Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I believe that the government must keep a minimum of 78 Quebec members in the House of Commons to ensure representation, and that it must also take into account the demographic reality. As for the recognition of nationhood, that is an issue we must continue to debate, and it is one that Quebeckers and MPs will always continue to debate.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, in these times of crisis, Canadians deserve real answers from their government. Today, instead of answering when asked if Canada intends to expel the Russian ambassador, the Prime Minister evaded the question. Yesterday, when she was asked the same question, the Minister of Finance said that everything was on the table. Let us see what is on the table. For six days Ukraine has been in…
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Mr. Speaker, I put the question to the Prime Minister, but I did not get an answer. The Minister of Finance was asked the question, but there was no answer. The parliamentary secretary was sent to tell us that there was no answer and that the ambassador had been called in for a slap on the wrist. We have moved beyond that. For six days, this ambassador has been an accomplice of the Putin regime. F…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, whether in Lac-Mégantic, Thetford Mines, Plessisville or even here in Ottawa, our world has changed over the past few days. The word “freedom” has been given a whole new meaning. Unfortunately, the unthinkable has happened: Evil has awakened and revealed its true nature. Today, whether in Kyiv, Kharkiv or Odessa, peace has turned into war and happiness has turned into fear. People do …
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Mr. Speaker, Putin's regime has gone too far, and the West must take action. We are witnessing the biggest war in Europe since the Second World War. Russian troops and aircraft have attacked Ukrainian civilians in defiance of international law. We believe the government can and should do more. Putin's regime can no longer enjoy a relationship with Canada. Will the Prime Minister declare the Russia…
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Mr. Speaker, my legislative assistant has family and friends in Ukraine. He told me how hard it is for the Ukrainians who have been displaced by the conflict to get to safety. According to him, taxi drivers in Moldova are providing free taxi services at the border, hotels in Poland are providing free lodgings, and Romania is setting up camps to house Ukrainians. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians…
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Mr. Speaker, let us take the Prime Minister at his word. This morning, the member for Beaches—East York stated in the House that he was not convinced that the emergency measures should remain in place after today. He also said that he would vote accordingly, but that it is now a vote of confidence. Is it true that the Prime Minister, after appealing for unity, is threatening his backbenchers with …
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Mr. Speaker, that was a lot of words, a lot of words and then a lot of words. I listened carefully to the Prime Minister. It is not enough to tell Canadians to talk to each other. The Prime Minister needs to set an example. When has he made an effort to listen to Canadians who do not think like him? Has he taken the time to call the member for Louis-Hébert? Is he forcing his members to vote in fav…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for her speech. I am somewhat baffled by the comments I just heard from our Liberal colleague. The Liberals pick and choose what applies to us and claim that the Emergencies Act is there to be used but will have no impact on the provinces that decide not to use it. Does my colleague agree that an emergency measures act that applies from coast to coast…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I would prefer to stand in the House today and talk about inflation. I would prefer to stand in the House today to defend the mothers, fathers and seniors who have suffered so much since the beginning of the pandemic and who are facing all sorts of really difficult situations. However, because of this Prime Minister's inaction, because he chose to protect his career rather than listen…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, the official opposition is the official opposition. This Prime Minister had the tools to work with the provinces and send additional police officers in response to the City of Ottawa's request when the City of Ottawa made that request. Ministers could have intervened, but they did not. The question the member is asking the official oppositio…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, the Premier of Quebec has said that invoking the Emergencies Act could add fuel to the fire by further polarizing the population. He made it clear to the Prime Minister that the act should not apply to Quebec. He does not think we need it. He does not see how it would improve the social climate at this time. I can also reference the premiers of Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and Alber…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, since the pandemic began, I have had the opportunity on countless occasions to listen to speeches and presentations from my hon. colleague using a little tool called Zoom, on a little computer. I have heard the member defend the Liberal government several times on this little screen. Hiding means not answering questions. It means refusing to take a stand. That is what the Prime Minist…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, as a Canadian, I am disappointed today. This morning, the Prime Minister finally deigned to speak in the House of Commons, this sacred place of Canadian democracy, following his decision to invoke the Emergencies Act throughout Canada. He had a unique opportunity to justify his decision to use this extreme legislation in order to bring an end to the crisis that he himself created. He …
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Mr. Speaker, I think the Minister of Finance should update her talking points. The Windsor blockade is gone. It is done. The Emergencies Act was not required. The Prime Minister has repeatedly stated that foreign groups were supporting the demonstrations here in Ottawa. Last week at the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, the deputy director of intelligence for the Financial…
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Mr. Speaker, let me say it again: There are no longer any blockades at the border. The issue was resolved without the Emergencies Act. That is the reality. This is the first time in Canadian history that the Emergencies Act is being invoked. This legislation's predecessor, the War Measures Act, was used only three times: during World War I, World War II and the October crisis. The Prime Minister s…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, the speech by my colleague from the Bloc Québécois was quite eloquent and truthful. I enjoyed his reference to trilogies. We have seen three different governments over the past few weeks and three completely different Prime Ministers, but there were several trilogies, including the one at the beginning that he mentioned. It also happened in this crisis and, if we start looking around,…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has proven today that all he cares about is getting out of the crisis that he, himself, created. His lack of leadership is the direct cause of this crisis. He mentioned the history books earlier. He will go down in history as the Prime Minister most lacking in leadership in the history of Canada. He has barely answered any questions from the opposition on the real r…
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Mr. Speaker, insulting Canadians, as the Prime Minister has done, is not what we would call leadership. Canada has never been as divided as it is today. That is what happens when a Prime Minister chooses to play at being a master politician rather than act like a head of state. He is not seeing the discontent in our ridings or in his party and caucus. He is not seeing the discontent across the cou…
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Mr. Speaker, let us look at what he did. When he had the opportunity as the head of government to take action to deal with COVID‑19, he chose to play politics. He called an election in the middle of a pandemic, which allowed him to divide Canadians and stigmatize those who do not think like him. He imposed a vaccine on truckers without any scientific evidence. He demonized and ridiculed some of hi…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are not fooled. They understand the Prime Minister’s political games. First, according to his own MPs, he wilfully chose to wedge, to divide and to stigmatize in order to win an election. We are not the ones saying that. It is people from his own team and caucus. He then chose to politicize the pandemic, and that is what he is still doing today. Section 16 of the Emergencies…
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Madam Speaker, the situation that is unfolding today was entirely avoidable. The Prime Minister's campaign to divide Canadians and to divide his own caucus contributed to this escalation and, unfortunately, he went into hiding for days instead of trying to defuse tensions. The public wants a peaceful resolution to this conflict, an end to the protests, but not the military on the streets. Will the…
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Madam Speaker, to work together and to unify, that should be the message of the Prime Minister's speeches in these extremely difficult times, when everyone is tired of the pandemic. Unfortunately, we learned this week from the chair of the Quebec Liberal caucus that the Prime Minister had decided to use an approach to divide and stigmatize. Millions of Canadians, the opposition parties and more an…
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Madam Speaker, that is not a plan. The Prime Minister should have listened to Canadians months ago. He is responsible for what is happening right now. Canadians are suffering and looking for a sign of hope. He cannot just tell them that he understands and knows what they are going through. He is the Prime Minister; it is his responsibility. The well-respected member of Parliament for Mount Royal a…
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Madam Speaker, let me explain to my colleague that Canadians are rightly wondering what criteria will be used to lift restrictions. We have vaccine mandates. People are working from home. We have PCR tests at the border. Is the Prime Minister waiting until 100% of Canadians are vaccinated? Our vaccination rate is higher than any other G7 country's. Canadians have done their part, and we are proud …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, we are two years into the pandemic, almost two years into public health measures and lockdowns. Canadians have been taking it on the chin for two years. Travel is virtually impossible. Small businesses have had to close their doors. Restaurants have opened, closed, opened and closed their doors. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians suddenly found themselves jobless. Everything is more…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, we notice that there is a tendency on the Liberal side to want to add fuel to the fire. While we are putting our heads together with all members of the House to come up with a solution, while we are trying to invite all party leaders to work together, the member who just spoke continues to add fuel to the fire, just like his Prime Minister. Unfortunately, we are far from having a Pr…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I want to thank the members of the Bloc Québécois for supporting our motion. Like us, it seems that the people of Quebec have done their part. They have worked hard, they have made a lot of sacrifices to get to the next stage and learn to live with COVID‑19. The Government of Quebec has done it. It has announced measures, it has announced a plan with specific dates for lifting restr…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague wants to know what the Conservatives will do. Unfortunately, the person responsible for this situation and this crisis is the Prime Minister. Given that we are in the opposition—
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Madam Speaker, I would invite my colleague to read the motion carefully. It is very clear. We are calling on the government to table a plan for lifting all of the restrictions. We are asking the government to give us exact dates, and to tell us what is going to be done and when it will do away with the vaccine mandates and PCR testing at the border. That is what we are asking for. Our motion gives…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I did not hear the Prime Minister answer the question. As he said, Canada has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. Almost 90% of Canadians have been vaccinated. Is he waiting until 100% of Canadians are vaccinated to start thinking about presenting a plan to reopen our economy and putting an end to vaccine mandates? The question is clear: Is the Prime Minister's objectiv…
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Mr. Speaker, I hope that the Prime Minister will not hide again, like he has done for the past two weeks, and that he will be there to talk, to listen, and to bring these protests to an end. We want the protests to end. We want them to end, but we also want the Prime Minister to commit to presenting Canadians with a plan. We want this Prime Minister to do what all other levels of government here i…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would first like to thank my Bloc Québécois colleagues for supporting this motion. I think that my Bloc colleagues feel that the people in their ridings are also desperate to see a leader re-emerge to put an end to this whole situation we are currently in. Some awful things have been done. We oppose them, and we condemn them. It is absolutely incredible. However, a lot of misinfor…
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Madam Speaker, I request a recorded division.
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Mr. Speaker, on August 13, the Prime Minister announced mandatory vaccination at the federal level. On August 15, he called a useless election. On February 8, the cat was let out of the bag. Contrary to what he has been saying since the beginning of question period, two members of his own party are denouncing his party's decision to knowingly adopt a divisive approach that stigmatizes people stric…
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Mr. Speaker, I asked the Prime Minister a simple question yesterday. The current member for Louis-Hébert and former chair of the Quebec Liberal caucus has revealed the Liberal government's underlying motivation in its approach to the pandemic. He said that on the eve of the last election campaign, a decision was made to go from a positive and unifying approach to one that would divide and stigmati…
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Louis-Hébert was much clearer. We cannot end this pandemic without leadership. We cannot end this pandemic by dividing and stigmatizing Canadians. We cannot end division by hiding and refusing to take responsibility. The Prime Minister was in hiding, and it was not until one of his own members of Parliament, the chair of the Quebec Liberal caucus, spoke out about his Ma…
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Mr. Speaker, the truth came out this morning. The member for Louis-Hébert and chair of the Quebec Liberal caucus said, “I can’t help but notice with regret that both the tone and the policies of my government changed drastically on the eve [of] and during the last election campaign. From a positive and unifying approach, the decision was made to wedge, to divide and to stigmatize.” Did the Prime M…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister did not answer my question. One of his own MPs, the Quebec caucus chair and member for Louis-Hébert, is calling for an end to vaccine mandates. He believes that his government's decisions are not sufficiently backed by science. He was very clear in saying that someone in this government has deliberately chosen to take a divisive approach that stigmatizes certain peo…
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Mr. Speaker, Dr. Tam said that it is now time to reassess vaccine mandates. Dr. Tam is a scientist. We are asking the government to listen to what scientists are saying. When the Minister of Health was asked if there is scientific evidence backing up these vaccine mandates, he said nothing because there is no scientific evidence behind the vaccine mandate for truckers. The question is simple. When…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's stubbornness is incomprehensible. He is hiding rather than dealing with the real problems facing our health care system. Canada is one of the worst OECD countries when it comes to the number of hospital beds and doctors per capita. Last week, at the Council of the Federation, Premier Legault spoke on behalf of all the premiers when he said, “We made a unanimous re…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on her excellent speech. This evening, for the Prime Minister's first official public appearance since the protest currently happening on Parliament Hill began, I would have expected him to announce something. I would have expected the Prime Minister to tell us what he plans to do to find a peaceful solution to this situation that has been going on …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I am not trying; I am saying it. The Leader of the Opposition is trying to do something good for Canadians, and I will support her 100% with that. It is true that the Prime Minister has a responsibility to deal with what we are facing right now. I stand with that, because he was hiding for more than a week instead of addressing this urgent and very disastrous matter.
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I am an opposition member. On Friday, I asked the House a clear question. I said that it was time to put an end to the protest. I also said that it was time to put an end to the restrictions that sparked the protest. I did not get any answer from the government. That is the problem. The government is trying to make this crisis someone else's, anyone else's, responsibility, even though…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I will try to keep it to 30 seconds, so I will focus on one very important aspect. The acts of hate and racism are abhorrent and we denounce them wholeheartedly. These types of actions have no place in a democracy, no matter what is being protested. However, the right to protest is entrenched in Canada. I have often seen my colleague protesting in Montreal for all kinds of causes, in …
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Mr. Speaker, it has been a week, and it is time to put an end to the protest at Parliament Hill in Ottawa. It is also time to put an end to the restrictions that sparked the protest. The expressions of hatred and racism we have seen at the protest are unacceptable. What we are witnessing is an appalling lack of leadership. The mayor of Ottawa, the police and everyone else are asking someone, somew…
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Mr. Speaker, it has been two years since the pandemic started. More than 34,000 Canadians have died. The COVID‑19 virus has strained a health network that was already stretched thin before the pandemic began. The health network is sick. COVID‑19 is not the only reason. Canada ranks 30th among OECD countries with respect to number of hospital beds per capita, with 2.5 beds per 1,000 inhabitants. Th…
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Mr. Speaker, I have some more numbers to share with my colleague. The situation is even worse when it comes to the number of doctors. Canada ranks 32nd, with 2.7 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants, while the OECD average is 3.6 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants. It is no wonder that people are having a hard time finding a family doctor. The Conservatives have promised to increase health transfers by at lea…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I think we need to question the relevance of my colleague's comments. I would appreciate it if he would get back to the matter at hand.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on her excellent speech. I would like to hear her thoughts on inflation, which must certainly be affecting families, fathers and mothers, in her riding who are forced to make difficult decisions to feed their families. Should the government have intervened? How long should the government let inflation keep rising before it does something?
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