Parliamentary Speeches
418 speeches by Claude DeBellefeuille — Page 8 of 9
Government Orders
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…
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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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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 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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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 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…
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 →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.
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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 thank my colleague from Winnipeg North for his question. My speech seems to have angered him, and I am not really sure why. I can say one thing. I have been a manager before. If I am asked to organize long-term services and ensure that seniors are well taken care of in long-term care facilities, I know that there needs to be predictability. Planning, organizing and providing servi…
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Madam Speaker, I think the member knows my answer. We clearly know that the solution for supporting European countries is not to develop new pipelines to supply Europe. The war would likely be over before the pipelines could even be built. That is not a solution. Investing in carbon capture and storage is not a solution either. We really need to move into energy transition mode. We need to support…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague from Joliette has proposed countless solutions to curb tax avoidance. That fact that it is legal, in a G7 country like Canada, to hide money in tax havens to avoid paying taxes is a serious problem. It is being done in plain sight, for all to see. I therefore agree with my colleague that the government must listen to the recommendations made by my colleague from Joliett…
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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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Madam Speaker, I am not convinced by the argument about the basic premise of this bill. For example, in Quebec, we have a law that protects freedom of conscience for all professionals. Anyone who is a member of a professional association in Quebec has the opportunity to exercise their freedom of conscience and require it be respected. I am a social worker and a member of the professional associati…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, as this is Meals on Wheels Week in Quebec, I want to take a moment to highlight the 50th anniversary of Popote roulante de Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. The organization was created on March 7, 1972, to support seniors who wish to remain at home as long as possible. The Sœurs de Notre-Dame du Bon-Conseil congregation, with the help of volunteers, was responsible for the very first home-de…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, this week, Quebec is recognizing the professional contribution of social workers. Social workers put people first. They make it easier to access basic social services. They make the voices of the most vulnerable and overlooked members of our society heard. They innovate and make lasting improvements to society. They are true agents of change. We see what social work is really all abou…
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Mr. Speaker, perseverance, personal achievement and commitment are precisely what Mélodie Daoust, one of the greatest hockey players of all time, inspires. Passion can carry you far when you keep giving your best. Her recent third Olympic medal, her second gold, is a testament to her tireless work. Mélodie Daoust gets involved to remind people that women's hockey deserves to be played, to be seen,…
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Mr. Speaker, I feel like what we are currently listening to is not a debate, but rather a squabble between two parties that are unable to reach an agreement on such an important issue. The Bloc Québécois believes that it is important that the chair of this committee be as non‑partisan as possible and that both sides be represented, that is, those who voted in favour and those who voted against. We…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to listen to my colleague. He is so eloquent and intelligent and has a passion for literature, the great researchers and the great writers. My question is a little more down to earth. He also comes from a region, Jonquière, which is known as the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean region. Could he explain how people living in sparsely populated, rural and remote areas stan…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois members, I would like to salute parliamentary staff for their absolutely exceptional work over the past few days during these extraordinary sittings of the House. While police forces were in the streets putting an end to the siege of Parliament Hill, men and women here worked tirelessly so we could debate confirmation of the Emergencies Act. From the ca…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, frankly, I am flabbergasted by my colleague's question. From what I understand, he is saying that the provinces did not do a damn thing and stood by while the situation got worse, and that the good old federal government had to come in to whip the troops into line and invoke special legislation to get them to do their jobs—
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I wish to join my colleague from Manicouagan in thanking the police. I also want to take a moment today to thank the interpreters who have been providing service to us from 7 a.m. until late into the night since Thursday morning and will continue to do so until tomorrow, Monday. I want to recognize them and sincerely thank them. I am the 22nd Bloc Québécois member to speak about the…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I was listening carefully to my colleague's speech, and I have two questions for him. I did not hear him talk much about his position on the right to demonstrate. I would like him to clearly express whether he believes the right to demonstrate is important. In addition, Wellington Street in Ottawa has been cleared by law enforcement agencies that coordinated and worked together. Does …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. I was pleasantly surprised that she did not affirmatively state that she would be supporting the governing party's use of this law and that she set out conditions for supporting it. I would like to know her opinion as a member of Parliament. Police have now removed the blockades at the border crossings. As of yesterday, Ottawa is practically free o…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my whip colleague for the question. This allows me to clarify that the people who were part of the convoy or the hundreds of people who occupied the streets did not all have the same message. They were not a monolithic group, but we seem to have forgotten that when we focused our attention on one group over another. Like my colleague, I have seen testimonials and I have spok…
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Madam Speaker, I am very sorry, but I think the member for Kingston and the Islands is running out of arguments. He has been here arguing for a long time. He is tired and is now taking things too far. All of the police forces came together, teamed up, joined forces and worked together. They are the ones who managed to push the protesters back, with support and coordination from their command centr…
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Madam Speaker, I would have liked my colleague, who delivered a very fine speech, to remind the House that the Bloc has also made proposals to support seniors, such as increasing the earnings ceiling for the GIS from $5,000 to $6,000 in order avoid penalizing seniors who want or have to work. Can she explain why this is so important?
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Madam Speaker, I would like to inform you that I will be sharing my time with the brilliant, fantastic and magnificent member from Thérèse-De Blainville. I am happy to be able to discuss and debate the motion concerning Bill C-12 with my colleagues, because I have devoted my life to seniors since I was 23. I spent my career serving seniors, both providing home care in local community service centr…
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Madam Speaker, I am a little stunned to hear the minister admit so freely that she made a deal with the third party in opposition to adopt this closure motion on Bill C-12. In exchange, the government will move up payments to seniors who have been unfairly ripped off and had their GIS payments reduced. Is the minister now telling us that if there had been no deal, if the third party of opposition …
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Madam Speaker, we now know that the Senate, whose participation in the process is required, will not be sitting this week, and that it was really not necessary to pass Bill C-12 under closure. I am convinced that the legislative process could have taken its normal course and that we could have managed to pass Bill C-12 without a closure motion this week if there had been good will and if we had wo…
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Madam Speaker, in a former life, I was the chief of staff to a minister. Every time we were asked to tighten the budget, IT infrastructure was cut because it has less of an impact in the short term. I do not know if that is why all infrastructure has been neglected. I have noticed this with EI sickness benefits and immigration. I know it is complicated, and I am not saying otherwise. However, I ca…
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Madam Speaker, I believe that the member and I agree that the government must increase seniors' monthly income and give them tax concessions that will let them work to make ends meet, pay their bills and socialize without being penalized by the taxman. The Bloc Québécois has made plenty of suggestions to help seniors contribute without being penalized. I believe that the solution is to increase ol…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, a fault confessed is not half redressed when it keeps people from being able to put food on the table. These seniors have been making sacrifices for eight months. What makes my colleagues think that seniors would be reassured to hear that they still have months of hardship to go through because of an IT problem? As we saw during the pandemic, the government is capable of getting its c…
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Mr. Speaker, after eight months of pressure, the government is finally admitting that cutting the guaranteed income supplement for the poorest working seniors was heartless. Now that the government has admitted that it made a mistake and that this mistake plunged seniors into poverty, there needs to be a quick solution. The deputy minister told us that IT problems are making it impossible for the …
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Madam Speaker, congratulations to my colleague on her speech. She really underscored the urgent need to agree to the premiers' demands and properly fund the public health care system in Quebec and the provinces. Can she explain why it is so important to the Bloc Québécois that we go through the whole legislative process for Bill C‑10 even though the Bloc supports the bill?
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Mr. Speaker, I hear the minister, but it is February and what she is saying will not be done until May and June. We know that the minister will introduce her bill, and we will support it. However, we want her to stop cutting the guaranteed income supplement, the GIS, for workers and seniors today. We have been waiting eight months for this. The problem is that she is still forcing these people to …
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today. I would like to thank my colleague for her speech, because we in the Bloc Québécois have a terrific team. I will try not to repeat what she said, but I agree with everything she did say, which I support. I do not know if this has been done today, but I would still like to take the time to extend my condolences and sympathies to the 35,000 families wh…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for that question. I do not get the sense that the Prime Minister understands the urgency of the situation. This gives me an opportunity to explain to him that all of the provincial premiers are calling for a 35% increase in funding because it is not Dr. Tam or her team or the Public Health Agency of Canada that provides care in hospitals, long-term care facilit…
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Madam Speaker, I feel compelled to say that what has been happening on the Hill over the past two weeks shows a real lack of leadership from the Liberal government. I think that things are crystal clear. Mistakes were made. No crisis task force was put together in advance when it was known that the trucks were coming. A crisis task force should have been set up, and all the various stakeholders sh…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the federal government must stop cutting the guaranteed income supplement for seniors who collected the Canada emergency response benefit. It is cruel to cut off money for those seniors who need it the most, those who have to keep working during retirement just to feed and house themselves. We know that the minister agrees with us about this, but why is she waiting until June to stop …
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Madam Speaker, I think that I understand the question that was coming. I think that we sometimes cut corners in our speeches, and I think that our colleagues opposite would have us believe that the Conservatives are demanding an immediate end to all measures as of February 28. That is petty politics. I think that today there was a great opportunity to say that it is time to work together, to join …
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Mr. Speaker, over the past eight months, the Prime Minister has reduced guaranteed income supplement payments for seniors who legitimately collected CERB. These are not wealthy seniors. They work part-time to pay for rent, groceries and prescriptions. It took months for the Prime Minister to realize that was wrong, and he is going to make it right—but not until May—and he is still going to cut ben…
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Mr. Speaker, seniors are suffering as a result of the cuts to the guaranteed income supplement. Some of them are going hungry, selling their possessions and even losing their homes. These people cannot wait until late spring for the federal bureaucratic machine to get moving. The Prime Minister proved with CERB that he can get cheques out quickly when he really wants to. If the Prime Minister was …
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Mr. Speaker, for the past eight months, the government has been making cuts to the guaranteed income supplement for seniors who received CERB. We are talking about seniors who have to work part time to pay for the basics, such as their rent or medication. This morning, after eight months, the government introduced a bill to right this wrong. Do my colleagues know when this bill will come into forc…
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Mr. Speaker, by the time this government stops making cuts to the guaranteed income supplement for seniors, the government will have been depriving them of the basic essentials for 11 months. During those 11 months, inflation had time to reach the highest levels in 30 years. For 11 months, seniors had to leave more and more food on the shelves at the grocery store because it is too expensive. Thei…
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Mr. Speaker, the interpreter is unable to do their job properly because the sound quality is poor.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague. It is interesting and really quite something to listen to an expert in this field, an ethicist who is well known in Quebec, Canada and around the world. My question is quite simple. I am new to this field, but I think the process would have been more transparent if the government, whether it be the Minister of Health or his staff, had been clearer and more fort…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, some people are able to make a significant impact by channelling their remarkable commitment and determination. There are great women who have strong convictions and who strive to set an example. These are the kinds of people whose passion for a healthy planet can galvanize and inspire others. There are some people without whom our communities would not be as green, as beautiful, or a…
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