 days, Canada had invested more than $200 million in biomanufacturing. Within 30 days, we had invested $600 million in biomanufacturing to keep Canadians healthy and safe. Our investments paid off. Just look at Medicago in Queb…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member. I would say to just imagine this: We have a partner to manufacture a vaccine in Canada. It is called Novavax. It has chosen Canada out of all the jurisdictions in which it operates. More interestingly, we also have a domestic company called Medicago in which we have invested $173 million to make sure that we will have a made-in-Canada vaccine. In addi…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is a member for whom I have enormous respect, but what he said could not be further from the truth. We, indeed, have invested more than $1 billion. What we should celebrate today is that in the budget that was presented yesterday by the Minister of Finance, and as she just said, we are investing an additional $2.2 billion in biomanufacturing. We know there is a lot of tal…
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Mr. Speaker, we made historic investments in biomanufacturing in Canada. I am sure the member will remember Medicago. She will remember VIDO in Saskatchewan, and she will remember AbCellera and Precision Nanosystems in Vancouver. In fact, 12 days after the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, we were already investing $200 million. Within 30 days we added another $600 million, so we have…
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Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), the Statistics Canada study published on October 3, 2020, provided a range of estimates on the economic impact of travel restrictions on the Canadian economy in 2020. These estimates were based on several projection scenarios that were possible when the analysis was being performed, and these projection results differ from true estimates of what really happened. Th…
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Madam Speaker, this is fundamental. The analysis we made and the comments we received when we drafted the bill have provided the right feedback to be compliant. I understand that stability and predictability is important. A number of Canadian companies depend on data to be exchanged with the European Union, one of our largest trading partners. We are confident that this will meet the standard, but…
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Madam Speaker, first, let me say how much I appreciate working with the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands. She is a true parliamentarian. Having been able to repatriate people was a true honour. To her point, the new legislation recognizes the individual right to privacy. We have listened to the Privacy Commissioner, but the framework we are presenting is striking the right balance. However, I am al…
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Madam Speaker, privacy is essential. Trust in the digital economy is essential. Together as parliamentarians we need to find the right balance for Canadians to be safe and at the same time have innovation. I am so pleased that colleagues have worked together to bring in Bill C-11 so we can offer, as a legacy to future generations, a framework that they will be proud of, that will protect their inf…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Berthier—Maskinongé, or my neighbour, I should say, for his important question. I thank the Bloc Québécois for being willing to work with us to move Bill C-11 forward. As he said, I think that all Canadians want a more tailored and certainly more modern system that will protect their personal information. As for information and data shared with the Gov…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague raised an important issue. The provision in the bill on the issue of consent needs to be strong. It needs to be informed consent. That is what Canadians expect from us and that is what we certainly want to ensure in the bill. If the member and other members of the House, through the work of the committee, want to propose or reduce certain portions, they can rest assured t…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague raised important issues. I know Jim Balsillie. He is a very important voice in our country when it comes to the digital economy. I would invite the members to study these issues at committee. We want to send the bill to committee so that different voices can be heard in order to strike the right balance. As I said, we need to ensure that we have a 21st century framework t…
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Madam Speaker, I am proud to continue second reading of Bill C-11, the digital charter implementation act, 2020. I am proud because our government set out to deliver an ambitious and comprehensive reform of Canada's framework for protecting the privacy of Canadians while fostering innovation amongst Canadian businesses. That is exactly what we have done. There are strong imperatives for advancing …
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Mr. Speaker, it is quite the opposite actually. Within 12 days of the World Health Organization declaring a pandemic, we were already there with $200 million to support a made-in-Canada vaccine and therapeutics. Within 30 days, we added another $600 million. In fact, Canadians should know that within a month, we had almost $1 billion invested to make sure that Canadians can rely on safe and effect…
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Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada does not comment on whether specific applications for federal funding, including from the strategic innovation fund, SIF, may be under consideration. Details related to applicants and/or applications are subject to commercial confidentiality and cannot be disclosed. The process for strategic innovation fund projects can be consulted on the program website at h…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her work on behalf of the aerospace industry and its workers. We are all saddened for the workers and families who have been impacted by the decision to halt production of the Dash 8 aircraft. Since being named Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, I have been in constant contact with key stakeholders in the aerospace sector to make sure we chart a path …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my excellent colleague for her question. I am well aware of how important the space exploration sector is for the people of Longueuil, particularly since the Canadian Space Agency is headquartered there. Our government proudly reinvested in this vital sector, with $2 billion for a national space strategy. Canadians were inspired by the Perseverance's historic mission and Dr. A…
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Mr. Speaker, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic on March 11. Twelve days after, we announced $192 million to support biomanufacturing in this country. On April 23, we announced a further $600 million. If we add it up, in about one month from the time COVID was declared a pandemic we made $800 million available for biomanufacturing in Canada. We have made historic investments to rest…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. On the contrary, as I said, we took immediate strategic action guided by a long-term vision. Investing $350 million in biomanufacturing in Quebec is exactly the kind of thing Quebeckers want to see. I mentioned Dr. Kobinger earlier today. I have been talking to stakeholders all across the country about bringing the supply chain home so we will be…
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Mr. Speaker, as members know and Canadians who are watching know, our government will continue to ensure that Canadian networks are kept safe and secure. While we cannot comment on any specific companies, an examination of 5G technologies and a review of security and economic considerations is ongoing. National security is paramount when we assess the next steps. We carefully assess these matters …
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Mr. Speaker, I have enormous respect for my colleague, but I would take exception to the premise of her question. She well knows, because she is a very experienced member of the House, that the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council is responsible for the administration of the Alliance grants she was referring to. Grants are awarded through an independent process and managed at arm's le…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. However, I want to set the record straight. On March 11, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, and 12 days later, the federal government announced $192 million to support Canada's biomanufacturing industry. On April 23, we announced an additional $600 million. Within about a month of the pandemic being declared, over $800 million had…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. As I told him, the federal government made nearly $800 million available in under a month. I will be a little more specific, because I know he is going to be interested. We have made historic investments. For example, we have invested $173 million in Medicago in Quebec City, $4 million in Glycovax Pharma in Montreal, $1.3 million in Biodextris in…
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Mr. Speaker, as we have said many times, we will be guided by national security in our decision when it comes to 5G in Canada. We are not going to be dictated any timetable by the opposition. We have said time and time again that what is going to dictate our decision is national security. We understand that 5G is going to have a tremendous impact for generations to come, and Canadians can rest ass…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking my hon. colleague for his question. As I said earlier, we have made historic investments. Twelve days after the pandemic was declared, we were already making $192 million available to the biomanufacturing sector. On April 23, we announced an additional $600 million. In total, approximately one month after the pandemic began, we had invested close to $…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. I can assure him that we have enormous respect for Canada's researchers and scientists. I believe I have even visited his lab. Let me set the record straight. We made historic investments in biomanufacturing in Canada. Examples include Medicago in Quebec City, VBI Vaccines Inc. in Ontario, Precision NanoSystems in Vancouver, ImmunoVaccine Te…
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Mr. Speaker, an experienced member like him should know, like members in this House know, that the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council is responsible for the administration of the Alliance grants. Grants have been awarded through an independent process, which is managed at arm's length from the government. Further, last September we did publish a policy statement on research security…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his question. Let me set the record straight: On March 11, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic; on March 23, 12 days later, we announced $192 million to support the biomanufacturing sector; on April 23, we announced an additional $600 million. Approximately one month after the pandemic was declared, we were investing more than …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. I have a great deal of respect for Quebec researchers and for the lab in question because I have visited it before. To set the record straight, we did not invest $2 million in Medicago; we invested $173 million. We also invested in Biodextris in Laval, Glycovax Pharma in Montreal, JN Nova Pharma in Montreal and Laurent Pharmaceuticals in Mon…
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Mr. Speaker, we understand the concerns of Canadians and families when it comes to their cellphone bills. That is why our government is taking action to make services more affordable in keeping with our commitment to bring down prices by 25%. The latest affordability tracker is now public so people can see for themselves where prices are going. The good news is that the tracker shows that prices f…
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