Parliamentary Speeches
683 speeches by Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe — Page 9 of 14
Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I just want to make sure that my colleague is going to repeat his intervention from the start and that he will be given the same amount of time he had before my colleague's point of order.
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Mr. Speaker, I am not the one asking for this. They are. The government needs to stop using security reasons as an excuse whenever the issue of Chinese interference comes up. We do not have the memory of a goldfish. We remember the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who was tortured in Syria. There were plenty of security issues in that file. However, there was an independent public inquiry in…
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Mr. Speaker, all human rights groups in Canada from the Chinese diaspora community are calling for a public inquiry into Beijing's interference. Mehmet Tohti, representing the Uyghur nation in Canada, pro-democracy dissidents in Hong Kong, the Falun Gong and Tibetan independence fighters—all of whom were already experiencing Chinese intimidation tactics on Canadian soil long before this scandal br…
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Mr. Speaker, last year, the federal government rejected 72% of francophone students from Africa who were selected by our universities to study in Quebec. That is according to the Institut du Québec. This is not a new problem. The same thing happened in 2020 and 2021, to the point where the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship had to acknowledge, last October, that there was racism w…
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Mr. Speaker, an application refusal rate of 72% is more than triple that in Ontario. Beyond all of these individuals' shattered dreams, the Institut du Québec is concerned that Quebec's activity is threatened. In other words, the federal government is pushing francophones to go study elsewhere when they could be making an invaluable contribution to Quebec. Those who leave after their studies becom…
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Mr. Speaker, how infuriating, especially since the government has spent all week acting like it has something to teach Quebeckers. Meanwhile, people look at what the government is doing, and I guarantee they are struggling mightily to be polite. This government is breaking the rules, and its only excuse is that these students are from Africa. That is truly appalling. When we prove that its decisio…
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Mr. Speaker, on May 17, 1995, a six-year-old Tibetan monk disappeared. He was recognized as the 11th Panchen Lama, one of the most revered leaders in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama. The Panchen Lama is a symbol of tremendous importance to the Tibetan community, which is currently being denied its religious and cultural freedom. Most importantly, he was a child. The young Panchen Lama and hi…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague from Chicoutimi—Le Fjord said something interesting in answer to the question from the member for Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia. He said that the Bloc Québécois did its job because of pressure from social media and the Conservatives. I am pleased to hear that today. What the member for Chicoutimi—Le Fjord is telling us is that the Bloc Québécois did its job and impr…
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Madam Speaker, I want to say how much I value my colleague. I work with him on various committees. I want to congratulate him on his speech. What I particularly like about my colleague is that when he and I debate, our positions are always based on facts. I am open minded, but now, the Conservatives are telling us that hunters will be penalized if we pass this bill. My question for my colleague is…
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has accused the Bloc Québécois of scaring people when it comes to the Century Initiative. It is this government, not the Bloc Québécois, that is scaring people. The government is calculating its immigration thresholds without taking into account the capacity of Quebec and the provinces to receive immigrants and provide them with housing, health care, ch…
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Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleague to come up with a new version. Immigration is a kind of wealth, not only economic, but human as well. It helps us redefine who we are and learn new ways to live side by side. It opens our minds to new ideas and new perspectives. However, immigration depends on integration to succeed. With its target of 500,000 immigrants by 2025, the federal government is overshoot…
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That may be, Mr. Speaker, but we need to do it properly. When it comes to immigration, the Liberals cloak themselves in virtue and lofty sentiments. They talk about a host society, about welcoming millions of newcomers, but the immigrants who are here are often forgotten and suffer intolerable delays. La Presse reported that a request for documents that should take 20 days took a year. La Presse a…
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Madam Speaker, I want to note that I will be sharing my time with the excellent member for Saint‑Hyacinthe—Bagot. I will start by saying this: I am pro-immigration, much to the chagrin of my detractors on social media and probably the member for Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, who pride themselves on knowing my own thoughts better than I do. As I was saying, I am pro-immigration. The organizations I wo…
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Mr. Speaker, I think we were at questions and comments. The member for Winnipeg North has made several interventions in the House in today's debate. One of the things he said was how proud he is of certain francophone communities in Manitoba and the vitality of French in Manitoba. I would like to remind him that in 1870, when Manitoba joined the Canadian Confederation, the population was 50% franc…
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Mr. Speaker, they reached their francophone immigration target once in 20 years and they are boasting about it. That is ridiculous. Immigration thresholds are not an abstract concept or just a number in a notebook. They are not statistics that are just thrown around. Behind the numbers there are people with needs. These people need housing, they need health care, day care and schools for their chi…
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Mr. Speaker, the government can go ahead and say that it is not following the Century Initiative, but it is using the same targets. I said, “the same”, but that is not accurate. The Century Initiative is recommending that Canada welcome 475,000 newcomers in 2025, but the government chose to go with 500,000. It is moving even faster, despite the unanimous opposition of the Quebec National Assembly,…
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Madam Speaker, I would have a lot to say about that. I thank the member for his good question. We first have to understand one thing. When we talk to certain African ambassadors to Canada, they say we must ensure that we do not drain their countries of all their talented people, because they need nurses, doctors and teachers. I have had discussions with certain groups. We need to be careful that w…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent question. We have to face facts. Right now, greater regional immigration to remote areas would be welcome. My riding has wonderful immigration stories to tell. I was in Saint‑Thomas‑Didyme two weeks ago and took part in a Moroccan night. Saint‑Thomas‑Didyme is a long way from Ottawa. It is a small village with a population of about 600. Tempora…
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Madam Speaker, no, that is still the case. People in this party are always telling us the same thing: Quebec and Canada each set their own levels. If Quebec maintains its current levels and Canada increases its levels, Quebec will clearly lose demographic weight, and therefore political weight, within the Canadian federation. I am sure we agree on that. It is simple math. The federal government vo…
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Madam Speaker, I recognize how much work my colleague has done on the immigration file. Indeed, I congratulate her because I agree with much of what she said in her speech, including the parts about francophone immigration. Now I would like us all to look at the motion before us. I kind of have a hard time believing the NDP could vote against this motion. My colleague mentioned first nations in he…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Conservative Party leader. He always makes me laugh. Actually, I want to congratulate him. Not only will he vote in favour of the motion, but, by doing so, he will be taking a stand against the position adopted by the former Conservative Party leader, Brian Mulroney, who supports the Century Initiative. I congratulate him on taking a stand against Brian Mulroney. I ha…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague. I will never be able to congratulate him enough on the fact that his French is improving every day. It is a praiseworthy achievement. I think that it is the first time my colleague has spoken in French for 20 minutes, and I congratulate him. My leader took the floor earlier and explained that there were three options before us. One of them is t…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my leader for that excellent speech. This week in the House, when we questioned the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship he said that he was not using the Century Initiative targets but was choosing his own targets for Canada, without relying on what was established by that same Century Initiative. However, from 2023 to 2025, the federal government's targets are d…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Elgin—Middlesex—London for her speech. I truly appreciate this member. I think she is a sincere person who comes to work here for the right reasons, to represent the people in her riding. She mentioned a gentleman whom I greatly respect, Kenny Chiu. I worked with him in the last Parliament. I have the impression that what happened to my friend Kenny is not …
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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, 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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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, 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, 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?
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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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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, 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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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, 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, 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…
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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, 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. …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
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…
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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, 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, 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 …
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, 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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