Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, this is the same minister who, weeks ago, kept telling us that the net was tightening. The reality is that she is the one getting caught up in the net. In 2017, she said that she was going to make this public and that the whole truth would come out. The investigation has been over for a year and the minister said that once everything was public, it would all become clearer and they wo…
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Mr. Speaker, the number one issue on every Canadian's mind is inflation. This Liberal government is responsible for rising inflation. Conservatives are not alone in saying so. Yesterday, Scotiabank's chief economist, Jean‑François Perrault, said that “high levels of fiscal spending will necessitate an unnecessarily large crowding out of private spending”. In other words, the government does not kn…
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Mr. Speaker, all of our constituency offices are getting calls all day long from desperate Canadians about the passport problem, and I am sure this is true in all 338 ridings. Once again this weekend, a nurse had to take time off work instead of treating patients. She had to stand in line today to get her passport. In Laval, police officers had to be sent out to calm the unrest among the people in…
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Madam Speaker, every Canadian knows that on April 1, this government increased the Liberal carbon tax. Writing in Le Journal de Québec and Le Journal de Montréal today, Loïc Tassé was blunt but truthful. He wrote that all these measures by the Liberal government will not fight inflation. On the contrary, they will accelerate it. He asks: “What magical world is she living in?” The problem is that w…
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Madam Speaker, yesterday in Toronto, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance was supposed to make an announcement that would give Canadians some relief from inflation. Unfortunately, once again, the Minister of Finance showed that she is completely out of touch with the reality all Canadians are facing. There was no announcement at all, just more rehashing of the same Liberal talking poi…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a treat when the founder of Équiterre, who is currently being sued by Équiterre, is in teacher mode. The fact is, countries such as Germany, England, Australia, South Korea and the United States have taken steps to lower taxes, especially those that affect the price of gas, which affects everyone, particularly when it is time to buy groceries. Groceries need to be trans…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure and a joy to listen to my Bloc Québécois colleague. I say that in all sincerity, but not without chiding him for mentioning the leaders meeting, which must remain confidential. However, I want to salute him because we share a point of view that he talked about eloquently, as only he knows how, regarding the riding names that are too long. It makes no sense. I…
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Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate and thank my colleague for his speech and his very honest, but unfortunately sad, presentation of the financial reality of this government. The big issue of the day is inflation. It has hurt every family, especially when we talk about the price of gas. We all realize and recognize that elsewhere offshore we see great countries applying positive action to reduc…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians have been clear about what they want, and that is effective policies to fight inflation. As gas prices continue to rise, the tax rises too, so the government is pocketing more and more money. The government is putting more money in its own pockets and less in the pockets of Canadians. This is a direct measure that Canadians want. Other countries have adopted this measure, so…
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Mr. Speaker, people in my riding woke up to some bad news this morning. The price of gas is up to $2.24 a litre. That is a record high. This is the reality for every Canadian family in my riding and from coast to coast to coast. As we know, when the price goes up, the tax also goes up. Basically, the government makes more money when the price goes up. However, what differentiates Canada from other…
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Madam Speaker, I should let you know that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. I want to start by congratulating my colleague from Kings—Hants on his French. He delivered half his speech in French earlier, and it was really impressive. I want to congratulate him and encourage all my colleagues to learn the second official language. By “second official languag…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague need not be so effusive in his praise. I do not have all those qualities, as he so aptly put it earlier when he used the word “ultra”. The point being raised by the hon. member, whom I imagine is an ultra-sovereignist, is interesting. This government was elected in 2015 and promised to create wealth by making significant investments in infrastructure, which took years. …
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to take part in this afternoon's debate on Bill C‑19, which affects public finances, of course. I will have the opportunity to come back to that in a few seconds. Today being June 6, I would like to begin by honouring the memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944, to liberate all of humanity from the Nazi menace. We owe t…
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Madam Speaker, with respect, my future is not in the hands of my colleague from Winnipeg North, nor in those of any member of the House or the former premier of Quebec. My future is in the hands of the people of Louis-Saint-Laurent, and I want them to decide what they want. I am pleased to serve them if they want me to, but this is not my choice; it is their choice. Speaking of the Governor of the…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to begin by congratulating my colleague from British Columbia on his appointment as our finance critic. I also want to commend him on the quality of his French. I am sure that all his friends in Quebec are thrilled to see that when someone puts in the necessary effort, they can speak more than respectable French. I would like to thank him and congratulate him from the b…
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Mr. Speaker, although I do not agree with absolutely everything my colleague just said, I do agree with almost all of it, especially the part about the current government's reasoning for wanting to, as the member so aptly put it, lower its standards when it comes to crime and sentencing. I have the privilege of representing the riding of Louis-Saint-Laurent. As members know, Wendake is located in …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to both thank and congratulate the member for Lac-Saint-Jean once again for the quality of his speech. He talked a lot about leadership. I would be remiss if I did not point out the leadership he showed some time ago in pushing for an airlift to bring refugees here. I say that with all the pride and honesty that comes with being a member of Parliament. We are all very p…
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Mr. Chair, I would be pleased to welcome the minister to Wendake once the situation is resolved.
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Mr. Chair, soon I will have been living in Loretteville for 58 years. I am turning 58 soon. I know the area like the back of my hand. I have had close, personal friends there from childhood, and I can say one thing: Wendake did not become urban overnight. Wendake has always been embedded in an urban area. In 2022, Canada Post is unable to recognize that Wendake is in an urban area. This penalizes …
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Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the minister for her answer. I can see that she has worked on this file over the past few days, which is a good thing. That said, we are not seeing results. Right now, it costs 30% more to send something from Wendake than to send it from my home in Loretteville, even though I live less than a kilometre from Wendake. That is totally unfair, unacceptable and wrong, e…
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Mr. Chair, tonight I am very proud to be part of this extraordinarily fast-paced exercise, which is also very informative for all Canadians. It is wonderful. Democracy is winning tonight. I am speaking to my colleagues from my constituency office, with good reason. I have the great privilege of representing the community of Wendake, which is part of my riding. That is why my colleagues will see th…
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With regard to historical data sets available or previously available from Statistics Canada: what are the details of all data sets which have been dismantled, removed or have become unavailable for Canadians to access since January 1, 2016, including, for each, (i) the date the data set was dismantled, removed or became unavailable, (ii) what happened to the data set, (iii) the summary of the con…
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With regard to Statistics Canada (StatCan) and the note at the bottom of its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released in March 2022 mentioning changes to the way in which the average prices of 52 products sold in Canadian grocery stores are tracked and reported: (a) what specific changes is StatCan making; (b) on what dates are these changes being made; (c) which specific products are being remo…
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Mr. Speaker, with regard to the illegal protest in Ottawa, the Minister of Public Safety said on May 2, “At the recommendation of police, we invoked the Emergencies Act”. Last week, the RCMP commissioner said in committee that there was never a question of requesting the Emergencies Act. The question is very simple: Who is telling the truth? Is it the minister or the RCMP commissioner? Personally,…
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Mr. Speaker, I am sorry if I misled the House when I said that the member is coming from the Maritimes. I apologize and retract my words. I do accept the explanation from my colleague. Obviously, there is some concern. I was there. I was just feet away from my colleague from the Green Party in British Columbia. I have a lot of respect for her. She is a strong voice for Canadian democracy and I hop…
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Mr. Speaker, I love the expression “look who is talking”: look who is talking about the fact that we are making speeches here in the House of Commons. He is not the king or the queen; he is the god of speakers in the House of Commons. He is speaking on everything all the time, and now he is asking questions and asking why we are talking about this. We get inspiration from the member.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be participating in the debate on democracy in Canada, our electoral democracy in which every vote is to be counted correctly, but also, and this is important, in which every Canadian has access to quality service because of the presence of a member in their riding. There are 338 representatives in the House, and each riding has its own characteristics. There are urban…
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Mr. Speaker, when we are talking about a democratic system, and that is exactly what we are talking about today, we shall respect the right of a member of Parliament to speak on an issue. That is what we are trying to have.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comment. I would like to come back to the debate. The motion that the Conservatives proposed would have applied to Quebec and all the provinces. However, in the March 2 debate, the Bloc Québécois suggested that the motion should apply only to Quebec. We agreed with the principle, but we wanted it to apply to all of the provinces, which is the intent of Bil…
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Mr. Speaker, everything we just heard is false. The new measures coming into force on May 18 directly affect honest business owners and honest Canadians who own guns. Yes, they exist. Unfortunately, this government is not even considering doing the right thing and directing its attacks at the real criminals: the street gangs and those who use illegal guns. Again, why, on May 18, is the government …
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Mr. Speaker, on a different subject, Quebec City encircles the first nation community in Wendake, which I represent here in the House of Commons. Oddly enough, according to Canada Post, the postal code for Wendake identifies it as a rural delivery area. As a result, it can cost up to 30% more to insure and mail packages. That is totally unfair and unacceptable. Will the minister responsible for fi…
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Mr. Speaker, this week in Laval there were three shootings in three days. That happened in residential neighbourhoods, and it could have ended badly for the families. Unfortunately, according to the police, we know that this involves street gangs going after each other with illegal guns. We know that in a few days, this government will impose new measures dealing with firearms. Can the government …
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is well aware that, in our last two campaign platforms, Conservatives said that Bill 101 could apply to businesses in Quebec. Over three-quarters of a million Quebeckers voted for us and that approach. I also want to make it clear that we Conservatives seize every opportunity to demonstrate our tremendous respect for jurisdiction. One thing federal Conservatives will no…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to participate in the debate on Bill C-13, an act for the substantive equality of Canada's official languages. I am happy to be speaking in the House at 10 p.m., even though this is usually when I go to bed. We are here to talk about Bill C‑13, bilingualism and Canada's two official languages. First of all, I want to provide an overview of the situation. I believe that …
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to resume debate on our motion to establish, or re-establish, the Canada-China parliamentary committee in order to study issues directly affecting our country's relationship with this very strong, yet concerning global power. We would like to re-establish this committee, which was struck in the last Parliament but was disbanded when the Prime Minister called an unnecessar…
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan. We are here today to talk about the creation of a parliamentary committee to look at the relationship between Canada and the People's Republic of China. This is a very important issue, given that China is a major player, to say the least, both economically and in terms of national security, the environ…
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Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague has been here for a long time and I appreciate his contributions to Canadian democracy. Speaking of that, what he said is totally wrong. There is a huge difference between the state of China and the Chinese people, especially those who live in this country. They have been selected by this country and have decided to live here. Some are descendants who are very prou…
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Madam Speaker, the member for Manicouagan is well aware that hundreds and thousands of families in her riding need access to cars that have to run in the winter and cover great distances because there is not much of a public transit system in her riding. She has won the past three elections. She was re-elected three times. She is well aware that this is the everyday reality for people in her ridin…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from the Green Party for her question. Canada is a model country when it comes to the environment and energy production. As long as we need oil and gas, I will always be the biggest supporter of this Canadian energy. I would rather have it here in Canada, and purchase it domestically, rather than send billions of dollars to Saudi Arabia, Venezuela or Texas.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Scarborough—Guildwood and say to him that, earlier, I misspoke when I said that he was wrong. What he said was false, but not what he thought, of course. I want to clarify the situation. It is the opposite of what was suggested. That happens sometimes. At the end of his speech, the member said that he agreed with the principle behind the motion. I w…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Hull—Aylmer for his speech. It is always a pleasure to remind him that I am one of his constituents when I spend the week in Ottawa. I stay in Hull, a sector of Gatineau, and he is my MP. I therefore regularly receive his always interesting and pertinent, if lengthy, newsletters in the mail. I just want to give my regards to my MP. My colleague quite correctly h…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to echo my colleague's comments. I really enjoy the minister's company. I knew her in another life. She was a parliamentary secretary to the finance minister when I was the finance critic, as members will recall. If the minister thinks that we, the Conservatives, are harsh, I would simply like her to be aware of the fact that someone who she certainly knows very well, L…
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Madam Speaker, from our perspective, in order to be taken seriously, one must grant the necessary powers. As far as we are concerned, what matters most is Treasury Board authority, but yes, the Commissioner of Official Languages must have some real muscle. That said, should we be surprised to see this government introduce a bill that is weak with respect to certain demands? After all, this is the …
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Mr. Speaker, this morning, Quebeckers woke up to some very bad news. Across Quebec, a litre of gas now costs more than two dollars. That psychological barrier has now been broken. This means that Quebeckers and Canadians have to pay more. It affects everyone, not just those who put gas in their cars. It affects the transportation of all goods, such as food. The cost of food will rise, due in part …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague, the House leader for the official opposition, for his very informative speech on parliamentary procedure, which is what we are talking about today. Today we are debating a change to Standing Order 30 from the Standing Orders of the House of Commons. This standing order, which has been around since 1927, provides for the Speaker to read a four-sentence prayer. T…
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Madam Speaker, the Bloc member should know that the Standing Orders were changed in 1972, but prayers were not abolished in the Quebec National Assembly until 1976. During those moments of reflection, everyone reflects in their own way, as we do here in the House of Commons after the reading of the prayer, which no one has a problem with. I am surprised that my friends from the Bloc are so passion…
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Madam Speaker, for once I deeply appreciated the member for Winnipeg North's speech a few minutes ago. I know I recognize him for a lot of skills, but his speech today was very good, and for once I can say that today. I think the member raised an issue that is very important, and it is concerning to all Canadians. Yes, there are some issues we are concerned with as parliamentarians, but we are her…
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Madam Speaker, we work under a set of rules that must be agreed upon. It is entirely legitimate that the issue of prayer be raised in the debate we are having here in the House; I recognize that. However, I am not sure that it is really topical. In addition, when it comes to the Standing Orders, this is not the way to do it. It is done by consensus. I said it quickly earlier, but I will go into mo…
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Mr. Speaker, for once, could the government acknowledge the issues affecting all Canadians, not just those who have an iPhone or those who have access to a lot of information, but all Canadians? There are issues with the ArriveCAN app. There are issues for those who fill it out correctly as well as for those who do not have access to an iPhone or the Internet. Could the government consider the fac…
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Madam Speaker, that is a very good question. In our opinion, this bill does not properly assess the balance we must strike and the fair payment that must be made to all producers and broadcasters, without affecting content quality and creators' initiative, whether on YouTube or elsewhere. Damien, the musician I spoke about earlier, made us understand that.
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