Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the truth is that an inordinate amount of time, nearly 14 months, has been spent on an issue that could have been tackled from a different angle in order to make Canada safer. The biggest part of the problem is the illegal guns that are coming across our borders and being bought by criminals and street gangs, who use them to commit violent crimes. I would like my friend to understand …
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Madam Speaker, I listened closely to my colleague's speech. As he did in his speech about the Conservatives, I would like to talk to him about what the Liberals were doing several years ago. When the Liberals were the official opposition, some Liberal MPs swore up and down that they would never legalize drugs. The first thing they did in 2015 when they came to power was to legalize marijuana. The …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to know what my colleague thinks about the following. Should the government have started by dealing with the illegal weapons that are coming across Canada's borders? That is a public safety issue that has become a political issue. Would it have been easier to do things differently?
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Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to speak to Bill C-21, an act to amend certain acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms). I want to speak today in solidarity with all the honest, law-abiding people in Lévis—Lotbinière who legally own guns for reasons other than committing violent crimes. My colleagues will no doubt understand that I have come here to defend honest hunters and sh…
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Mr. Speaker, I think that is the most intelligent question I have been asked this evening. Of course, if a person who has been granted the right to own a firearm is negligent, engages in domestic violence or is found to be suffering from mental illness, then it would be appropriate for that person to lose that right. A red-flag measure could be considered in such cases.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government is once again giving itself every right to do whatever it pleases, this time by having the nerve to erase symbols that Canadians hold dear from the newest version of the Canadian passport. Instead of respecting the men and women who fought for our freedom, why is the government opposite attacking them by sacrificing the images that represent freedom for thousand…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government's chosen design, which replaces historical symbols with heritage illustrations, is unacceptable. It is an affront and profoundly disrespectful to veterans. Could the government show some respect and good judgment and reconsider the so-called modern design of future Canadian passports?
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Mr. Speaker, there are two worlds, two realities. On the one hand, we have a princely Prime Minister indulging in luxury holidays at the expense of Canadian taxpayers. On the other hand, we have overtaxed Canadians being forced to tighten their belts in order to pay their rent and bills. Can the Prime Minister stop having his rich whims paid for by all hard-working Canadians?
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are fed up with the insulting cost of the Prime Minister's joyrides and the luxury vacations he takes at the taxpayers' expense while everyone else is struggling to pay their bills. Could the Prime Minister stop living it up and lead by example by not recklessly spending Canadian taxpayers' hard-earned money?
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Mr. Speaker, crime, chaos, drugs and disorder. That is the legacy this Liberal Prime Minister is leaving to Canadian society after eight years in office. Releasing repeat violent offenders and decriminalizing hard drugs has resulted in more violent crime and drug overdoses in our communities. Why does the Prime Minister insist on leading us down a dead-end street?
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Mr. Speaker, at a time when everything costs more and Canadians are suffering and struggling to make ends meet, the Prime Minister has taken not one but five luxury trips abroad to get a nice tan and have some fun in New York. It is scandalous. Housing costs have doubled. Instead of wasting our money, what will our Prime Minister do to reduce inflation across Canada?
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Madam Speaker, I have a question for my colleague. Many businesses tell me that there is too much red tape in Canada. The administration is cumbersome. There are often delays at the municipal and federal levels. There are forms to fill out to participate in programs. It is onerous and complicated. A person almost needs a doctorate in administration to be able to fill out those forms. Does my colle…
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Mr. Speaker, today is the last day for filing our federal tax return with the revenue agency still mired in a strike caused by the Prime Minister's Liberal incompetence. A cascade of delays, like dominos, is penalizing thousands of honest Canadians and dedicated workers. Will the Prime Minister take responsibility and guarantee that he will give Canadians additional time to file their tax returns?
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Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to rise in the House to speak to Bill C‑13, an act to amend the Official Languages Act, to enact the use of French in federally regulated private businesses act and to make related amendments to other acts. If I wanted to sum up the clause-by-clause study of this bill in committee, I would say that this bill is like the mountain that laboured and brought fort…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. As I already said in the House, the only people who will defend French in this country are francophones themselves. We cannot expect others to defend the French language.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for all his great work and the leadership he showed in committee this entire year working with the Liberals. It is not easy to work with the Liberals and it is harder still to work with the NDP‑Liberal coalition. Unfortunately, after all this great work that was done by our colleagues we are going to end up with a bill akin to the mountain that laboured …
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Mr. Speaker, the minister's answer seems like a promise worthy of Pinocchio. The minister should check if her nose is growing. Canadians are right to worry about the services being delivered by this government. Many departments are falling behind, and wait times are endless. We are fed up with Liberal incompetence. When will the government take responsibility and send Canadians their tax refunds?
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Mr. Speaker, the public service strike is another example of Liberal incompetence. The Minister of National Revenue is affected very directly by the federal public service strike. The revenue minister does not seemly overly concerned about tax season, which ends on May 1. Can the minister assure us that Canadian taxpayers will receive their tax refunds quickly?
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Madam Speaker, does my colleague have anything to say about Bill C‑215 on employment insurance? The government refused to recommend this bill for royal assent even though it would have provided welcome assistance to workers struggling with serious health problems. It refused to increase the number of weeks of EI sickness benefits from 26 to 52. Is this important to the member?
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Mr. Speaker, there are more than 38 million Canadians, yet only members of the Prime Minister's inner circle were eligible for the Ethics Commissioner position. What is wrong with this picture? Could the government finally consider candidates other than close friends and donors from the extended Trudeau Foundation family?
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Mr. Speaker, now that the acting ethics commissioner has stepped down, we hope to see a return to an acceptable ethical standard. Appointing the sister-in-law of an influential government minister to fill the position of Conflict of Interest Commissioner showed unbelievably bad judgment and clear favouritism. This time, would it be asking too much to find a candidate to fill the Conflict of Intere…
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Mr. Speaker, I was very proud to agree, for the second year in a row, to be the honorary chair for the Canadian Cancer Society Relay for Life in Lotbinière, which will take place on June 10. At Relay for Life events, which first began in 1999, participants of all ages gather and take turns walking around a track or path to symbolize the perseverance of those affected by cancer and to send them a m…
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Madam Speaker, once again, it is a privilege for me to rise in the House to speak for the people of Lévis—Lotbinière, whom I proudly represent. From the outset, I would like to say that back home, we do not have the same definition of the word “budget” as the Prime Minister, nor the same approach to budgeting. On March 28, the Minister of Finance and this spendthrift Prime Minister proved to us fo…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to hear my colleague talk about “the Conservative government”. Perhaps she can see into the future and knows that Canada will be in a better position. We will have a lot of cleaning up to do in a few months. I hope my colleague will help us do that, to give Canadians some hope.
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Madam Speaker, that is a lovely thought; however, we believe that health care falls to the provinces. If the government, in its coalition with the NDP, had transferred more money to the provinces for health care, Canadians would probably have gotten more services. This is an example of two different visions for Canada. The Liberals think they can centralize everything in Ottawa, whereas constituti…
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Madam Speaker, the answer is relatively simple. Canadians are all struggling to find a home to rent or buy. There is absolutely nothing in the budget to ensure a future for Canadians who need housing. It is going to be very expensive. Over the past eight years of Liberal rule, the cost of housing has doubled and almost tripled. The cost of home ownership has truly outstripped the incomes of most C…
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Madam Speaker, now the die is cast. After a year and a half of work, we are the end of the process with my Bill C‑215. I want to thank everyone who contributed from near or far at every stage of the bill and who participated in the deliberations on this important issue of ensuring the financial security of people living with a serious illness requiring a period of convalescence that goes beyond th…
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Mr. Speaker, the National Assembly of Quebec is calling for changes to Bill C-11 and Bill C-5. This involves the ministers of Canadian heritage and justice. These two bills have the support of the Bloc-Liberal alliance and go against the direction the Government of Quebec wants to take. Will our two ministers, who are Quebeckers, shamefully supported by the Bloc Québécois, refuse to provide Quebec…
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Madam Speaker, that is a very important question. Canada is facing huge challenges right now with respect to mental health. We should double down on this and make mental illness a priority, because it is affecting hundreds of thousands of Canadians. There are plenty of ways to add more resources to our health care system. The government could speed up the approval process for certain drugs. We can…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill C-39 this evening. As a legislator and member of Parliament for Lévis—Lotbinière since 2006, I have been told about, and sometimes even witnessed, some very difficult situations involving people or families in distress. On May 3, 2016, in the House, I allowed myself the privilege of expressing the thoughts sent to me at the time by several of my constit…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his very interesting question. Yes, if there is an opportunity to speed up the approval of certain medications here in Canada to help people with mental health issues, let us do it as quickly as possible.
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Madam Speaker, I find my colleague's questions very interesting. In Quebec, once a patient enters the system and has access to psychiatrists and health care, the results are relatively good. However, the unfortunate part is that there are not nearly enough staff, people and psychiatrists for the number of cases that exist. Wait times to access this type of service can be six months, even a year or…
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of Liberal incompetence, Canadians are desperate to buy an affordable home. Housing prices are at an all-time high, forcing young Canadians to keep living with their parents. When will the Liberal government make life affordable for the younger generation of Canadians, who have lost hope in our future because our country, Canada, is completely broken?
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years under this Liberal Prime Minister, the close ties between McKinsey and the Infrastructure Bank of Canada are undeniable. Led by former employees of the multinational McKinsey firm, the Infrastructure Bank of Canada awarded contracts to the firm that recommended its creation, all untendered. This is yet another scandal. Canada is broken. Will the Prime Minister take r…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to take part in today's debate on Bill C‑239, which deals with a promise that the Conservative Party itself proposed in the summer of 2018. We also moved a motion on February 5, 2019, here in the House, on this clear and legitimate request from Quebeckers and the Quebec National Assembly, specifically to cut the paperwork burden on Quebeckers significantly by allo…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his great speech and the historical background. History belongs to those who tell and write it, but my colleague forgot to say that the only federalist party in the House capable of taking power already promised a single tax return during two elections, in 2019 and 2021. Can my colleague tell me whether he trusts the Conservative Party to help Quebeckers get t…
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of Liberal incompetence, the government is targeting honest citizens, particularly hunters and farmers, in its fight against violent crime. These crimes are committed using illegal weapons acquired through smuggling networks run by organized crime. The Liberal government will not solve this important safety issue for Canadian citizens by going after honest citizens. …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague. He knows me well and he knows my story. In all humility, I can say that I might not be where I am today if my wife had not experienced what she did. I am here because society, our family and our friends gave us a lot. We did not receive any government support, but we had a lot of support from our loved ones to get through this major ordeal. This is a way that I c…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent question. As legislators in the House, we have all heard about Canadians in our respective ridings who needed more weeks of employment insurance sickness benefits. That being said, there is one important thing that might convince the Liberal government. At the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her very important question. Unfortunately, retail workers are not lucky enough to have group insurance, to have insurance through their employer to cover a period after 15 weeks. These workers, who do not necessarily have the highest income in Canada, are hard hit when they get a serious illness and their 15 weeks run out. As of next year, they will have 26 w…
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moved that the bill be read the third time and passed. Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to deliver this third reading speech on my private member's bill, Bill C‑215, to amend the number of weeks of EI sickness benefits. As lawmakers, the actions we take and the political decisions we make every day must be guided by practical and responsible ethics. Naturally, I wish to remind my Liberal collea…
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moved that Bill C-215, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act (illness, injury or quarantine) be concurred in.
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Mr. Speaker, I listened to the speech by my colleague, which contained a lot of dreams and assumptions, but I would like to talk about something tangible. In 2030, the carbon tax will represent $30 an acre in Canada. Over 400 million acres, that means Canadian farmers will have to pay $12 billion a year. According to my colleague, what part of that $12 billion could go back to the farmers, if they…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to reassure my colleague, who is also my office neighbour, about three things. First of all, there will be no visits from our Saudi Arabian friends this holiday season in my riding because we have Valero Energy, the largest refinery in Quebec, which sources its crude oil from Canada and the United States. Second, in his speech, my hon. colleague talked about the fact that…
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Mr. Speaker, the solution is to replace the Liberal government.
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Mr. Speaker, these are the consequences of Liberal inflation: everything is expensive, too expensive. Groceries, gas, rent, interest rates, heating, clothing, all of our daily needs cost an arm and a leg. Liberal inflation is also a headache for Canadians just before the holidays, especially with the new taxes planned for 2023. Is there a solution to inflation?
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Mr. Speaker, rural communities have been hit hard by the Liberals' inflationary policies. Everything costs more, much more. With the triple carbon tax that is rapidly increasing because of the Liberals' incompetence, the cost of transportation in these communities has cut into family budgets and hurt small main street businesses in Canada's rural communities. The Prime Minister lives in an ivory t…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the government of Bill C‑215 on employment insurance, which seeks to increase from 15 to 52 the number of weeks of sickness benefits for cases of serious illness, such as cancer. I would also remind the government that just 15 weeks of assistance is no longer enough to give Canadians financial security. This bill was passed by the House and reflects its will to …
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Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to participate in the debate on the Liberal government's 2022 economic statement. Not surprisingly, the government is sticking to very liberal economic measures. Nothing conservative to see here. We have noticed a pattern of ongoing deficits and promises to balance the budget a few years from now. Whether good times or bad, the government does not seem too concerned…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. On immigration, the economic statement does not actually say anything about a process to bring newcomers into Canada any faster. I do not know if my colleague is having issues in his riding, but in my riding and every other riding in Canada, there are all kinds of problems with immigration files. Unfortunately, the department can take up to four …
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