Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, again, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. Protecting the French language, and its use in our institutions, is and continues to be a priority. The minister is working very hard and is very present. She will continue her work on this to ensure that French is used everywhere.
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, the arts and culture sector was one of the first sectors to have to shut down and will be one of the last to be able to fully reopen. With vibrant performance venues such as the Théâtre Granada and the Université de Sherbrooke cultural centre, diverse and colourful festivals such as the Fête du Lac des Nations and the Festival des traditions du monde de Sherbrooke, and above all a ric…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech, and I congratulate her on her recent appointment as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages. I wonder if she could tell us more about the need to collaborate and stand together so that our efforts to reach out to the Province of Ontario yield positive results and so we can show our determination to pro…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech this evening and for the request for emergency debate, which enables us to discuss this important issue. Obviously, we support the French language. Before I became an MP, I earned a living working with French. It is part of my identity, my history and my daily life. I will therefore do everything I can to defend it. With regard to Laurentian Univers…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his speech. I would remind him that the minister is very passionate and active on the ground. She promotes and seeks to protect both of our official languages across Canada and Quebec for all minority language communities. We changed the census questionnaire, we supported the creation of the Université de l'Ontario français and we put together a landmark …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, on Friday, my colleagues, the President of the Treasury Board and the member for Brome—Missisquoi, and I were treated to a virtual tour of IBM Canada's facility in Bromont. It was an opportunity for us to discuss the development of new technology in Quebec and to observe the results of a collaboration between the Université de Sherbrooke and IBM that will benefit the region economical…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for the question. It is an extremely important question. We are present, we are here to provide support and help, and we will continue that work.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I thank my almost neighbour for her question and comments. I agree that all our organizations need support and financial aid. During the pandemic, we have been very present, investing $100 million in emergency funding. For Quebec, that represents $17.5 million. We brought in the first gender-based violence strategy. These examples show our willingness to be there to support these orga…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for his very important and relevant question. I was a member of the board of directors for L'Escale, a shelter for women fleeing from violence. When we would go there in the evenings for our board meetings, we would see children doing their homework in the workers' offices. Their mothers were there to help and support them, happy despite it all, despite everything…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I would first like to mention that I will be sharing my time with the member for Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle. They were rays of sunshine, daughters, sisters, fantastic mothers. They were women. COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on women. During the pandemic, twice as many women as men lost their jobs. It is primarily women who work in essential services. They are working on the fr…
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Mr. Speaker, during made in Canada week, I had the opportunity to meet with Sherbrooke businesses that contributed to the fight against COVID-19. Today I would like to applaud their efforts. MI Integration supplies N99 masks to 15 hospitals across Quebec, as demand steadily rises. SOS Odours, E2metrix and Laboratoire M2 are producing disinfectant and antiseptic cleaner. I want to say a huge thanks…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, February is Black History Month, and this month I have met with a number of leaders in this community to acknowledge the important work they do. Two of the people I spoke to are Aïssé Touré and Angélique Goguen-Couture. They are nurses fighting COVID-19, and they also founded Black Estrie, an organization that spotlights inspiring Quebeckers from the Black community. I also met with M…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to reply to the important question posed by my colleague from Mégantic—L'Érable. The government understands that our two official languages are at the heart of who we are as Canadians. Our two official languages, along with the indigenous languages, are what makes Canada such a unique place. The government believes that the time has come to …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I remind my hon. colleague of the Conservatives' legacy on official languages. They made cuts to the court challenges program and appointed unilingual anglophone judges to the Supreme Court. A Conservative colleague recently said that French was taking up too much space in her party. Before my colleague accuses us of not doing anything, I suggest that he take a look at what is going…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, I wonder why my colleague is using that tone, because if there is one thing we share, it is a love of the French language. Today we are proud to be tabling an ambitious reform with excellent measures that will help us make progress. This is a big part of our plan to better protect French in this country, give French a boost and increase the rate of bilingualism in Canada.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. All Quebeckers have the right to work and to be served in French, and that is exactly what we are proposing. Since we respect our jurisdictional responsibilities, we are acting within those limits. The Government of Canada has a role to play in the protection of official language minority communities, and it will do so in partnership with …
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, entrepreneurial innovation is in full swing in Quebec. As an MP, I do whatever I can to help innovative Sherbrooke businesses and make sure they have what they need to grow. In my riding last week, I had an opportunity to announce $920,000 in funding for Productique Québec, a college centre for technology transfer affiliated with the Sherbrooke CEGEP. Productique Québec specializes in…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment to mark the passing of a great woman from Sherbrooke on January 6. Marie-Paule Kirouac played a key role in the creation of Maison Aube-Lumière, a palliative care home for people in the advanced stages of cancer. She was also the organization's first executive director. Ms. Kirouac was a fighter. She never backed down from a challenge. She was an amazingl…
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