Parliamentary Speeches
680 speeches by Claude DeBellefeuille — Page 11 of 14
Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. We learn something new every day and I just learned that she used to be a dental hygienist. She knows what she is talking about. I have a more specific question for her. Since she was a practitioner and professional in the field, she knows that implementing a universal dental care program takes a lot of time, including to negotiate with the provinc…
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Mr. Speaker, I know you have had a busy day. It is an honour to have you with us this evening and to see you in the chair until perhaps late into the night. I am pleased to participate in the debate on Bill C‑31. As everyone knows, this bill will make a benefit available to certain families with children, depending on their income, to pay for dental care services. It will also make a $500 lump sum…
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Mr. Speaker, maybe it is because I am speaking in French that those who speak only in English are less interested. I wonder. The idea is that we have to wonder about the money that will be spent when we propose a measure that is fundamentally good. Will the money meet our public health objectives? In Quebec, we already have a body with the expertise to measure outcomes, and that is Quebec public h…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question. He is right when he says that we both agree that these needs exist. We agree that children throughout Quebec and the other provinces need dental care. We agree that people who are more disadvantaged, less fortunate, those who have a harder life, need support for housing. However, we disagree on the means being used. We do not think …
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Madam Speaker, I have a great deal of respect for my colleague. As someone pointed out, I think he is on his fourth speech of the day. I want to commend him for all of the energy and passion he still has at this rather late hour. I know that he is a diligent, hard-working MP who loves his community and who believes in its vitality. Does he not truly believe that it would have been better for the f…
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Madam Speaker, I really enjoyed the member for Jonquière's speech. He made some strong, well-researched arguments that I think make sense. I would like him to explain to me in different words why he thinks that the Liberals, with the help of the NDP, had to impose a major gag order and fast-track the passage of this bill when we know that more time was needed to properly research it, listen to exp…
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Madam Speaker, I really appreciated my colleague's speech. It was rigorous and well researched. We can see that he knows his constituents and his community. It is always moving to see members who have such a good understanding of the needs of their community. My question is quite simple. The federal government is known to have dabbled in social programs in the past. For example, it funded a progra…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, that aligns perfectly with the new policy Canada unveiled in Washington last week. Canada announced that its new foreign policy and energy policy will put the pedal to the metal to sell more oil and gas to its allies. It has already started. That is exactly what it is doing right now in Newfoundland. It is expediting oil exploration by waiving the requirement for an environmental impa…
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Mr. Speaker, there have been consultations among the parties and I think you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That the House strongly condemn threats, intimidation and hateful comments against parliamentarians and their families, and offer its full support to those who are victims.
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise in solidarity with the wife of the leader of the official opposition and all who have been bullied because of their political beliefs. We are all here in the House because we want to change things. We have different visions. Some of us see Canada as a postnational society, others as a prosperous oil state. We see Canada as a good neighbour to Quebec. We may disagree, stand our …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, as you probably know, the International Day of Older Persons is coming up soon. I would like to take advantage of the debate on my bill to draw everyone's attention to this important day, because the generation before mine did so much for the French language. As a society, it waged major battles. Its story is the story of a nation that owns its uniqueness. It is therefore fitting, o…
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Madam Speaker, I request a recorded division.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is not a question of whether we are for or against Bill C-21. We know that the bill is not perfect, but it is important. This is about how the Liberal government has managed its legislative agenda. To be frank, honest and sincere, it has been a complete disaster. I have never seen a legislative agenda managed like this. We are meeting again today and we will likely sit until late…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, I have the honour to rise in the House today to mark the 30th anniversary of the Table de concertation des aînés de Beauharnois‑Salaberry, a round table on seniors' issues in Beauharnois‑Salaberry. I applaud the work done by all of the partners to highlight the reality of seniors in the Beauharnois‑Salaberry RCM. Together, community organizations and the health care system fought ha…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I usually begin my speeches by saying that I am pleased to participate in the debate on a bill. However, today, I have to say that I am really disappointed to be here once again debating a bill that, as we know, affects sick workers who need more than 15 weeks of special employment insurance sickness benefits. During the previous Parliament, I had the privilege of introducing a bill t…
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Mr. Speaker, the Government of Quebec gave all members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages a book of amendments for Bill C‑13, in which is sets out how to actually protect the French Language. Quebec reiterates that the bill must mention the particular situation of French as a minority language within an English-speaking continent. It also reiterates that the Charter of the French Lang…
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Mr. Speaker, I have seen a lot of bills, and it is extraordinary for Quebec to officially submit amendments to a federal bill. It is extraordinary because it is existential. Bill C-13 is about our official, common and national language. Quebec is saying that, without amendments, Bill C-13 does not protect French in Quebec. Rather, it promotes bilingualism, which leads to anglicization. Does the fe…
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will be voting in favour of the motion.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will be voting in favour of the motion.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will be voting against.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote in favour of the motion.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will be voting in favour of the motion.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will be voting in favour of the motion.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote in favour.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote in favour of the motion.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote in favour.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote in favour.
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Madam Speaker, under the Standing Orders, the government can use time allocation, but there is a difference between using it and abusing it. Bill C-19 is not a small inconsequential bill. It is over 430 pages long and makes a lot of changes to existing legislation. We need some time to study it. We know that the Standing Committee on Finance was rushed. We had time to present amendments, which wer…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to debate Bill C‑19. Members probably heard me at the start of the day speaking against closure on this bill because, it must be said, Bill C‑19 is very long and contains many clauses to be studied. We are talking about 432 pages full of amendments to existing bills and little time to learn more about the implications of their application. That takes hard …
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Thank you, Madam Speaker. You interrupted my flow. I was thanking Ali Agougou and encouraging him to keep up the demanding, top-quality work. He is the vice-president of an association representing Quebec honey wine producers. He called my office to tell us that it makes no sense, that these producers are small local operations that do not make enough to export and should therefore not be taxed. S…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague, who always asks such pertinent questions. Yes, we support the principle of a luxury tax. However, we are calling on the government to rework this tax and amend it. If the government wanted to be thorough, it would have removed this clause from Bill C‑19, much like how clause 32 was removed, so that it could be studied more closely. It is still possible to do so…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my neighbour. I call him that because his riding neighbours mine, on the Ontario side. I would say that we in the Bloc Québécois are concerned with the profit margins of our refineries. I think there is a way to address this issue. We must ask ourselves who is benefiting from the rising cost of gasoline right now. The oil companies are making a lot of money whi…
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Madam Speaker, I really appreciate my colleague's question. We have repeatedly heard the leader of the Bloc Québécois say loud and clear that we are in favour of providing financial support for the energy transition for workers in Alberta and western Canada, so that they can diversify, so that the economy can diversify and become greener. We were hoping to see concrete measures in the budget to su…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I do not know what is happening this morning, but there was no interpretation when the member began speaking.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the interpreters are indicating that the sound quality is not good enough. The member's microphone seems to be positioned incorrectly.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like to indicate that, pursuant to Standing Order 43(2)(a), all of the Bloc Québécois's speaking slots for today's debate on the business of supply will be divided in two.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers want French to be mandatory in workplaces. Workers can, of course, be bilingual or even trilingual, but French should be the language of work in our businesses. There is a solution, which can be found in Bill C‑238, which I introduced. This bill would make federally regulated businesses subject to the Charter of the French Language. It is as simple as that. Does the ministe…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
moved that Bill C-238, An Act respecting the French language, be read the second time and referred to a committee. Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by saying that I am challenging myself. On Friday, I participated in a Mental Health Week activity. I went to the open house event at Ancres et Ailes in Ormstown. An anglophone participant come up to say hello, to thank me and to thank the Bloc Québé…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Sherbrooke, a Quebec MP, for her question. Sherbrooke is a predominantly francophone city. Personally, I do not see the French test as an obstacle, but rather as support we must provide for new immigrants. Sometimes people confuse the concepts of permanent resident and political refugee. Let us be clear: For someone who is already in Canada an…
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Madam Speaker, we are members of the House here in Ottawa. As members, the best decision we can make to protect the French language and, especially, to respect the Quebec nation—Quebec has full jurisdiction over its language of integration—is to apply Bill 101 to federally regulated businesses and to accept that Quebec will soon pass Bill 96, which also requires that Bill 101 apply to federally re…
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Madam Speaker, as I mentioned in my speech, there are many community organizations dedicated to integrating newcomers into French society. In fact, I would like to acknowledge the work of Centre de français L'Insulaire and Centre du Nouvel-Envol, organizations in my riding. The school board also offers a complete range of francization classes. My riding, which is 85% Francophone, welcomes immigran…
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Madam Speaker, I want to respond to the question of privilege raised by the member for Simcoe—Grey on May 5, 2022. In our view, it is deeply concerning. The email discussions referred to by the member do indeed amount to interference by the executive in parliamentary work that is the sole responsibility of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. There was an email chain concerning t…
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Madam Speaker, I knew that this time allocation motion was coming, but I did not think it would be moved so soon. It is important for people to know that we have not yet even had five hours of debate on Bill C-19, which is a big bill with numerous measures. Many sectors have been calling us after seeing the budget. We need to debate this big, important bill, and five hours is not enough time. I am…
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Mr. Speaker, Camille Laurin, father of the Charter of the French Language, would have turned 100 last Friday. To mark the occasion, every minister responsible for the French language over the past 30 years, across party lines, indicated how important it is to be constantly taking action to promote French. That proves that French is in danger. Bill C-13 will reinforce institutional bilingualism and…
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Mr. Speaker, it is French that is in decline in Quebec, not English. It is French that must be protected, not bilingualism. Bill C-13 prevents Quebec from imposing the Charter of the French Language and instead lets federally regulated businesses choose between French and the Canada-wide bilingual model. That is the very model followed by Air Canada and CN, two federal businesses located in Quebec…
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Mr. Speaker, it is clear to me that there is an immigration crisis. However, when the Bloc asked the Prime Minister whether it would be a good idea for Quebec to have more control, the Prime Minister did not once talk about a solution, not once. He said, “immigration will, by and large, always be under federal control.... I realize our Bloc friend is not happy about this, but Quebec is not yet its…
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Mr. Speaker, I believe that we do not understand one another. When Quebec asks for authority to resolve the immigration crisis, the Prime Minister slams the door in its face, saying that Quebec is not a country and that this is Canada's job. If that is so, then Canada should do its job and get to work on the 29,000 files that have been sitting in Ottawa for years. The immigrants who submitted them…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her beautiful speech. I know she cares about the most vulnerable people in our society.. I wanted to remind her that there is a large organization in Quebec called the Fédération de l'âge d'or du Québec, which brings together all people aged 55 and over, and that means 500,000 people. The FADOQ has asked the government to increase old age security payments f…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I am just as concerned as my colleague by what has been happening to seniors in long-term care facilities, but we do not have the same approach to finding solutions. In Quebec, we realized what was going on, and our ombudsperson produced a report in 2021 with a number of recommendations to prevent this kind of thing from happening again if ever another pandemic strikes. Quebec reali…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to inform you that I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the member for Terrebonne. I would like to extend my warmest thanks to all the volunteers in the riding of Salaberry—Suroît, because in Quebec we celebrate volunteerism and volunteers from April 24 to April 30. This year’s theme is “volunteering changes lives”. It is true that volunteering changes lives. It…
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