Parliamentary Speeches
708 speeches by Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe — Page 10 of 15
Government Orders
Madam Speaker, indeed, it is late, but it is never too late to talk about issues as serious as this. What I have wanted to know since the start of this whole thing is how seriously is the Liberal government in power taking this issue. If we look at the measures this government has taken from the start, they coincided with the release of new information in the media every time. The Liberals have kn…
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Madam Speaker. I love my colleague. I understand his question. He just demonstrated why we need an independent public inquiry. Yes, he might be a good guy, but Kenny Chiu was also a good guy, and we do not know what happened because we are unable to shed light on the situation. My hon. colleague's question comes back to what we have been saying from the outset along with the Conservatives and the …
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Madam Speaker, that is another excellent question. We are fortunate this evening. I think that the Bloc Québécois shares the same position as the NDP. We like working hand in hand with our NDP friends. There needs to be an independent public inquiry. This would completely depoliticize the debate since this inquiry would be independent. Appointing someone who was a director of the PM's father's fou…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague for his question. I work with him on a lot of files. I know that he does meaningful work on those files. He is very organized and easy to work with. He makes an excellent suggestion. Unfortunately, I have to tell my colleague that we have already seen how the government reacts when we ask it to stand up and act courageously on human rights issues. I agr…
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Madam Speaker, I want to point out that the speeches in the House today are excellent. I want to congratulate my colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue for the overview he just provided. What happened is serious. I will try to summarize what happened recently, but also what happened in the years that we have been talking about interference here in the House. Yesterday, in the late afternoon, diploma…
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Madam Speaker, as I look around, I have to wonder how seriously the government is taking Chinese interference here in Parliament. I think it is a serious issue. I wonder how seriously the government is taking it. I have a question for my hon. colleague. How seriously does he think the Liberal caucus is taking what is going on with Chinese interference in our Parliament?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the minister brags about 4% of immigrants outside Quebec being francophone, but according to francophone and Acadian communities, they need 12% next year and 20% in the future just to slow the decline of French. Quebec's Minister of the French Language calls it the most hare-brained idea of the century. He says it is not good for Quebec or for the Canadian francophonie. Will the minis…
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the Century Initiative. Many Quebeckers and French Canadians are concerned about the federal government potentially tripling the population to 100 million by 2100 without any public debate. The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship says his plan has nothing to do with the Century Initiative and he makes his own choices. Coincidence or not, his 2023-25 imm…
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Mr. Speaker, no country in recent history has planned to triple its population in 75 years. The Century Initiative deserves a responsible, intelligent debate. Quebeckers have some questions, and rightly so. There has been no debate, and the federal government appears to be going ahead with it anyway. Ottawa's immigration targets for 2025 already match those of the Century Initiative. Would the Lib…
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What a coincidence, Mr. Speaker. The federal government's targets are the same as those of the Century Initiative. The Century Initiative's top priority is economic interests. Dominic Barton confirmed that they did not think about anything else. They did not think about the impact that tripling the population would have on the future of French. They also did not think about indigenous languages or…
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Mr. Speaker, they are congratulating themselves on reaching their target once in 20 years. That speaks volumes. It is unthinkable to triple the population to 100 million without public debate. Doing so would mean fundamentally changing Canada and Quebec behind closed doors with input only from economic circles. Immigration policies are not a virtue contest, they are public choices with real conseq…
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Mr. Speaker, I think everyone needs to calm down and, above all, trust the Speaker that the House elected. We need to keep things civil. While you were speaking, Mr. Speaker, I heard the House leader of the New Democratic Party yelling at a female member in an improper tone, telling her to sit down. I encourage everyone to calm down. We have a Speaker who is capable of making decisions. We must be…
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Mr. Speaker, this is only my second term and I have not even been here four years yet, so I would like to ask you a question. Throughout question period, the Conservative Party rightly asked members who had just spoken to apologize. Question period is now over and those members, who did not stand up once during question period, are suddenly apologizing now that everyone else has left. I want to kn…
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Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I pledge our wholehearted support for our colleague and his family, who are currently going through a very difficult situation. I believe that all members of the House must support our colleague. The Bloc Québécois will be doing so. I believe that is what each and every one of us would want to see if we were in his position. He can count on our support…
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Mr. Speaker, CBSA just clued in about the violence in Sudan. Ottawa finally decided yesterday to stop the deportation of asylum seekers to that country, to avoid putting their lives in danger. Some may say that it is better late than never, but when we are talking about people's lives, what we should be saying is, “the sooner the better”. Ottawa should have done that automatically on compassionate…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. We will definitely support every initiative on sanctions, especially for the Wagner Group. Today, Ukraine's ambassador to Canada appeared before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development to answer our questions. She said that, first, there are not enough sanctions and that, second, they are being poorly applied. It i…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, emergency debates like tonight's are important because they reassure people that the government is doing its job when a crisis arises like the one we are discussing tonight. We talked about the long term. We know that Canada is not a military or economic power. However, it can play a humanitarian role and provide international development assistance. The UN asks countries like Canada …
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Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague talked a lot about the national dental program. Since this is an area of provincial jurisdiction, as my colleague indicated to him earlier in his question, it is up to the provinces to decide what to do within their jurisdiction. This is basically a Quebec sovereignist asking that the Canadian Constitution be respected. Does my colleague agree, if this national den…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to mention that I will be sharing my time with the member for Spadina—Fort York. I thank the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, who called for an emergency debate today on the current crisis in Sudan. As sad as these words are to say and hear, we have to know that civilians are always the first victims of armed conflicts. As I rise to speak in the House, t…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I really appreciated my colleague's speech, because she seems to have hit the nail on the head. She told us that, in terms of international relations, this government only seems to care about trade these days. In a fantastical, completely insane and almost schizophrenic turn of events, this government sent the Minister of International Development on a diplomatic mission to Qatar, a d…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, let us look at this government's track record in dealing with international crises. The government let down the people of Afghanistan and those who helped the Canadian army, such as Afghan interpreters. It let down Ukrainians because it took three months to set up a program. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not have the proper computer system to implement the program. …
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Mr. Speaker, first, I would like the member to name the bills that the Bloc Québécois voted against. What I just heard is not true. Second, the members of the Bloc Québécois were among the most vocal supporters of bringing Ukrainians to Canada, because the government was not doing its job. That also applies to the Afghan refugees. Whenever there is a humanitarian crisis anywhere in the world, the …
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Mr. Speaker, it is really sad. I thank my colleague for that important question. It seems as though this government and the previous governments never learned from the past. Where is the sense in making sure that we are able to evacuate Canadians who are working in embassies in places where there is a crisis or armed conflict, when we are leaving behind the people who work with those Canadians, wh…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, on April 21, 2004, the Bloc Québécois member for the riding of Laval Centre, Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral, moved Motion No. 380, which recognized the 1915 Armenian genocide as a crime against humanity. Twenty years earlier, as early as 1980, the government of René Levesque was one of the first to recognize the unspeakable tragedy of the massacre of 1.5 million people, or two-thirds of th…
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Madam Speaker, I really enjoyed my hon. colleague's speech. What is interesting is that the Conservatives are saying that they will be a responsible government and that they will form the next government. Now, my colleague did not specify exactly what the Conservatives would do to balance the budget. I heard one proposal from the Conservative leader. Earlier, my colleague quoted the Deputy Prime M…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague just reiterated that the government sent people to Qatar to talk about human rights. Come on. The minister's briefing note proves that the Department of Foreign Affairs tasked him with promoting the sale of armoured vehicles. It was even in the key messages of his briefing note. Armoured vehicles are tanks. I have a news flash for everyone: Qatar is not going to use tanks…
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Mr. Speaker, members will recall that the World Cup of soccer was held in Qatar this past fall. We debated whether it was acceptable to organize major sports events in countries that violate human rights. The Bloc Québécois had demanded a diplomatic boycott, but the government still sent a minister to Qatar. Believe it or not, The Globe and Mail revealed that this minister was mandated by the Depa…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to pick up on the point raised by my colleague from Outremont. I thought her question was very interesting, but we did not get an answer. We are talking about responsible government, yet we have heard the leader of the Conservative Party say that he would cut $1 billion from CBC/Radio-Canada's $1.2-billion budget. I would like to know what my colleague thinks about that…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Government of Canada’s discussions with the United States of America on the Safe Third Country Agreement, since January 1, 2022: (a) how many meetings, virtual, in-person or by phone, have there been where Roxham Road was discussed; (b) for each meeting in (a), which public office holders participated in those discussions, including their full name and title; (c) what briefing d…
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With regard to the request from the promoters of Democratic Spaces and Cuba Decide to impose targeted sanctions on 12 Cuban officials and entities responsible for gross violations of human rights in the aftermath of the protests of July 11, 2021: (a) has Global Affairs Canada (GAC) reviewed this request; (b) what information does GAC have on the human rights situation in Cuba, and how is GAC curre…
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Mr. Speaker, after six years of repeatedly asking for Roxham Road to be closed, after repeating hundreds of times that asylum seekers should not be greeted by RCMP officers, after saying over and over again that the influx far exceeds Quebec's capacity, we see that Roxham Road is finally closed. That is good news. It should have been done a long time ago. Now, as we know, before we celebrate, we n…
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Indeed, Mr. Speaker, I was here for the President's speech. We understand that the Liberals are proud of their accomplishment and that they are happy. We are happy, too. However, there are still many unanswered questions, and many people are wondering, starting, I imagine, with Mr. Pierre Guay, who owns land near Roxham Road and is a generous Liberal Party donor. Mr. Guay signed leases estimated a…
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Madam Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague's speech. If the government was as quick to introduce this bill as my colleague was in reading his speech, Bill C‑41 would have been passed a long time ago. I want to congratulate him because I have never heard someone say so many words so quickly. There are a lot of things in this bill. Members know that I care a lot about this bill. With the su…
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Madam Speaker, I congratulate the member for Bruce—Grey—Owen on his French. I have a great deal of appreciation for him. I know that he has a direct connection to Afghanistan, because he served over there. We thank him for his service. I thank him for the opportunity to say how frustrating this is and has been. He and I are part of a group of parliamentarians that also includes our friend from Edm…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent question. I think this bill was supposed to strike a balance, which is no easy task when it comes to any discussion on terrorist financing. I understand how difficult it can be for legislators to draft a document that strikes this balance, and I think it has been achieved to some extent. Where we do see problems now has more to do with how this…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague and I are in the same position and we feel the same way. This is a bill that we need to pass, but it is truly imperfect and is not acceptable to the very organizations that asked us to create this bill. We need to find solutions. Earlier in my speech I talked about that a bit. I do not know whether my colleague had the opportunity to hear it. I think that the members fr…
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Madam Speaker, it is precisely because we are in contact with people who have been on the ground there for many years that we need to pass such legislation. Every day and every week, we meet people who tell us what they need, and we speak on their behalf. That is more or less what my colleague wanted to say as well. We need to go and get the information from those who are really experiencing the s…
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Madam Speaker, I have been waiting for this day for more than a year. We are finally debating a bill that should have been introduced a long time ago. Last year, I had the honour of sitting on the Special Committee on Afghanistan with my colleagues from different parties, some of whom are with me today. I was one of the vice-chairs. It was at the meeting on February 7, 2022, already more than a ye…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I was going to ask a question about my Conservative colleague's speech, but there was a question a moment ago from a Liberal member about my Conservative colleague's speech. I must admit that, as a good Quebecker, I was “flabbergasté”. I know Kenny Chiu. I worked with him. He is a respectable, upstanding man who deserves respect. In the last question from the Liberals about my frien…
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What a surprise, Mr. Speaker. We are not asking the minister what the results were in Washington. We already know. There were none at all. We saw it from the first second that he showed up alone to the scrum yesterday without an American representative by his side. That must have been embarrassing. Obviously, we will not talk about results, but can we at least know, as a famous politician said, wh…
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Mr. Speaker, at last, there was light. At last, after six years of inaction on Roxham Road, the federal government sent the Minister of Immigration to the United States to renegotiate the safe third country agreement. I have a very simple question for him, but it is a question to which nobody has ever received an answer. What does renegotiating the safe third country agreement mean? What concrete …
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister made a rather unexpected comment as the House was rising for a two-week recess. He said that we all want Roxham Road to close. That was news to us. For years we have been asking the government to close Roxham Road, explaining that Quebec has exceeded its capacity, that it is not safe and that it is creating an illegal human smuggling industry. Now he tells us that h…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister also said that simplistic solutions will not be how it is done. We agree on that. Speaking of simplistic solutions, there are just 17 days left before the Conservative leader's ultimatum expires, but we will come back to that. We have a simple solution, not a simplistic one. It involves suspending the safe third country agreement. That way, there will no longer be a…
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Mr. Speaker, for six years now the federal government has repeatedly said that it is negotiating with the Americans on Roxham Road, but no one has heard anything about it. Who is negotiating on behalf of Canada and with whom? What are the objectives of the negotiation? How often are discussions held? When did the negotiations begin? What is the target date for seeing some results? Who does the neg…
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Mr. Speaker, it is nice to hear the Bloc Québécois's work on the refugee file being recognized, for once. This government just admitted how hard we are working and how much we care about the future of migrants and of Quebec. I thank my colleague. Now, that does not change the facts. We still do not have an answer about the negotiations. People advocating for asylum seekers have the right to know. …
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Mr. Speaker, not only is that our view as well but we hold the same positions as migrants who are calling for the suspension of the safe third country agreement. That is the crux of the impasse at Roxham Road. Migrants are being exploited. Children are crossing alone in winter. People are being detained indefinitely. The United States is on one side of the border. They know that it is dangerous, b…
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Mr. Speaker, authorities are concerned about an 846% increase in irregular border crossings. Border services are worried, saying, “it is extremely dangerous, particularly in inclement weather, which our Swanton Sector has in incredible abundance”. It is not the federal government saying so, it is the Americans. The Americans are worried because it is dangerous to cross the border through the woods…
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Mr. Speaker, I really appreciated my hon. colleague's speech. I agree with him. The Liberals are putting more money into the oil and gas industry than the Conservatives did before them. I believe that is unheard of in Canadian history. The oil industry has never had so many subsidies. Unfortunately, I have a question and I am not sure my colleague will be happy that I am asking it. At this moment …
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Mr. Speaker, right now at Roxham Road, there are smugglers who are peddling illusions to migrants to exploit them. There are unaccompanied children in the woods in the middle of winter, and there are people being detained indefinitely. That is what is happening at Roxham Road. That is what the federal government is condoning. Refugee rights groups themselves are calling for the suspension of the s…
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Mr. Speaker, the government is making up scandals when it comes to Roxham Road, but the real scandal is that Roxham Road has become a network for the exploitation of asylum seekers, in cahoots with the American authorities. The real scandal is that U.S. customs officers have become smugglers, right under the government's nose. The real scandal is that Ottawa knows about this and accepts it. The sa…
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