Parliamentary Speeches
534 speeches by Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe — Page 3 of 11
Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois has been sounding the alarm since the safe third country agreement was renegotiated in 2023. There is a loophole that enables people who cross the border illegally to claim asylum after hiding for 14 days. On Friday, a CBSA report obtained by the media confirmed that, just between April and September 2023, nearly 2,000 people took advantage of that loophole and clai…
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Mr. Speaker, it is mind-boggling. Everyone warned them. We knew that the Liberals were not good at managing the borders, so the Bloc Québécois warned them before the U.S. election that migration at the border would go up if Donald Trump won. Quebec warned them. Immigration lawyers warned them. Community organizations warned them. We warned them. Despite all those warnings, the union tells us that …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, what I particularly like about debates in the House is that we learn so much. I just learned that my Conservative colleague has admitted, in answer to my colleague from Edmonton Strathcona, that climate change is caused by humans. We can look at the blues. The Conservatives, they tell us, are very focused on government spending. Now that we know they admit that climate change is cau…
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Mr. Speaker, we told the government so. Today, the Journal de Montréal reported a surge in the number of asylum seekers at the borders. The Lacolle border crossing received more than 80 between Saturday and Sunday, four times the recent average. In the words of a vice-president from the Customs and Immigration Union, they do not have enough employees to receive that many people. This confirms two …
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Mr. Speaker, they certainly have shown that over the past few years. Quebeckers do not believe this Prime Minister can deal with a wave of migration caused by Donald Trump. They saw how he dealt with the borders during the pandemic. They saw how he dealt with Roxham Road. They saw how he took to Twitter to invite the whole world to come to Quebec, then shirked his responsibilities when our intake …
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, François Legault announced that he would be deploying the Sûreté du Québec, or SQ, to patrol Canada's borders. The SQ will have to do the federal government's job for it because no one in Quebec believes that Ottawa is prepared to manage a potential wave of migration. This is what things have come to, but it is not as though the SQ is looking for work. It has to patrol the …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I want to say that I really enjoy listening to the speeches given by my hon. colleague from Calgary Nose Hill. She has a lot of experience. Do not worry, I am not about to sing any Francis Martin songs tonight. Maybe I am being naive, but since the member does have experience, I came up with an idea that I would like to run by her. I would like her to tell me if it makes sense. What…
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Mr. Speaker, that is interesting. While we are wondering whether the federal government has sufficient resources at the border to deal with immigration, while we are wondering whether human smuggling networks are one step ahead of the federal government, yesterday, the Liberals announced that hours of service are being reduced at 35 border crossings, including 10 in Quebec. The federal government …
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Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump is doubling down on his plan to deport millions of people. Yesterday, he floated the idea of declaring a national state of emergency to free up the necessary resources. Once again, we have every reason to fear a wave of migrants heading for our borders. Once again, we get the impression that criminal smuggling networks are one step ahead of the federal government at the b…
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Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and, if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That the House: (a) salute Mr. Irwin Cotler's contribution to the defence of human rights and the fight against racism and anti-Semitism; (b) recall his political contribution as Attorney General and Minister of Justice from 2003 to 2006, and that it c…
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That is confusing, Mr. Speaker. The Prime Minister not only could have acted faster on immigration, he should have acted faster. First of all, he should have thought about integration capacity before drastically increasing the population as he did. Second, he should have listened to everyone warning him that it was not working, but he was too blinded by his multiculturalist fantasy to base his imm…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, this morning, The Globe and Mail reported that Irwin Cotler, the former attorney general of Canada, was the target of an assassination plot by the Iranian regime. For over a month, Mr. Cotler has been living under police protection because an authoritarian regime wants him dead. Mr. Cotler, a human rights activist and staunch opponent of racism and anti-Semitism, had provoked the wrat…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is incapable of acknowledging that he is to blame for the crises surrounding the all-too-rapid hike in immigration numbers. Even in yesterday's mea culpa, he was still looking for someone else to blame, be it the pandemic, businesses or schools. He, however, is the one who issued every permit. He is the one who accepted McKinsey's immigration targets despite our war…
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Mr. Speaker, it is not as though no one told him to be careful with the immigration targets. His own officials warned him in 2022 that these immigration targets would aggravate the housing crisis and access to public services. The Bloc Québécois had been warning him for years that adopting the Century Initiative targets was totally irresponsible. Quebec has been warning him for two years that our …
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals claim they are prepared for a potential surge of migrants in response to Donald Trump's threats of deportation. However, being prepared means keeping an eye on the borders. Under the safe third country agreement, anyone who crosses the border secretly can apply for asylum in Canada after 14 days. Since the closure of Roxham Road, the vast majority of the RCMP officers hav…
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec continues to take in more than its fair share of asylum seekers, yet there is still no plan to distribute the numbers more equally among the provinces. This is a serious matter, especially as migration could skyrocket again with tomorrow's U.S. election. Donald Trump has announced that, if he wins, he will launch the biggest deportation program in American history. He wants to …
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Mr. Speaker, if he does not want to answer questions, he does not have to attend question period. The last time Donald Trump threatened to deport people, many headed for Canada. That led to the problems at Roxham Road, the consequences of which are still being felt today. Roxham Road became a problem because the federal government did not have a plan. The Prime Minister literally extended an invit…
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Mr. Speaker, governing is all about planning ahead. At every single opportunity, the immigration department has proven itself incapable of planning ahead. We will keep asking the minister for details about his plan because without details, we have no good reason to believe that a plan exists. If Donald Trump wins tomorrow, he has promised to deport 18 million people. Our agencies tell us that they…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, let us stick with that theme. If we travelled with the DeLorean from 1867 to today, we would see all kinds of scandals. There would be only two guilty parties: the Liberals and the Conservatives. Since 1867, we have become used to it. Let us come back to October 2, 2024, because I am being magnanimous with my esteemed colleague on the Conservative side. My question is very simple. Wha…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, of course the Bloc Québécois supports the principle of the motion. What bothers us is the wording. The Conservative motion does actually identify a serious problem, namely the mismanagement of Sustainable Development Technology Canada. However, the motion is problematic in its current form. The first item, calling for all documents to be tabled within 14 days, is completely unrealisti…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I do not think anyone wants us to engage in partisan rhetoric tonight. This is an emergency debate on how we can have an impact on peace in Lebanon, but I think the main issue is how we can repatriate Canadian citizens who are in Lebanon. Many of them are Quebeckers, since Quebec is home to a large Lebanese community. I think that is what we should be talking about today. What matters…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I remember my first day in the House five years ago. I was impressed by my colleague from Winnipeg North's passion and spirit and by the decibel level he was able to reach in his speeches. Again today, he does not disappoint. From him, I have learned that it is possible to answer a specific question without turning away from it. That is what I like about my colleague. In the report …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, today my party's leader asked the Prime Minister to tell us how important Bill C‑282, on supply management, is to him. The Prime Minister told him that he promised farmers he would never undermine supply management in international agreements again. I would like my colleague to tell me the difference between the Prime Minister's promise and Bill C‑282.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about the four Conservative provinces that refuse to help Quebec. These Conservatives, who have never done their part, refuse to take in a single extra person; meanwhile, Quebec is welcoming half of Canada's asylum seekers. Has anyone ever heard the federal Conservatives ask their buddies to help Quebeckers? We certainly have not. Does the minister think that the federa…
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Mr. Speaker, all that for this. For a year now, Quebec has been demanding a fair distribution of asylum seekers among the provinces. Today, the Minister of Immigration announced that this was not going to happen and that his task force is disbanding. There will be no distribution, except with the two voluntary provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba. I want to thank both these provinces …
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Mr. Speaker, together, Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba represent 5% of the Canadian population. If they do their part, Quebec will still only be relieved of 5% of the burden of welcoming asylum seekers. Neither Quebeckers nor asylum seekers will notice a difference in the availability of services. Every province must be involved. Quebeckers should not have to look after all of Canada's asyl…
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Mr. Speaker, he himself blamed his own government after a week. It is a good thing that the minister is admitting that he waited too long. However, he has not even come close to making up for the mistake he admits making, because asylum seekers still have not been relocated. A record number of asylum seekers have applied for welfare because they are waiting months for their federal work permit. Th…
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Immigration admitted on Saturday that his government had waited, and I quote, “a little too long to slow down” immigration. Quebec has been sounding the alarm for years. The Bloc Québécois has been warning him about this for years. We gave him facts and he responded with insults. Does he realize that we would not be in this mess today if he had listened to Quebec's war…
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Mr. Speaker, I think the member is mixing up some private conversations. The minister also said that it is always easy to look back and say, “We should have done this, that or the other thing”. The easy thing to do would have been to listen back then. The Quebec government warned him. The Bloc Québécois warned him. Economists at the big banks warned him. Even his own officials had warned his gover…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal-sponsored surge in temporary immigration is creating serious problems when it comes to delivering public services. Look at what is happening right now with asylum seekers. Four provinces are refusing to help Quebec by shouldering their fair share of the responsibility. I am talking about the Conservative premiers of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The…
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Mr. Speaker, in the spring, the Liberals promised a plan to spread out asylum seekers among the provinces. It is now the fall, and there is no plan, but that is not stopping Conservatives from concocting ways to sabotage the non-plan before it even sees the light of day. Quebeckers are trapped in the middle, and their public services are overwhelmed. Some asylum seekers in Quebec are unable to get…
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the provinces that are refusing to help Quebeckers in welcoming asylum seekers: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Alberta. What do these provinces have in common? They have Conservative premiers. Those Conservatives are telling Quebeckers to deal with it themselves, to take care of the asylum seekers for them, while they continue to mock them. To be clear, th…
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Mr. Speaker, the asylum seeker issue is going nowhere. The Liberals promised that Quebec would finally stop being the only one making a superhuman effort to welcome asylum seekers with dignity. They promised a fair resettlement strategy by this fall. Fall is here, but there is still no plan. Quebec is still taking on an utterly disproportionate share of responsibility for welcoming asylum seekers,…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, some might find it strange for a Bloc Québécois member to speak on a Canadian citizenship bill, but it will be easier for these “lost Canadians” interested in reclaiming their Canadian citizenship to acquire their Quebec citizenship once Quebec becomes a country. I am therefore pleased to speak on this question. A few months ago, I stood in the House to speak to Bill S‑245, which so…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, that rarely happens. I get the impression that my colleague took my speech and summed it up as a question. He is repeating the question back to me as if it was a short, one-page summary of my speech. That is exactly what I said. The Bloc Québécois supports the principle of Bill C-71, just as it supported the principle of Bill S-245. We are working hand in hand with the NDP and the L…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Calgary Shepard. We get along very well, he and I. We are able to work together. I think we are both able to set aside partisanship and work on improving bills sent to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, on which we sit. I agree with some of the points my colleague made in his remarks, particularly when he said that the situ…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the approval rate for French-speaking international students: how many study permit applications, other than extension applications, did Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada process in (i) 2023, (ii) 2024 to date, in total and broken down by country of residence?
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Madam Speaker, Bill C‑71 is a good start for correcting a flagrant and absurd injustice. It is a good start and it can also give us a guideline we can follow should there ever be a complete reform of citizenship status, in terms of what it means, what it represents and what being a citizen of a country entails. It is indeed a good idea that we should all be working on. Bill C‑71 is a step in the r…
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Madam Speaker, yes, I tend to agree with what the member opposite just suggested.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the policy on pathways to permanent residency for Hong Kong residents (hereinafter the policy), which falls under humanitarian and compassionate considerations: (a) how many applicants under the policy were approved in 2023, broken down by month; (b) how many applicants under the policy have been approved since the beginning of 2024, broken down by month; (c) what is the policy’s sp…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I will discuss it with my team, as they say. I would be happy to study such an amendment, but in order to propose such an amendment, we must vote in favour of the principle of the bill and send it to committee. I therefore humbly suggest that my Conservative friends vote along with everyone else in favour of the principle of the bill so that it can be sent to committee. Then we will…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the notwithstanding clause is back on the table. As I was saying, there is a strange atmosphere in Parliament at the moment. I just gave a speech, but I am not sure whether my colleague was listening. When he asked his first question, however, he seemed to have understood my remarks to the House. Earlier on, I said that when it comes to a bill like Bill C‑71, there should not be any…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am anxious for Quebec to become a country so that we do not have to listen to the bickering of these three federalist parties. It will happen one day; I guarantee it. I listened to my colleague's speech. Something we have agreed on since the beginning is that it is offensive to have wanted to change the date of the election, especially for a completely unreal reason, namely that tha…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the real question being asked today is this: What was the government's reason for pushing back the election date from October 20, 2025, to October 27, 2025? The reason it gave had nothing to do with municipal elections. It was about the Indian community's festival of lights. In my colleague's opinion, how could anyone draw a connection between a religious celebration and the date of a…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent to adopt the following motion: That the House recognize that: (a) China is carrying out a policy of systemic cultural assimilation against Tibetans; (b) Tibetans, as a people and a nation, can claim the right to self-determination; (c) as such, they are empowered to freely choos…
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Madam Speaker, as usual, I was impressed by my colleague's speech. That is to be expected, since he is a Bloc Québécois MP, after all. I want to make one thing clear. We hear the same argument every time: If a unilingual francophone were to apply for the job, would we not want them to have the job because the incumbent should be proficient in both official languages? They make the same argument ev…
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Madam Speaker, I think we will disagree. Our parties are unlikely to vote the same way. However, I found one thing rather fascinating when the bill was being studied in committee. Do members realize that the commissioners who will sit on the new miscarriage of justice review commission will not be required to be able to speak and understand both French and English? Why is that? It is because, when…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague from Edmonton Strathcona so much. We work together on several files involving international injustices and human rights. We work together amazingly well. Now, however, we may have a disagreement over Bill C‑40. As we have mentioned throughout this debate this evening, we were very disappointed with the way the NDP members voted on a Bloc Québécois amendment…
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Mr. Speaker, I did not speak right away because I was waiting for the light to go on. Likewise, it would be nice to see a light to go on in the brains of some members of the House, especially those making comparisons between squirrels and the CBC. Let us get back to the matter at hand. We know that the Canada Border Services Agency, the CBSA, has serious governance problems. The ArriveCAN file exp…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, “Quebec is no longer able to welcome asylum seekers with dignity”. This quote from a support centre for immigrant communities appears on the front page of a newspaper. The director talks about families with children living in cars and families crammed into bachelor apartments. The director says that “these people deserve some measure of dignity, and right now, especially with the hous…
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