Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, last Monday was the 40th anniversary of Le Gîte Ami, a veritable beacon of compassion and community in my riding. Over the past four decades, this extraordinary organization has touched countless lives by providing shelter and support to those in need. Le Gîte Ami has become an integral part of our region, providing shelter, food and a glimmer of hope to the most vulnerable among us. …
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Mr. Speaker, 35 years ago, I was a parliamentary page in the House. Many of my page colleagues from 1988-89 are here with us today. We are honouring the memory of one of our colleagues, Carl Gillis, with a gift to the House of Commons. On a beautiful day in May 1996, Carl went rollerblading along one of Ottawa's famous paths. It was to be his last time. He suffered a devastating fall, and the resu…
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Mr. Speaker, this government is steadfast in its commitment to gender equality. Since 2015, the Prime Minister has led a cabinet with gender parity. While a comprehensive response cannot be completed in the time allotted, across government, ministerial exempt staff reflect the diversity of Canada. Currently, across ministers’ offices, the gender balance for chiefs of staff, directors of policy and…
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Mr. Speaker, the Privy Council Office, PCO, did not launch an investigation or a fact-finding effort regarding a leak of information pertaining to the budget. PCO investigates unauthorized disclosures in a consistent and standardized manner.
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Mr. Speaker, I can reassure my colleague opposite by saying that the government will continue to work tirelessly to help Canadians. In budget 2023, we have already put measures in place to tax the wealthiest Canadians. We are proposing a 2% tax on repurchases of equity, and we will tax share dividends received by banks. We are ready to do all that, but the Conservatives always block our measures, …
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Madam Speaker, it is rare that I have an opportunity to debate with the member. These people are francophone and do not need to be francized. We can attract teachers who are ready to teach. They could also offer their services to Quebeckers. Why not let these people determine their own future? Why, as Canadians, should we determine what they should do and in what conditions they should live? Why n…
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Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague from Ontario, who was born in British Columbia, on the quality of his French. I know that he is of Italian origin and he also speaks English, but it warms my heart to hear him speak French. Often, when people talk about the Century Initiative, they say that it is a federal government initiative. We know that is a false argument because it is just …
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased that my hon. colleague from Saint-Jean said that we should take immigrants' interests into account. We should not resort to a utilitarian argument to speak on behalf of these people. I am a Quebecker. If we want to ensure the vitality of the French language in Quebec and if we really want to put ourselves in the immigrants' shoes, we could ask the hundreds of thousands …
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Mr. Speaker, as a Quebecker, I would like to thank my colleague. We definitely do not have the same point of view. In my community, which is not that far from his, there are many francophones and many new immigrants from western Africa and Haiti. The percentage of these immigrants has increased significantly. Why are these people settling in Quebec? It is because they have the right to continue sp…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, on April 14, the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs received a response from the national security and intelligence adviser that details formal briefings to the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister’s Office, ministers and cabinet on the subject of foreign interference in elections.
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Madam Speaker, I have the pleasure of serving on several committees with the hon. member for Laurentides—Labelle. I would like to ask her a simple question. She said that she would have preferred to see the Prime Minister launch a public inquiry. Would she have been on board with the idea of the Prime Minister determining the parameters of that public inquiry she is calling for?
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Simcoe North, a person whom I have come to know. He is an hon. member, certainly, but I found his speech lacking because of the many examples he offered. If he were concerned about getting to the nub of the issue, he would look towards the testimony that we have had in committee when we had allegations floating around. When we get to the nub of it …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the advice I would have is to start the negotiations as early as we can. There are times where it would be unreasonable to expect any future government to start negotiations years in advance of the ending of a contract because conditions will change over time. If we go back three years, I do not think people would have predicted that we would have seen interest rates rise to 5% or 6…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I very much appreciate the question from my colleague from Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound. Before I answer his fundamental question, I would first like to provide an update to all my colleagues in the House of Commons and to Canadians. As I am sure everyone is aware, we have reached a tentative agreement with the Public Service Alliance of Canada, or PSAC, for the four bargaining units in th…
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Madam Speaker, before I begin my speech, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that we are gathered here on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. I am very pleased to add my voice to the debate on Bill S-6, an act respecting regulatory modernization. Regulations are the book of rules that govern how businesses operate and that protect consumers, the environment, our heal…
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Madam Speaker, I would ask for the consent of the House to share my time with the member for Kings—Hants.
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Madam Speaker, unfortunately, I cannot, but I will engage to get back to the member and find out why that was the case. Labour is a very important element in terms of some of the key stakeholders, and we should be consulting not only with businesses, but also with labour, government and academics. I do engage to get back to the member with a response.
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Madam Speaker, I could not agree more with my colleague from Mirabel on this issue. The committee he is a member of may be one of the House of Commons' most important committees. I am not sure what I did in my life to deserve to be a member of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs and the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics. I wanted to be a member of th…
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Madam Speaker, I know it sticks in the hon. member's craw that Canada is now making a transition to a clean, green economy, especially in key sectors, such as the automotive sector. Let me get back to Bill S-6. I can tell members why this process is so important. We are going to review all of the government regulations to ensure that they are still up to date. Any obsolete regulations that are no …
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Madam Speaker, as I just said, we are still at the bargaining table. The Canadian government is negotiating in good faith. The unions are also still at the table. I know full well that this is important. We recognize that it is important for public servants to provide services. We need to give them a salary that is fair, but also find a solution that is fair for Canadians.
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Madam Speaker, we are at the bargaining table with the Public Service Alliance of Canada. I can say that our goal is to resume normal operations as soon as possible. The government is committed to negotiating an agreement that is reasonable for public servants and fair for Canadians. I can say that the negotiators are still talking. The government is at the table, and we are negotiating in good fa…
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Madam Speaker, let me make this perfectly clear: The negotiators for the federal government are at the table, and they are negotiating in good faith. The negotiators for the unions are at the table, and they are negotiating. The best deal to happen is at the negotiating table, and if they work together, I am confident they will come to an agreement.
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Madam Speaker, as I have said many times, we are still at the bargaining table with the union. We are there to negotiate in good faith. I am confident that when the parties are there and decide to negotiate in good faith, we will come to a solution. There are certainly situations where we want to avoid doing what the Conservatives do: Whenever there is a problem, they always blame the public serva…
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Madam Speaker, first of all, it is really important to state that both parties are at the negotiating table. The federal government is negotiating in good faith. I know that my receding hairline might give an indication that I am a little bit long in the tooth, but I have a bit of a memory and I do remember when those on the other side of the aisle were in government. What did they do every time w…
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Mr. Speaker, I will not use any props as I ask my hon. colleague a question. I know that it is not all fun and games here in the House, but things do get done. One of the things that gets me down is when members exaggerate. The government announced $31.2 billion as part of the national housing strategy. That was in the previous budgets. This funding will be available until 2028. There is a measure…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, or ETHI, and the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, or PROC, are currently studying the issue of foreign election interference. It would be appropriate to note the testimony from the national security and intelligence adviser, or NSIA, during her appearance on March 1, 2023, at PROC and at the Standin…
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Mr. Speaker, our public servants and the Public Service Alliance of Canada provide valuable services that are important to Canadians. The government certainly values their work. We are committed to reaching an agreement with the Public Service Alliance of Canada that is fair to government employees and also reasonable for Canadians. There is a competitive deal on the table, and I am really proud t…
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Mr. Speaker, we are in a situation where public servants are in a legal strike position. That is important, but even more important is that the two parties, the employer and labour, are at the bargaining table and they are negotiating in good faith. The negotiations are going well. Unlike the Conservatives, we will allow the negotiations to continue at the table.
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Mr. Speaker, we believe that public servants do important work for Canadians, and we agree that they have the right to strike if they are in a legal position to do so. What is important is to have the opportunity to negotiate in good faith. That is what we have been doing. In contrast, when the Conservatives were in power, they denied public servants the right to strike and forced them to go back …
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Mr. Speaker, with regard to the question of what happened at the committee today, committees, as members know, are masters of their own destiny. The committee chose not to go forward and support what the Conservatives had brought forward. It was unanimous, with the exception of the Conservatives, to not go forward with that, because we have important things to discuss, not to engage in these drive…
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Mr. Speaker, in spite of your admonition and trying to encourage the member not to do indirectly what he cannot do directly, it is almost symbolic of how the Conservatives treated the public service when they were in government. Public servants remember very well how the Conservatives had abrogated their rights and provided terrible working conditions, and they got no value for it. The Liberal gov…
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Mr. Speaker, while the information requested is not centrally tracked by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, or TBS, as per the directive on telework, which is at https://www.tbs-sct.canada.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=32636, employees who wish to participate in a formal telework arrangement, or who are already doing so, are responsible for assuming all utility costs related to maintaining their t…
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Madam Speaker, it is very important to remember that the expenses related to this trip by the Governor General were similar to other trips made by previous governors general. We must always recognize that when the Governor General represents our country, she brings a delegation to represent the best of Canada on many issues. We are aware of this, as is the Governor General herself. She will contin…
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Mr. Speaker, the reality is that right now the tech giants are not paying their fair share. Seventy-one per cent of Canadians agree that they should be doing so. This is the reason why. This is why we are making sure that we have Bill C-11 to deal with this job. We know that the web giants must do more, more for our culture, more for our local media, more to protect our children. That is exactly w…
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Mr. Speaker, those are the same old talking points from the Conservative Party and they happen to be the same talking points of big tech. Why do the Conservatives not finally stand up to the big guys and big tech in the country and try to do what we are doing, which is making sure that big tech is paying its fair share to Canadian artists and Canadian producers, to our local media? Instead of stan…
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Mr. Speaker, there is a consensus in Quebec that we need to make web giants pay their fair share. Everyone—actors, authors, composers, producers, directors, musicians, singers, technicians—is on the same side regarding Bill C‑11. Everyone but the Conservatives, that is. I invite the Conservatives to get on the right side and support Quebec and Canadian culture.
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Mr. Speaker, with regard to questions (a), (b), (c) and (e), the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, or TBS, collects data for each fiscal year from each institution subject to the acts on the number of requests received, closed, outstanding, carried over, abandoned and responded to according to the legislative timeline of 30 days and extensions taken, broken down by length of time taken: 30 day…
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Madam Speaker, the situation in Afghanistan, in particular for Afghan women and girls, is terrible. We condemn the Taliban's treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan and the treatment of women's liberty there. Access to education, as we all know, is a fundamental human right, and one that should be respected. The Taliban will be judged by its actions in this regard.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague's question. As members know, in 2018, the Canadian government launched a contest to put a woman on Canadian currency for the first time in our history. I am very proud that Viola Desmond was chosen and is now featured on the $10 bill. The government is currently considering options to replace the image on the $5 bill. We are always looking to revitaliz…
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Mr. Speaker, with regard to the government’s remote work policy, as it relates to the data requested, the information is not systematically tracked in a centralized database. It should be noted that the federal public service is adopting a common hybrid work model that will see employees work on site at least two to three days each week, or 40% to 60% of their regular schedule. This new model will…
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Mr. Speaker, a breakdown of expenses for ministers’ offices, including the Office of the Prime Minister, is published each year in the Public Accounts of Canada at the following links. For 2019-20, go to https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/201/301/public_accounts_can/html/2020/recgen/cpc-pac/2020/vol3/s10/dcm-emo-eng.html; for 2020-21, go to https://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/recgen/cpc-pac/2021/vol3/s10/dcm…
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Mr. Speaker, the Privy Council Office has not identified any information with regard to payments made by the Public Order Emergency Commission to Frank Graves or Ekos Research Associates Incorporated.
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Mr. Speaker, I have to say that I am not completely familiar with that private member's bill. Nevertheless, I know that the government is always there to support our farmers. We will support them by fighting against climate change. We are well aware that the climate crisis is something that we have to deal with today, tomorrow and in the coming years. Farmers know in their gut that climate change …
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my opposition colleague for finally recognizing that there are at least some problems with the environment and the fact there is a price on pollution. He talked about the price that businesses have to pay. Does he really believe that pollution should be free or does he believe that we should put a price on pollution? Should people be able to pollute without consequence …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague from Winnipeg South for his excellent speech today and for his answers to the questions, because he really hit the nail on the head. This opposition motion makes a brief reference to pollution pricing. Pollution pricing is a good thing, because pollution has a price. It is not free to pollute. My hon. colleague from Winnipeg South mentioned th…
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Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with the Governor of the Bank of Canada, but my colleague should not quote out of context. Quoting out of context is just a pretext for saying things that are not true. What he said is true in theory, but the effect is minimal, and that is what matters. The real causes of inflation are the broken supply chains, which take time to fix; China's zero-COVID policy, whic…
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Mr. Speaker, it is impossible to give a brief response. That is a great question from my colleague from Skeena—Bulkley Valley. The reason Canada has fallen behind is that, for too long, we felt the effects of the Harper government's non-plan for the environment. Now we have a realistic plan in place, one that is recognized throughout the world and is one of the best plans because it is detailed. I…
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Mr. Speaker, when the Prime Minister’s Office was first made aware by the minister’s office of a disturbing comment by an individual, it was agreed that the matter was serious and the department’s officials needed to get to the bottom of it. Funding was removed. As the minister has said, the process to review and remove the funding took too long, and it never should have been granted in the first …
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Mr. Speaker, the holiday season is upon us, a time for celebration and good cheer. However, as 2022 comes to an end, let us be frank: We are all on edge. It is not hard to figure out why, with isolation due to working from home and an unsettling vulnerability to a virus we cannot see, yet whose harmful and sometimes fatal effects are cruelly felt. If we add in social media algorithms that distort …
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Madam Speaker, for years, our government has been concerned about the plight of Canadians, workers and families. That is why we created the Canada child benefit. That is why we have the Canada workers benefit, which will really help those who are working hard and just need a bit of a hand up. One thing is certain. In Canada, we now have a program to help people with child care, and the Conservativ…
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