Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am always surprised when I listen to a speech by my colleague from Winnipeg North. I simply want to reiterate some points in response to everything he said. We spent an opposition day discussing health care funding, and it went nowhere because his government did absolutely nothing. We had another opposition day on seniors, and a vote was held in the House, but your government did …
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Madam Speaker, how ironic to hear the member for Kingston and the Islands brag about his government's investment in transportation electrification. Canada lags behind in clean energy funding by a 14:1 ratio, meaning that for every $14 billion that goes to fossil fuels, just under $1 billion goes to clean energy. The member for Kingston and the Islands is awfully proud of his government's action on…
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Madam Speaker, I was listening to my colleague's speech on carbon capture strategies in the oil and gas sector. I always thought the Conservatives liked to position themselves as defenders and custodians of the public purse. Two of the big carbon capture projects under way in Alberta are costing more than $2 billion, and 57% of that is coming out of the public purse. Low-carbon oil is therefore no…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the member for Winnipeg North said we should focus on issues that are having an impact on Canadians. I think ethics is an issue that has an impact on Canadians. I think that confidence in institutions is an issue that has an impact on Canadians. What happened with the WE organization and the almost $1 billion that was given to a Liberal Party crony raises some serious questions. If …
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Madam Speaker, it is amusing to hear the member for Kingston and the Islands trying to say that everyone is partisan except for himself, and that he is the only person in the House who is not partisan. I would simply like to point out to him that all provincial premiers and all stakeholders in Quebec's health sector, including major unions and physicians' associations, and not just a specific poli…
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Madam Speaker, I heard something in my colleague's speech that I hear a lot: Canadians want us to work together. My colleague mentioned the agreement with the NDP, but I want him to know that some Canadians want higher health transfers. That is what all the provinces want. The Council of the Federation is demanding increased health transfers. We mobilized every single physicians' association, incl…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague has raised legitimate concerns about the public debt and inflation. However, there is a concern that he neglected to mention, and that is climate change. I do not know whether Daniel in his riding is concerned only about inflation, but he should also be concerned about global warming. Many of my constituents find the situation untenable. It is going to have a major adve…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois and the Prime Minister may disagree on health transfers, but we need to listen to what health care workers are telling us. On Monday, all health care professionals, including doctors, nurses, psychologists, physios and support staff, called for a sustainable, unconditional increase in health transfers. They all denounced the federal government's underfunding and sai…
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Mr. Speaker, what a magnificent speech. I am captivated. If I did not know the hon. member for Saint-Jean, I would ask her for her phone number. Fortunately, we know each other well. She referred several times to a regional distribution of benefits. I am from Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, which has the largest military air base, where the aging CF-18s are kept. However, I would like to point out that w…
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Mr. Speaker, today, Quebec's health care workers joined the Bloc Québécois in calling for a public summit on health care funding. The men and women who take care of us have been telling us about the consequences of federal underfunding for a long time, but government after government has failed to listen. The pandemic exposed those consequences in the most tragic way possible. Today the health car…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, my colleague from Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne went into great detail about potentially contaminated firefighter equipment. Quebec's Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail, the organization responsible for labour standards, pay equity and occupational health and safety, has addressed this issue. Quebec has procedures, such as properly cleaning equi…
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Madam Speaker, to be perfectly honest, this bill puts me in an awkward position. In fact, if I were challenged to find one person who does not like firefighters, it would be impossible to find anyone. I want to say right away that the Bloc Québécois will not be supporting this bill. However, this is not because we do not recognize the difficult and necessary work done by firefighters. I will try t…
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Mr. Speaker, for Ottawa to claim that it knows Quebec's and the provinces' health care needs better than they do is one thing, but how can it claim to know better than medical specialists, general practitioners, haematologists, oncologists, nurses, respiratory therapists, perfusionists, physiotherapists, orthotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists and support staff? I could go on and o…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I commend my colleague for his speech and for the points he made. He clearly showed that the Bloc Québécois and the Conservatives are reaching out to help the government but that, unfortunately, the government is refusing that help. Is it because the good ideas are coming from the opposition and not the government that the government is failing to take action?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I see a definite pattern in the government's actions. Every time we point out its lack of initiative, every time we point out its turpitude, it behaves like a child who gets caught and says no, it is not their fault. The member for Lac-Saint-Jean has been asking questions for two weeks. Will there be an airlift? Can the department keep its visa offices open beyond 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.? …
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Madam Speaker, my colleague from Winnipeg North just said it is important to present the facts. Earlier, my colleague from Montarville presented numerous facts. We did not get a response from the government about the possibility of setting up an airlift. As for waiving visas, we have seen some countries do this in a matter of hours, but the government says it could take 12 weeks and the offices ar…
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Mr. Speaker, I—
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Madam Speaker, I would like my colleague from Oshawa to tell us what the Conservative Party will do about federal interference in property taxes. Does he agree with that? The Conservatives' position is often ambiguous. I remember that the former leader of the Conservative Party, the member for Durham, congratulated the government on creating a mental health portfolio, when we know full well that t…
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Mr. Speaker, I will wait until my colleagues stop talking as there is quite a lot of chatter. I admire the member for Lethbridge. However, I find it difficult to follow her logic. In her speech, she stated that spending money is not a measure of success. I agree with her, especially when it comes to oil. I can tell her that the government bought a $21-billion pipeline, that another $30 billion in …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, in the agreement with the NDP there is so much encroachment that they are trampling all over Quebec's jurisdictions with full force. Housing, pharmacare, child care, health care, long-term care: encroachment from coast to coast to coast, to use the Liberals' expression. There is a much more effective way to help people get services. The government can transfer the money that Quebec an…
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Mr. Speaker, let us discuss the fight against climate change. When we read the Liberal and NDP marriage document, it is very clear that there are no jurisdictions. It is crystal clear. What is not so clear, however, is the will to stop producing dirty oil. They will be “developing a plan to phase-out public financing of the fossil fuel sector”. There really is no sense of urgency. Did the Liberal …
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Mr. Speaker, the Quebec government tabled what will be seen as a pot-stirring budget yesterday, in which it announced an anticipated shortfall of about $6 billion a year in health care because the federal government refuses to co-operate. Some will call it bickering, but it was simply reiterating the same message that all the provinces have been sending to Ottawa for the past two years, namely tha…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is starting in with the same old refrain about bickering. What Quebeckers actually want are health transfers. There is now an NDP-Liberal alliance that is proposing conditions, as though Ottawa knows how to manage hospitals or how the health care networks in Quebec and the provinces work. Everyone has seen that the government is struggling to manage its own jurisdictions.…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has just experienced its own orange wave. Once again, the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces will be undermined. Housing, child care, long‑term care, health care, pharmacare—it is pretty obvious that these sound like planks in a provincial party platform. No matter how carefully we pore over the agreement, we will never find the words “right to opt out wi…
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Mr. Speaker, I am not sure that the English-speaking colleagues of my colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent are as nuanced in their arguments. In short, let us ignore the convoluted explanation. My colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent said that inflation benefits the government. In this context and in the case of the oil and gas sector, inflation does not benefit the government; it benefits the oil com…
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Mr. Speaker, the one thing that should never be said to someone from Saguenay is that they are from Lac-Saint-Jean. It is a huge no-no. It is just not done. I hardly think that we would all be going around naked if not for oil. I do not know what nonsense my colleague is talking there. I have often heard the Conservatives say that, if not for oil, we would all go back to living naked in the forest…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is absolutely right. I rarely agree with my colleague from Winnipeg North, but I agree with him. We need revenue to support seniors. I can easily find some revenue for him. If we stopped supporting the oil and gas industry, we would have some revenue. From 2015 to 2017, $111 billion was allocated to support the most polluting sector in the world. We must reconsider this. …
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Mr. Speaker, the first thing the federal government can do would be to respect its areas of jurisdiction. We can see that the NDP has reached an agreement with the Liberals. We will have dental and drug coverage, which is not the responsibility of the federal government, but hey, if it makes them happy. Perhaps the federal government could respect its areas of jurisdiction and the purchasing power…
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Mr. Speaker, the cheering crowd has me feeling generous, so I will be sharing my time with the member for Abitibi—Témiscamingue. The member for Abbotsford's motion reminded me of a university class I used to teach on populism. A fairly simple definition of populism is proposing simplistic solutions to complex problems. Inflation is a complex problem to which people can propose simplistic solutions…
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Mr. Speaker, the childish antics are finally over. I have often heard the Conservatives claim that they champion respect for jurisdictions, including Quebec's jurisdiction. However, in their motion, they indicate that they want to revoke part of the Quebec sales tax. I would like someone to explain to me how the House of Commons can magically lower a tax that falls under the jurisdiction of the Qu…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like my colleagues to quiet down so that I can ask my question.
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I did wonder why my party asked me to comment on this bill, and the hilarious member for Drummond replied that my mischievous nature might be the reason that I, as a sovereignist, was asked to speak to the creation of a park in Ontario. I do not really know. Anyway, the Bloc Québécois supports Bill C‑248 in principle. My party also applauds the member for Windsor West's initiative a…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague. I want to come back to Hubert Aquin. In his essay “La fatigue culturelle du Canada français”, he asked: what will ultimately become of French Canada? That is a question that I have been asking myself for the past 30 years. Could my identity disappear in the distant future? Could the unique place that Quebeckers have in the world disappear? Yes, it could happen if…
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Mr. Speaker, my whip is so wise. I did not mention this in my speech, but yes, we must ensure that the distribution between major urban centres and the regions is balanced. I am a country mouse. I come from the regions, and the way we identify politically is different from people in urban areas. We need to have a voice and this needs to be taken into account as well. I am happy that my whip was th…
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Mr. Speaker, I have always found similarities in what Quebeckers and indigenous nations have been calling for. Unfortunately, sometimes we get in each other’s way, and we know why. Regarding the two major rounds of constitutional negotiations, Meech and Charlottetown, why did indigenous peoples never managed to gain recognition afterwards, even though they also seek political autonomy? It is becau…
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to have this opportunity to share some thoughts on Quebec's declining political weight. I can already hear the member for Drummond's snarky comments about the extra weight I am carrying around, but this is not about me. It is about Quebec's political weight. Quebec's influence is clearly declining in a number of ways. Losing a seat in the House would be one way. That said, …
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Mr. Speaker, in his speech, the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons said that we needed an impartial committee to shed light on the matter. I agree. I would like to know what motivated the government to go ahead with the Emergencies Act knowing that it was a very divisive issue and that its time had perhaps passed. There was no longer an emergency. At the time, was not the government’…
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Mr. Speaker, I hope that we will be able to get past all the partisanship and get the committee under way. There is something that my colleague did not address but that I believe is important. I saw a certain complacency toward the protesters among some Conservative members, in particular my colleague from Carleton. I would like to know whether my colleague thinks that this complacency should be l…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, in his speech earlier this week, my colleague illustrated exactly what I am criticizing. He drew a parallel with one of his friends, who was supposedly unvaccinated and could not go to restaurants. That is crass populism that must be condemned. A pandemic is a complicated situation that will not be resolved by reopening restaurants. Now, for a public policy-maker to make a speech that…
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Mr. Speaker, I will not be sharing my time because I am selfish. How should we tackle this matter? Yesterday, I asked myself how I would start my speech, and I thought that the best way would be to examine the issue of this law's legitimacy. In my opinion, this entails establishing how a free society works. All too often, when we speak of free societies, we make the mistake of believing that a dem…
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Mr. Speaker, the best tool we have against populism is education. It is not about trying to shut these people up; it is about giving them relevant and accurate information. I respectfully submit that an additional tool we could have had was the following. If our health care system was not in such bad shape, the lockdowns might have been shorter. The federal government had a role to play in this. I…
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Mr. Speaker, all rebellious movements that are driven by anger and resentment are dangerous. The populism that we are seeing today is very clear for the left. It is easy to identify. We hear a lot about it, especially south of the border. I am especially worried about my colleagues in the west. Perhaps it affects us less in Quebec, but there is also left-wing populism on identity issues, where peo…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, like the Conservatives, we disagree with the motion. However, I must say from the outset that we do not agree with the protesters, either. Unfortunately, I heard a number of Conservatives in the House say that there was a link to be made between the vaccine mandate and the protests outside. Does my colleague agree with some of the members of his caucus who say that everything we are…
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Mr. Speaker, I think there are two positions that should be avoided in this debate. There is the Liberals' position, which is to deflect attention from their contemptible conduct by using an act that is very severe, in fact too severe in this case. Then there is the position of my colleague's party, which tends to justify some of the protesters' resentment. I would like to know what he thinks. In …
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Mr. Speaker, in my speech, my colleague said that the government put political interests, partisanship, ahead of science. He said that by making reference to the motion the Conservatives moved, citing Dr. Theresa Tam. Personally, I have heard many Conservative colleagues say that vaccination is annoying, but the science tells us that we have to get vaccinated. Is my colleague in favour of vaccinat…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not want to be a wet blanket; far from it. I am being a little cheeky now, but I have to say, I find it rather surprising that we actually agree with the Conservative Party on the issue of freedom. I wonder if they will stop there. If I think of conversion therapy, medical assistance in dying, and the right of women to control their bodies, the Conservatives have generally been a…
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Madam Speaker, like my colleague, I call myself a progressive. We know that freedom movements often involve protests. I do not agree with the protesters' arguments, which, in my view are not valid. However, what worries me is that the government is using a law that in future could limit the actions of people who have valid arguments and are trying to effect social change. Does my colleague not bel…
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Madam Speaker, I have heard a few times this evening that the Ottawa police and the Province of Ontario were somewhat slow to respond. The member for Kingston and the Islands said it, and my colleague from Acadie—Bathurst just did as well. To me, that sounds like an attempt to conceal the Prime Minister's turpitude. I am not looking to dump on my colleague, but I do want to ask him a question. Wil…
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Madam Speaker, I have been listening to the member, who said that the Prime Minister was the sole person responsible for what happened in the streets of Ottawa. I have no particular affection for him, but I am still able to say that there are some Conservative members who made some rather concerning speeches when it came to vaccination. Some of them even enjoyed a few photo ops with the protesters…
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Madam Speaker, all evening, I have felt that my Liberal colleagues have been taking great delight in trying to associate us with those members who refuse to recognize that some of the protesters have been engaging in reprehensible acts. We have been saying for three weeks that some of the protesters' behaviour has been reprehensible. They may have ties to far-right groups. Everyone agrees on that.…
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