Parliamentary Speeches
582 speeches by Christine Normandin — Page 3 of 12
Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has given notice of a gag order on Bill C‑5. The House has been sitting for just three weeks, and he already wants to ram through a bill, and not just any bill. Bill C‑5 gives him the power to rule by decree on fossil fuel projects. Bill C-5 completely guts environmental assessments. Bill C‑5 threatens Quebec's jurisdiction and the rights of indigenous peoples. It m…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is going to have to leave the banker behind and start acting like a democrat. Bill C-5 raises major concerns about the environment and Quebec's sovereignty over its own territory. If there is one bill that needs to be studied thoroughly, it is this one. The Prime Minister has no right to move closure on Bill C‑5 when the bill gives him unprecedented, exceptional pow…
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Madam Speaker, ultimately, the government decided to continue the payments even though it had been announced for some time that the carbon tax would be cancelled. The public already knew about it. The injustice that is being created stems from the fact that Quebec, which continues to fight climate change, is being discriminated against because the measure that was announced is not a carbon tax mea…
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Madam Speaker, we know it was a unique election. Unless I am mistaken, it was not about the carbon tax, but more specifically about a certain president south of the border. I daresay that was the most influential factor because, as my colleague kindly noted, we put forward a lot of facts. As everyone knows, one of those facts is that the carbon tax does not apply in Quebec.
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Madam Speaker, there are several parts to my colleague's question. The wildfires currently devastating civilian populations are human tragedies. However, from a dispassionate perspective, they are also economic tragedies. For example, it costs a fortune to send in the armed forces to evacuate civilians. There is a cost to environmental inaction. When it comes to the green transition, Quebec led th…
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moved: That, given that, (i) as of April 1, 2025, the government eliminated carbon pricing for Canadian consumers and that this pricing did not apply to Quebec, (ii) despite its elimination, the government spent $3.7 billion to continue Canada Carbon Rebate payments that Quebeckers do not receive, (iii) individuals in the listed provinces received the rebate cheque on April 22, 2025, during the fe…
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-5's measures to do away with trade barriers could move forward without any issue had the Liberals not decided the bill should also include provisions imposing dirty oil and gas pipelines on Quebec. The Bloc Québécois is willing to work with the government on interprovincial trade, but it is a two-way street. If the Liberals want to work on trade, then we will be a partner, but …
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Mr. Speaker, the second part of Bill C‑5 is called the building Canada act, but it might as well be called the destroying the planet act. Ottawa is giving itself the right to green-light fossil fuel projects by making orders, with no environmental assessment or consultation. It will decide unilaterally. Only once the decision has been made will it conduct bogus assessments and consult Quebec, the …
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Mr. Speaker, the promised Liberal magic is not working on Donald Trump, and Quebec is suffering the consequences. Tariffs of 50% are being imposed on our aluminum and our steel. Some 2,000 layoffs were announced in our forestry industry, and that is not all. Yesterday, we learned that our aerospace industry is in the line of fire, and that Washington is thinking of imposing tariffs by the end of t…
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Mr. Speaker, as of yesterday, U.S. tariffs on aluminum and steel have doubled to 50%. After three months of this dispute, time is running out for our industries. However, after three months, they have yet to receive any support. The Prime Minister says he is in intensive discussions with the Americans, which is good. However, after three months, the government should no longer be at the intensive …
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Mr. Speaker, before meeting with Quebec and the provinces today, the Prime Minister met with business people first yesterday. He was not meeting with steel or aluminum representatives to talk about Donald Trump's new tariff threats. No, he was meeting with fossil fuel CEOs. Oil companies come first; Quebec and the provinces come second. The Prime Minister was not elected to serve oil companies. He…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals were elected on a promise to make Donald Trump's tariff threats their priority. However, what the first ministers discussed in Saskatoon today was not the new tariff threats against aluminum and steel. The priority they discussed was how to force Quebec to accept a dirty oil pipeline from the west. Quebeckers voted for a government that would protect them from Donald Trum…
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Mr. Speaker, some of the plans outlined in the throne speech do not bode well for Quebeckers. When the Liberals talk about one Canadian economy, not 13, what they are really saying is that they want to run Quebec's economy from Ottawa. That is why the National Assembly immediately and unanimously rejected the proposal for one economy, not 13. Quebec is and always will be in charge of its economic …
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is not a business, and Quebec is not a subsidiary. If there is more than one economy in Canada, it is because there is more than one nation. Quebeckers' interests will never be sacrificed in the name of so-called Canadian unity. The French-language workplace in Quebec is not a barrier to labour mobility. Employing Quebeckers when we harvest our public forests is not a barrier t…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, if faith moves mountains, then solidarity and brotherly love makes us climb them. On November 8 and 9, Jérémie “Jay” Fortin, an infantry sergeant in the armed forces, from the municipality of Saint-Valentin, walked 100 kilometres carrying 100 pounds on his shoulders in less than 24 hours. The goal was to raise money for the Cancer Research Society in honour of his brother Jason, who…
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Madam Speaker, the Government of Quebec has just written to the federal government asking it to remove the religious exemption set out in the Criminal Code that allows hate speech masquerading as faith-based speech. Quebec is fed up with Ottawa's inaction, which is partly to blame for the current tensions in Montreal and which encourages speech that leads to violence. As it happens, the Bloc Québé…
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Madam Speaker, politicians are speaking out against hate speech, but this outcry is pointless unless somebody in Ottawa has the courage to demand that the religious exemption be repealed, as the Bloc Québécois is calling for. Hate speech is supposed to be criminal, period. Tolerating hate speech in the name of religion actively undermines our ability to co-exist in harmony. The Liberals have a cho…
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Madam Speaker, if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent to adopt the following motion: That the House express its support for La Presse journalist Daniel Renaud, who had a bounty put on his head by members of organized crime, and reaffirm that the work of journalists is one of the pillars of our democracy and that it must be carried out without fear of reprisal or threats to the p…
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Mr. Speaker, the immigration department states in the news report that it is going to support temporary, sustainable housing for asylum seekers in addition to using hotel rooms. Let me be very clear. When the federal government is being asked to prepare for a wave of migration, what it needs to do is increase its workforce at the borders. The government is being asked to support the RCMP and borde…
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Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump's mass deportation plan is already having an impact. Radio-Canada reported that immigration lawyers and organizations in Ontario are receiving calls from Americans and asylum seekers who want to cross the border. The director of a temporary housing organization said they are anticipating an increase similar to what we saw in 2016 and 2017. The report also points out that,…
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Madam Speaker, we must not expect Donald Trump to temper his deportation promises. On the contrary, he confirmed in an interview yesterday that he would take action, regardless of the cost to the American economy. The risk of a wave of migration hitting our border is both real and high. Meanwhile, in committee yesterday, as Trump was reiterating his threats, the Minister of Public Safety referred …
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Madam Speaker, the federal government may still be asleep at the switch, but there are some people at the border who are getting ready. I am not talking about the government, but about illegal human trafficking networks. These networks are calling the shots at the border as they take advantage of the RCMP's lack of resources. They exploited asylum seekers back in the days of Roxham Road, and they …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary referred to the content of the motion that we are debating today, but this motion was motivated by the government's refusal to comply with an order of the House to hand over certain documents. The real issue here is our right to know what is happening so that, if need be, we can hold the government to account for any questionable or illegal acts that may ha…
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Mr. Speaker, during question period, mainly, but also on many other occasions, we hear the Conservatives saying that we need to trigger an election to get rid of this government. They are making this their MO and getting all worked up about the fact that the “Liberal Bloc” is supporting the government. When we look at what is happening in the House, however, it is the Conservatives' fault that the…
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Mr. Speaker, it is great that the federal government is finally lowering its immigration levels, but the new ones still do not line up with integration capacity in Quebec. To meet the new target of 365,000 people in 2027 without losing political weight, Quebec would need to welcome more than 80,000 newcomers a year. Those who know the situation in Quebec best are the political parties in the Quebe…
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Mr. Speaker, the new thresholds also fail to address Quebec's biggest issue, namely, asylum seekers. There are 160,000 of them in Quebec alone, and we continue to take in more than our fair share. Quebeckers cannot continue to house, care for, educate and teach French to so many new people just because the other provinces refuse to share the burden. It is the federal government's responsibility to…
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Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a point of order. I would like to quickly come back to what the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes said earlier this morning, mainly because his comments coincide with the tabling of a report in Quebec that looked at the reasons why women leave politics. We already know that there are obstacles that prevent more women from going into politics, …
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Mr. Speaker, not only did the Prime Minister appoint the two senators who are blocking the bill, but he also has a close relationship with Peter Harder. The senator even brags about it on his website. He used to advise the Prime Minister when he was in opposition in 2015. The Prime Minister himself would pick up the phone and call him. The Prime Minister even tasked Mr. Harder with planning the tr…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals seem to be using the idea of handing documents over to the RCMP as a reason not to turn them over to the House, when the RCMP could simply choose not to look at the documents. Our role here in the House differs from that of the RCMP. The RCMP has a criterion that focuses on the criminality of the acts done, whereas ours focuses on legitimacy. Our role is to hold the gover…
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Mr. Speaker, farmers from across the country came to Ottawa yesterday to support the Bloc Québécois's Bill C‑282 on supply management, which is currently stuck in the Senate. All the parties turned out as well to ask two senators, Peter Boehm and Peter Harder, to stop flouting the will of elected members. Everyone was there except for one person who still has not spoken on the issue. That person i…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands for her speech. Along that same line, I would like to ask her a question about the use of third parties, whether they are foundations or subcontractors. It seems to me that the government resorts to this kind of practice far too often, at the expense of civil servants. They are the ones with the expertise and, more importa…
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Madam Speaker, the House is calling for a 10% increase in OAS for all seniors aged 65 to 74, but it is by no means alone. Yesterday, CTV released a survey. Do members know that a whopping 79% of Canadians agree with us? That means 79% of people clearly see that depriving seniors aged 65 to 74 of a pension increase that is being paid to seniors over 74 creates two classes of seniors. Will the Liber…
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Madam Speaker, we know that a request has been made to produce documents for the RCMP. The RCMP, if it wishes, has the ability to obtain a warrant to go out and get information and conduct investigations. In contrast, the only power the House has is granted it through Speaker's rulings or committee recommendations. The role of the opposition parties is different from that of, say, the RCMP. Our ro…
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Madam Speaker, 79% of the population agrees with the Bloc Québécois that we must increase old age security for seniors aged 65 to 74. Everyone understands that it is unfair to create two classes of seniors. The Liberals are also going to have to see the light or they will end up paying a political price. Do they understand that if they say no to 79% of the population, that 79% of the population mi…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, my colleague began by talking about the importance of working with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, to renew the travel documents of Lebanese nationals who would like to come here. However, it seems to me that it is a bit late in the process, especially when we know how slow IRCC is in general. Knowing that this conflict could unfortunately continue to spread to …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Halifax West for her speech. I think it is good that the speeches we are hearing this evening are more human, especially from someone who has lived through situations like the ones currently facing the people of Lebanon. I think it is unfortunate that the parties are using this evening's emergency debate to sling mud at each other rather than debate forward…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by mentioning that I will be sharing my time with the member for Lac-Saint-Jean. In this evening's debate, I think that certain observations are absolutely in order at the outset. First of all, this evening, no matter how carefully we comb though the causes of the conflict that started on October 7, one thing cannot be denied: Lebanon is currently in a war zone a…
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Mr. Speaker, I said at the outset that I had no intention of playing partisan politics with the matter before us this evening. However, since I am being asked the question, I will say that what is unfortunate when we start debating whether or not to cut funding to UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, is that, ultimately, the people who would be penalized by these decisions ar…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, fortunately I have not heard such accounts, but I know they are out there. Unfortunately, this goes back to what I was saying earlier. Civilians are usually the first to be affected in a conflict. We have heard about the fact that the strikes are not surgical, and not just in Lebanon. There is always collateral damage. The term “collateral damage” used in the context of war is a euphe…
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Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, I was not at the committee that my colleague sits on. However, we heard similar things at the Standing Committee on National Defence about the state of the world. It is becoming a regional conflict with various implications. We can think of the role that Iran plays in the war in Ukraine. Everything that is happening right now is sprawling. It would be a mistake to think…
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Mr. Speaker, the minister mentioned that she does not deal in the world of hypotheticals. I would like to ask her a very non-hypothetical question. As we speak, there are people in Lebanon who are not a party to the conflict and who are becoming victims of it. They may be wondering how they will be able to leave the country once they have made the decision to do so, regardless of their reasons for…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, what we have promised to do on October 29 is not to bring down the government, but to negotiate with the other parties to do so and succeed. We have said that we are prepared to withdraw our support from the government and begin discussions with the other parties, as we have done in the past when the time came to bring down a minority government. The parties did not just work in iso…
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Madam Speaker, there is an expression that has been wrongly attributed to Albert Einstein and that says insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I will leave it at that. I can see that the only thing the Conservative Party wants to do is replace another government. To us, that is not a winning solution in Quebec. Ultimately, it is six of one and half a …
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to follow my colleague from Berthier—Maskinongé, whom I greatly appreciate. I would like to begin with a bit of background about when Parliament resumed. I will outline what has happened since we returned to the House. Hearing our explanation may help people better understand our reasons for voting for or against the motions moved by the Conservatives. My bas…
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Madam Speaker, I do not know why the Liberals decided to try and justify this inequity, but the numbers speak for themselves. Seniors are no better off in one broad category than in another. The cost of living is the same. I thank my colleague and her party for their support on Bill C-319. I hope this will be part of the discussions we will be having around October 29, if this injustice is not cor…
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Madam Speaker, I would like my colleague to tell us about one of the proposed amendments, the one aimed at systematically appointing port authorities that represent workers to boards of directors. I would like to know where he stands on this specific amendment.
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Madam Speaker, we need to talk about the precarious financial situation retirees are facing. I would like to begin by reminding the Liberals that seniors are listening to us and they expect their elected representatives to stop playing politics when it comes to their living conditions. The fact that seniors aged 65 to 74 receive 10% less in old age security benefits than older seniors simply canno…
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Madam Speaker, the Liberals are masters of their own destiny. They can stop creating two classes of retirees by increasing old age security for seniors 65 to 74, or they can keep answering with platitudes or not answering at all. They are going to suffer the consequences. Let us be clear, the Bloc Québécois has no intention of giving up on this. The government, who has $34 billion to spend on a pi…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I would like to return the report under study. We have been going all over the map. The report mentions two of the Auditor General's key findings about how the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation had virtually no idea who would benefit from these initiatives. The initiatives were there, yet it was unclear who would benefit from them. There was practically zero federal accountabili…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for London—Fanshawe for the question she asked in perfect French. Unfortunately, that comes back to what I was saying earlier. There are so many important issues to examine. Unless I am mistaken, the issue that she raised is addressed in a motion, but there are so many motions that the Standing Committee on National Defence has to examine. Generally …
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