Parliamentary Speeches
833 speeches by Andréanne Larouche — Page 16 of 17
Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. Today, we are talking about inflation. One aspect of the Conservatives' motion is about inflation. I am sick and tired of hearing the Liberals say that they are listening and that they are helping seniors when they are leaving out an entire huge segment of seniors, those between 65 and 74 years of age, who make up more than half of the senior dem…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech on the bill. I look forward to hearing from the member for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, especially in a context where we are truly committed to the principle of protecting linguistic diversity and, more importantly, with the number of people reporting French as their mother language in decline. The influence of people whose mother language is French is…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the “Surfe la vague”, or ride the wave, kindness challenge came to an end on March 27. Over the course of 21 days, people were asked to show kindness and empathy by taking care of themselves and others and sending messages of compassion and support to help everyone's mental health. This initiative was created by the Haute‑Yamaska regional county municipality, the City of Granby, the C…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Motion No. 45 regarding the financial security of seniors. When this was first proposed to me, my initial reaction was to think that this has already been done, and we already have solutions that could be put in place now. However, as the Bloc Québécois critic for seniors, I will give this matter all the attention it deserves. Members will understand that I ha…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. We have a question. It is likely that applying a fuel charge to farming businesses may not be so effective. It does not push farmers to reduce their carbon footprint. How could this issue be studied when we reach the next stage of his Bill C‑234?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it comes down to the new NDP-Liberal centralist alliance that categorically refuses to compromise when it comes to staying out of Quebec's and the provinces' jurisdictions.
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Madam Speaker, I am happy to speak to Bill C-8, an act to implement certain provisions of the economic and fiscal update tabled in Parliament on December 14, 2021 and other measures. The Standing Committee on Finance spent a lot of time debating this piece of economic legislation. Just as an aside, I would like to wish a very happy birthday to someone who just joined us in the House, the member fo…
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Madam Speaker, the Liberal government has shown its true colours. It is about to come into conflict with Quebec and the provinces, since this means that it categorically refuses to increase federal funding for health care with no strings attached. Whether the Minister of Canadian Heritage likes it or not, this sets the stage for a real fight. My speech will focus on three issues: the lack of healt…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question. I am going to have to repeat the same thing. My answer has several elements. They are called health transfers and they are provided for in the Constitution. As I explained, Quebec has health care and housing programs. Ottawa must transfer the money. That is how it works. With respect to health care, Ottawa does not know how to manage …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. It gives me an opportunity to come back to something that I was only able to talk about briefly, and that is help for sectors that will continue to be affected for quite some time because of the pandemic. My colleague is right that this program dates back to December, before the arrival of the omicron variant. That seems like a lifetime ago bec…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, as the member for a riding where agriculture plays a key role in the economy, I am pleased to rise this afternoon to speak to Bill C-234. I want to begin by saying that the Bloc Québécois supports the principle of this bill. Even though we do not really agree with the idea of undermining the carbon tax, there is no question that farmers play an important social role and that we all …
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Madam Speaker, in my riding, Shefford, I attend the meetings of an economic and strategic watch committee established by the Haute-Yamaska RCM that brings together players from the economic and tourism sectors, as well as municipal elected officials and Quebec MNAs. Everyone agrees on one thing. We need predictability to keep many sectors of our economy going, including tourism, which is so import…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech, in which he talked about the importance of helping Canadians get through this inflationary period. He talked about helping families, but there is another group of people living on fixed incomes and that is seniors. My colleague just talked about an affordable housing strategy. Having an affordable place to live is one thing, but having a fixed inco…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. He talked about farmers, saying that they want to contribute to the environment, not harm it, but they cannot afford to do that. Instead of continuing to supply them with oil, what does he think about helping our farmers to be part of the solution by promoting good practices and investing in greener measures? Speaking of helping farmers turn to mor…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his speech, in which he talked about everything his government is doing with the eco-energy retrofit program. That is great, but meanwhile, his government gave billions of dollars to the oil companies again recently. This did not go unnoticed, and my colleague from Jonquière mentioned it in his speech this morning. Would it not be better to invest this …
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Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about what his government has done with respect to green or energy-efficient retrofits. That is good. In the meantime, however, the numbers indicate that his government continues to invest heavily in the oil industry and in pipelines. Would it not be better to invest that money in programs that help the victims of inflation, people with fixed incomes like seniors…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, at the moment, it just looks cheap. The minister cannot hide behind the commission. It is up to Parliament to amend legislation, as the commission itself pointed out. It is entirely the minister's responsibility. There are exceptions to the law that allow people claiming EI to calculate their income over two years rather than 52 weeks. People who cannot work because they are sick, inj…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech. However, he used somewhat of a strong word, “activist”, as if all the people who are currently demanding that action be taken to reduce our carbon footprint were all activists. The UN Secretary-General said this week that it was important, if not essential, to accelerate the energy transition. Ukrainian and other European leaders ar…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, these are tough times for humanity, what with the pandemic, global warming, and the war in Ukraine. Things may look bleak, but there is hope. The future is feminist. Yes, the future is feminist. That is not just the theme of the International Day of Women's Rights, it is the promise we are making. As March 8 approaches, I want to remind members that thousands and millions of women aro…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, this is embarrassing. During the week of March 8, a day when we celebrate women's rights, this government, which claims to be feminist, is in court to retain the right to deny employment insurance to new mothers who lose their jobs. Let us just think about that for a moment. I could not even make this stuff up. Women had to sue the Canada Employment Insurance Commission because the go…
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Madam Speaker, as my colleague has already said, no European leaders have asked us for Canadian gas. Worse still, is this entire debate not becoming one big greenwashing exercise, even though there is no such thing as green oil or green gas? Instead, we should be thinking about a transition, which is what the European leaders are asking of us. I would like my colleague's thoughts on that.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from New Westminster—Burnaby for his speech. I am thanking him now because, as of this morning, he seems to be in agreement with our motion on this opposition day. I assume that the New Democrats will vote in favour of the motion. That is interesting, but I would like to take this further. When we talk about Quebec’s political weight, it is important…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Jonquière for his passionate and fascinating speech. I will not be making any comments about his weight. He talked a lot about the importance of nationalism and the fact that it should not be seen as looking inward. I would also like to hear him talk about the fact that we are here for one thing. Nationalism is fine, but until independence has been achie…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Manicouagan for her speech. There is one thing I want to comment on. She talked about Ms. Lebel and Mr. Legault and what is going on in the National Assembly. Earlier, a Liberal MP once again accused the Bloc Québécois of picking a fight. I actually see us as spokespeople for Quebec's demands. In 2010, the National Assembly adopted a motion to ensure Quebec w…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I would like to start by commending my colleague from Longueuil—Saint‑Hubert for his passionate speech and, more importantly, for finally agreeing to share his time with me. It is with great concern that I rise today to participate in this historic debate. I would like to begin with a quick question. How do my colleagues feel when they see the images of the charging horses and the c…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I think I have demonstrated in my speech that this is not a national crisis, but one that is limited to Ottawa. Elsewhere, such as in Quebec City, the crises that occurred were resolved, because there was co-operation. Right now, both the police and the governments have all the tools that they need to act. In Quebec City, there was coordination…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, indeed, I addressed this issue. The Prime Minister should not have been acting like a political commentator, making inappropriate comments. He should have acted like a political leader, led an all-party committee to get everyone around the same table, and come up with a peaceful solution. All he accomplished by doing that, as I said, was to make the situation worse. That is typical …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Beauport—Limoilou for her important question. As politicians, we definitely needed to listen to the different voices that were heard loud and clear during the protest. This was not about commenting, taking sides or taking a stand. Our goal was to bring the various parties together. My colleague talked about the lessons we can learn from all of this. What we…
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Madam Speaker, before my hon. colleague from Vancouver East was interrupted by technical difficulties, she spoke at length about the issue of seniors and the fact that they are the most vulnerable. Back in August, the Bloc Québécois wrote to the Minister of Finance to denounce the cuts to the guaranteed income supplement for seniors who had received CERB. On top of that, there is nothing in the ec…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Peace River—Westlock. He raised the issue of the supply chain and cars, and I would like to come back to something the member who spoke before him said. That member said that it is important to invest in better windows but that the government should not necessarily be investing in electric cars by providing credits to further encourage the electrification o…
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. There is a problem with the interpretation and it is creating a lot of confusion.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Winnipeg Centre, who is a fellow member of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. I know these issues are very important to us both. We agree on two things. First, the rich must pay their fair share. The Liberals had announced measures to crack down on tax havens, so it is deeply disappointing to see next to nothing about that in Bill C‑8, because tha…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to see you for the first time in 2022. I thank my colleague for his speech. He spoke a lot about health, but does he realize that the problem is not about creating standards or federal interference in jurisdictions belonging to Quebec, the provinces and the territories? What is crucial, as we emerge from this health crisis, is that the federal government increase health…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I find it fascinating that the Liberal government is in such denial about seniors living in financial insecurity and that it prefers to send out one-off cheques when what seniors really need is ongoing help. If the Bloc Québécois had not been there back in April to remind the government that everyone was getting assistance during the pandemic except for seniors, they would not have …
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Madam Speaker, I have already talked about the one-time cheques. Seniors are outraged. They feel they are being used, manipulated for electoral purposes, rewarded with nothing more than a little cheque from the government every now and then. What they need is stable, long-term buying power.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague. It is an honour to serve with her at the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. Seniors and the status of women are two causes that matter very much to us both. I agree with what she said about the Liberals not being mindful of what is going on with seniors. That is why the Bloc Québécois proposed extending the old age security increase to those 65 and over…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my excellent colleague from Joliette, who is also the finance critic. He is doing a fabulous job of handling this file, and I would like to congratulate him for his work. I rise to speak during this second reading of Bill C-2 in a collaborative spirit. Like my colleague, I will begin by saying that the Bloc Québécois supports Bill C‑2, which introduces new target…
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Madam Speaker, we could talk and we are talking about minimum sentences. We are talking about firearms, but we cannot—
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his speech. I would like to take the discussion in a different direction. Despite the rhetoric from the Conservatives, there are examples of what works elsewhere in the world. Portugal, for example, has chosen the path of decriminalization, and it works. Another country that comes to mind is Switzerland, which has now gone the diversion route, and it work…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to hear from my Conservative colleague on something he did not touch on in his speech. The Conservatives love to keep public spending under control. Of course, the more mandatory minimum sentences there are, the more people there will be in prison; the more people we keep in prison, the more it will cost the government. I would like to hear what he has to say about the …
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Madam Speaker, thank you for reiterating the importance of showing respect in the House. I would like my colleague to quickly say a few words about two things. The message this bill is sending by eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for gun-related crimes is that the government will not intervene and form a joint task force to better control firearms at the borders, as per the key request of th…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her speech. Earlier this week, I too had the opportunity to give a speech on Bill C-5. As I studied the bill, several things came to mind and jumped out at me. Unfortunately, this feels a bit like a kitchen sink bill. The government is combining two very different subjects, when diversion and decriminalization are two very sensitive issues. It is also c…
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Madam Speaker, the interpreter cannot hear the member properly.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Joliette. It is always a pleasure working with him. My colleague stated that Ottawa has declared war on the provinces with respect to health. Ottawa has also declared open war on seniors' groups, which are fiercely standing up for seniors in financial straits. Their situation was already precarious before the pandemic. The pandemic did not fix anything…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite‑Patrie for giving me the chance to elaborate on the subject and to reiterate that firearms and drugs are not just a justice system issue, but they are also becoming a public health issue. This issue often involves people who have mental health problems or who are in need of a program or a different type of support. The community-based appro…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the always-on-point member for Trois-Rivières. I feel a sense of bewilderment today as I rise to speak to Bill C-5, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. I have many questions and concerns. As my party's status of women critic, and having observed an increase in cases of femicide and gender-based vio…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question, which gives me the opportunity to address another aspect of the issue that I was unable to mention in my speech, and that is jurisdictional flexibility. Quebec is already looking at several measures. We do need to keep in mind how important it is to have judges who are able to render decisions, but communities must also have some leeway. As I men…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Montarville for his question, which gives me a chance to remind the House that mandatory minimum sentences are not without cost. There is indeed a cost to all this, and it has to be paid. He put it well when he said that a prison has a cost. It costs more money to detain people in the justice system than it does to support them in other ways. They could be …
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Mr. Speaker, as my party's status of women critic, I started my speech by making a specific reference to femicide. The member asked about victims, and last week we commemorated the École Polytechnique massacre, but the problem is that there is no evidence that mandatory minimum penalties actually work. The Bloc Québécois believes that the only way to help victims is by taking gun control seriously…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, that is not what we are talking about. This is going to take a whole lot more than lip service. It is going to take action. Too many seniors are being left out in the cold. Not only is the government refusing to help those under 75, but it is actually attacking older workers who receive the GIS. It is cutting benefits for those who lost their jobs during the pandemic and had to appl…
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