Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, six years ago, one hundred or so people were gathered at the Quebec City mosque. Suddenly tragedy struck. Six men died and about twenty others were seriously injured. These people died for one reason and one reason only: They were Muslims united by faith. This horror showed the dark side of humanity. Racism is born of ignorance. That is why we have a duty to support dialogue no matter…
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With regard to the government's participation in the UN Climate Change Conference, the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27), in Egypt, in November 2022: (a) how many individuals were part of the Canadian delegation; (b) what were the titles of all individuals in (a); (c) what are the titles of all other individuals who attended the COP27 for whom the government paid expenses; (d) what are the to…
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Madam Speaker, a few minutes ago, at the beginning of her question, the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands mentioned that she was in Montreal for COP15. I attended this event myself yesterday, so I have no problem with that. However, I would like to make a request for clarification. Although this is far from scandalous, I would like to know if members of Parliament can mention where they are when the…
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Madam Speaker, the Christmas holidays are two weeks away. Families will gather around the table. However, all families are worried about inflation right now. What is more, inflation is hitting them where it hurts the most: food, which is a basic necessity. There is one thing that the government could do immediately that is entirely within its control. I am talking about taxes. Will the government …
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Madam Speaker, I am talking about facts. I just want to point out that I did not mention the carbon tax at all. The member, who is not a minister, should know that she is the one who brought it up. Indeed, she knows full well that the Liberals are going to increase the carbon tax in 2023. This is not going to help anyone. While I am at it, I would like to remind her that her government, after seve…
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Madam Speaker, unfortunately, we must once again rise in the House to condemn the fact that the government is using a gag order to get its bills passed. This type of approach should be used only in extreme situations and as a last recourse. Gag orders should be used parsimoniously, but they have now become the government’s modus operandi. Unfortunately, we must acknowledge that, in the past seven …
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Mr. Speaker, I think the best way is to let people live out their ambitions. Nobody wants to spend all their life in troubled times. That is why we have to help everybody. The best way to help them is by not raising taxes and by leaving more money in the pockets of the people. Do not print more money and give it to everybody. We can be sure that by lowering taxes people will keep more money in the…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to speak today. We are currently in a closure period imposed by the government, with the support and co-operation of the NDP, to limit the debate on the economic update. It is hard to consider this anything but unfortunate. As my Bloc Québécois colleague mentioned earlier, this is the twentieth time that the government has called upon its new NDP friends to stifle de…
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Mr. Speaker, let me answer this question clearly. For sure, we see inflation all around the world. We also see, all around the world, serious governments lowering taxes. All the countries in the G7 reduced their taxation system except one country. Which one is it? It is Canada under the Liberal government. It not only decided to not lower taxes as every other country in the G7 has done, but also i…
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Mr. Speaker, I hold my colleague from Rimouski‑Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques in high regard and I thank him for his question. To start, I am going to have to go back and read what I said. If, by any chance, I indicated that only young people benefited from CERB, I apologize. However, I do not believe that is what I said. I still hear stories about the situation that occurred and that left a str…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, 33 years ago, on December 6, 1989, 14 women were murdered. They were murdered because they were women. They were murdered because they were at university. They were murdered because they were studying engineering. It was the ugliest form of cruelty. The words “Poly” and “Polytechnique” will always and forever be associated with this tragedy. This tragedy concerns us all and serves to …
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Mr. Speaker, was he really just talking about inflation? The reality is that Canadians are grappling with the worst inflation crisis in 40 years, and it is having a direct impact on food, where it hurts the most. Worse than that, the new year is not looking rosy at all. Four Canadian universities conducted a study that found that the price of food will increase by nearly 10% next year. It will cos…
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Mr. Speaker, what the minister and member for Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine just said is completely false. I would ask her to apologize for the second time for the outrageous comments she made on the Gaspé radio a few weeks ago, but that is her concern. However, inflation is every Canadian's concern. The only G7 country that is raising taxes during inflation is Canada under the Liberal governm…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, May 3, during question period, after the member for Northumberland—Peterborough South asked a question, the Minister of National Revenue said, “Mr. Speaker, I can well understand, during this Mental Health Week, how warped the thinking is on the other side of the House and that they do not understand what we mean.” In response to such a comment making a parallel between me…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the story does not end there. It goes on. On November 16, on local radio in her riding of Gaspé, CIEU-FM, the Minister of National Revenue came back to her statement and even, believe it or not, doubled down on it. She said, and I quote, “I worked in mental health for 25 years and I saw all sorts of things, but I must say that I have rarely seen what is happening across…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to participate in this debate, especially after my colleague's eloquent speech. There was one line that will stay with me for a long time. He said that they do not want to see the first nations stakeholders as real, true partners. I love that line. We are here today for the final stage of the bill that will establish the national council for reconciliation. I am always…
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Mr. Speaker, it is quite important to remind everybody that we are on the same planet. We are in the same country, and we are the same people. This is why we have to address this issue collectively instead of in a more partisan way. The answer to this question should come from the first nations themselves. Obviously, as a member of Parliament, I have my personal point of view on that, but what is …
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Mr. Speaker, the member raised a great example. He is the member for Winnipeg North, and I know there is a big issue to be addressed in Winnipeg with first nations, which is not the same issue that we have to address in the Quebec City area. Based on my personal experience and knowing them pretty well, it is not the same case. This is why we should work hand in hand with first nations, our provinc…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, inflation is squeezing the wallets of all Canadian families. Unfortunately, the simple fact is that everything costs more. Meanwhile, the government is still planning to increase the Liberal carbon tax. I want to make one thing clear. Mathematically speaking, when the government raises taxes in a time of inflation, it is very profitable for the government, but it is not at all profita…
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Mr. Speaker, pillaging Canadian taxpayers' wallets is not going to solve the climate problem. This Prime Minister has advanced some ludicrous economic theories. According to him, a budget balances itself and SMEs are a tax shelter for cheaters. These theories are completely ridiculous. This is the first time a head of government has said that it is a good idea to raise taxes in times of inflation.…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Canada has lost a remarkable artist, the distinguished Jean Lapointe. It would be an understatement to simply say he was a versatile artist. In fact, as Stéphane Laporte wrote, he was an entertainer, a comedian, a singer, an actor, an impersonator, a juggler and a magician who made everyone happy. His career spanned more than 60 years, from small stages to large venues, and he and Les…
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Mr. Speaker, inflation is devastating Canadian families, and the rising cost of food, an essential good, is brutal. Just last month, 1.5 million Canadians visited food banks here in Canada. That is the real consequence of inflation. However, it does not seem to have curbed the government's insatiable appetite for taxes. The Liberals want to triple the carbon tax next year. Is there a government mi…
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Mr. Speaker, here are the facts. The Liberal government has been running the country for the past seven years, and it brought in the Liberal carbon tax. Seven years later, here are the facts. Canada ranks 58th out of 63 countries in the fight against climate change. If a carbon tax worked, we would know it by now, but it does not work, as we have seen. Still, the government wants to triple the car…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadian families are all facing the worst inflationary crisis in 40 years. It is directly impacting a basic necessity: food. Butter is 20% more expensive, pasta is 27% more expensive, and lettuce is 30% more expensive. What is the Liberal government proposing? Believe it or not, it wants to increase, triple the Liberal carbon tax. Seriously, could the Prime Minister stand up and admi…
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Mr. Speaker, what the Prime Minister said is not quite right. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Since his return from COP27, the minister in 58th place keeps saying that the carbon tax helps Canadians, but that is not true. The minister in 58th place is forgetting that, under his administration, Canada ranked 58 out of 63 countries on climate change performance. That is the Liberal…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I really liked what my colleague from Rivière‑du‑Nord had to say, as well as what we heard from the member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, who spoke before him and is a member of our party. The member's comments were based on his experience. We all had lives before politics and we all want lives after politics. When we speak from our experience and when lawyers talk about justice when …
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Mr. Speaker, COP27 just ended. Something very important happened on November 15. The Canadian Minister of Environment issued a challenge to the rest of the world, calling on all countries to impose a carbon tax, as his government is doing to all Canadians. Could the Minister of Environment tell us, a week later, how many countries have accepted this invitation to impose the carbon tax?
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Mr. Speaker, once again, I am pleased to congratulate the minister on his French, but he could have answered my question, because the answer is the same in either English or French: Not one country has taken up Canada's invitation to impose a carbon tax. Why? The reason is very simple. The Liberals have governed Canada for seven years, and the carbon tax has existed for seven years. Far worse, Lib…
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Mr. Speaker, the best way to help Canadian families deal with inflation is to leave more money in their pockets and, above all, not increase taxes. The Liberal government, however, wants to triple the carbon tax in just a few months. I have a very simple question for the Deputy Prime Minister. Yesterday, at COP27, a report on the best performing countries in the fight against climate change was ta…
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Mr. Speaker, it is quite amazing, they have had two opportunities to provide a number and they cannot even begin to give us an answer that might make sense. She does not know the answer or is pretending not to know, but we do. Canada, after seven years of a Liberal government, ranks 58 out of 63 when it comes to fighting climate change. This is the same gang that boasted seven years ago that Canad…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to table the COP27 document entitled “Climate Change Performance Index”, which states that, after seven years of Liberal governance, Canada's ranks 58th out of 63 countries for its climate change performance.
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, when it comes to the environment, the Liberal government talks a lot, taxes a lot, but does not do much. I am not the one saying this, it is in the report released at COP27 today, which concludes that, of 63 countries, Canada ranks 58th. Rather than tax Canadians, we want to reduce our carbon footprint where emissions are being generated. It is not the government's role to tell comp…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his wonderful speech and his comment. He is always very interesting and, more importantly, he cares a lot about veterans. Speaking of veterans, I would like to say hello to my father, who is a World War II veteran and who is 99 years, two months, two weeks and two days old today. At that age, one basically starts counting the hours. My colleague mentioned that…
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With regard to government measures related to the removal of unexploded explosive ordnance (UXO) in the Lac Saint-Pierre region: (a) which vendors have been awarded contracts related to the removal of UXO in the region since 2019; (b) what are the details of each contract in (a), including, for each, (i) the vendor, (ii) the value, (iii) the start and end dates, (iv) whether the contract was sole-…
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Mr. Speaker, we all agree on one thing: Food is a basic right and a necessity that cannot be ignored. The problem is that the statistics are troubling. This morning we learned that one in five families in Canada has had to cut back on their food budget and on what they eat because of inflation. Last month, 1.5 million Canadians had to turn to food banks. At the Amélie et Frédérick food bank in my …
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Mr. Speaker, contrary to what the Prime Minister says, this global context is not the only reason we have a problem here. It is because, in seven years, the Liberal government has never been able to control its spending. I am not the only one to say so. The aspiring Liberal leader, Mark Carney, actually said that this was not an imported inflation and that it was now a national inflation, a Canadi…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to begin by saying that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Calgary Midnapore. I am very pleased to participate in this debate, which centres on one of the main reasons I got involved in politics 14 years ago today, first at the provincial level and then at the federal level. That reason is the sound management of public funds. Not a single dollar that the …
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Madam Speaker, the best way to answer the question of the member for Winnipeg North question is to say that it is not me. The Auditor General will do her job; she is there for that. She is there to analyze each and every penny that the government spends. On ArriveCAN, it is normal to have a system to evaluate the details of someone who is returning home, and we understand that, but why was it so d…
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Madam Speaker, it is always nice to listen to my colleague. However, I would like to remind him of the facts. In his riding, and everywhere else in Quebec, people still need traditional energy sources, the so-called fossil fuels. What is happening in Quebec right now? Well, over 45% of the oil we use comes from Texas. I assume that my colleague himself uses some. In any case, if he does not use it…
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Madam Speaker, to be brief, I totally agree with my colleague. We have a job to do. The Auditor General has a job to do, and I am sure everybody will ask the Auditor General to do her job.
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Mr. Speaker, here are the indisputable facts. Just 10 days after the tragic events, here is what the commissioner said to her assembled colleagues when confirming that there had been political interference in the ongoing investigation into the weapons used. First, she said, “I shared with the Minister that...it was going to be in the...news release and it wasn’t.” Second, she said, “Does anybody r…
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Mr. Speaker, Loretteville has a community fridge. Neufchâtel has the Amélie et Frédérick food bank. Val‑Bélair has the Val Bon Cœur community fridge. All three provide food aid. Unfortunately, in these communities, just like in the rest of Canada, needs have increased significantly over the past few weeks and months. Today, we learned that 1.5 million Canadians turned to food banks last month alon…
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Mr. Speaker, all Canadians hope they can count on this government to not raise taxes. That is what people are asking of the Liberals, because so many are now having to go to food banks in order to have enough to eat. It is outrageous that this is happening in Canada. The price of vegetables has gone up by 12%. The price of fruit has gone up by 13%. For baked goods, it is 15%, cereal products, 18%,…
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Mr. Speaker, let us examine the facts as they are. When the RCMP commissioner had a conversation with her acolytes, she said, and I quote, “[I flew] it up the flagpole because it was a request that I got from the minister's office. And I shared with the minister that in fact it was going to be in the news release, and it wasn't.” It could not be any clearer. The RCMP commissioner directly implicat…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am tabling this petition in support of Bill S‑223, which seeks to combat trafficking in human organs. This bill has been debated in the House for almost 15 years now in various forms. The petitioners would like us to debate and pass Bill S‑223 as quickly as possible.
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Mr. Speaker, we are all Canadians and we are all proud of our country. As Canadians, we have one indisputable thing in common: We all have to keep warm in winter. It is not a luxury, it is a necessity for Canadians. This government wants to increase the Liberal tax on carbon. In Quebec, many people heat their homes with propane. Families, business owners and farmers need propane. Does the governme…
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Mr. Speaker, today, the Liberal government could do the right thing for all Canadian families. We asked the Liberals to lower the carbon tax, but they did not want to do that. What they want to do instead is triple the Liberal carbon tax. Winter is coming. Canadians need to heat their homes, and the Liberal carbon tax is going to have a direct impact on inflation. All Canadian families are being a…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, in his speech, the hon. member mentioned that, in his opinion, the provinces have priority when the matter affects their territory directly. It is important to understand that, on this side of the House, we respect provincial jurisdiction. Last week, the Minister of the Environment severely condemned a project that is 100% under provincial jurisdiction. He even said that he was goin…
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Madam Speaker, I am quite pleased to take part this evening in the debate on Bill S‑5 on the environment, especially since it has been nearly three weeks since I was named the official opposition critic on the environment and climate change. I want to thank my leader, the member for Carleton, for trusting me with this exceptional mandate. It is also exceptional to all Canadians, especially to our …
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