Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, this is not the time for conversations, this is the time for action. The Liberals are punting the decision about the legality of advance requests to the Conservatives, a party that has been against any form of medical assistance in dying from the very beginning, a party that is basically controlled by the religious right. This is a party that gets its funding from the collection plate…
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Mr. Speaker, what is clear is that the current situation suits the Liberals, who do not have to take the blame for proroguing or for postponing opposition days, which would allow for a non-confidence motion to be moved. Yes, it is a disgrace that they have been refusing to table documents for three weeks. After three weeks, it is clear that they will not be tabling them. It is up to the people to …
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Mr. Speaker, earlier, the member for Louis-Saint-Laurent called the Bloc Québécois naive. I wonder who is really naive. The Conservatives are like an army of Gollums, obsessed with seizing their precious power. They are forcing the government to table documents, which we agreed on. However, unlike the Conservatives, who are not unanimous, we are unanimous on the fact that we are not going to sacri…
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Mr. Speaker, on October 30, Quebec will finally allow requests for medical assistance in dying. However, the Minister of Health still wants to put on the brakes. He said last week that Quebec was moving too fast and even suggested that he might challenge its decision. Quebec is not moving too fast. It has been preparing for this for years. Patients like Sandra Demontigny have been working toward t…
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Mr. Speaker, October 30 is just two days away, and the federal government is still hindering access to end-of-life care. For the past six months, six professional bodies have been calling on the government to align the Criminal Code with Quebec's legislation. The deadline is two days away, and doctors are concerned about the legal uncertainty because the federal government has done nothing. Will t…
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Ms. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois is not proposing preferential treatment under the Criminal Code. It is proposing a procedure to strictly regulate end-of-life care. Our Bill C‑390 simply allows provinces that have passed legislation, and that are ready, to move forward with advance requests free from risk. It respects the provinces' pace. It respects health care workers. It respects the right of si…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I am in a particularly good mood today and I want to spread that joy. Be happy, because I found an incredible whisky in my riding that you just cannot pass up. It is sure to become the Speaker's whisky. It is 100% organic, 100% made in Quebec and it tastes damn good. Pembroke whisky is the latest creation of the Grand Dérangement distillery in Saint‑Jacques, which has already brought …
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Madam Speaker, I think my colleague from Chicoutimi—Le Fjord's assessment of the relevance of his colleagues' questions is, shall we say, malleable. When my colleague asked a question, the member said it was off topic, but apparently woodland caribou is on topic. Anyway, in his speech, he talked about the sponsorship scandal. He often questions the Bloc Québécois's relevance, so I would just like …
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Mr. Speaker, I want to mark the 250th anniversary of Saint-Jacques, a wonderful municipality in my riding. This great little town is considered the cradle of New Acadia. Founded in 1774, Saint-Jacques was a refuge for many Acadian families, who found there a welcoming and peaceful place after they were shamefully deported by the British Crown during the Great Upheaval. Nestled in the heart of Lana…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, tonight we are talking about foreign interference. After listening to all of my colleagues' speeches and concerns, it occurred to me that the word “interference” rhymes with the words “negligence”, “indifference” and “complacence”. Consider water as an analogy. When water seeps in, when it erodes a road or shoreline, it does not happen suddenly. It happens gradually. We are here, toni…
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Madam Speaker, I am indeed an independence activist, or, as my rivals would say, a separatist. India calls its Sikh citizens separatists. My belief in independence is based on democratic values. I have said before that I am a sovereigntist, because the democratic ideal is rooted in the sovereignty of the people. In that sense, I do not think any comparison is possible between Quebec separatists an…
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Mr. Speaker, any time I see bad moves like that, I cannot help but wonder what they could mean and what interests are behind them. Are they political or commercial interests? We have seen how former ministers and elected officials have found themselves working for major Chinese companies shortly after leaving office. I do not have an answer to that question, but it needs to be answered.
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, according to what the Prime Minister said under oath, one political party has some problems with foreign interference. There could be people in that party who are more likely to be faced with that. I am trying to choose my words carefully. These people could be influenced or could be dealing with foreign interference. When a prime minister says something like that under oath, the Lead…
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Madam Speaker, the more I listen to this debate, the more I get the sense that the government is just saying that it is urgent to move forward, but that its actions say otherwise. We ask Liberal Party members in the House questions. We tell them that seniors are waiting, but we get no answers. There is no one on the other end of the line. Concerning supply management, the government says it would …
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Madam Speaker, earlier on, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House asked, as my Liberal colleague just said, why not send the matter to committee as quickly as possible? That is my first question. My colleague was talking about how redacted documents have become the norm, and so on. We are not dealing with a matter of state, a state secret or a trade secret. We are…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Trois-Rivières. Not to brag but to let members know where I was coming from, I already had the opportunity to say, during another question of privilege last week, that I taught ethics for 30 years. I have some political experience from two legislatures. I fail to understand the situation that we find ourselves in today. Parliamentary commi…
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Mr. Speaker, I apologize. As I was saying, we will see people change sides. We can always give them the benefit of the doubt, but they may have the same attitude. When we ask for documents, they are completely redacted. What is the government afraid of? When one seeks a mandate to sit in a chamber like this one, and when one party manages to get enough representatives elected that it can form gove…
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Madam Speaker, never have I heard such a distressing speech about arbitrariness and relativism. They seem to be trivializing what seniors, the various FADOQ groups and the Association québécoise de défense des droits des personnes retraitées et préretraitées have been asking for. He is a member from Quebec, but he does not hear these people. When people have worked hard all their lives, sometimes …
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Mr. Speaker, aside from that one, I remember the problem with Sustainable Development Technology Canada and the problem with the Winnipeg lab. Again, we had to work hard to try to get accountability and transparency. There was also the ArriveCAN and WE Charity scandals. That is why I say that it looks a lot like a government on its last legs.
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Madam Speaker, I have rarely heard a minister make a speech so full of political posturing and crass partisanship. That is not at all representative of what a minister who is dignified should be when dealing with seniors who are suffering. Was the $34 billion for Trans Mountain evidence-based? Was the $83 billion in tax credits to oil companies evidence-based? Was the $2 billion in administrative …
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Madam Speaker, I have rarely heard so many ridiculous speeches in the House. Quite frankly, this minister's constituents deserve better. I was wondering why there were problems between the federal government and Quebec regarding meals on wheels, when there were never any issues before this minister came along. I can see that he is making the situation a lot worse with his partisanship. I am talkin…
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to take issue with this government's respect for standing committees. One example is the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health, which prepared a report on a study of the harms associated with breast implants, with unanimous recommendations. The House was told that breast implant illness had to be recognized. This government has done nothing with this excep…
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Mr. Speaker, we may agree on the substance, but I do not think that it is all that different. I think that this kind of broken promise and the lack of transparency related to conflicts of interest both fuel cynicism. I am a little surprised by my colleague's question because it is as though the Conservative Party was waiting for this reform when they were against it, if memory serves, and I think …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, we have issued an ultimatum for supply management. That date is October 29. Yesterday, senators once again took our Bill C‑282, which protects farmers, off their agenda. The Senate has been stalling on this bill for a year and a half now, even though all parties voted for it. The Liberals should ask themselves whether they want to put their fate in the hands of some unelected senators…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my Conservative colleague's attempt to bring this debate into the realm of ethics. I would just like to point out that I taught ethics, political philosophy and democracy for 30 years. Let us be clear. The primary job of a member of Parliament is to hold the government to account, regardless of its political stripe. It makes no difference whether it is a majority or minor…
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Mr. Speaker, every party should be speaking out about the fact that senators are acting like elected members and obstructing the will of the House, which is to protect farmers. The Liberals should be even more motivated to do so because their fate is on the line. These unelected senators believe they have the right to decide for the Liberals. This is our appeal to the Liberals and the other partie…
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Madam Speaker, we said in several occasions that we have no more confidence in the Liberals than in the Conservatives, and for good reason. Let me first mention a few contradictions. The government calls itself the champion of the free choice of pregnant women when it comes to making decisions about their own bodies, specifically under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, on t…
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Madam Speaker, like Gollum and his “precious”, the leader of the Conservative Party is so obsessed with the throne that even though he gets 125 questions a week, I have never heard him ask a single question about protecting supply management. I have never heard him ask a single question about advance requests for medical assistance in dying. He opposes that. I have never heard him ask a single que…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a comment. I want to congratulate my colleague on his speech. I am a proud sovereignist and I am often asked whether my work in Ottawa is interesting. I say that it is, because when the Bloc Québécois takes a position, we do so as if we are defining the parameters of our future country. We just heard an eloquent speech that set out the Bloc Québécois's position on…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech, which was quite clear. He did a good job explaining that the government wanted to correct an injustice by ensuring that people who have wrongly lost their citizenship could get it back. During the debates, at least yesterday's debate, the official opposition pointed out that this bill could have negative effects, specifically that it could create a…
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Mr. Speaker, since February 2023, the Minister of Justice has been repeating that he is consulting the provinces, that he is reflecting carefully and that advance requests are complicated. Meanwhile, 83% of Canadians and 87% of Quebeckers support this option. While the minister dithers, Quebec has passed a law. Patients are waiting for this to be implemented, and doctors want to practise with peac…
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Madam Speaker, when I read the outline of this bill, I thought that there was no way we would dither and debate this for long, because there is still a pressing need to correct an injustice. I do not see how anyone could justify waiting to correct an injustice. That is why I was very surprised to see the Conservatives say no just now to the motion that would have allowed us to move quickly to corr…
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Madam Speaker, I have been listening to my Conservative colleague's questions for a while now. I get the impression that he wants to use all of our time or impose time for debate to discuss all the problems that exist with the management of immigration, when this is really about one case of injustice that is simple to resolve. However, he opposes a motion that would speed things up. He is putting …
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Madam Speaker, what my colleague said in his speech is exactly what I was talking about. It does a lot, but it does not address the main issue. Let me give an example. A Quebec couple goes to work abroad for the Quebec government. They have a child. They come back. That child spends his whole life in Quebec and is therefore a Canadian citizen. When that child becomes an adult, he himself goes to w…
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Mr. Speaker, on October 30, Quebec will move forward on behalf of patients and their families and implement its own legislation to regulate advance requests for medical assistance in dying. Six professional associations are calling on the federal government to harmonize the Criminal Code with Quebec's legislation. The Collège des médecins du Québec said, and I quote, “We deplore the fact that Otta…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague spoke about the parts of the bill that he, like us, considers very important. However, he avoided talking about postponing the elections, a proposal supposedly aimed at accommodating Canada's Indian communities for Diwali, the festival of lights. Can my colleague look me in the eye and tell me that the Liberals are not using Diwali as a pretext for allowing 22 Liberal m…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not think that was a question for me. My colleague's comment was about what the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons said.
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Mr. Speaker, I believe that the Harper government was penalized in 2015, so I think that the member has his answer. When a government goes beyond the democratic interest, the public is smart enough to penalize that government. I trust the public's intelligence. I trust voters' intelligence. Indeed, everyone must be allowed to vote. When a society allows an individual to vote, it is the ultimate ge…
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Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, this is the elephant in the room. It is nothing but an excuse, a self-serving use of religion as a pretext for purely financial gain. It is unfortunate because it fuels public cynicism toward elected officials. It paints everyone in the House with the same brush.
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Mr. Speaker, it happens all too often that we show up in committee after having voted for a bill in principle, but we do not get a chance to introduce amendments because of the Liberal majority. The Canada Elections Act is too important to take that risk. There is no way we can trust people who had the gall to present what they did. It is crooked, and we do not trust people like that.
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Mr. Speaker, this is not enough to bring down a government. I would tell my colleague that I hope to get Bill C-282 passed for our farmers before triggering an election. This bill is now in the Senate and is being held up by Conservative and Liberal senators, despite the fact that it was passed almost unanimously in the House. I hope my colleague feels the same way I do.
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Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my speech, had the bill been drafted to include only those things, our position would probably have been different. I would add that, absent a guarantee that this crooked addition will be removed from the bill, there is no way we can support sending the bill to committee. This bill also provides that the Chief Electoral Officer may consider conflicts with another ele…
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Mr. Speaker, I have said many times in the House that I am indeed a separatist, but if I am a separatist, it is because I am fundamentally a democrat, since the democratic ideal is contained in the idea of a people's sovereignty. Just because I am willing to acknowledge that I do not know everything, that does not mean I am against the idea of ensuring that the election in Alberta holds up. I too …
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Madam Speaker, voting in federal elections is allowed every day at the office of the returning officer. Currently, without the law, there are four days of early voting prior to voting day, people can vote by mail and they can vote on campuses. Simply put, there are plenty of opportunities to vote. Officially, the government is citing the need to accommodate the festival of lights, Diwali, a holida…
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Mr. Speaker, let us acknowledge the fact that any legislation amending the Canada Elections Act is significant. This act is the cornerstone upon which the legitimacy of parliamentary democracy and elected officials, and by extension the government, lies. My first comment is that this important bill was introduced 48 hours before the summer break, along with a gag order. That is great for debate. T…
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Mr. Speaker, the members of the Bloc Québécois are in favour of transparency. It is important to be able to make informed decisions and have informed debates. We are also in favour of this motion because intellectual integrity means a lot to us, unlike some Conservative members from Quebec who have spent the past year fearmongering about the carbon tax and saying it applies in Quebec when it does …
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Madam Speaker, there is no interpretation.
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He is laying it on a bit thick, Madam Speaker. I do not have enough time to go over and correct my colleague's remarks. Everyone is to blame but them. Basically, he is promoting single-party rule, a return to totalitarianism. His conception of democracy is that Canada would be better off if all 338 seats went to the Conservatives. I would like to know why my colleague always votes against the Bloc…
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Madam Speaker, with all due respect to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, he cannot deny that the Auditor General released a report. The findings of that report are absolutely devastating and require an in-depth review. Taxpayers expect accountability. They expect us, as elected officials, to be able to shed light on this type of scandal. Is he pre…
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues mentioned earlier in their analysis of the NDP motion, it is targeting a genuine problem but proposing a false solution. How would we cap the prices of essential foods? I would like my colleague to tell me how the price of bread can be capped when wheat prices are negotiated on the Chicago Stock Exchange.
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