Parliamentary Speeches

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, with all the respect I have for the Right Hon. Prime Minister, unfortunately his comments should not be taken into consideration. He did not follow the rules. I do not care if he was using a microphone that came from NASA. He needs to use the microphone provided by the House. The House gave us all the equipment we need to do our work wherever we are, be it in the House, in our offices…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the government has come up with only one excuse for the mess it made of the infamous hotel booking system for Canadian travellers. It is blaming people for booking too early. Every day, thousands more people join the growing line of those already waiting. In my riding, Ms. Oblin, from the Des Saules area, has been on the phone since Friday trying to book a hotel room for her son, who …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, that is unfortunate for Ms. Oblin's son. He did exactly what the minister said, but no one answered the phone. If he cannot get through by tomorrow, then, unfortunately, he will be unable to return to Canada. There is a problem that the government could solve right now, and that is the much-touted $1,000 for non-essential travel by Canadian workers. That issue still has not been resol…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, since 2014, the Uighur Muslim minority in China have been trapped in a nightmare. Two million people have been sent to concentration camps. Hundreds of thousands of people have disappeared. Women are assaulted, raped and sterilized. Some twenty religious sites have been destroyed. It is clear to us that this is a genocide. Less than an hour from now we will vote in the House on this i…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately for Canadians, the government is missing in action again. In this crucial situation, we cannot merely talk about allegations, we need to take a stand. The United States took a stand. The two key people in the Biden administration took a stand. They are not afraid to use the word “genocide”. I will say it again, we will be voting on this issue in less than an hour. Will t…

Government Orders

I just want to say to the Minister of Foreign Affairs that he did the honourable thing.

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, as we know, during a hybrid vote, members who are not sitting in the House have to say that they are for or against. We all know that sometimes people are making some comments. There is some tolerance that we have, and we recognize that there is no problem with that, but I think that what we have seen today in the second vote is a breach of this rule, and a seriou…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I just want to point out that in my speech I noted that the minister said he was talking on behalf of the Government of Canada. This is the first time someone is saying he is talking on behalf of someone else in the House of Commons. There is no link in that way when people are voting, other than that they support it. He said he was voting on behalf of the Canadian government. This is…

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Given the decision you just made, I think you should reach out to the whip of the official opposition. He is trying to get in contact with us in the House of Commons by Internet and he is coming in a few seconds. There is some difficulty, and as you know, it was requested by him, so I think before addressing any other issue you should reach out to him.

Oral Questions

Madam Speaker, vaccines are essential to the economic recovery. We cannot get our economy back to normal until people are vaccinated. It is crucial. We are going to hit a wall if we do not do something. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has said that one in six businesses is at risk of closing down this year if nothing changes. This would put more than 2.4 million jobs at risk. How d…

Oral Questions

Madam Speaker, Canada has spent more than any other G7 country. However, the reality is that Canada has the highest rate of unemployment in the G7. If the government's plan were working, our unemployment rate would not be so high. Clearly the plan is not working. To make matters worse, although this government claims to be feminist, women are the ones who have been hit the hardest. Unemployment am…

Oral Questions

Madam Speaker, I would actually encourage the Minister of Finance to go see the 213,000 Canadians who lost their jobs last month and tell them that the guy she quoted just now says everything will be fine. That is not the reality of the situation. Since the minister wants to talk about Bill C-14, is the government ready to accept our proposal to split Bill C-14 so we can resolve things for busines…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the point of order raised by members who are not in our political party. There is only one judge in this situation, Mr. Speaker, and it is you. Obviously these members do not accept what you have said. They disagree, but this is what democracy is all about. We have debates in Parliament. If the member who tabled the bill has something to say, you are the one who will…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the government asked for unanimous consent to withdraw Bill C-13, which is still on the Order Paper, at second reading. This request was made in response to Bill C-218 being passed at second reading. Since both bills propose similar amendments to the Criminal Code, it makes sense to withdraw one bill and move forward with the other. Unanimous consent was denied, which means …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, it being Thursday, I would like to ask the usual question of what business we can expect to be brought forward in the House in the next few days. I would remind members that parliamentarians have been ready for almost one month to debate the bill to eliminate the controversial $1,000 for non-essential travel by workers. Will the government soon introduce this bill so it can be debated…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, we are seriously concerned with the process of this decision. As mentioned in your answer, the point is that we are talking about two bills. One is from the government and one is from a member of the official opposition, the member for Saskatoon—Grasswood. The government had the chance to explain itself, and I officially ask that this member of Parliament speak on behalf of his privat…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I do not know if this falls into the category of weekly statements, but each week we, the government House leader and the leader of the official opposition, have this meeting on Thursday afternoon to find out where we are headed. For the fifth time, and I am not counting what I just did about five minutes ago, we are reaching out to the government. When will it table the bill so we ca…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, it is not the part of the member to decide what is right or what is wrong. You have the right to say that what someone is saying is not correct. This is your power, not the power of each and every member individually. Today, we heard a member give an S. O. 31 statement, which is an opportunity for a member to rise for one minute to express an opinion on a specific subject. There is ab…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, Canadians want to work. Unfortunately, last month was a bad one for Canadian workers, because 213,000 of them lost their jobs. We are talking about more than just numbers. We are talking about fathers who had to come home and tell their families that they no longer had a job. We are also talking about mothers and about young people who had just entered the labour market and who had to…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I know the Minister of Finance used to be the foreign affairs minister, so she should know that Canada is bringing up the rear compared to the rest of the world. At nearly 10%, we have the highest unemployment rate of all G7 countries. That is a fact. We are well behind England, whose unemployment rate is barely 5%, and the United States at 6%. Despite that, the minister says that thi…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy with the outcome of the two motions adopted earlier. If you seek it, you will find unanimous consent of the House: That, notwithstanding any standing or special order or usual practice of the House, the amendment to the second reading motion of Bill C-10, An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts, standing in th…

Oral Questions

Madam Speaker, exactly two months ago in this House, the Prime Minister rose, puffed up his chest and said that this government was delivering medications, that it was delivering the vaccines. That was two months ago. Today, with regard to vaccinations, Canada is the 34th worst country in the world, and it is moving down the list. The prestigious magazine The Economist estimates that if nothing ch…

Oral Questions

Madam Speaker, for almost 10 days now, Canada has gotten hardly any vaccines. We are waiting. People at The Economist know their stuff. They estimate that vaccination will not be complete before June 2022. England has already vaccinated 15.5% of its residents, while Canada stands at less than 3%. England has vaccinated 90% of people aged 75 and older, but Canada is nowhere near that. Why is that? …

Oral Questions

Madam Speaker, 10 months ago, the government was in a big hurry to sign an agreement with China. Ultimately, that proved fruitless, and now we need vaccines. Yesterday, the premiers got together and demanded transparency from the Prime Minister of Canada. They demanded access to all of the documents pertaining to the agreements. That is what we have been asking for since last September. Why is the…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, we are all Canadians and we are all proud of our country, but today my pride in my country has been shaken, all because the government did not lock down the infamous vaccine agreements. Now, Canada is having to use COVAX, and we are the only G7 country to do so. This is humiliating, and Canadians deserve better. How did the government manage to fail so hard?

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, we all want the economy to get off on the right foot once COVID-19 is behind us. The fastest way to make that happen is vaccination. The government goes on and on about all its vaccine agreements, but now it is turning to a mechanism designed to help the lowest-income countries even as it says the doses are coming. It is a disgrace. The Deputy Prime Minister has the nerve to say she w…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, as per tradition, it being Thursday, we would like an update on the business of Parliament. As we all know, we will spend next week in our ridings. That is a very good thing. I look forward to paying a visit to Coiffure au Masculin, located on Valcartier Boulevard in Loretteville. My visit is a few months overdue. I would like to know what we are doing when the House resumes on Februa…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague for her well-written and well-thought-out speech. I do not share her view on some of the points he raised, but since we are in the heart of democracy, we must preserve this freedom of speech and differences of points of view. Since we are talking about free trade and international trade, my colleague's speech reminded me that in 1988, under the government…

Statements by Members

Mr. Speaker, the duty to remember is a duty of honour and respect. Four years ago, six Canadians in Quebec City, brought together by their faith, were shot to death by a murderer. This was an act of terrorism inspired by Islamophobia. This was an unspeakable tragedy that will stay with us forever. It shook us to our very core as human beings. Islamophobia and all forms of violence, all phobias bas…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, it is Thursday, and as usual, we would like an update on the business of the House. I would also like to note that this week marks the return of the House after the Christmas break, and it is a great pleasure and honour for us to be here. We want to thank all those who ensure that the hybrid sittings of the House generally go smoothly. We want to thank the House of Commons team, the t…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, last September, the government tabled a 50-page bill at the last minute, and we had to pass it in 24 hours. As a result, it contains mistakes and problems, such as giving $1,000 to workers who travelled for non-essential purposes. That does not make sense and must be fixed. Yesterday, I moved a motion to let the government table a bill that would fix this immediately. Unfortunately, t…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, everyone knows that the Prime Minister does not like working in the House of Commons, and therein lies the problem. He introduced the bill in September and we only had a day to debate it. The result is that there are problems. He asked us the Monday after the bill was introduced to pass it right away, without debate. That is not how the process works. He made a mistake six months ago …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, just a few minutes ago, or less than an hour ago, you let a member express himself even though he was not respecting the rules. I just want to make that point.

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Yesterday, the government failed to move a unanimous motion concerning a bill that must be passed immediately. The government claimed to be outraged about this situation. I am certain you will find unanimous consent of the House for the following motion: That, notwithstanding any standing order, special order or usual practice of the House, a bill standing …

Emergency Debate

Mr. Speaker, I really appreciated the speech by the member for Calgary Nose Hill, and also that of the leader of the official opposition. Let us remember that, last fall, on this side of the House, we bombarded and hounded the government with 126 questions about the importance of vaccination. We even commended and applauded the appointment of Major-General Fortin to coordinate the various activiti…

Mr. Speaker, I would like to clarify something. I first want to say that I am pleased to be here with my colleagues to work on behalf of all Canadians. I would like to draw the attention of the House to the fact that paragraph (j) of the motion brought forward by the minister that we just agreed to adopt states the following: (j) when a recorded division is requested in respect of a debatable moti…

Mr. Speaker, let me be even more specific. The minister has the text in front of her. Let us look at paragraph (j), which is on line 6. The minister read the word “project”, but the text we agreed to adopt uses the word “budget”. I believe the minister said “project”, but the word should have been “budget”. Could she just clarify that she meant to say “budget”?

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, Canada has a shortage of vaccines, its economy is floundering and we no longer have a Governor General. One person is responsible for this situation, and that is the Prime Minister. It was the Prime Minister who decided not to use the committee that we, the Conservatives, created. This committee could have identified the problems, but no, the Prime Minister decided that he knew what w…

Emergency Debate

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I challenge that view because members often wear buttons that send a certain message here in the House. Members on both sides of the House do it all the time, and to my knowledge, it has never been the subject of debate before. I would like you to review your position.