Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, with regard to the interpretation, the volume is the same for both the English and the French, so I am having a lot of trouble hearing either one.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal are in court fighting indigenous children who were ripped from their families in 2005. I would remind members that the Liberals were also the party in power in 2005. Fifteen years later, this is still before the courts. I encourage the Prime Minister to do a favour to whoever is prime minister 15 years from now. Will he terminate this legal action? Will he spare the future…
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Mr. Speaker, led by the government, all the parties just passed a bill to designate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day to commemorate the indigenous children who were ripped from their families and sent to residential schools. Meanwhile, just this morning, the government was in court fighting indigenous children who were also ripped from their families and sent to foster homes. T…
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Mr. Speaker, I will wait for a call from the technical team.
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Mr. Speaker, it is exactly the same, and I am not the only one having this problem. People have written to me to tell me that they cannot hear anything and that the volume is set at the same level in both languages.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the volume of the French interpretation is lower.
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Mr. Speaker, I hope the people of Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine will hear what the minister said. Today, in Grande-Rivière, in the Gaspé, the federal government is abandoning fishers and hurting the economy. This spring—and we do not even know what will happen next year—port facilities are being abandoned in Cap-aux-Meules, in the Magdalen Islands, putting fishing seasons at risk. The federal …
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Mr. Speaker, the fishing vessels in Grande‑Rivière in the Gaspé have been abandoned by the federal government. The Government of Quebec asked Ottawa to provide funding for the winter storage facility for those fishing vessels, but Ottawa refuses to broaden the scope of the Quebec fisheries fund, despite the fact that only $5 million of the $42 million provided for the fund have been disbursed over…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I will speak frankly. The Bloc Québécois proposes that the next Governor General of Canada be given a salary of one dollar. The reason for this is very simple: When one holds a position of symbolic value, it only makes sense that one should receive a salary of equally symbolic value. Historically, as it was mentioned earlier, the role of the Governor General called for the incumbent t…
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Mr. Speaker, when the leader of the Bloc Québécois spoke about the tragic events in London, he called for an end to the hate and violence. He called for more solidarity, love and friendship. By contrast, the Prime Minister seems to want to sow division. He made a vile connection between intolerance, Islamophobia and Quebec's secularism law, comments that were particularly shameful in light of rece…
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Mr. Speaker, we are not the only ones to have noted this conflation. This morning, the Quebec National Assembly unanimously passed a motion that the National Assembly strongly condemn all forms of hate and violent crimes, and that it condemn the fact that certain politicians and media outside Quebec are conflating the tragedy in London, Ontario, and a Quebec law. Speaking of intolerance and Islamo…
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, in response to a question from the member for Lac-Saint-Jean, the Prime Minister said, “I urge the Bloc Québécois to listen to members of the Muslim community, who have expressed concerns about what they are experiencing right now in Quebec.” In a context where we must all pull together, this comes alarmingly close to conflating these issues. There is no connection between …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, same for the Bloc Québécois. We reserve the right to respond at a later time.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am at a loss for words once again this evening. I cannot express how much it pains me to talk about residential schools. It pains me as a mother, because I think of all those who lost their children. I think of all of the families and nations that carry the heavy burden of the past. It pains me to think that for decades and centuries, in British North America and then Canada, there …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, I rise today in the House with a broken heart and feeling devastated. The discovery of the remains of 215 indigenous children buried behind a residential school in Kamloops is terrible. I cannot understand it; it is so terribly sad. As a white person, I am ashamed. As a mother, I feel sick, physically sick. There are periods of history that are so dark, so ugly and so dirty that we …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comments. Of course, any legislative measure is important, as are all these gestures that my colleague and my other colleagues and I make, such as stating in the House that we want to participate in this reconciliation process. Every gesture is important, even those we make every day as individuals. I am talking about gestures, but I would also like to t…
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Madam Speaker, once again, this day of commemoration is one step, and many more steps will be required to make sure everyone is aware. The purpose of this day is to give indigenous and non-indigenous people a chance to reflect, remember, converse and share their stories. I believe this is the right approach. There needs to be interaction, communication, understanding and empathy. This day, like ma…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comments and question. As he well knows, we are both on the same page on this issue. He talked about how important this is. I would say that it is necessary. Every gesture we make is just as necessary. I hope this will be done quickly. We are talking about reconciliation, and “conciliation” means “bringing together”. We want to make these ties strong aga…
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Mr. Speaker, I must admit that I am a bit shaken today as I rise to speak to Bill C-5. It obviously has to do with the events of the past week, when the remains of 215 indigenous children were uncovered behind a residential school. Earlier, when I was thinking about this, I realized that as gruesome as this image is, it shows us that the gesture we are debating today, humble as it may be, is neces…
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Madam Speaker, the House voted in favour of increasing employment insurance sickness benefits to 50 weeks. For that to happen, however, the government needs to give a royal recommendation, and it refuses to do so. People suffering from unforeseen illnesses, such as cancer, need 50 weeks to heal. The government's proposal of 26 weeks is just half of what the most seriously ill people need. Does the…
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Madam Speaker, seniors are not happy that the federal government is dividing them into two classes by increasing the old age security pension only for those 75 and up. This week, FADOQ, the Canadian Association of Retired Persons and the National Association of Federal Retirees all condemned this move. They note that financial insecurity can affect all seniors. Misfortune does not discriminate bas…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I just want to comment on the fact that the government cannot even manage its own legislative agenda properly. That is why we are in this situation today. The government introduced Bill C-19 rather than prioritizing Bill C-15, and yet the Liberals claim they do not want an election. This government prorogued Parliament last summer, when we could have used that time to work faster an…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, the people of the Lower North Shore are sick and tired of all the problems with Canada Post. Their air mail service is being cut back more and more each year, without any justification. Mail delivery takes too long, assuming it happens at all and the items are not simply lost. Postage fees are higher for them than for other citizens, but they depend on this service for food, health …
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Madam Speaker, I did not know that simply teasing the government, which is something we do every day, could trigger an election. That said, concerning the fact that the leader of the Bloc Québécois said “bring it on”, I think that every political party and every leader is always ready for an election. I have been an MP since 2015, and I feel like I have been campaigning ever since I was elected. I…
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Madam Speaker, I completely agree with my colleague. Earlier the member for La Prairie mentioned the calendar. A bill is proposed, it gets passed, and then it gets shelved, along with all the other bills the Liberal government forgot about. Come May, it is suddenly a matter of urgency. Summer is coming, so we need to have a bill. As I was saying earlier, why do we need this bill now if an election…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. I would answer my colleague's question with a question. I am all in favour of safety, but the solution for ensuring public safety is to simply not have an election. We are not ready, and we see that with this bill. If public safety is so important to the NDP, then my question is: Why did the NDP vote in favour of time allocation to pass a botch…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be able to speak on this opposition day about Bill C-19 and the government's firm desire to have it passed under a gag order, without the agreement of any of the parties. At least, that is its desire at the moment, but it was not the case a few weeks or months ago. Personally, I would call this move selfish, irresponsible and even arrogant, and I would like to explai…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, as the Bloc Québécois critic for families, children and social development, today, I am pleased to wish all Quebeckers a happy Quebec Family Week. Family is the first home we know. Family is where we are loved, where we learn our mother tongue and where we absorb our culture. Family teaches us the values we need to develop bonds of goodwill and community with other people and other fa…
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Madam Speaker, as the member for Manicouagan, this is my own personal read of the situation, but I think it may be an after-effect of colonialism. Indeed, that is my personal view. In my opinion, that may be a holdover from our colonialist past, although, colonialism still exists. I will come back to the issue of minorities. Whether it is first nations or francophones, we see that they are treated…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I hope I understood what he was asking. If I am not mistaken, he is asking me whether this could have been done sooner. I definitely do think it could have been done sooner. I would also like to comment on something my colleague said. Yes, we need to get this done sooner and more quickly, but when I hear members of the official opposition sayin…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. As a member of the Bloc Québécois, I am very sensitive to the issue of culture and language. For me, culture and language form the very foundation of identity, of who we are as individuals, who we are as a distinct nation and what we want to bring to the world. First nations must be able to preserve their language, which is what drives the…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question. I mentioned that first nations have been waiting too long for their rights to be enshrined in federal legislation. As a member of the House of Commons, I will leave it up to Quebec's National Assembly to decide. Quebec has always led the way on this, as evidenced by treaties signed with the Cree and Naskapi nations. The relationsh…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak again on Bill C-15, which seeks to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. At this point, we are cautiously confident that it will finally pass. I say “finally” because we have been waiting for this bill for a very long time. We hope it will pass quickly, although it is still not a done deal. The Unite…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. I will go over two different things. First, in the speech I just gave, I repeated, and I actually pointed out that I was repeating myself, that this veto does not exist. It is not a veto. In my opinion, one of the first things to do is to stop pushing the idea that FPIC is a veto. The legislator was clear about this, and it is in the legislatio…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I request a recorded division.
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to be in the House tonight to conclude debate on my bill, Bill C-253, an act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act with respect to pension plans and group insurance plans. The bill has a long name, but it is actually quite simple. I will move on to its principle. What I want to do is protect the deferred salaries of …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the port facilities owned by Transport Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, since January 1, 1996: (a) what was the total amount invested in the rehabilitation, maintenance and improvement of wharves and port facilities, broken down by (i) province, (ii) year, (iii) port facility, further broken down by year; (b) of the port facilities in (a)(iii), how many deta…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to point out that the Minister of National Revenue did not have her microphone in place and it was hard to hear her, but I think she realized it at the same time.
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Mr. Speaker, that is not good enough. The fishing industry has been waiting decades for action, and it wants it now. Right now, not only is the industry worried about the 2021 season, but it is also worried that the port will deteriorate to the point of jeopardizing the 2022 season. The Magdalen Islanders want the studies on the condition of the port to be made public. They want a second independe…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am happy to speak in the House today about Bill S-3, which virtually everyone seems to agree on. However, I would like to voice a few of my concerns about the bill. I will start by summarizing the bill and the position of the Bloc Québécois. Then I will illustrate my position with a parallel before wrapping up my remarks. First, I would like to point out that this bill merely amends…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. I would like to pick up on the parallel drawn by my colleague, namely, the Port of Montreal, in Quebec. Once again, the government's failure to act has let the workers down completely. Instead, the Liberals are siding with the money, so to speak. With respect to Bill S-3, we have known for quite some time that something would need to be done…
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Mr. Speaker, the federal government has jeopardized the fishing season in the Magdalen Islands by closing 37% of the port in Cap-aux-Meules. This week marks the start of the lobster season. There has been absolutely no change, as 37% of the port is still closed, there is no work going on, no plan, no compensation and especially no leadership for Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands. When will the federa…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to pay tribute to a young and unbelievably courageous constituent of mine. When a fire broke out in a building in Sacré-Cœur on the evening of April 7, 15-year-old Loïc Tremblay courageously stepped up to save his neighbour, who has reduced mobility. The building was almost completely destroyed, but thanks to him, no one was injured. It warms my heart to hear…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Kenora for his question. Of course I agree with him on the red tape. However, just as I do not want the federal government to interfere in provincial jurisdictions, as a Bloc Québécois member, I will not interfere in the choices that the provinces make. As I mentioned in my speech, I imagine that the burden has been placed on provincial premiers. I hope the…
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Mr. Speaker, Ottawa wants to create universal child care, like the program we created in Quebec 25 years ago. Obviously, Quebec wants to receive its share of the funding with no stings attached. Last week, the Prime Minister said he would impose further improvements on Quebec's program. Yesterday on Tout le monde en parle, he said that the agreement would be “pretty much unconditional”. “Pretty mu…
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Madam Speaker, I would have a hard time identifying any differences, because even the Prime Minister cannot commit to transferring the money unconditionally. He will not commit to doing that because he does not know what is in his own federal child care strategy. This federal strategy is nothing more than pre-election political posturing. He must give the money to the provinces and let them decide…
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Madam Speaker, as my colleague from La Prairie said, there is one government too many. That is the basic premise and the first thing I want to say. Second, I want to say that I agree with my colleague from Winnipeg North. There are a lot of things that bother me as well. I hear the word “co-operation”, but Quebeckers' money gets sent to Ottawa. I want the government to send that money back to Queb…
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Madam Speaker, I rise today in the House as the Bloc Québécois critic for families, children and social development, but also as a woman, mother, worker and, naturally, Quebecker, to discuss what I believe to be the government's key measure in this budget, the federal child care program. However, we should not be blinded by this program, nor should it cloud our critical thinking. In 2021, it makes…
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Madam Speaker, the government decided to create a Canada-wide child care program like the one we have in Quebec. The problem is that the Prime Minister seems to be telling Quebec what to do with its share of the funding. His budget proposes to negotiate an agreement with Quebec that would allow for further improvements to its system. Quebec has been operating its early learning centres for almost …
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Madam Speaker, I did not get an answer to my question. As I said, Quebec has been operating its early learning centres for almost 25 years now. We invented the model. There are no federal day care centres right now. They does not exist. Based on what experience does the federal government think it can tell Quebec how to manage its share of child care funding? The Prime Minister was needlessly vagu…
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