Parliamentary Speeches
311 speeches by Francis Scarpaleggia — Page 3 of 7
Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the Bank of Canada has said that the price on carbon is not contributing in any significant way to food inflation. Now, I do not know, maybe the hon. member does not accept studies and analyses by the Bank of Canada as legitimate academic studies. I know his leader does not think much of the Bank of Canada and puts the blame of everything on the shoulders of the Bank of Canada. Ther…
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Madam Speaker, here we are having another debate on carbon pricing. It feels like the only thing we talk about here in the House is carbon pricing. Some claim that it is a “carbon tax”. I know all about taxes. Taxes generate revenues that the government pockets. In the case of the price on carbon, all revenues, all the funds generated are returned to individuals or, in some cases, to businesses to…
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Mr. Speaker, the point of the bill is to really require a strategy because, as the member knows, private members' bills cannot require the spending of money. The idea of a strategy is to create a plan or model for how we can move forward with flood forecasting. I believe the model should be based on the National Hydrological Service as opposed to the Meteorological Service of Canada because the Me…
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague is absolutely right. There are various pieces of legislation. The Canadian Meteorological Centre is located off Highway 40 at Sources Boulevard on the West Island. Yes, there are programs in place, but they need to be better coordinated for greater benefit to the country. The purpose of the bill is to ensure that the existing elements are better aligned to increase t…
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Mr. Speaker, I am sure Bob would be very pleased to hear the hon. member mention his long-standing friendship with him. The federal government has been investing in climate adaptation infrastructure, though one can always invest more, and it has recently released its climate adaptation strategy, which is a framework. I would be in favour of as much funding as possible to strengthen the resiliency …
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moved that Bill C-317, An Act to establish a national strategy respecting flood and drought forecasting, be read the second time and referred to a committee. Mr. Speaker, I believe that a key role of a legislator, especially when society is faced with a growing multiplicity of challenges, many of which require recourse to science to solve, is to act as a conduit, in essence a conduit for bringing …
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Mr. Speaker, across Canada, Canadians are struggling with the cost of housing. Unlike the Conservative leader's plan, we are making the investments necessary to get Canada building again, and it is working. Statistics Canada has reported that investment in multi-unit home construction is up over 8%, with all provinces reporting increases. However, we are not stopping there. The fall economic state…
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Mr. Speaker, we all sympathize with the additional challenges that people with disabilities face when they travel, particularly by plane. Recently, we have seen media reports of several cases involving the unacceptable treatment of people with disabilities who were travelling by plane, specifically with Air Canada. The Minister of Transport called a meeting with Air Canada to hear about its detail…
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Mr. Speaker, public policy is a science and an art that relies on both rigorous analysis and an acute sense of the possible. Today, graduate students from McGill's Max Bell School of Public Policy are on Parliament Hill to learn first-hand about government decision-making in a Westminster parliamentary system. They are accompanied by the program's founding director, Professor Christopher Ragan, on…
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Madam Speaker, it is not about blaming the Government of Quebec, even though I think that the Quebec government could well adopt an attitude that is more in line with Gérald Godin's remarks. That is basically what I was trying to say. The article that I quoted was published in Le Devoir, not the Gazette. It was written by a Quebec academic, obviously. Incidentally, I attended a really nice show at…
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Madam Speaker, the member for Laurentides—Labelle put her finger on one aspect of the problem, one resource that is fundamental, and that is to have a roof over our head. The federal government just signed an agreement with Quebec, for example, for monies for housing. Housing is fundamental, and that is why we have put in place a national housing strategy, which I think now totals almost $80 billi…
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Pontiac. I think immigrants are poems in Quebec. I will come back to that a little later. Quebec is a welcoming society, much more welcoming than its government's words and actions might sometimes imply. According to a Leger poll conducted in May 2023, which is consistent with the figures quoted by my hon. colleague earlier, roughly 20% …
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Madam Speaker, we must always try to do better, that is for sure. However, that shows how attractive Canada is around the world. It is one of the best countries in the world. It comes out in all the polls. It is clear that many people around the world would like to come to Canada and live in this country that offers so many good things to everyone, including its citizens and people who come to joi…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 10th report of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, entitled “Support for Clean Technologies in Canada to Reduce Domestic and International Greenhouse Gas Emissions”. Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is and always has been a trading nation. Our government's trade commissioner service is an unmatched network of over 1,000 business-savvy experts in 160 cities that helps businesses in my riding and across the country reach new markets. Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development update Canadians on how we ar…
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Mr. Speaker, the well-being of veterans and their families will always be a priority for our government. We know that Canadians across the country also want to help those who have given so much to our country. Whether through organizations that provide housing, mental health services or assistance for the transition to civilian life, Canadians are stepping up to support our heroes. Can the Ministe…
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Mr. Speaker, we know that there is a housing crisis in Canada. Our government is on the front lines fighting this crisis. We introduced Bill C‑56, which will eliminate the GST on the construction of housing and speed up residential construction across Canada. However, as we speak, the bill is still being debated in the House, which is causing delays in getting help to Canadians. Can the Minister o…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, this summer we lost a kind man, or as his partner of 50 years would say, the kindest man. Roger Thibault left us and husband Theo Wouters after a long battle with Parkinson's. Roger and Theo were trailblazers. They became the first same-sex couple legally joined by civil union in Quebec, two years before same-sex marriage came into being. Sadly, they faced acute intolerance for over a…
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Madam Speaker, the hon. member mentions the need for spending and partnership with the oil and gas industry in order to make the transition. I do agree that the oil and gas industry invests greatly, generally speaking, in green technologies. I think the member for Lakeland mentioned yesterday the amount of spending that goes on in green technologies by the industry. Recently the oil sands companie…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the game of hockey has lost a true stalwart. Brian O'Neill served 52 years with the National Hockey League, nearly all of those as executive vice-president. Hired by Clarence Campbell in 1966, he oversaw the 1967 expansion, supervised the draft, managed scheduling and was the league's disciplinarian. During his tenure, 6,595 players played in the NHL in a total of 52,092 games. In 199…
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Mr. Speaker, we often hear from the other side that the price on carbon is fuelling inflation. However, I look at reports of the Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem's appearance before the finance committee in February. I will quote a newspaper article. In terms of the impact of the price on carbon on inflation, he said that, “prescribed annual increases to the price on carbon add about 0.1 perce…
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Madam Speaker, the whole notion of productivity can be a little slippery. It is GDP per inhabitant, but especially in a country with a strong oil and gas sector like Canada, if the price of oil and gas goes up, then the productivity numbers will go up. The member was citing 2018 figures when the price of oil was rather low, so naturally Canada's productivity, using that simple measure of GDP per p…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the ninth report of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, entitled “The Government of Canada's Planned Phase-Out of Fossil Fuel Subsidies and of Public Financing of the Fossil Fuel Sector”. Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to t…
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Madam Speaker, I have two questions for my hon. colleague. First, he spoke about the American approach. It is true that the Americans have not put a price on carbon, except in California. They prefer subsidies. In fact, the Inflation Reduction Act contains $329 billion in subsidies. Would my hon. colleague prefer that we spend more to achieve our goals? Second, he claims to be a nationalist, but a…
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Madam Speaker, I go back to the point that, unlike Milton Friedman's price on carbon model, ours includes a dividend to individual taxpayers, and that is what makes the price on carbon essentially a transfer. That is what I would say in response to the member's question.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am a firm believer in the official languages action plan, but we are talking about fuel today, not official language communities. I make no apologies for being in favour of funding to help official language minority communities across the country.
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Madam Speaker, I would point out that, between 2019 and 2021, greenhouse gas emissions in Canada went down. Sure, they went up in 2021, but, as everyone knows, we were emerging from the pandemic, and the economy was recovering. We have to keep doing more, though. Clearly, the government's efforts since being elected in 2015 are starting to pay off. These things do not happen overnight, as the memb…
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Madam Speaker, any kind of an analysis around environmental measures, including the price on carbon, must take into account the effects of doing nothing.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, water is our most precious natural resource. It is crucial to our well-being and our economy. Canada has 20% of the world's fresh water. It is both an asset and a huge responsibility. Last week, the Prime Minister and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change were in Winnipeg to announce the creation of the new Canada water agency. Can the Minister …
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Madam Speaker, since we are talking about fuel, gasoline and the like, today, I would like to ask you a question. It is a rhetorical question; I am not expecting an answer. Do you have a car? I am sure you do. I am sure you drive on two-lane highways and three-lane highways. If you are like me, you see, every now and then, a car that moves from one lane to the next and then back again, sometimes w…
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Mr. Speaker, the people I know in my community who are gun owners are among the most sterling citizens. They have a tremendous sense of responsibility. I would say that if their civic duty was shared by all Canadians, we would be better off as a society. I take the member's point that many people who are killed by guns are killed by illegal guns. However, I am sure that the member would agree that…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise in the House for the second time to speak to Bill S-5. I was also very pleased to chair the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development when we studied and amended this bill. Members may not know that, in 1999, I was the assistant to a member who sat on the environment committee. I was therefore quite familiar with the process of the first r…
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Mr. Speaker, that was a good question. The bill is quite revolutionary in the sense that it would tighten control over the most hazardous substances, and it would put the emphasis on prohibition of the most toxic substances. One would not need a pollution prevention plan if the government, through the new CEPA, were to say there was a prohibition on the release of that particular substance. Also, …
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Mr. Speaker, it is true that the bill evolves every time we make amendments to it. There is already talk of a second bill in this session of Parliament to further strengthen the act. Perfecting the Canadian Environmental Protection Act is a long-term project, so to speak. I can be less enthusiastic if my colleague would prefer. The member must admit that the whole idea of a right to a healthy envi…
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Mr. Speaker, indeed, we saw when we invited representatives of indigenous communities and representatives from Imperial Oil and from the Alberta Energy Regulator, that there had been a communications breakdown. I know “communications breakdown” is a term from the 1960s, but it is very pertinent when we are talking about what happened with the Kearl project. The minister has taken steps to bring th…
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Madam Speaker, I will share my time with the member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell. I am very pleased to rise today to discuss a topic of deep concern to my community and my constituency of Lac-Saint-Louis. Canada is confronting demographic issues and a serious labour shortage. Every time I am on the ground meeting with business owners, whether they come from the tourism, restaurant, farming or ma…
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Madam Speaker, that is indeed a challenge, especially for a company's human resources department, which devotes a lot of time to ensuring that the company is welcoming and that the employees are happy with the programs the company has in place for them. This is a challenge for every company, no matter what region they are in. We need to encourage people to learn French. I think that any newcomer i…
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Madam Speaker, as usual, my colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands is asking a pointed and well-thought-out question. I do not have a clear opinion on the need to change the definition of refugee, but she is not wrong in saying that, in the future, there will be more climate migration, which will cause a whole host of other problems, such as peoples being repressed. My colleague's question is very in…
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Madam Speaker, that is an interesting question. We need to attract newcomers to Quebec who speak French or who are open to learning it. However, we need a strong economy to attract them. To have a strong economy, we need to address the labour shortage, so it is a bit of a vicious circle. A weak economy will not help Quebec. If the economy is weak, then people will look for work elsewhere. That hap…
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Mr. Speaker, I have a very simple question for my colleague. Will the Conservative Party support the bill, yes or no?
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Mr. Speaker, local news is vital. Voters rely on local news outlets to keep them informed. When the Liberal government passes legislation to ensure fair compensation for the use of community news content, Facebook responds by censoring the news. The Conservative leader, a friend of big tech, is happy to parrot the excuses offered up by the billionaire web giants, at the expense of Canadians' right…
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Mr. Speaker, as a member of Parliament who represents a great many anglophones, a minority community with unique needs in the Quebec context, I have studied Bill C-13 with a critical eye. First, I would like to say that my community is not impressed by the Quebec government's pre-emptive, and one could say almost perfunctory, use of the notwithstanding clause to escape judicial and political scrut…
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Mr. Speaker, the member brought up hospitals. I can say that I fully supported the efforts of Gisèle Lalonde, who recently passed away. She was the leading figure in the fight to maintain all services at Montfort Hospital, and she was able to use the court challenges program to lead that fight. I want francophones outside Quebec to have their institutions. It is thanks to the Canadian Charter of R…
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Mr. Speaker, I talked about the preamble to reassure my community that the government will not have the power to take away the rights of the anglophone community. With respect to the anglophone community, the English language is obviously not under threat in North America. Nevertheless, a community can face challenges without its language being under threat. The anglophone community has many cultu…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, Irene Lambert is taking early retirement at 92, after years of dedicated service to the community. Visually impaired but always undaunted, Irene has advocated tirelessly for people with disabilities, including as a member of the provincial commission that led to Quebec's legislation on the rights of people with disabilities. Her efforts also resulted in Bell Canada's offering free dir…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians deserve to have access to a fair and efficient passenger airline sector and to travel with relative ease and without major inconvenience and disruption. Many travellers, however, have experienced delayed and cancelled flights over the past year. They deserve to be compensated accordingly. Can the Minister of Transport inform the House on actions our government has taken to e…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I hope to some day have the opportunity to visit that museum; I am sure it is quite impressive. In terms of the surveillance plane, my understanding is that a decision has not been made. It is not a file that I follow as closely as perhaps my colleague and others do. What I am hoping for and what I believe will happen is that the government will put together an approach to make sure…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to address the issue of the aerospace and aviation industry. I grew up in Montreal, and my family and I were always aware of the existence of this industry, particularly when we went down what was then called Laurentien Boulevard in Cartierville. There was even an airport attached to the Canadair plant. Now it has become a residential area, but it was very impressive to…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, this is a good question, but it presumes that the government has not been making strategic investments all these years in the industry, and it has. It is part of an evolving approach that becomes a strategy over time. In terms of labour-management relations, I am not familiar with problems in that relationship, but I am sure industry and labour work pretty closely together, and I ho…
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Madam Speaker, as a member from the Montreal area, I support any investment that strengthens the region's economy. I do not follow this file as closely as my colleague does, but I believe the government issued a report last summer on the state of the Canadian aerospace industry. I assume this report provided an overview of the industry's economic impact. I expect the report will be used as a basis…
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