Parliamentary Speeches
563 speeches by Christine Normandin — Page 11 of 12
Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I listened to the speech by my colleague from Davenport, whom I like very much. From what I understand, she agrees with the principle of using the Emergencies Act, because she agrees with how it is being applied and the rules for enforcing it. However, this is special legislation that is supposed to protect us from arbitrary government. It is to be used only in emergency situations wh…
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my esteemed colleague from Mirabel. First of all, I would like to say that I will be doing something that I normally do not do. Rather than ad lib my speech, which is something I tend to strongly favour for parliamentary debates, since it makes them much livelier, I will be reading it from beginning to end. That is my way of trying to help out the supp…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I remind members that the Emergencies Act states that the government must have done everything possible. However, before invoking the act, the government made no attempt to co-ordinate the various police services. That is proof that the nuclear option, as some members are calling it, was used without justification. The work was not done. The only measure not permitted under existing…
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Madam Speaker, the War Measures Act was created with several scenarios in mind, but nothing specific. One of the tenets of a law is that it must not apply to a specific situation. It must be devised for general application to prevent it from being abusive. That is why there are criteria for determining whether the Emergencies Act may be invoked. I do not see how it is useful to think of a very spe…
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for the interesting question. I answered that question directly in my speech. I said that I am very worried that a request from a province or city that had failed to respond to a national crisis could become a justification to use the act. Failure is not one of the criteria set out in the act. All available resources must have been exhausted first. Unfortunately, …
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Mr. Speaker, I am thoroughly convinced that the NDP leader was not happy about announcing his support at the outset, unlike the Minister of Public Safety, who said he was proud to support the Emergencies Act. The NDP's current position is inconsistent with the history of the party and the legacy of Tommy Douglas, which they claimed to represent when marking the anniversary of the Emergencies Act. …
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, today I would like to honour Sylvie Brosseau, whose extraordinary 38-year career will draw to a close on February 25 when she embarks on a well-deserved retirement. Over the course of nearly 38 years, Sylvie held various positions at NexDev, the economic development organization in Haut-Richelieu. As the executive director since 2019, Sylvie led a number of files that are key to the r…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, nor should they be a reason to encroach on the jurisdictions of others. I imagine that is what my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie was hoping I would say, but I would certainly not say that to him. However, they do not prevent collaboration and that is what we have wanted from the start.
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I would have liked to start by saying that I am quite pleased to rise to speak on the situation we are discussing this evening. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I would have preferred it if we did not have to do this at all. However, it is necessary. I will not go back over everything that has happened or the many regrettable incidents caused by the ongoing occupation, as my colle…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I will be quick. I obviously do find this deplorable, and I too can see my phone blowing up out of the corner of my eye. It is unfortunate, because we probably would not have reached this point if the situation had been brought under control quickly. I am guessing the members of the Quebec National Assembly did not receive as many hateful messages after last weekend's protest, since t…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Kingston and the Islands for his question. People have done certain things, as he described. We have seen it happen from the beginning of the crisis. However, people have been doing these things individually, and they are often called out by others around them or shamed on social media. The problem is that we let these people join forces. They have assumed …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague from Edmonton Strathcona the same question I asked the member for Kitchener Centre earlier. The Bloc Québécois agrees with the NDP and the Green Party that underused housing should be taxed. What rubs us the wrong way, though, is the federal government grabbing a piece of the property tax pie, the one remaining area of jurisdiction it has not yet encro…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not know what is going on, but the Conservative Party seems to be all over the place these past few days. This morning the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles called for the streets to be cleared so that residents could get their city back. It is one thing to express an opinion and to protest, but it is a whole other thing to blockade a public roadway, which is illegal. I…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. For starters, he said a lot about the underused housing tax. The Bloc Québécois completely agrees with this concept, but there is just one small problem. This is yet another federal incursion into an area of jurisdiction that has not been used so far: property tax. We think that, instead of interfering, it would make much more sense for the federal…
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Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for the question. I will take this opportunity to mention that we work really well together at the Standing Committee on National Defence. That is part of what all members want to work on, in other words, recruitment and retention within the Canadian Armed Forces. It is about improving the image of the forces, which has been tarnished over the past few years. It i…
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Madam Chair, I want to elaborate on the question that was just asked. We are talking about higher numbers of troops on the Ukrainian border. We are somewhat concerned that Russia will use other tactics to ultimately annex Donbass, mainly by supporting the rebel troops in that area. How can diplomacy have a role to play when things are being done in a clandestine way? I do not know if my colleague …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, we heard members from the governing party mention several times that the crucial thing, the thing that matters most in this case, is diplomacy and deterrence. Many have criticized the government's diplomatic efforts, saying that it was focusing a bit too much on soft power in circumstances that did not call for it. The actions taken may also be causing some confusion. The Ukrainians are…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, all evening in this debate, the Conservatives have been going on and on about Ukraine's requests for weapons. I would like my colleague to comment on whether she believes that what Canada can bring to the table in terms of weapons would have much of an impact on the ground. In that context, does she agree with me that we should use diplomacy instead of weapons? Does she recognize that t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, the importance of diplomacy in resolving the conflict has come up a lot in tonight's debate. Some people put it second, some put it first, but everyone has talked about it. This crisis may have exposed certain shortcomings in Canada's ability to engage in credible diplomacy. Several ambassadors have complained in the press about the very rapid turnover in certain embassies and the loss …
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Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for her speech. I would like to expand on the question posed by my NDP colleague, who serves with us in committee. As we can see, cybersecurity is very important, especially with respect to enemies such as Russia. Does my colleague share my opinion that it is important to have better cybersecurity for ourselves and so that it can be better shared with our allies w…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I thank all my colleagues for staying so late. We are starting things off with a bang today. The fact that there was unanimous consent to have this debate may indicate how important the Ukraine file is, as many have pointed out. I would like to come at the issue from a different angle. I do not want to talk about what can be done now. This evening's debate in the House may change very…
Read full speech →Government Orders
I am so sorry. I will keep reading: “...a more active and visible Canadian presence internationally”, said a former diplomat who represented Canada in Africa and also wishes to remain anonymous. Also coming under fire is the Prime Minister's bad habit of appointing deputy foreign affairs ministers who have never served in an embassy abroad. “The fact that the vast majority of top officials at the …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for his very good question. As my esteemed colleague from Montarville already mentioned, we do not think that sending arms to support Ukraine will make Russia shake in its boots. That is not going to have a tangible impact on the ground. I will refer back to my speech, specifically to the idea that sending arms does more than just send a message. In that context, …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, in fact, the Bloc Québécois's position is to not close the door entirely on the use of weapons. Nor did I say that that should follow diplomatic efforts. Both things can actually be done in parallel. They have to be done in parallel, because if there is a shipment of weapons, the message needs to be properly received. We can send weapons and maybe irritate Russia more than anything el…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, as members will recall, Health Canada caused quite an uproar over the summer when it sought to increase the allowable limits for pesticide residues on food. The public backlash pushed the government to delay that bad decision, as it was on the eve of the election campaign. The ongoing close relationship between Health Canada and the biotechnology and pesticide industry is troubling.…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I let the cat out of the bag at the beginning of my speech, when I said that we did not intend to support the Conservatives in their attempt to split Bill C-2 into two parts. Also, generally speaking, when we think about bills and how we are going to vote, we think about who the bill is intended for and who it focuses on. We therefore have no intention of throwing a wrench into the …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I want to say right away that I will be sharing my time with my wonderful, passionate and fascinating colleague from Berthier—Maskinongé. I will start by being a good sport because I always like to find the good in any motion, bill or supply day topic that is presented. I will start by saying what I like about it. However, unfortunately, the thing I liked the most today was the hist…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, that is kind of what we are proposing. Lockdown orders are not necessarily the reason arts and culture workers do not have work. Even without lockdown, venues are still not operating at full capacity. Lockdown is not necessarily a criterion, because we are more interested in the types of workers affected. I think we can all agree on this, because it is part of our basic demands.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, there are so many great shots I could take here, that I do not even know where to start. The best solution is definitely independence. There is also no doubt that health transfers are needed. Quebec could have done so much more if it had received its fair share. If we just look at the federal government's areas of jurisdiction, the bill clearly shows that some important work should …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, science and the precautionary principle should take precedence when it comes to pesticides and GMOs. The government seems to be moving away from transparency when, really, more transparency is needed. The government seems to be listening to the industry much more than to farmers and people who want to know what is on their dinner plates. The Bloc Québécois is proposing an investigat…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke about the accessibility of a first home. This summer, the Liberals talked about how young people under the age of 40 could put $40,000 in a tax-free savings account. That really seemed to be a gift for the rich. In today's world, very few young people under 40 can set aside $40,000. We expect that rich parents will be the ones lending their children money to purchas…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned that he is proud that agreements have been signed with 10 provinces and three territories. However, he did not mention that it took not one or two but three years for the agreement with Quebec to be signed. In those three years, no new housing could be built and the price of materials went up, which means that it costs more to build now than it did initially. Wh…
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Madam Speaker, I thank the leader of the official opposition for his speech. If one wants to know what is likely to happen with a committee, it can be useful to look at what has happened in the past. One example is our support for creating the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations. To better understand the purpose of the proposed committee on the situation in Afghanistan, I would like to hea…
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Madam Speaker, I wish we were already at the point of asking ourselves if we are ready to bring these people here and sponsor them privately. We are not quite there yet. These refugees are still in danger. No one knows how to get them out, and that is the problem. When people do private sponsorships, it is because the refugees have already crossed the border and are in refugee camps. We are not ev…
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Madam Speaker, there is an interesting aspect to the motion in paragraph (n). It is a kind of clause to prevent filibusters surrounding the production of documents and the presentation of witnesses. I find it interesting to see that come from the House. That is something that cannot be done in a standing committee. That is why I am comfortable with the idea of creating a special committee. However…
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Madam Speaker, as I said, this is such a broad subject, which encompasses so many files and requires such a large effort, that it should be the purview of a special committee. Will the Department of National Defence really look into why Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not have enough staff to deal with the cases? This is such a complex problem that, on the face of it, it warrants …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I have two things to say about that. First of all, as I said in my speech, the need to learn from mistakes is one thing. I am not rejecting that part of the Conservative motion, but I think it needs to lead to something else, and that is what I want to emphasize. Second, I just made some suggestions for possible amendments. The Conservatives did not try to get any support from the o…
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my esteemed colleague from Lac-Saint-Jean, who will give a superb speech that I will be most pleased to listen to. First, I would like to highlight what I believe to be some strong points in the motion presented today by the Conservative Party. As the saying goes, we should not throw out the baby with the bathwater, and the motion has some worthwhile e…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his thoughtful speech. My question is in keeping with what we have heard so far and I, too, will try to ask it in a relatively thoughtful manner. We are members of the House of Commons. We should be setting an example for citizens. The question about the vaccination status of the members of the Conservative caucus has come up several times. I can understand …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, of course people have questions. Scientists who appear to be connected to the Chinese regime and had access to top-secret information had to be fired. Instead of being transparent and explaining why, the Prime Minister accused the opposition of being racist. Then he took the Speaker of the House to court to prevent the release of documents the House demanded. Imagine the Montreal Ca…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, for eight months, the government hid information about why two scientists were fired from Canada's highest-security virus research centre. For eight months, the government refused to hand over documents about what could have been espionage on behalf of China. Now it has relented and is offering to hand the documents over to the opposition parties, but only under tightly controlled c…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Hastings—Lennox and Addington. It is always nice to hear from new colleagues in the House. I, too, want to ask a question about seniors, because we also care about that issue in the Bloc Québécois. I heard her talk about the guaranteed income supplement, which has been reduced since July. I absolutely agree on that. However, the Bloc Québécois has been callin…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, I thank my learned colleague from Mirabel for his speech. I enjoy hearing him talk about green finance so much that I would like to hear more, in case he wants to tell us something else. I am thinking in particular about the money that banks invest in oil and drilling. I thought that I heard somewhere that this money sits around for a long time and is not used for anything, when it …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent speech. The Bloc Québécois shares the same concern about cuts to the guaranteed income supplement for seniors. I do not think the situation can only be fixed through legislation. As of August, we could suggest considering the CERB as employment income instead of a benefit. An administrative fix could apply here. Considering that we have known abo…
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Mr. Speaker, not everyone may agree with my colleague from Carleton, but I think that we can agree that he is always entertaining to listen to. He spoke a lot about how the $400 billion spent was far too much, and that it is the cause of the inflation we are experiencing. I would hope that he would not have let the economy collapse by spending nothing during the COVID‑19 pandemic. What does he thi…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry for his speech, and I would like to take this opportunity to say hello to him. I hold this colleague in high regard, and I look forward to chatting with him again in person. I would like to hear what he thinks of the Bloc's position, which is to support the cultural sector. I heard many of his colleagues say that the support me…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, after that comment by my colleague from Winnipeg North, I would sure like to know if he was authorized to do such a thing. As far as I know, it was not discussed anywhere, not among the whips or the leaders or at the Board of Internal Economy, and there was no motion about it. I would sure like to know where that troubling information comes from.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of the Environment wants to talk about the Harper government, so let us talk about it. The crux of the problem is that, like Stephen Harper's government, this government is trying to claim that if we subsidize oil companies to make them cleaner they will be able to produce even more without any issues. The commissioner of the environment and sustainable development has sa…
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Mr. Speaker, the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development released a report yesterday that is quite damning for the government. The commissioner noted that it is going to take more than just lofty language to avoid climate catastrophe. While the government brags about its outstanding work, the commissioner was unequivocal. According to the commissioner, Canada “has become the wo…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, first of all, I would like to let you know that I intend to share my time with my delightful colleague from Laurentides—Labelle. I would like to wish her a very happy birthday once again. She turned 23 yesterday, so I would again like to wish my colleague a happy birthday. I hope you do not mind, Madam Speaker, if I take this opportunity to recognize the people who supported me duri…
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