Parliamentary Speeches

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the Americans are still unfairly attacking our softwood lumber industry. Just last Thursday they officially announced plans to increase their illegal tariffs to almost 14% starting next summer. Obviously, Ottawa needs to stand up for Quebec's forestry industry, but it will take more than mere words to end the crisis. Ottawa has to provide a loan and loan guarantee program sufficient t…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague from Trois-Rivières said, the only amendment made to the bill was our own. It aims to make the agreement a little less about appearances and a little more about obligation. It is all well and good to include several chapters on responsible business conduct, but if there is no real follow-up mechanism, we are left with fine principles. That is why I am quite pleased tha…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 52, I request an emergency debate on the impact on the forest industry and its workers, but also on consumers, of the recent decision by the U.S. government to raise anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber. On Thursday, February 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced plans to substantially increase the countervailing an…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the time for talk is over. We need loans and loan guarantees to cover the illegal duties. We need to better oversee the CUSMA litigation process to prevent unfair delay tactics. We need to demand a tax exemption for private forests that have nothing to do with the Americans' allegations. We also need to obtain recognition from Washington that Quebec's forestry system is in compliance …

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, that last answer was very good. I often say the same thing because I come from a very agricultural riding. Many people assume that farmers are polluters, but that is completely false. If anyone can understand or if anyone is experiencing the effects of climate change, it is farmers. To come back to the member's speech, I agreed with many of the points that she made and with the main i…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I would simply like to remind my colleague that equalization payments are largely a myth. I would also like to invite him to read an excellent document that was released a few months ago on the finances of an independent Quebec, which shows that we would have more than enough money. What is more, our finances would not have to be administered by a state whose priorities are different …

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, we have to be careful. I have repeatedly talked about the impact on the Canadian economy. It goes without saying that climate change is a global and therefore international issue, and that can pose a problem when one country's decisions impact all the others. That goes without saying. I spent a lot of my speech explaining that the system does not work. The problem I have with this car…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by congratulating my colleague on her excellent French. I was genuinely impressed. I think we should applaud her efforts. I do not know if she is currently learning French, and we will talk about that after, but kudos to her. With that praise comes criticism, however. Unfortunately, I have to remind my colleague that she voted in favour of Liberal budgets full of…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the incomparable member for Mirabel. Today I would like to address a serious problem. Canadians are being legally robbed of their savings as they struggle to make ends meet, pay all their bills and find housing. This legalized robbery in the context of the soaring cost of living and the affordability crisis involves the price of energy, the main cause of…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, it will be hard to keep this short, because what we have been hearing for the past little while is really fascinating. The main thing that fascinates me is hearing a member who did not listen to the speech by my colleague from Salaberry—Suroît because he was too busy talking. We could hear him from over here. He was not listening. Then he makes a big show of being offended and upset…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, it goes without saying that the office of Speaker is a difficult one to occupy. One reason is that, if I am not mistaken, the rules state that the Speaker must leave his caucus and must even cancel his membership in the party. I am not sure about this, but it is what I have been told. The member made some interesting suggestions about the office, but we still have to deal with the c…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I get the feeling that we are wasting our breath right now on the issue of the 18 months. If the 18‑month delay is real, if it is effective, even if the election takes place as planned toward the end of 2025, we are wasting our breath. We will never get there. Is this some sort of massive sham?

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, the entire culture needs to be changed. We heard some pretty amazing things in the debate on our supply management bill, which my colleague and I sponsored and for which we toured Quebec twice, virtually in 2021 and in person this year. We heard some pretty amazing things, like Parliament should not have anything to say on the matter, because it would interfere with negotiators' met…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I would also invite the Conservatives to rethink their position. I radically disagree with their arguments. I think a lot of them could easily be disproved by the facts. That being said, let us be clear about one thing: A trade agreement is not a religion. It is reasonable to raise questions and to disagree with certain aspects. If they are fundamentally opposed to most of them, the…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I did not mention the Prime Minister in my speech at all. I am going to ask that my colleague listen before he raises points of order. He might find that useful later on during question period. That brings me to the matter of returning to the agreement. I have consistently said that I oppose it. Let us keep in mind that all of the Conservatives' amendments were ruled out of order. I…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, as I mentioned, this agreement will certainly be good for the economy. For Quebec, I think that there are interesting prospects in the sports and engineering industries. Of course, the agreement will also promote trade, which will also be good for Ukrainians and their country. However, I will reiterate that I do not understand why Canada elevated multinationals to the status of sove…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, who did travel with me. He also defended his region’s interests quite vigorously in meetings we had with U.S. elected officials. This being said, it is the prerogative of all sovereign states to sell or donate weapons. Of course, there are ways of doing so, and this is regulated by conventions. However, it is the prerogative of a state to support …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I do not understand why this keeps getting brought up even though it was removed from the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement. It is a non-issue. That said, in terms of the general consequences, the investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms allow litigation based on the right to profit. Early on, in the old North American Free Trade Agreement, this was called “expropriation” or…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, we are already debating third reading of Bill C-57, the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement implementation act, 2023, which the Standing Committee on International Trade had the opportunity to study. Several of my colleagues here were present during the committee study. Fundamentally, not much has changed about the reasons for our support. This time, the agreement puts some meat on …

Private Members' Business

Madam Speaker, during my speech, I will come back to the Bloc Québécois's position on the bill. For now, I would like to ask the member a question. Does she not get the impression that perhaps a bit too much discretionary power is being given to the minister and that, conversely, there may not be enough checks and balances?

Private Members' Business

Madam Speaker, today we are discussing Bill C-353. This is a vitally important measure for protecting the rights of our fellow citizens, but the text of the bill raises some crucial questions and legitimate concerns. When the member for Thornhill introduced her bill, she said it would “strengthen Canada's ability to deter, minimize and resolve instances of hostage-taking by increasing governmental…

Oral Questions

I have a riddle for you, Madam Speaker. Do you know what a lack of vision is? It is awarding a $10‑billion aircraft contract to Boeing when a Quebec company has the expertise to fulfill that contract. It is giving Quebeckers' money to Quebec's biggest aerospace rival without a call for tenders. It is belittling our industry in front of all of its partners by not even deigning to look at its offer.…

Madam Speaker, during question period in recent weeks, the Bloc Québécois has been asking the government about the awarding of a contract to replace the Aurora aircraft without a call for tenders. On November 24, I myself was told by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence that a decision had not yet been made. In answer to the first question that I asked on November 24, th…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, it is unanimous. This morning, with one voice, the Quebec National Assembly spoke out against Ottawa's decision to give Boeing the contract for surveillance aircraft without a call for tenders. All of the elected officials in Quebec have spoken out against this deliberate choice to discount our aerospace industry. Ottawa's contempt is not just depriving our industry of a $9-billion co…

Statements by Members

Mr. Speaker, we know that buying local is crucial. However, to benefit from local goods and services, we need entrepreneurs with solid regional and national roots. The Acton region understands this extremely well. The Acton business community owes a great deal to Johanne Joannette, who headed the local chamber of commerce for 22 years. Under Johanne's leadership, the chamber thrived. It moved into…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, today, Unifor and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represent tens of thousands of aerospace workers in Quebec, are on the Hill. We welcome them. They are here to say that Ottawa has no business giving Boeing more than $8 billion of our money, untendered, to replace the Aurora aircraft. It is a farce. Those are not my words. It is Michael Hood, f…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, who is also chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade, of which I am a member. Last spring, she and I saw Conservative members filibuster the committee over the supply management bill. This bill is still being studied by the Senate, and they seem to be taking their precious time. It is taking a long time, and does not appear to be a p…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, it is true that the holdups in the Senate are frustrating. That is why I think the simplest solution would be to abolish it. We know the Conservatives promised Senate reform when they had a majority government, but that did not happen. Anyway, our colleague says that his party stands up for farmers. I remember the obstructionism our bill to protect supply management faced. I know th…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, we are delighted over the introduction of this bill. As my colleague from Repentigny said earlier, the Bloc Québécois member for Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel introduced the first such bill back in 1990. I know that this has been a long fight for the Bloc Québécois and for the NDP. I would also like to commend the NDP for keeping this issue front and centre over the years. When it comes to…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals cannot give $9 billion to an American giant without even giving Quebec expertise a chance. They cannot give $9 billion to Boeing, knowing that it tried to crush Quebec's aerospace industry in 2016 with illegal punitive duties. The Liberals even had to make up a “Boeing clause” to be included in other calls for tenders so our money would not go to companies that try to har…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, aerospace workers are urging the Liberals to put out a call for tenders to replace the CP-140 Aurora aircraft. The machinists' union published an open letter this morning. It denounces Ottawa's plan to offer a $9‑billion sole-source contract to Boeing, completely sidelining Quebec's expertise. The letter says: “Canada is missing an opportunity to generate significant local economic be…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, the Bloc and the NDP agree on a number of points, including that the bill does not go far enough, but there are some good things in it. I will still come back to my question. Why is the government using a closure motion, never mind a super closure motion? I am well aware that there is filibustering. Filibustering harms everything. It is detrimental to our work, to what we want to ac…

Private Members' Business

Madam Speaker, I was just wondering how we can ensure adequate control, because for anything Internet-related, the servers can be located anywhere.

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me that the closure motion came after the anti-scab bill issue. That being said, generally speaking, I too was stonewalled by the Conservatives on a bill I defended at the Standing Committee on International Trade. Those staunch advocates of farmers, the Conservatives, filibustered the defence of supply management. We can clearly see how con…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I will no doubt pick up roughly where my colleague from Mirabel left off. He painted a good picture of the political context. He concluded by speaking to the bill. I will go a bit deeper into the bill. The government proposal grants the Standing Committee on Finance the power to expand the scope of the bill by incorporating three substantial changes. First, there is the amendment se…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I want to reiterate some of the things I said. I do not see why a landlord would say that, since he did not pay GST on the purchase of a new building, his rental prices will go down. I do not see how this measure could lead to that. I do not see any automatic or obvious correlation. Having said that, I believe that if GST were to be imposed, it should be on the buyers if homes were …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, unfortunately, the member opposite did not listen to what I said. I said that there was no correlation with rental prices. He can listen to that again and we will talk about it again.

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I think he put his finger on the problem with these super closure motions. My colleague began his question by summarizing our position, which is, of course, to oppose the super closure motion, but support the bill as amended at this stage. Entrepreneurs are asking us questions and they want to know if they have the right to do certain things. We need to do our job properly on that. …

Private Members' Business

Madam Speaker, I think our colleague knows that we support Bill S‑210. That being said, I have two questions. First of all, control seems harder today because servers can be installed almost anywhere. That seems to be making it more challenging to impose laws within a set of borders on anything Internet-related. I would like to ask my colleague to say a few words on that topic. My other question i…

Private Members' Business

Madam Speaker, before getting to the heart of the matter, I too want to join my colleagues in expressing my full solidarity with the artisans from TVA who were laid off as part of this restructuring. People are now unemployed, the national news media is in crisis, and a culture is under threat. We must take action and be proactive by translating solidarity and compassion into meaningful action. I …

Orders of the Day

Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague. We work well together on the Standing Committee on International Trade. As the member knows, we have our work cut out for us. We are currently studying a Health Canada regulation that hurts Canadian and Quebec products and gives a leg up to our American competitors. After that, we will be studying the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement. We will then study the …

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague and fellow member of the Standing Committee on International Trade. We did that study together, in fact. I think we can both attest to the fact that we were able to do what had to get done, although any new important facts could well deserve further study. Can my colleague tell us more about why the Standing Committee on International Trade is perhaps not the be…

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, as I said earlier, just because we disagree with the amendment does not mean we disagree with the report and do not think this issue warrants further investigation. More broadly, what does my colleague think of the fact that Canada has one of the worst records when it comes to protecting travellers? ArriveCAN is a scandal for travellers whose trips were cancelled and who had no righ…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I just want to ask my colleague why the debate on numbers is so taboo. The ministries are responsible for determining integration capacity. I think the operative word here is “capacity”. A Quebec government minister in a previous legislature talked about taking in fewer immigrants but taking better care of them. This idea would be a reasonable topic for debate. Why is everyone so qu…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, it is funny to hear Gérald Godin being quoted. Did the member know that Godin also said, “The federal policy on French in Canada can generally be summarized as follows: strengthen French where it is on its last legs; remain passive where there are real chances for it to assert itself and weaken it where it is strong”? It can be fun to quote Gérald Godin, just like the parish priests…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I rise in the House today to speak to Bill C‑34 as the Bloc Québécois critic for international trade. This bill seeks to improve the Canada Investment Act to add certain control mechanisms for foreign investments that might undermine national security. Is Canada, a laggard in so many sectors and industries that have an undeniable strategic value, breaking from its idyllic vision of …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, my colleague is a Quebec MP. I suspect he is sensitive to the interests of Quebec. Some of the Conservative amendments proposed during the review of Bill C‑34 may have cast suspicion on certain foreign state-owned companies outside the Five Eyes group. What impact would that have had on the A220 aircraft currently being assembled in Mirabel in partnership with the government of Queb…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, my colleague was criticizing the Bloc Québécois for voting against the Conservative amendments. I just want to make it clear that the Conservative amendments were intended to label just about every state-owned enterprise not run by our Five Eyes partners as hostile. I do not know if he is aware that 40% of European investments made in Canada are made in Quebec. One example is Airbus, …

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, you picked the wrong member for a short 15‑second question. You know me. The time is already almost up. We welcome the progress and the improvements that the bill makes to the current act, but why are the rules still so slack, and why is there so little scrutiny?

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers are proud of their aerospace sector, and especially proud of Bombardier. Bombardier has developed outstanding expertise over the years, and has turned Joseph‑Armand's company into a key international player in aircraft construction. However, when the time comes for Ottawa to modernize its Aurora maritime patrol aircraft, it turns to Boeing, no tender process needed. With no…