Parliamentary Speeches
640 speeches by Alexandre Boulerice — Page 4 of 13
Government Orders
Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about his environmental concerns, which I share, and the fact that the Conservatives refuse to have a price on pollution; that is not a plan to help us or help our communities. However, at the same time, his government is spending $34 billion to buy a pipeline that will triple the production of the dirtiest oil in the world. Is that not contradictory? He is talki…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I know that my colleague and I have different visions for dental care. We in the NDP pushed for a dental care program that is in fact a bill paying program. An individual can go to the dentist and then get reimbursed 80% of the bill directly from the federal government. There are no federal dentists. There are no federal dental clinics either. This program allows four million Quebec…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, over the past three years, the price of groceries has gone up by 21%. No wonder food banks are swamped. The Liberals and Conservatives could not care less, however. When the CEO of Metro is a Conservative donor, it is clear who the official opposition leader is working for. Meanwhile, the Liberals are giving Loblaw and Costco millions of dollars in handouts. While ordinary folks are g…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, with this minority government, the NDP has used its balance of power to make meaningful gains for people and their families. Among other things, there is the dental care plan. It is incredible progress for the less fortunate and for people in the middle class. This year, seniors can sign up to be reimbursed for 80% or 100% of their dental care. Millions of people will benefit. In th…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, renters everywhere are struggling to make ends meet. Groceries are expensive, rent is expensive. People are drowning in credit card debt, and it is taking a toll on their mental health. Meanwhile, both the Liberals and the Conservatives are protecting the profits of big grocery CEOs. Why? Maybe it is because they received $150,000 in donations from Loblaws, Metro and Empire, and now t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am rather shocked to be here tonight debating a Conservative amendment to change a short title. As this is costing Canadian taxpayers $70,000 an hour, the Conservatives will be wasting $420,000 tonight to change a title. I ask my colleague if this is how he is going to manage public finances if, by some misfortune, his party ever comes to power.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from New Westminster—Burnaby for his wisdom and his desire to see action taken on this issue. I would like him to tell us more about foreign interference, which is extremely worrisome. It does not just happen during the 36 days of an election campaign. It happens all the time. It happens at conventions with party members, but it also happens at nomination meetings…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, one thing is clear to us in the NDP. Access to dental care for everyone is a priority for millions of Quebeckers. It is a priority for the four million Quebeckers who have no access to dental care right now because they do not have private or public coverage. We said we were coming to Ottawa to fight for this. We made it happen. We delivered on our promises. It is starting to become…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, we definitely need to listen to workers' representatives because this will have direct impacts. Take, for example, a person who works part time in a grocery store three days a week and who has to pay for supplementary health insurance. Given the unaffordable and out-of-control cost of medication, we end up meeting people who have to spend 25% to 30% of their pay on supplementary insur…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, let me start by thanking my colleague for not sharing her time with the member for Winnipeg North. Everyone in the House appreciated that. I would like to hear what she has to say about a topic that has come up a lot, namely pharmacare. Quebec already has a pharmacare plan, but it is a hybrid public-private system. It has its shortcomings. It was cutting edge at the time, but now it…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the leader of the NDP is fully aware that Quebec has a pharmacare program. He has said several times during interviews here, in the foyer of the House, that Quebec has the right to opt out with compensation. While the Quebec pharmacare program was a significant social development 30 years ago, it is showing many cracks today. Even Dr. Jean Rochon, the former health minister who implem…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, in the few seconds I have left before questions and comments from my colleagues, I would just like to say that, despite all the flaws in this budget and the things we would have liked to have seen, the NDP had a hand in it. Basically, there would have been no dental care without the NDP, no pharmacare for diabetics and for women who want contraceptives without the NDP, no anti-scab le…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. I congratulate her on her excellent French. The answer to her question is yes. Since the 2021 election, the NDP has adopted a constructive attitude enabling it to advance files that are important to the party, files such as accessible dental care for the least fortunate. This year, it is for seniors, older people. I am very pleased to see that th…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my colleague is quite right. Quebec has had a pharmacare program for years. However, it is a private-public hybrid system with many flaws. It fails to control drug costs, which are extremely high when negotiating collective agreements. The NDP believes Quebec would have the right to opt out of the federal pharmacare program with full compensation. Furthermore, this is something the ma…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his fiery and passionate speech. I want to talk about more than just motions, institutions and parliaments. I want to talk about Quebeckers. Some four million Quebeckers have no dental coverage, whether private or public. People voted for us, the NDP, to come to Ottawa and fight to give people access to a dentist, and we did. We used our balance of power and…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am going to talk about pharmacare too. It interests me because the Hoskins report made it very clear that the best way to control and reduce drug costs for everyone is to have universal public pharmacare. The Quebec system is a hybrid system that was cutting-edge at the time. Today, however, even Dr. Rochon, the person who instituted the system, says that it is time to finish the …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, first of all, I am deeply concerned about what is happening right now in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, where the bombing seems to have resumed. The Israeli army seems to have asked tens of thousands of people to seek shelter elsewhere, even though they are already refugees within the Gaza Strip and keep being told to move. It is a forced displacement of the population. That is …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech, though I do not agree with much of it. I have a very specific question for him. We in the NDP worked hard to get a new dental care program in place so that the most disadvantaged people and seniors could access dental care practically for free, starting this year. As of last week, we have already started to see people going to the dentist and hav…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear my colleague's thoughts on why his party voted against the NDP's amendment, which called for a standard service time for complaints related to things like systemic racism. Without a standard service time, things can drag on and people do not get answers. The National Council of Canadian Muslims, Amnesty International and many other civil society groups requested a…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech as well as for pointing out that facts are facts. Speaking of facts, although the Conservatives are saying that this bill is important and that we must move forward, all we see is obstruction. On one side, we have the Bloc Québécois; everyone knows them. On the other side, we have the “block everything party”, which is the Conservative Party. The Co…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, this is an important bill. The accountability and transparency of many agencies, including the CBSA and the RCMP, is fundamental. I would like my colleague to explain to me in French why the Conservatives are delaying the passage of this bill right now, even though they say they support it.
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House to speak to this bill. The issue of impact assessments and environmental studies is significant, given that Quebec, Canada and the entire world are going through an extremely intense environmental crisis, biodiversity crisis and climate crisis. I was a bit surprised by the speech by the member for Repentigny, who is a Bloc Québécois member. I would li…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, for the past six months, Palestinians in Gaza have been subjected to daily bombings. More than 34,000 people have been killed, including more than 14,000 children. A humanitarian crisis is unfolding before our very eyes. Some 1.5 million people have been displaced without medicine, food or fuel. The Liberals promised 1,000 visas. Only about 100 have been issued. Four months after cont…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, another report, another failure. Under this Minister of Environment, Canada will miss its greenhouse gas emissions targets. That is not surprising. Everyone will remember the Liberals' environmental legacy: the purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline, throwing $34 billion of our money away on one big pipe; the billions more thrown at the oil companies; the waste of public money; the p…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, speaking of renewable energy, a very worrisome report came out this morning about the success in achieving greenhouse gas reduction targets. We might be happy that we are eventually getting new offshore wind farms, but we all know that the Liberals' record is no match for the climate crisis and that although there has been a slight 7% decline in greenhouse gas emissions since 2005, …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, if it was me, I would not be bragging about approving a project like Bay du Nord. The Liberals are clearly talking out of both sides of their mouths. Still, we think that Bill C‑49 is worthwhile. It provides for the development of offshore wind farms, which is compatible with the energy transition. Compared to the United Kingdom and Scandinavian countries, Canada lags behind a bit w…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I was quite surprised to hear my colleague say in his speech that the oceans are not big enough. I understand that the oceans are not infinite, but they are quite large. My colleague says he is concerned about the coexistence of wind farms and fisheries, when Europe has been doing it for a long time with maritime zones that are much smaller than what we are talking about right now. …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
What a day, Mr. Speaker. I am glad the grown-ups are still in the room. One in four Quebeckers is unable to live with dignity. That is a big deal. That is two million people. Some 25% of Quebeckers scrape by on less than a modest income. Money is too tight for them to buy the things they need. Meanwhile, the Liberals are handing out gifts to oil companies. Given that housing is the biggest expense…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals do not have the courage to discontinue the massive gifts that the Conservatives gave big business, but they have no problem at all cutting 5,000 jobs in the public service. Fewer employees mean fewer services for the public. Like the Conservatives, the Liberals cut services, but they are quick to give billions of dollars to incompetent subcontractors. Just look at what ha…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, when it comes to housing, which has been in crisis for years now, the NDP made proposals and we are happy to say that the government has accepted some of them, such as using federal land and public land for affordable housing and creating an acquisition fund to buy new land and build truly affordable housing, an important concept. In 2017, the new national housing strategy promised th…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the government’s plan to refocus and cut government spending in budget 2023, broken down by department or agency: (a) has the department or agency instituted a hiring freeze; (b) what is the total number of staff who left the department or agency since budget 2023, represented as (i) retirements, (ii) secondments, (iii) temporary leave, (iv) firing for cause, (v) restructuring; and …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to contracts awarded by the government to TELUS since January 1, 2009: what is the total value of these contracts, broken down by (i) year, (ii) department, agency, Crown corporation or government entity?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Montreal has experienced its largest rent increase in 30 years. This is a true crisis, and it is making it difficult for Montrealers to put a roof over their heads. What is the Liberal government’s solution? It is to set aside a mere 35% of the Wellington Basin project’s units for affordable public housing, meaning that two-thirds of the housing units built will be unaffordable. Here …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, rents are expensive. Groceries are expensive. Everything is expensive. Quebeckers suffer while the CEOs of the big grocery stores line their pockets at their expense. Instead of making these fat cats pay their fair share, the Liberals are giving them a $60-billion gift. Who do we have to thank for this? That would be the Conservatives, who gave away this money, our money, when they we…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House to pay tribute to the longevity and hard work of the member for Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel, who has been elected 12 consecutive times without ever losing his riding. It is absolutely amazing. He was first elected in 1984 as part of the same Progressive Conservative wave as the late Mr. Mulroney. I wonder where I was in 1984. I was 11 years old, finishin…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the Conservatives will not do anything about the climate crisis, but the Liberals are flailing about doing all sorts of conflicting things. I hope my colleague does not count in the $100 billion the $36 billion the Trans Mountain pipeline is costing us, or the authorization of the Bay du Nord gas project, or the $18 billion handed out to oil and gas companies in subsidies every year…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I hope my colleague knows that there is no carbon tax in Quebec. I think that would guide him a bit in his remarks. The Conservative Party is so much the party of big oil and big gas, which have seen their profits increase, that when that party was in power, environmental groups were asking us to keep Conservatives out of meetings, because not only were they not helping, they were h…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Canada is in first place. We rank number one. The Liberals should be proud—but wait, first place for what? Canada ranks number one for air pollution. For the first time, Canada is the most polluted country in North America. We are worse than the United States. With the climate crisis and forest fires, people are suffocating. They cannot breathe properly. Pollution is making them sick.…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the speech by my Conservative colleague, and he made no mention of what the Parliamentary Budget Officer clearly said. According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the price on pollution puts money back in the pockets of middle‑class families and the least fortunate. What is more, 80% of the people who pay the tax receive more in compensation than they pay in…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech. I really enjoyed his comments about propane and diesel and the French language. This is a prime example of the Conservatives' almost pathological obsession with attacking the price on pollution. It is an obsession that blinds them to the climate crisis, which is real and has an impact on forest fires, droughts and floods. What does my…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, despite the Liberals' pathetic record on fighting climate change, my colleague is absolutely right that the Conservative Party, and the Conservative Party leader in particular, are giving Canadians bad information. I challenge the member for Carleton and leader of the Conservative Party to quote the Parliamentary Budget Officer, who says that 80% of Canadian households will receive …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, when I said that the Conservative Party is not very good at fighting climate change, I was not suggesting that the member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie is doing a fantastic job on this front. I have to agree with my colleague: Over the past eight years, the Liberal government has failed in the fight against climate change. Even the former Liberal environment minister, Catherine McKenna, …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party and its representatives in the House can be criticized for many things, and I point that out whenever I can, but I want to start by saying that one thing we cannot fault them for is their lack of determination. There is a definite consistency in their obsession with the price on pollution or the carbon tax. One thing is for sure: They are not giving up. They kee…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the NDP has not shied away from criticizing those measures, which are actually hidden subsidies to oil and gas companies. My colleague from Timmins—James Bay is introducing an important bill on behalf of our party to ban oil and gas advertising, similar to how we banned tobacco advertising. At the same time, we have forced the Liberals to do things they had never done before that ar…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is with deep emotion and a sense of responsibility to history that I rise today to speak to the important motion that my party has moved in the House. History is dramatically unfolding before our very eyes. It is a bloody chapter filled with suffering, violence, fear, pain and death. On October 7, 1,200 Israeli voices were silenced forever, victims of a brutal attack by the Hamas t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the people of Gaza are not responsible for the actions of certain groups like Hamas, yet they have been disproportionately suffering the consequences for the past five months. A child dies every 15 minutes in Gaza. Collective punishment is a crime. Using hunger is a war crime too. We are extremely concerned about what is happening right now on the ground. That is why we need to act ur…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his statement and interventions. He is always knowledgeable and always shows compassion and empathy. We have been witnessing mass killings for months, an absolutely immense humanitarian crisis. Millions of people have been displaced, are starving and are being bombed every day. I would like to hear my colleague's comments on what happens next after tonight's v…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, obviously, the NDP condemns Hamas and the brutal and horrific attack on October 7, but that does not mean we should give a blank cheque to Netanyahu's regime and government and to his far-right ministers. My colleague talked about the importance of providing humanitarian aid. Right now, on a good day, 200 trucks can enter Gaza. When they can get in, that is. More often than not, only …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I think we need to use every possible and conceivable tool to put pressure on that government, which is possibly committing war crimes as we speak. In any case, the massacre of the population is real. We see it every day on social media and on the news. It is horrifying. People in my riding of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie are also extremely worried and concerned. They want the Liberal go…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, obviously, as Quebeckers, we have known for quite some time now how important it is to have accessible public child care. Not only is this a feminist and forward-thinking policy, but it is also good economic policy because it gives women in particular the opportunity to return to the labour market. Economist Pierre Fortin estimated that, in the first few years of Quebec's child care…
Read full speech →