Parliamentary Speeches
692 speeches by Yves-François Blanchet — Page 14 of 14
Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, “we must work together”. The last time I checked, the government House leader is not the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister needs to take responsibility. The Liberals seem to be having fun. Have they started to think about how they will respond on Monday after a third weekend of siege and blockades affecting airport traffic and emergency communications? Have they thought about this or…
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Mr. Speaker, it all comes back to leadership in this crisis. Criticism in the media has been harsh and internal issues in the Liberal Party of Canada are compromising the government's ability to take action. Will the Prime Minister acknowledge that he needs to communicate better, perhaps with a little more humility and a more conciliatory tone without changing the fundamental objective, and acknow…
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Mr. Speaker, he is not a political commentator. He is the Prime Minister. The international press is making fun of Canada. More protest groups like the one in Ottawa are popping up in other cities around the world. How is that for leadership? Congratulations. Canada is back. Canada's image has been tarnished and unfortunately Quebec's as well. Quebec City managed the city and the government proper…
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Mr. Speaker, the situation is far from perfect, but we are making progress. Order has not yet been restored, but an injunction has reduced the number of honking horns. Quebec City worked together with the Government of Quebec to set the course for dealing with the protests. The Prime Minister reappeared in the House, which is good. A crisis task force was created. A crisis task force is a means, n…
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Mr. Speaker, let us hope that this Friday is not going to kick off another weekend like the previous ones. Another voice has been added to those of Quebec and the provinces. According to the member for Louis-Hébert, the government's position on health transfers is nothing less than untenable. Increasingly, we are realizing that a more robust health system would have reduced the need for restrictio…
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Mr. Speaker, the mayor of Ottawa has requested additional human resources to counter this occupation, which is clearly illegal. Ottawa police officers definitely need a break, and the rising tension has the potential to become quite dangerous. If the Prime Minister ever returns to the House once he recovers from COVID, he will be in for a big surprise. Does the government realize that the message …
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Mr. Speaker, we are seeing a significant deterioration of the situation in the streets of Ottawa and in front of Parliament, and I believe this warrants a very peaceful and very reasonable call for calm on the part of all parties involved. The media is talking about a permanent encampment. They are talking about an occupation that could last until spring, which is a major concern for many people. …
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Mr. Speaker, from what I understand, everything that is happening is happening without or in spite of the government, which is quite worrisome in and of itself. The extremists are waiting for reinforcements, many of them from outside the region. The truckers are expecting reinforcements. There are plans for a counterprotest, which would quite likely devolve into a confrontation. In light of this, …
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about obeying the law when, on the contrary, the number of trucks could increase. The protest is illegal, not because of the ideas it espouses—ideas that I disagree with, but they have the right to have different ideas and express them—but because trucks are parked on the white line in the middle of the street. That is illegal. There are fines for doing that. Normally, whe…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, stated that Bill 21 on secularism in Quebec was profoundly discriminatory. This legislation, however, was legitimately voted upon in a parliament that, like all others, is sovereign, and there is broad support for the law in Quebec. Bob Rae failed in his fundamental duty to show restraint. Will the Prime Minister recall Ambassador Ra…
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Mr. Speaker, trouble, trouble, toil and trouble. For goodness' sake, get thee behind me, Jean Charest. While Bob Rae insults Quebec, the Quebec nation, the National Assembly of Quebec and attacks his own people, the Prime Minister is working so hard here to come off as a nice guy. What does the Prime Minister have to say to the Uighur nation? Do the same values of humanity apply? What does the Pri…
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Mr. Speaker, I have seen people who do not deserve to be in their jobs, but there they are. I will not name names. The Prime Minister is condoning a smear campaign against a law and a nation that are just as legitimate as his own pretensions. He is condoning an ambassador's decision to insult the Quebec nation as a whole. Am I to understand that he was consulted and agreed with his ambassador's st…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister wants to position a teacher as a victim, but she herself said that she did not consider it a religious symbol but a political symbol of opposition to Bill 101. She was hired and assigned to a classroom after Bill 21 was passed, but the Prime Minister is commending the Liberal Party's ambassador to the UN for insulting Quebec. Is the Prime Minister planning to fund c…
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Mr. Speaker, I wonder why I am tempted to again tell the Prime Minister to grow a spine. Should Quebec hold a referendum on Bill 21? What happens then? Would the Prime Minister have the courage of confronting Bill 21, after shying away from it in the federal election, and of saying that he will not have the courage to confront Bill 21 in the Quebec election? Does he have the courage to admit that …
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Mr. Speaker, there are two little things I want to point out. The Prime Minister seems fine with the fact that I do not have the right to sit in the House with a mask bearing the Bloc Québécois logo. Is that a restriction of my fundamental freedom? I also want to set the record straight. This teacher did not lose her job. If the Prime Minister could stop repeating lies, that would be great. I am l…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, under the rules of the House, a member may not be identified by anything other than the name of their riding. You even grace us by referring to members as “honourable”. However, today we have with us one of the most honourable of all, a member who made all of Quebec his riding, to the point of wanting to make it a country. At first feeling intimidated—and God knows that he was intimid…
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Mr. Speaker, we will clarify by imagining an example. Let us say the Prime Minister travels to Egypt. On his way back, he goes through Paris to say hi to his pal Macron. He then hops over to Burlington before returning to Canada by road, ideally not by Roxham Road. What with quarantines, tests at the airport, trips lasting more than 72 hours and subcontractors making house calls, can the Prime Min…
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Mr. Speaker, the new travel rules are different for everyone, depending on whether one travels by land or by air, in Europe, in the U.S. or, worse, in designated countries in Africa, and on whether one is entering or leaving the U.S. Upon their return, travellers are facing public health restrictions that are reminiscent of “the place that sends you mad”, which even Asterix had trouble navigating.…
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Mr. Speaker, I have a clear measure for him: the ban that is currently in place. The Minister of Environment and Climate Change must be having a rough time these days, because not only is the government funding the oil and gas industry, it is making up false emissions caps and removing regulations. It never ends. This government is so pro-oil that the Conservatives are going to have an identity cr…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to see that our Liberal friends have discovered the virtues of physical attendance in the House. I am really happy about that. However, I am concerned, and I want to tell all of them that I am concerned, because, according to the CBC, Ottawa is preparing to make changes to an extremely important regulation that prohibits releasing water from oil sands tailings ponds direc…
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Mr. Speaker, many educational institutions in Quebec want to welcome francophone students from Africa. Thousands of French-speaking African students want to attend schools in Quebec in full compliance with the rules. Unfortunately, Canadian immigration services reject them over 80% of the time. This rate is out of line with the rejection rate for students of any other origin, and the pretext given…
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Mr. Speaker, those were some nice empty words. The real impact, which is still happening today, is that the government is hurting French; it is hurting educational institutions in Quebec; it is hurting francophone Africa and it is hurting those students. Eighty percent of them are being rejected. That is discrimination. Do I understand correctly that the Prime Minister is describing the behaviour …
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Mr. Speaker, on November 18, the Prime Minister was at the three amigos summit. We would expect a relationship between “amigos” to be frank and sincere, not complacent and weak. On November 24, the United States doubled its punitive duties on Canadian softwood lumber. I have a simple question for the Prime Minister: What did they talk about?
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, I have two things to say about that. First, getting rid of something dangerous calls for economic action. I was very involved in the closure of the Gentilly plant. The Government of Quebec had to invest a lot of money at the time, and it went very well. I think that is comparable, I think it is doable, and I think we need to consider that. More generally speaking, I would say that Q…
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Madam Speaker, people should not be paid such compliments. I am both flattered and confused. I am the leader of the separatist party and member for Beloeil—Chambly, and that is an extraordinary honour. If the highest environmental standards did not protect us against the most polluting energy in the world, my God, what would things be like? We have the common sense to not tell western oil workers …
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Madam Speaker, I would be pleased to make a few comments. That will allow me to elaborate on what I was saying earlier. In times of adversity, it is important to put yourself in someone else's shoes. In principle, that is what I have tried to do, but it is hard to put myself in the shoes of a Liberal Prime Minister of Canada. In a context where there was enormous financial leeway, why such a lack …
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Madam Speaker, there are several parts to that question. First, it is a good idea to remove trade barriers. These restrictions do little good. The impact of doing that, however, meaning the possibility of generating the revenue needed for health transfers, seems to me to be a flight of fancy, as the other guy's father said. However, programs obviously require money to fund them. The money has to c…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate that intervention. Some people were tempted to say that it must be Quebec's fault, or the fault of any of the provinces that went through similar tragedies, and that was really hurtful. Health care falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces. If it had been properly funded, from the time and at the level it was supposed to be funded, we would have…
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Madam Speaker, I would like the members to tell me if I am bothering them. It is a little frustrating. Conversations should be taken outside the chamber.
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak in the House again now, at the beginning of a Parliament that I must remind my colleagues should not exist. We should be continuing with the previous Parliament. Clearly, that was the view of both Quebeckers and Canadians. All of us, all governments, all countries, all hospitals and all seniors' residences, are desperately trying to really, truly emerge, on…
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Mr. Speaker, obviously, the Prime Minister is not as good with softwood lumber as he is with potatoes. I realize that it is tough to trade with a giant, but the giant still wants our lumber, our electricity, and our lithium. Canada's international weakness at the moment is utterly deplorable. It would obviously be better for Quebec to speak for itself with its own voice internationally, but in the…
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Mr. Speaker, we have now established that the Prime Minister has finally discovered the notion of provincial and Quebec jurisdictions. We have also established that he has the ability to hand out money for provincial and Quebec jurisdictions, which is quite interesting. Could the Prime Minister make his epiphany complete by doing exactly the same thing with health transfers?
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Mr. Speaker, I applaud the Prime Minister's “epiphany”. He recognizes the existence of provincial and Quebec jurisdictions. Hallelujah. If natural resources fall under Alberta's jurisdiction in the case of oil, then there is no need to give it money to extract the oil, either directly or indirectly, or to pretend it is to lower greenhouse gas emissions when it would actually increase production. I…
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Mr. Speaker, when it comes to science, the new minister’s previous readings were obviously more instructive than his new ones. However, the Prime Minister is caught between western Canada, which is heavily dependent on oil, and Quebec, which is much greener. Simple math tells us that cutting greenhouse gas emissions per barrel is actually a licence to increase production, so in the long run, nothi…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change attended COP26 with some very good intentions, and I commend them for that. COP26 was being hailed as the last chance saloon, but we are still facing challenges related to oil and gas. While the government claims to have ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, the oil industry is bragging that it hopes …
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Mr. Speaker, I am sorry, but I have concerns about the word “partnership”, which sounds a lot like “conditions”, to me. While I am at it, I also have serious concerns about the word “plan”, based on what we saw during the election campaign. However, can the Prime Minister tell us, in all seriousness, whether he thinks that the horrific tragedies during the pandemic were the fault and responsibilit…
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Mr. Speaker, it is the beginning of a new Parliament, which will certainly give us the opportunity to work together. Sometimes, for the good of the people, working together might mean shaking things up a little. We will do that, if necessary. Health is the top priority for Canadians and Quebeckers. For Quebec and the provinces, that means health care funding and increasing health transfers. The Bl…
Read full speech →First Session—44th Parliament
Mr. Speaker, I want to offer my sincerest congratulations on behalf of all members of the Bloc Québécois. Being voted in once is a trial, but being voted in a second time speaks to the members' satisfaction with what you accomplished during your previous term. I congratulate you on this and commend you for your reference to Paul Piché, someone whose beliefs would fit right in in our caucus. We hav…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the session is coming to a close and, if we are to believe the rumours, Parliament may be about to end. No matter what happens, I would like to remind everyone, all parties and all nations, that we work for the common good. It may be that some have doubts about the good faith of the players, as if they were setting the stage for something to come. Whatever the case and with a positive…
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Thanks to him, concerns have increased, Mr. Speaker, but the cheques have not. Here is something else for the Prime Minister to think about. As members can see, we are trying to work constructively. We are trying to help the Prime Minister. After a terrible pandemic that had a direct impact on thousands of Quebeckers and Canadians, as well as on the health care system and health care professionals…
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Mr. Speaker, on this last day of the session, I would like to wish all my colleagues in the House, and you in particular, a wonderful summer. Summer is an opportunity to meet with constituents and listen to their concerns. Summer is also a time to rest, step back and reflect. I am therefore asking the Prime Minister to take the next few days, weeks and months to reflect on this. Does he think that…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the pandemic has been the dominant theme of three successive sessions, which will come to an end this afternoon. This will be Quebec's second national holiday under the threat—which is finally subsiding—of a virus of diverse and formidable forms and effects, but a celebration is definitely in order. Our nation comes together in the face of adversity. As we can begin to feel hopeful an…
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