Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to talk about how the work is organized. In Quebec City, parliamentary committees are rigorously organized. Witnesses are not invited for just five minutes of speeches with three or four other panellists at a meeting where sometimes there are not even any questions because the witnesses are of no interest to the party in question. Expert witnesses appear at these hearin…
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Madam Speaker, since 2015, every time we have addressed medical assistance in dying in the House, it has been blocked by the Conservatives. I understand that my colleague is not happy about it. He tells me that everyone has a right to their own opinion. The Conservatives' opinion is very much based on the views of religious right-wing voters.
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Madam Speaker, when it comes to MAID, this government is not exactly a shining example of proactivity. After the Carter decision, it took a long time for the government to table a half-decent bill. Bill C‑14 was pretty worthless. It was a poor imitation of the Quebec legislation and was far from addressing the crux of the Carter decision. That being said, the issue of proactivity is still relevant…
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Madam Speaker, with all due respect to my colleague, who sits with me at the Standing Committee on Health, I invite him to reread the expert report. Honestly, when I heard him talking in his speech about people with mental disorders being put to death by the state, I thought that was utterly outrageous. Recommendation 10 states, “The requester should be assessed by at least one assessor with exper…
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Madam Speaker, it would have been good if my colleague could have sat with us on the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying. I think she is confusing two things. Just because a person requests MAID does not mean that they will be eligible to receive it, and all of the experts, whether they are in favour of MAID or not, have said that a suicidal state is reversible. I am not sure wh…
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Madam Speaker, let us try to calm down a bit. In this debate, the government is basing itself on the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying for its amendment to Bill C‑62. The Bloc Québécois would have liked to lend its support. The problem is that we believe that we should not indefinitely delay the possibility of medical assistance in dying for people with an irremediable mental …
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Madam Speaker, perhaps the interpretation was not accurate, because what I said is that the suicidal state is reversible and that all experts agree on this, whether they are for or against expanding medical assistance in dying to cover mental disorders. It is reversible. People need to stop fearmongering. I was also saying that if we expand MAID to cover things like mental disorders, it could have…
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Madam Speaker, that is precisely why I am saying that the government lacks courage. Faced with the political rhetoric machine, the government thinks it is better to backtrack, knowing full well that, by postponing this until 2027, it is quite possible that the same government will not be deciding what to do about mental disorders. What it could do is extend it for a year, and if we are still not r…
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Madam Speaker, I am not so sure about the wording of that question. It is up to the patient to make the request, but it is not the patient who ultimately decides. The decision is made by the assessors, the treatment team as well as a psychiatrist who is independent of the treatment team and independent of the person who will carry out the procedure. There will also be prospective oversight, not re…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, medical assistance in dying is a matter of freedom of choice. The Liberals should understand that. The role of the state is to guarantee the conditions for exercising a free and informed choice. Those who do not want medical assistance in dying do not need to apply for it. It is as simple as that. The National Assembly is unanimous. Quebec is ready. It has its own legislation. Will th…
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Mr. Speaker, it has been a year since the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying recommended allowing advance requests. That was what the vast majority of the committee members wanted. We need to allow advance requests for people who are suffering from conditions like dementia and Alzheimer's. The federal government has been dragging its feet for a year on implementing the committe…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the comments of my colleague, who always speaks very calmly and moderately. It is a pleasure to serve with him. The NDP voted against Bill C‑14, which did not address the Carter decision's requirements at all. Bill C‑7 met the Carter decision's requirements with additional changes that required hard work, to clarify the issue. Is the NDP saying no to the idea of one day…
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Madam Speaker, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the minister say right off the bat that there was no reason to question whether there is such a thing as an irremediable mental disorder, but the Conservative members do not seem very clear on that. I do not know if she noticed the member for St. Albert—Edmonton's reaction when she said it. I would certainly be worried if I were her, because every …
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is always very eloquent when it comes to defending the “no” camp and the pro-life camp. Does his position represent the position of the Conservative party? Is that the official position of the Conservative Party? I just want us to be able to understand what is at stake in this debate today. Essentially, to him, irremediability is something that can never be proven. That…
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Madam Speaker, I never thought I would end up debating medical assistance in dying in the House again, or reliving what we went through when we passed Bill C‑14, a bad law. I never expected that the Liberals would again be in the same position, or show the same lack of courage they did with Bill C‑14, which was prescribed by the Carter-Taylor decision. Quebec passed its legislation on end-of-life …
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Madam Speaker, that is an interesting question. I would like to point out to my colleague that the committee had very little time to assess whether the system was ready. We had two or three meetings to determine that and the deadline was ridiculous. However, many people came and told us that the system was ready. The Quebec National Assembly took a stand in 2021. Bill C‑7 was passed after that, af…
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Madam Speaker, that is an excellent question. In the supplementary report that I tabled, I note that, if we had had more time, we could have engaged with these people. By engaging with these people, we could have understood exactly what their concerns were. A certain number of associations did tell us that everything was ready for us to do this. The member knows that. For example, the Association …
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Madam Speaker, briefly put, I would say they lack courage. In this place, courage and compassion are lacking, and action is based far too much on ideology. As I said earlier, only the individual can compare their life in one condition to their life in another condition, and this does not mean comparing two different lives. In that sense, we cannot turn a deaf ear to suffering. We have to listen an…
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Mr. Speaker, of course, we could impose harsher sentences, but in order to be able to do so, we have to be able to bring down the organizations and catch the people who are committing these crimes. Will the member do the honourable thing today and recognize that, by making cuts to the CBSA, the RCMP and ports, the Conservative government made a mistake that is having an impact on what is happening…
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Mr. Speaker, next time I will make it a proper question of privilege, as I have previously done in the House. I am sorry to have to say this, Mr. Speaker, but before the holidays, you unfortunately did not have control of the House, and that interfered with my parliamentary privilege to hear questions and answers during question period. What is more, it also infringed on my right to have and prese…
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Mr. Speaker, I have two points of order. Would you please remind the member for Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis that members may not knowingly mislead the House? The Bloc Québécois voted against the Liberal budget. We do not support it.
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Mr. Speaker, since the 1970s, dental care for young people has been covered by Quebec's health insurance plan, or RAMQ. The Quebec government was open to an agreement to improve the plan. All of the transferred funds would have been used for dental care. The Liberals knew that, but they win more votes by diving head first into Quebec's areas of jurisdiction than by transferring money. Quebec has t…
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Mr. Speaker, the government needed a feel-good announcement after its disastrous performance in the fall. Wanting to please its centralizing NDP allies, it chose dental care, a health care service that already exists in Quebec. It chose an area of jurisdiction that falls to Quebec and the provinces. It chose to interfere instead of support. It chose encroachment instead of collaboration. How does …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 16th report of the Standing Committee on Health entitled “Strengthening the Oversight of Breast Implants”, which we hope will bring some hope to those women who have been the victims of adverse effects of breast implants. Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive respon…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, this is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, which we are marking with the Bowvember campaign. Quebeckers are especially motivated this year, because it was prostate cancer that took the life of Karl Tremblay, the lead singer of Les Cowboys Fringants. He was not even 50 years old. Growing a moustache or wearing the Procure bow tie is great, because it helps get information out there and i…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Though rarer in men, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Some 28,000 Canadians are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Of course, the survival rate has improved, which is good news. To do even better, we must continue to screen for can…
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Madam Speaker, I have already had the opportunity to speak to Bill C‑49 by saying that this attempt to remove the term “petroleum” from the names of the boards was just more smoke and mirrors from the Liberals when it comes to the environment. In Quebec, we do not need to double oil and gas production. Could my colleague explain to me why, from coast to coast to coast, there is so much need for oi…
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Madam Speaker, at first glance, Bill C‑49 does not seem to do away with the annual process for the auction and sale of exploratory drilling permits. Why then was the word “petroleum” removed from the names of the two boards if their mission still involves offshore oil and gas development? Is this more smoke and mirrors from the Liberals when it comes to the environment?
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his thoughtful speech. He raised several points. This bill is not nothing. It enacts a reverse onus. The Bloc Québécois said that it will support this bill. However, does the member believe that Bill C-48, as it now stands, passes the constitutional test that he spoke about earlier? If so, why? If not, why?
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply and will be voting in favour.
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Mr. Speaker, our dean, the member for Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel, encountered a serious issue. He was unable to connect to vote. Could we have his vote count? He is voting in favour.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote in favour.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote in favour.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote in favour.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote no.
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Madam Speaker, I put the question to a Conservative colleague earlier. I am going to ask my colleague the same question because he tells us that he is concerned about the fight against climate change. In 2022, $275 billion was spent to clean up the mess. That same year, the five big oil companies made $220 billion in profits. This government, which spends a lot, but also very badly, because it pri…
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Madam Speaker, in 2022, environmental disasters caused by climate change cost $275 billion. The five biggest oil companies made $220 billion in profits in 2022. Oil companies received $20 billion in funding from the government. I rounded these figures. As my colleague claims, we know that the government spends unwisely. Does he believe that the $20 billion the government spent on an industry that …
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague talked about a plan to return to balanced budgets. We agree that governments need to be able to plan ahead. It is only right for us to be able to see a plan. My colleague is worried about inflation. Pensioners on fixed incomes and seniors are struggling to make ends meet. Does he not think that instead of giving $20 billion in subsidies to oil companies that made $220 bil…
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote in favour.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will be voting in favour.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the results of the previous vote to this vote, adding the member for Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel, and will be voting in favour of the motion.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the result of the previous vote and is voting in favour of the motion.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote in favour.
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to close the debate at third reading of the bill. I have five short minutes to hopefully try to convince the very few who are still uncertain about this bill. Here we are at the last step of a parliamentary process to pass my bill, Bill C-282. Today, during these five short minutes, I would like to speak from the heart and set aside the technical aspects of my previo…
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Madam Speaker, I hear my colleague. I feel he could at least have the intellectual honesty to correctly quote what the Bloc Québécois said. We are facing a rejection of custom and tradition, and he is acting like it means nothing. He is taking an exceptional pandemic situation, in which we all participated and co-operated, and setting an absolutely shameful precedent. He is talking about the votin…
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Madam Speaker, I wanted to pick up on my colleague's last statement. He talked about phenomenal amounts of money. In 2022 alone, $275 billion were needed to address natural disasters around the world. That same year, big western oil companies made $220 billion in profit. Meanwhile, in Canada, we are giving $20.215 billion to support oil companies. Could my colleague comment on this situation?
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Mr. Speaker, these oil and gas projects will indeed exacerbate the climate crisis and also negatively impact peoples' health. The primary determinant of health and disease is the environment. That is quite obvious. They cannot see the forest for the trees. When it comes to the environment, there should be no compromise. Then the government is surprised that it needs to sink huge sums into taking c…
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Mr. Speaker, one thing is certain: The government talks a great deal about this right to a healthy environment as if it were indeed enshrined in the Constitution. If it were really serious, this right would be constitutionalized. When the government implements reform and revises laws only to go to committee and oppose improvements—amendments that could improve or, at the very least, guide the gove…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not know whether my colleague followed the work that was done in committee. One thing is certain. If he wanted to be more accurate, he could have at least said that the Bloc Québécois worked really hard and that its amendment to have the federal government respect Quebec's jurisdictions was not adopted. My colleague conveniently forgot to mention that because what he is known for…
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois believes that the Quebec nation has sole jurisdiction over public decisions concerning the environment and Quebec's territory. On April 13, 2022, parliamentarians belonging to all political parties represented in the National Assembly of Quebec unanimously adopted a motion affirming the primacy of Quebec's jurisdiction in matters of the environment. The elected offi…
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