Parliamentary Speeches
772 speeches by Alexandre Boulerice — Page 10 of 16
Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, we have learned that this Liberal government spent hundreds of millions of dollars to outsource the work of public servants: $200 million to Deloitte, $100 million to PwC, $45 million to Accenture. The Liberals are unable to negotiate a fair agreement with the federal public service, but when it comes time to write cheques to their friends at large firms, they are more than able, and …
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Mr. Speaker, I remember when I was elected in 2011. The Conservatives had just imposed special legislation against postal workers. It is crazy. Twelve years later, a Liberal government is threatening to do the same thing as the Conservatives. The NDP is clear. We will always side with workers. Will the Prime Minister turn into a Conservative and impose special legislation or will he try to negotia…
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Madam Speaker, the second petition is related to extremely concerning events happening abroad. In September 2021, Azerbaijani forces initiated an invasion and attacked the Republic of Armenia. Several hundred people have died, thousands of civilians have been displaced and prisoners of war have been captured. There have been constant human rights violations and attacks on Armenia's national sovere…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to table two petitions in the House today. The first comes from hundreds of people who are very concerned by the lack of civic participation in the admissibility and consideration of complaints from the public regarding federally appointed judges. The Canadian Judicial Council is made up exclusively of judges. A number of studies question whether their professional ties…
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Madam Speaker, there are many people in our society who are struggling with the increased cost of living. The cost of groceries and rent continues to rise, and people are struggling to survive and make ends meet. Meanwhile, the ultra-rich are lining their pockets. I am talking mainly about the CEOs of the large grocery chains who are earning $5 million, $12 million and $13 million a year. Does my …
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Madam Speaker, I agree with my colleague. All levels of government have a responsibility when it comes to housing. That is true. However, the federal government has fallen behind. It is appalling. Nothing has been done for years, and now we have a lot of catching up to do. As far as Quebec is concerned, it is a shame that it took three years of negotiations between Ottawa and Quebec to finally get…
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With regard to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat's announcement of the return-to-office plan for federal public servants, broken down by office building or workspace in the National Capital Region: (a) were the buildings assessed by heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) professionals to improve ventilation; (b) were new HVAC systems installed or improved to reduce the transmissi…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her speech. However, there is a difference between an expenditure and an investment, especially when it comes to investments in people, particularly in our seniors, our elders, who deserve respect. We in the NDP successfully forced the Liberal government to implement an actual dental program that will cover the bills for seniors who are living in povert…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague mentioned the carbon tax. That is something that the NDP agrees with. However, his government continues to give subsidies to oil and gas companies. On one hand, the government wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but on the other hand, it is using taxpayers' money to continue supporting fossil fuels that produce huge amounts of greenhouse gases. Does he not think t…
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Madam Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to speak to the budget. To begin, I want to talk about something that is not necessarily in the budget but is an area where I sincerely hope the Liberal government left itself some wiggle room. I am talking about the negotiations with the federal public service. Time is running out. The federal government has been given an ultimatum. It has until Tues…
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Madam Speaker, I will quickly respond with “a promise is a promise”. We campaigned on that. We promised Quebeckers and Canadians that if they elected us to the House, we would work to make dental care accessible for the most vulnerable members of society and the middle class. That is exactly what we are doing, without interfering in Quebec's health care system. We will not tell hospitals what to d…
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Madam Speaker, unfortunately, it appears that a millionaire's appetite for spending millions of dollars of ordinary people's money has no bounds, even though people are going hungry and would like to eat real food. One thing that was not in this budget but that the NDP is proposing is a wealth tax. This would ensure that wealthy families with substantial means would pay for some of the investments…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Repentigny for her very interesting speech on the lack of tax credits, as well as on carbon capture and hydrogen made from natural gas. However, I would like to point out a few things that the NDP insisted on and that we are quite happy to see in this budget. For instance, regarding the infamous growth fund for the energy transition, we made sure that the u…
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Mr. Speaker, in budget 2023, if the NDP had not pushed this government, there would not have been any funding to create good union jobs to help fight climate change. However, much more remains to be done. For years now, the Liberals having been missing their target and giving billions of dollars to oil companies, and that is making the climate crisis worse. Joe Biden is investing in green industri…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. Again, we are really seeing a campaign of fear and disinformation from the Conservatives. People will be able to post whatever they want on social media. People will be able to listen to whatever they want. This will not change anything. The Conservative Party says it would continue to give these web giants a sort of tax break where they are not …
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Madam Speaker, to tell the truth, we do not really care where the companies' head offices are located. They do business in Canada. They have customers in Canada. They make profits in Canada. They need to abide by Canadian laws and be governed in such a way as to support the production of Quebec and Canadian cultural content. Period. It is as simple as that.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my Green Party colleague for her question. I think it is an important one. If we are being realistic, the Conservatives are using scare tactics for political fundraising purposes. That is what we are seeing. They are doing this for purely partisan reasons, to collect data, collect money and fill the Conservative Party coffers. They are spreading misinformation and worrying p…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comment and his question. I think that we could have a debate and a discussion at some point on George Orwell's ideological and political views and his real objectives as a left-wing socialist. To answer his question, I think that it is, in fact, essential that the CRTC has authority over digital broadcasters. That is the purpose of this exercise. It doe…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to let you know, in a very polite way, that I will be sharing my time with my very hon. colleague from New Westminster—Burnaby, who has some very important things to tell us and all Canadians. Before I get to the heart of the matter, I will say that I have been listening to my colleagues from the Conservative Party for a few hours now and I am seeing things that are rather fasc…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. I do not share her concerns. Since the start, the bill has been the subject of some fearmongering by the Conservative Party. For the past 30 years, cable companies have been helping to fund Quebec and Canadian cultural content. The act has never been updated to reflect the arrival of digital broadcasters. By opposing the bill, is the Conservative P…
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Mr. Speaker, I was listening carefully to my colleague's speech. I do not share his concerns or criticisms whatsoever. It seems as though the Conservative Party has been fearmongering for months. Some words are quite loaded and must be used sparingly, words like dictatorship and oppression or talk of civil liberties being limited. I never saw the CRTC do that while attending hearings in my previou…
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Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, it is always the same old story from the Conservative side. They are fearmongering, saying that freedom of expression is under attack, when there is absolutely nothing to that effect in the bill. However, there is one thing the bill does that the Conservatives never talk about: It brings fairness to Quebec and Canadian cultural production. Cable companies have been cont…
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Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, it is a bit painful to listen to my Conservative colleague, who is showing just how little she knows about how broadcasting, cultural creation and the CRTC work in this country. Why does she think it is appropriate for Rogers, Videotron and Bell to contribute to the creation of culture, television and film in Canada, but then she defends Google, YouTube, Amazon and Appl…
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Mr. Speaker, if my colleague is surprised that he agrees with the Liberals once in a while, he may also agree with the NDP. This is a big day. We are in unanimous agreement. As he said, Quebec francophone culture needs to be present and supported so that it can flourish. I do not understand why the Conservatives from Quebec are unanimously opposed to Quebec's cultural community, our creators and a…
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague. It is high time we pass Bill C‑11, for the cultural sector and for our local artists and craftspeople who tell our stories. I would like the member to take a minute to reassure us, and reassure everyone, Quebeckers and Canadians alike, that, despite the Conservative propaganda, when it comes to freedom of expression, we are still going to be able to post pic…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to ask a very specific question. We must modify and modernize the Broadcasting Act because the system is broken. This system was created in the 1970s and 1980s, so it is ill adapted for digital broadcasters. I will give an example. Pierre Lapointe, a well-known Quebec singer, told us a few years ago at a ADISQ gala that one of his songs had been streamed more than one m…
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Madam Speaker, I keep putting this question to the Conservative members who are speaking tonight. Beyond their whole campaign of fear and misinformation, which has been going on for months and is being used as a fundraising tactic, there is one fundamental question. Why does the Conservative Party want to prevent web giants like Netflix, Amazon, Google, Disney+ and Apple TV from participating in f…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House on behalf of the NDP to mark the International Day of La Francophonie, an important day for celebrating and promoting our beautiful French language. The French language originated in Europe, but it is also entrenched here in North America, in the Arab world and especially in Africa, which is now the continent with the largest number of francophones. T…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech, which was well-thought-out, as usual. We agree on the need for an independent and transparent public inquiry into foreign interference. The NDP is concerned that the focus here is on just one state, namely the Chinese government. Yes, there are very serious allegations involving China, but focusing solely on China stigmatizes Quebeckers and Canad…
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Mr. Speaker, people are wondering why it is taking so long for the Prime Minister to launch a public and independent inquiry into allegations of foreign interference. Such suspicions are serious and deserve a serious response. It is all fine and well to appoint a rapporteur, but it will mean nothing if his mandate does not include a public and independent inquiry to get to the bottom of things. Th…
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You are the one giving Google an exemption, not to mention the tax gift to Netflix and YouTube.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her speech. I appreciated the distinction she made between traditional broadcasters that are involved in the system producing Canadian content and digital broadcasters, which have been excluded for far too long. Under this bill, more money from these large private corporations will be injected to produce Quebec, Canadian, francophone and, thanks to an N…
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Madam Speaker, initially, the Broadcasting Act told cable companies that they owned the pipeline, but that they would have to participate in funding the thing that goes in the pipeline, the thing that allows them to make money and profits, in other words the content. What we call content is what goes in the pipeline. I am talking about Quebec and Canadian cultural productions. At the time, digital…
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Madam Speaker, I have rarely heard so much drivel or so many conspiracy theories packed into 20 minutes. The leader of the official opposition must have no shame at all if he can call artists and artisans in the cultural sector an elite. Let him go tell that to the hair and makeup artists on television shows, or to the people who build the sets and the sound technicians on Quebec and Canadian film…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech, which was once again excellent. I think that we need to come back to a basic understanding of what Bill C-11, an act to amend the Broadcasting Act, is all about. For years, cable companies like Rogers, Videotron and Bell have contributed to Quebec and Canadian cultural production. Meanwhile, digital broadcasters, the web giants, have been paying ab…
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the NDP forced the CEOs of three major grocery chains to finally explain themselves. However, instead of giving clear answers, the big bosses served up platitudes to justify filling their pockets on the backs of families. They never committed to transparency. Worse, they now want to adopt a code of conduct to regulate prices in their stores themselves. The fox is in charge …
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Madam Speaker, I know that my colleague is very familiar with the system. At the time, the Broadcasting Act struck a balance. Cable companies were the pipe and content was put into the pipe. Since they were making money from the content, they had to help fund it. Digital broadcasters were excluded because they did not exist. Right now, the Conservatives and my colleague are saying that Videotron, …
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Madam Speaker, when we hear that certain things can be done through regulation, that calls for a bit of a leap of faith. The bill needs to have clear guidelines and provide specific direction so that the regulations can then be coherent and consistent. It is not good enough to say that things will be done correctly later through regulation. For instance, the current Bill C‑27 contains no guarantee…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Repentigny for her question, which gives me an opportunity to talk about the laissez-faire approach that has been taken. There were years of neo-liberalism where private corporations reigned. The government let them do pretty much whatever they wanted. I think that the progressive forces and the left, in general, always need to be there to push our governme…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question, because it is really important. I am not saying that just because I have teenagers at home. We also see the dangers of social media and the fact that young people's privacy or personal information can be exploited. In that regard, once again, Bill C‑27 does not go far enough. Bill C‑27 includes an interpretation clause stating that the personal…
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Madam Speaker, I want to use my speaking time in the House to note that today is the 85th day of the blockade of the Lachin corridor. This blockade has left 120,000 Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh without access to health care, food and medication. This situation has been denounced by the European Parliament, by Amnesty International and, last week, by the International Court of Justice. I urge the …
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Mr. Speaker, in a democratic society, few things are as crucial as the integrity of the electoral process and confidence in institutions. There are serious allegations of interference, and it is this Prime Minister's responsibility to launch a public inquiry to get to the bottom of it. People deserve transparency. The former head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS, along with a…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, for years now, a secret world has existed right alongside ours, without our noticing. Without these thousands of men and women, there would be no agricultural production, no abattoirs, no food processing. There would be fewer security guards, fewer cooks, fewer maintenance workers and fewer people to care for our seniors. These individuals are indispensable, but invisible. With no leg…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague if he recognizes that the cuts to the health care system that were started by the Conservatives and continued by the Liberal government have created the conditions for privatization. Pretty words are nice and all, but the Liberals are responsible for continuing with the Conservative cuts to health care.
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Madam Speaker, the Liberals are not great when it comes to climate change and the environment, but they are awesome at recycling. Of the $196 billion they announced, 75% was money that had already been announced. That is not much, considering what the provinces need. Does my colleague realize that no matter what nice things she says about health workers and professionals, that will not make a sign…
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Mr. Speaker, a number of people who crossed into Canada at Roxham Road have come to my office in Montreal. Contrary to what the Bloc Québécois says, Roxham Road is nothing like an all-inclusive vacation. The Quebec National Assembly adopted a motion yesterday to denounce this insensitive and out-of-touch comparison, one that feeds prejudice. Liberal inaction on this issue has also left room for th…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not think my colleague really listened to my speech. I said right off the bat that I think using the notwithstanding clause to support the Charter of the French Language and Quebeckers' right to live in French is appropriate. I want to reiterate that. I am kind of surprised to hear my Bloc Québécois colleague say that we cannot stand for a government of judges, because that is es…
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Mr. Speaker, I think that the NDP caucus has been smart about using its bargaining power and the balance of power to force the Liberals to do things that they never wanted to do in the past, things that will benefit thousands of Quebeckers and Canadians. Take, for example, universal dental care, pharmacare, social and affordable housing, indigenous housing, and the anti-scab legislation that the Q…
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That is indeed a good example, Mr. Speaker. I remember that somewhat unfortunate episode involving Toronto city council where the misuse of the notwithstanding clause undermined the rights of Torontonians to have adequate or proper representation by what they considered a suitable number of city councillors. Was that what the provincial representatives intended when, in 1982, they called for a not…
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