Parliamentary Speeches
522 speeches by Claude DeBellefeuille — Page 2 of 11
Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I represent a rural region where there are many produce growers and many people who farm grains, fruits, vegetables, corn and soybeans. Frankly, this budget does not take into account our farmers' reality at all. It does not offer them the support they require or programs tailored to their needs. Canada-wide programs do not work in agriculture because production in the east and west a…
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Mr. Speaker, before I begin my speech, I want to point out that, with both pride and sadness, I am wearing a white ribbon to mark the 12 days of action to end violence against women, ending on December 6. I believe that next week, we will have a day to make speeches as part of a ministerial statement. It is important that we remember these women who were murdered in cold blood in 1989 simply becau…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague and I had the opportunity to work together when he was his party's whip. I know that he is a diligent and hard-working MP, and I want to ask him about the whole issue of seniors. We were stunned to see that the budget included only one small program for seniors, the New Horizons for Seniors program. How can my colleague understand and accept that seniors did not get an in…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciated my colleague's wonderful speech, which, as always, was informed by the needs of her community, her riding. Since she is also the Bloc Québécois critic for the status of women, I would like to know her opinion on something major missing from the budget: measures for women who, upon returning from maternity leave, do not have access to employment insurance if their positio…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. This gives me a chance to tell her that seniors are indeed happy that their dental care is cheaper. However, can they really pay for fillings if they do not have the money to pay the rent or buy groceries? I do not think the member understands that the old age security pension and the guaranteed income supplement are universal programs and that t…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and commend her for her dedication to the plight of seniors. The Bloc Québécois is lucky to have her. She gives a voice to seniors in the House of Commons. If not for the Bloc, no one would be talking about seniors here. To answer her question, seniors talk to us in our ridings. Twenty per cent of my constituents are seniors aged 65 and over. Quebec and British Co…
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Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss not to begin my speech on Bill C-236 by pointing out that Quebec's early childhood week is drawing to a close. Yesterday was National Child Day. It seems only fitting to share that today, because it is a day for acknowledging that children are people and citizens in their own right who are entitled to freedom, safety and a life without violence. We must never forget …
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Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers do not want another Liberal pipeline of dirty western oil. We all remember last summer, when we had the worst air quality in the entire world because of the forest fires. Albertans may have forgotten that Jasper burned, but we have not. We have also not forgotten our produce growers who lose crops almost every year because of abnormal weather patterns. Climate change is alr…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague for introducing this bill. I can assure him that it has the Bloc Québécois's support. Here is my question. The bill would allow judges to consider a person's refusal to disclose the location of a murder victim's remains or body as an aggravating circumstance. However, my understanding of the bill is that if the judge does not consider this to be an …
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Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague and I know that the border security issue is especially important to him. I would like to know his thoughts on the Canada Border Services Agency's commitment to hire an additional 1,000 officers, 800 of them armed and 200 unarmed. Does my colleague agree that we need not 1,000 border officers, but close to 3,000 to meet the needs and provide adequa…
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Mr. Speaker, I am extremely pleased to rise this evening to speak to Bill C-234, which was introduced by my colleague from Edmonton Manning. It is an important bill. We know that private members' bills are often rooted in the member's personal experiences. In the case of my colleague, back in 2003, he showed selfless generosity by donating part of his liver to his son, who went on to live a good l…
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Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague. Sometimes, especially when we sit on Fridays, we study private members' bills that are based on deeply moving personal experiences. I thank my colleague for introducing this bill and I assure him of the Bloc Québécois's support. My question is this. Would it not be possible to go a step further in the bill and stipulate that families be automatic…
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Madam Speaker, I had the opportunity to do so earlier, but I would like to once again commend my colleague for introducing this bill. After listening to all the speeches, I can see that members largely agree: Victims have rights, including the right to information. The bill that our colleague is proposing is almost a carbon copy of another bill, Bill C‑320, which passed all legislative stages in t…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not know if my colleague's province is experiencing much the same thing as Quebec, in other words, a crisis in health and social services due to growing needs and an aging population. As a matter of fact, British Columbia and Quebec are the two provinces where the population is aging at the highest rate. In addition, health care professionals are being asked to do more with less.…
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Mr. Speaker, my question is fairly simple. The Quebec finance minister has expressed his profound disappointment with the budget, particularly because very little real money will be transferred to the provinces for infrastructure programs. It currently costs between $4 billion and $5 billion, or even more, to build a hospital. That is what we saw with CHUM in Quebec. During this public finance cri…
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Mr. Speaker, that is a good question. I said from the outset that I have been in the House of Commons for almost 12 years. I have no problem saying no to this budget because it has absolutely nothing to do with us. It certainly does not meet the needs of Quebeckers. This once again confirms my belief that I am not in the right Parliament. My true place will be in the parliament of the country of Q…
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Mr. Speaker, the Canada summer jobs program definitely needed to be indexed. We have been getting many requests for years now to promote student employment and give them a great experience. It is true that it is very appealing, but quite honestly, if I had had a choice, I would have pushed for an increase in health transfers because this is what the provinces are really crying out for.
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Mr. Speaker, we responded to the question of privilege. We agree with the member that what happened is quite incomprehensible, as we said. The government cannot withhold documents or make a mistake of this magnitude. It has consequences. All of this has been documented. I also agree with my colleague that we should not put all our eggs in the basket of modernization through automation. I have to a…
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Mr. Speaker, I understand that a losing a person who was murdered and then seeing the person who committed that crime get parole is a sensitive and emotional issue. As my colleague knows, and as the facts bear out, a lot of people are currently being detained arbitrarily or while awaiting trial. Our prisons are filled with people awaiting the outcome of their trials. The solution proposed by our c…
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Mr. Speaker, I think it is important, in this month of November, that we call attention to this year's Social Economy Month, because it builds on the advocacy and promotion surrounding the 2025 Social Economy Summit. The summit was so historic that the advocacy work and resulting call to action were unanimously supported by the Quebec National Assembly. The turnout included 1,500 people from all r…
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Mr. Speaker, I have the privilege of sharing my time with my friend, the chief whip of the Bloc Québécois and member for Berthier—Maskinongé. Before I begin my speech, I would like to take a moment to congratulate the 25 mayors in my riding who had the pleasure of being elected or re-elected. I would also like to congratulate all the municipal councillors who were elected on November 2 in Quebec's…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, whom I appreciate, for his question. This gives me an opportunity to tell him that it is about time, since it has been quite a few years. My colleague from Gaspésie—Les Îles‑de‑la‑Madeleine—Listuguj said that we have been asking for this money for the airport runway for years. It is about time. Yes, it is good, but is it enough? Is it enough to convince s…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciated my colleague's speech, which was eloquent, as always. I feel the amendments that were to Bill C‑3 are reasonable. They do not negate the bill, but they do set out conditions for obtaining citizenship. That is reasonable. The fact that the Bloc Québécois and the Conservatives joined forces without the government's agreement is neither excessive nor abusive. It is an imp…
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Madam Speaker, As one of the parliamentarians present in the House on Fridays, I can attest that the last hour of debate is moving. Last week, we debated Bill C‑222, introduced by the member for Burnaby North—Seymour, and it was quite emotional. The bill proposed amending the Employment Insurance Act with respect to maternity leave in cases where a parent is grieving the loss of a child. It propos…
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Mr. Speaker, I can tell you one thing: To me, this bill is deeply offensive and disrespectful. I am a social worker and a member of my professional order. I was a manager in the public health care system for years. One thing I know for sure is that, if my colleagues who work in hospitals, local community services centres and long-term care facilities heard what I heard today, they would be very an…
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my very humble colleague. He is a lawyer, as members know, and he has some authority or reputation when he talks about a bill that is closely related to his former duties. I want to ask him the following question. What possible explanation is there for the fact that we now have a huge number of inmates awaiting trial? Is there a delay in appointing judges? Is someone…
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Mr. Speaker, as the public safety critic for the Bloc Québécois, I can say that we have studied Bill C-12 at length. We have also heard from a lot of witnesses. I am an MP who is capable of weighing the pros and cons. Bill C‑12 contains some good measures, such as the one that gives the Minister of Health the power to identify precursor chemicals to fight the opioid crisis. Does my colleague think…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague a very specific question. Bill C-12 provides that railway companies and port authorities must pay for suitable facilities where border services can carry out inspections. Does my colleague agree that companies, not the government, should pay for these facilities?
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Mr. Speaker, I listened closely to my colleague's speech. Can she give me her opinion on the fact that Bill C-12 proposes to integrate the Coast Guard under the defence umbrella, under the umbrella of the Canadian Armed Forces, yet there are no plans to arm the Coast Guard? Does my colleague believe that our Coast Guard is genuinely being integrated into the military?
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Madam Speaker, I really appreciated the parliamentary secretary's constructive tone when speaking about Bill C‑12 generally. We have a lot in common. We both agree that border security needs to be enhanced and that much tougher and more robust measures need to be taken to ensure security. As he said, we agree that the Coast Guard should be given more powers and more tools for surveillance and comm…
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Madam Speaker, that is a very good question. We do not have the inside track, so we will talk hypothetically. I agree that the U.S. President's team must be disappointed, given that the U.S. government did not get what it asked for. The Liberal government backed down on a number of decisions that were made in the House to please the U.S. government, in the hopes that it would have some impact on t…
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Madam Speaker, I tend to agree with the first part of my colleague's question; it is true that workers are losing their jobs right now because of American tariffs. It does not seem as though the government is acting very quickly to support the small regions and medium-sized businesses that do not have the cash flow they need to cope with these changes. Quite frankly, we had very high expectations …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague with whom I have the privilege of serving on the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. I would say that, to calm things down a bit, the Minister of Public Safety should make it clear that the three troubling parts that were removed from Bill C-12 need to be scrapped for good. Bill C-2 should die on the Order Paper and there sho…
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Madam Speaker, I think I said this, but perhaps my colleague missed the beginning of my speech. I said at the outset that the Bloc Québécois agrees to refer Bill C-12 to committee so that we can hear expert opinions on this bill. We will be able to hear from witnesses to determine whether we should propose amendments and whether we can improve the bill. The answer to my colleague's first question …
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to hear that my Conservative colleague supports the Bloc Québécois's proposal to optimize the work of our officers by allowing them to leave the border crossing where they are posted to intercept migrants or goods. We know that border officers are armed and trained in self-defence. They have everything they need to better co-operate with the RCMP, which is often fa…
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Madam Speaker, it is always an honour to speak when you are sitting in the chair. I would like to congratulate the newly acclaimed mayors in my riding. We recently had an election in Quebec for cities and municipalities. I would like to congratulate Alain Dubuc, who was re-elected as mayor of Beauharnois. I would also like to congratulate Daibhid Fraser in Dundee, Deborah Stewart in Elgin, Mark Wa…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to proudly acknowledge the 45th anniversary of the Centre d'action bénévole de Beauharnois, a pillar of solidarity and generosity in our community. Since its founding, the centre has exemplified civic engagement and dedication to those who are most vulnerable. Thanks to its passionate volunteers and dedicated team, it delivers essential services that make a real differenc…
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Mr. Speaker, Driver Inc. truckers are a danger to the public. It is good news that Ottawa wants to tighten up income traceability for incorporated truck drivers, as the Bloc Québécois has been calling for. That is a first step. However, a first step is not enough when people are being killed on our highways and Quebec is launching a public inquiry. Temporary immigrants must be prevented from worki…
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Madam Speaker, I cannot begin my speech without noting that next Tuesday, September 30, we will be observing National Truth and Reconciliation Day. We will therefore not be sitting on that day. I would like to stand with my colleagues from the Bloc Québécois who, like me, have the privilege of living near a reserve. I work with the Akwesasne reserve, so I would like to say hello to my friend Grand…
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Madam Speaker, the minister is correct. It is true that Bill C‑26 from the last Parliament and the current Bill C‑8 are almost identical. However, he is forgetting that the opposition parties proposed amendments in committee. Those amendments were rejected, but they will come up again because the Bloc Québécois feels that some of them are important. The question I would like to ask the minister re…
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Madam Speaker, while listening to my colleague, I also get the impression, as a member of the Standing Committee on Public Safety, that we will have a lot of work to do. We seem to agree, however, on the importance of discussing and passing this bill, which will allow us to manage cybersecurity systems across Canada. My colleague knows that the bill targets highly critical sectors like banking, bu…
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Mr. Speaker, although I cannot list the provisions, I can say that we will be moving a few amendments on privacy. We also intend to move amendments to ensure respect for Quebec's jurisdictions and ensure that Hydro-Québec can continue to collaborate with the United States, since it is already heavily regulated. If the bill stays in its current form, with no amendments, we find it hard to imagine t…
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague that this is a very urgent and important bill that deserves our attention. I would like to have the opportunity to study it in committee right away so that we can present our arguments and amendments and better define the issue of interference. Honestly, I do not think the Liberals and Conservatives fully understand what this means for Quebec and Hydro-Québec…
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Madam Speaker, I am rising on a point of order. The interpretation stopped working during my colleague's speech. The minister is moving papers around near the microphone and it is affecting the sound quality and making it hard for the interpreters to hear.
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Mr. Speaker, when it comes to interference in this case, there is really no difference between the Liberals, the Conservatives and the NDP because they all have the same penchant for centralization. Earlier, my Conservative colleague, the public safety critic, with whom I serve on the committee, was telling me that cybersecurity and cyber-threats know no borders. I understand what he is saying, bu…
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Madam Speaker, I listened carefully to the minister. I also reviewed the bill and read the legislative summary from the Library of Parliament. As a side note, the work of the Library of Parliament's analysts and researchers is outstanding. They are really great. Although the minister is trying to reassure us, the fact is that some doubt remains in terms of the protection of privacy in this bill. T…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, with whom I serve on the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. I think we have something in common, specifically that we both want to understand the issues and learn more. My answer to his question is no. Hydro-Québec already complies with North American standards. It feels as though Bill C-8 is another layer on top of existing standards. Hyd…
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Madam Speaker, I enjoyed my colleague's speech. He really has a great radio voice and it was a pleasure listening to him. I might have a brief response for my Liberal colleague. Bill C‑8 was tabled in June. Let us check the current date. This is an important bill, but the Liberals seem to be having a hard time managing their legislative calendar. Now, all of a sudden, they want to fast-track Bill …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Winnipeg North for asking me that question. I get the sense that he is curious and wants to understand our position, which is nice. As for me, I am curious about whether Manitoba was consulted. That is something I am personally curious about. Perhaps my colleague already knows the answer. We need to see how we can avoid duplicating what is alread…
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Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on his speech. We both have the privilege of sitting on the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. We will be studying Bill C‑8 together in committee. I think we all agree that Bill C‑8 is important and that we will likely pass it after the study in committee. I do not think anyone here wants to slow down the work, but I think we want …
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