Parliamentary Speeches
432 speeches by Maxime Blanchette-Joncas — Page 3 of 9
Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I salute my colleague and congratulate him on his speech. One interesting thing about Bill C‑2 is that border services officers will not even be allowed to patrol between certain sectors. That will make them less effective. I just want my colleague's opinion. Does he agree that they should be more effective and that the officers, though too few in number, should be allowed to patrol b…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague's speech made it clear that the government's priority is border security and the safety of Canadians. I would remind the House of the Prime Minister's promise in April, during an election campaign, to add 1,000 new border officers and new RCMP officers. I have a simple question for my colleague. What concrete measures have been taken since those announcements? How many ne…
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Mr. Speaker, securing our borders is not a luxury. It is a matter of urgency. For a long time now, the Bloc Québécois has been calling for strong measures to combat the export of stolen vehicles, the increase in asylum claims, the fentanyl crisis and money laundering. However, the situation had to become critical before the government would think about taking any action. After nearly 10 years of c…
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleague said earlier, the Bloc Québécois is obviously in favour of this bill. We want to finally move on to something else because what we are doing this morning is recycling. I have to let honest workers and taxpayers know. This problem has existed since 2009, when the Conservative Party changed the legislation. We know the problem, and we know the solutions; now is the time …
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Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague's speech. He said that it was not their fault and that the Conservative government created the problem. I would like my colleague to tell me why his government did not fix the situation before now if it was so serious. There were parliamentary reports dating as far back as 2007 on lost Canadians. The issue got media attention. There was even a lega…
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Mr. Speaker, the government mentioned in the throne speech that its priority is to restore public confidence in the immigration system. I would like my colleague to simply tell me whether she agrees that this bill, which seems rather minor to me, will really restore public confidence in the immigration system. What concrete steps does she suggest we prioritize to really address the root causes of …
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague described the situation well. The government acknowledges that its immigration department has some very serious problems and that the public no longer has confidence in the immigration system. It even mentioned this in its own throne speech. What is happening this morning, at the beginning of this new Parliament? The government is recycling. It thinks the public will star…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague said that it is very important to pass this bill. Her government could have already done that, since it had a majority from 2015 to 2019. It knew both the problem and the solutions. This goes back to 2009. Today, the government is telling us that we need to restore public confidence in our immigration system. We are not going to get there by recycling bills that have been…
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Mr. Speaker, we have just been served up the usual Conservative rhetoric. I do not recycle because my neighbour does not recycle. That is what my colleague just said. We should put everything on hold because China pollutes more than we do. What a profoundly cynical abdication of responsibility. We should refuse to do anything to fight climate change because other people are worse than we are. The …
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Madam Speaker, the government has not increased graduate scholarships by a single cent in 20 years. We were told that it was not a priority. Now the government has a new argument. It is saying that it will follow through on what it said during the election campaign. The Liberals told us that they would invest in science, research and innovation. I would like my colleague to clarify the following p…
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives support freedom of choice, but only when it suits them. When scientists choose climate, they muzzle them. When the public wants public services, they slash funding for those public services. When Quebec wants to choose transportation electrification, particularly through electric vehicles, they oppose it in the name of freedom of choice. It seems that Conservatives o…
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Mr. Speaker, in Quebec, we have chosen to ban gas-powered vehicles by 2035. That is our choice. It is our future. It is our economy. Why does the Conservative Party insist on imposing its oil-focused vision on Quebec?
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Mr. Speaker, I have a very serious question for my colleague from Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan. I am trying to understand. His party was supposedly contacted by a whistle-blower named Luc Sabourin, who appeared before the committee to explain that he had seen serious irregularities at the Canada Border Services Agency. He mentioned that he had contacted the Conservative Party of Canada, but tha…
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Mr. Speaker, we are being treated to quite a show in today's debate. The Liberals are throwing mud at the Conservatives, saying that the Harper government also awarded contracts to GC Strategies. The Conservatives respond by saying that that is not true and that the current situation between the Liberal Party and GC Strategies is worse. Something rather historic happened yesterday. Every new minor…
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Mr. Speaker, what we are hearing from the member for Trois-Rivières today is pretty mind-blowing. She seems to think that a new election is like a reset button. Imagine a driver ramming their car into a lamppost. Even if we replace the driver, the car is still the same, unless my colleague is saying the opposite. We are talking about 106 contracts between 2015 and 2023, most of them non-competitiv…
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Mr. Speaker, I agree in part with what my colleague said, although I am deeply concerned about one thing. GC Strategies used to be called Coredal. This company had over $7 million in government contracts between 2011 and 2015. Who was in power at the time? It was Stephen Harper's Conservative Party. Furthermore, who was in the Department of Transport? It was Pierre Poilievre, the current leader of…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague from La Prairie—Atateken said this was unacceptable. What is unacceptable is the fact that the government did not even verify 50% of the contracts awarded, worth a total of $64 million, to see if the work had been done. What is more, these contracts were awarded untendered to people who did not even have the technical expertise. Our system includes something called minist…
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Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague and congratulate her on her speech. In her report, the Auditor General of Canada mentioned that more than half the $64 million in contracts were paid without the government checking whether the work had been done or produced. My colleague mentioned that she was a businesswoman. When people manage money, do they pay bills without checking whether they received th…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Jonquière on his speech. The purpose of my question is to clarify the situation for my colleagues and for the people tuning in at home today. Liberal MPs keep telling us that Quebeckers are not entitled to the rebate because Quebec has its own carbon pricing system. On April 19, 2024, the Liberal government changed the system. The Canada carbon rebate …
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Mr. Speaker, the Lower St. Lawrence and Quebec literature have just lost one of their most spectacular, bold and prolific representatives. Victor‑Lévy Beaulieu has passed away at the age of 79, but he is leaving us with his plays, essays and novels. VLB was an editor, novelist and essayist. He was indignant and rebellious, a separatist who loved his corner of the country. Félix had his island, Vig…
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Mr. Speaker, if there is something I have learned in politics, it is repetition. It is not that some people do not want to understand; rather, some people do not want to know. It is pretty simple. During the election campaign, the Liberal Party and its leader abolished a tax that was no longer in effect. As a result, some people received a rebate on a tax that was no longer in effect. Who did we n…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on his speech. He said that Quebec cannot get a refund for the carbon tax because it has its own system. I did not realize that having an independent system meant that we will not be treated fairly. We are going to have to sort something out. The carbon tax refund was supposed to be paid out on April 22, but the tax was abolished on April 1. The fin…
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Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague for his speech. There are many things we disagree on, but there is one thing he may have avoided mentioning in his speech. He talked about redistribution and tax sharing. He talked about equalization payments. However, he did not mention that Quebec receives the least money per capita in all of Canada. It is not good enough to say that a province receives a cert…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my Bloc Québécois colleague on his speech. Since he is the international trade critic, I would like him to explain how eliminating carbon pricing will impact trade with the European Union. The EU is going to impose an entry tax on certain products if no carbon price was imposed on them in their source country. I would like my colleague to explain how this could penalize…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on his speech and on his election. I welcome him to Ottawa. He used to be a member of the Quebec National Assembly, which brings back many memories for us. I definitely remember. I must begin by congratulating him on the thoroughness and accuracy of the facts he shared. He did not say that carbon pricing is a bad thing. He simply said that the gover…
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Mr. Speaker, first, I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Repentigny. On April 22, just six days before the federal election, millions of Canadians got a cheque from the federal government. It was a generous payment presented as a carbon rebate totalling $3.7 billion. Cheques were as much as $456 per household, but Quebeckers did not get a dime. However, Quebec taxpayers paid their uneq…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Winnipeg North has contradicted himself a lot. I will remind him of the facts. His government's Department of Finance has said that payments made to Canadians in April would give back the federal fuel charge proceeds collected from April to June. What does my colleague not understand about that? The tax, which was repaid in advance, no longer existed between April an…
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Mr. Speaker, I salute my colleague and riding neighbour. I think that one thing about the Conservatives is clear. We know that some people still deny science. Nonetheless, in terms of respecting jurisdictions, the Quebec government is free to choose its own carbon market. The Conservatives moved a motion today that seeks to interfere in areas of jurisdiction. Someone in the Conservative Party or i…
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Madam Speaker, I salute my colleague and congratulate her on her re-election. Under the Harper government, there were plans to cut the number of officers at the border. That is what it says in CBSA's 2015 report on plans and priorities. Now that the Conservative Party is in opposition, it seems to have taken the opposite position. They agree that we need more staff to have more security at the bor…
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Madam Speaker, Bill C‑2 gives CBSA officers more power to deal with fentanyl and, notably, vehicle theft. However, without additional staff, this will only solve part of the problem. On April 10, the Prime Minister promised to hire 1,000 additional officers. When will he finally keep his promise and follow through?
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Madam Speaker, the bill gives new powers to border services officers, but those already on the ground are overwhelmed. The union even says that they are short 2,000 to 3,000 officers. Let us start with the Prime Minister's promise. On April 10 during the election campaign, he promised 1,000. Can my colleague tell me how many new officers have been hired since then? If the answer is zero, when will…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and congratulate him on his election. The Quebec National Assembly unanimously rejected the federal government's proposal to create one economy. The Bloc Québécois does not want to see the regional differences and economic diversity in Quebec, and indeed in many regions of Canada, ignored. This is not what Quebec wants either, as the Quebec National Assembly clear…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and congratulate her on her election. She talked about a major issue in her riding: homelessness. I will explain to my colleague and to those watching at home today that the word “homelessness” does not appear in the Speech from the Throne. It was there in 2020 and again in 2021, but there is no mention of it in 2025. It magically disappeared, as if the problem ha…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to say hello to the people of Rimouski—La Matapédia, whom I proudly represent. I congratulate my colleague from Compton—Stanstead on her speech and her election. My question is very simple and concerns supply management. We know that this issue affects her riding in particular. The Bloc Québécois did what it said it would do during the election campaign. It reintroduced a bill …
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Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague's speech, but he will have to explain a few things to me. In 2020, the Premier of Quebec and governments across Canada asked the federal government to increase health transfers from 22% to 35%. I would like to remind my colleagues and those watching at home that the initial agreement was for 50%. However, because of the well-known fiscal imbalance,…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to draw the House's attention to the fact that Rimouski is hosting the Memorial Cup for the second time since 2009. This is a very important Canadian junior hockey event. Since the start of the tournament, our region has shown that we think big outside the major cities. This event is already a great success. Every so often, the Lower St. Lawrence becomes a land of cham…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, first of all, congratulations on your election. I would like to sincerely thank the voters of Rimouski-Neigette, La Mitis, Matapédia and Les Basques who placed their trust in me for this new mandate. I salute them and thank them from the bottom of my heart. The Speech from the Throne shows no respect for jurisdictions. With regard to social programs, housing and immigration, it is a d…
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Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague and thank him for his speech. In the Speech from the Throne, the government says it wants to build affordable housing through the “build Canada homes” program. The French name of the program was changed during the campaign after the government had been negligent, verging on careless, with the French language. I have a simple question for my colleague. In his rid…
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Mr. Speaker, I salute my colleague and congratulate him on his election. He spoke on a very important topic, namely immigration, which was also addressed in the Speech from the Throne. More specifically, it mentions plans to cap temporary immigration. It even mentions rebuilding public trust in our immigration system. In recent years, however, since the Liberal government took power, the Liberals …
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Mr. Speaker, I salute my colleague and congratulate him on his re-election. The Conservative Party prides itself on being the best at cutting spending. One big expense was incurred over the last few days, when the foreign monarch Charles III came for a visit. I would like my colleague to give me a simple answer. Does he agree with the idea of spending millions of dollars calling in a foreign sover…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and congratulate him on his re-election. He talked about the importance of having social programs. We know very well that the Liberal government became an expert in interfering in the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces. After drawing inspiration from and copying Quebec's child care programs that have been around for more than 25 years, it then came up with …
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Mr. Speaker, I salute my colleague and congratulate her on her re-election. The government says it wants to defend the economic sovereignty of Canada and Quebec through the back door. However, the Speech from the Throne does not mention the words “aluminum”, “forest”, or “aerospace”, which are three important economic pillars for defending economic sovereignty, among other things. The question I w…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, back in the Harper era, the Conservative government reduced the GST. Members will recall that it went from 7% to 5%. I would like my colleague to explain why today, a few years later, his party objects to a GST holiday. How was the fiscal impact under the Conservatives different from the current fiscal impact with the Liberals in power?
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Mr. Speaker, after carefully listening to my colleague's speech, I would encourage him to update his talking points. The Bloc Québécois supported the non-confidence motion against the government on Monday. My colleague needs to get that through his head. We know that the Conservative Party has little to offer in the way of constructive contributions and keeps repeating the same thing, but it needs…
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Madam Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague's speech. I agree with him that lack of transparency and corruption are in the Liberal Party's DNA. We all remember the sponsorship scandal. There is something I do not understand, however. We have been debating this question of privilege for five weeks now, and most of the House's work has been stalled. The Conservative Party has been saying for…
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Madam Speaker, the Conservatives are starting to sound like a broken record. The Conservatives say they no longer have confidence in the Liberal Party, but they have been blocking the work of the House for five weeks now and preventing a non-confidence vote. Now we learn that the Conservatives are feeling generous right before Christmas, so they are going to allow the Liberal Party to present thei…
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Madam Speaker, I agree with part of my colleague's speech: Canada is doing a very poor job of reducing greenhouse gases. It makes sense though, because producing more oil requires more oil exploration and development projects, which produce more greenhouse gas emissions. She did not say anything about the biggest investment in Canadian history, the $34 billion spent to buy a pipeline. The Conserva…
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Madam Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague's speech. Obviously, the Bloc Québécois completely agrees that the government has to be transparent and disclose the information in the documents. However, I have one fairly simply question I would like to ask my colleague. I know that, in the past, she opposed a motion that reaffirmed Canada's commitment to the Paris Agreement. My question is th…
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Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague's speech. I agree in part with many of his statements. I definitely agree that the Liberal Party is inherently corrupt, secretive and wasteful with public funds. However, I would like him to explain some things about his party, since he can answer for his party's actions. He was a member here when one of his cabinet colleagues, Tony Clement, divert…
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