Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, freedom of expression and freedom of religion are fundamental rights. However, we have collectively agreed that freedom of expression cannot extend to the offence of promoting hatred. These are not trivial matters, differences of opinion or insults. Promoting hatred is no trivial matter. The issue here is eliminating the religious exemption in the Criminal Code for this offence. That …
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Mr. Speaker, we are currently witnessing a spike in hateful acts and hate speech. Promoting hate is a criminal offence. The first groups targeted by hate speech and hateful acts are members of the Jewish faith followed by members of the Muslim faith. In October 2024, preacher Adil Charkaoui called for the death of Jews in a prayer he gave at a protest. Under the Criminal Code, this constitutes the…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the House that the offence of promoting hatred involves publicly communicating with the wilful intent to target a group. I would like to hear my honourable colleague's thoughts on that.
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec no longer has any automobile manufacturing. There was a plant that made Camaros in Laval's north end a few decades ago. When that closed, Jean Chrétien decided to abandon that industry on the pretext that auto manufacturing belonged to Ontario. The Liberal legacy lives on. I recognize that these are very important jobs and that this is a very important industry for Ontario. I w…
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Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague on his speech. Times of crisis are known to bring about rapid change and opportunities for growth. We saw this during the first oil shock in 1973, which led to the rise of more fuel-efficient vehicles, such as the Japanese cars that are still on the roads today. In 1979, the second oil shock left Chrysler and American Motors bankrupt. We are probably going throu…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague for his remarks. I could not agree with him more. The entire transportation electrification industry brings into focus one fundamental principle, which is predictability. While the transition to the electrification of transportation is under way in Europe, China, and everywhere else in the world other than the United States and Canada under this governmen…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my friend from Repentigny. Today's debate makes me think of Back to the Future, a movie that was popular when I was a kid. The characters used a car to go back to the 1960s. A few years later, Hollywood came out with Back to the Future Part II. The movie was no good, but at least they thought of using a car to propel themselves into the future. That is n…
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Mr. Speaker, why do they want to put an end to transportation electrification when every country in the world, except the United States, is working toward that? Also, as another member just said, would we not just be playing into Donald Trump's hands by reinstating the 1960s auto pact?
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Mr. Speaker, what we need to do is seize this crisis as an opportunity to modernize by adopting the next-generation economic model adopted by Europe and most of the rest of the world, with the exception of Donald Trump's United States and, unfortunately, our own country under our government's excessively timid measures. We must accelerate transportation electrification. One of the most promising w…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to start by thanking my colleague and friend for his speech. He certainly knows what he is talking about, as Olivier Guimond used to say in his famous slogan. In his speech, my colleague often referred to the fact that this agreement contains clauses from another era that are no longer really found in modern agreements. I would like him to discuss that a bit more, focusing on t…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague told us that this agreement would be good for his riding and for the Quebec City area. I applaud that. I would like to know if he is aware of any businesses in his riding or in the Quebec City area that currently export goods to Indonesia. I would like him to give us some concrete examples. I would also like to know whether he has any reservations concerning respect for w…
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Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the departing member, but I am not sure whether he will understand it. I would like to ask him about palm oil. Indonesia is one of the major producers of palm oil. Palm oil imports are skyrocketing in Canada. This is causing problems with deforestation of tropical forests and is affecting local populations, who are often forced to work on these plantations, as we…
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Madam Speaker, a few years ago, preacher Adil Charkaoui said the following at a demonstration: “Allah, take care of these Zionist aggressors. Allah, take care of the enemies of the people of Gaza. Allah, identify them all, then exterminate them. And don't spare any of them.” Quebec's director of criminal and penal prosecutions said that he did not have the tools to make an arrest following these h…
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Mr. Speaker, the amendment is based on the Criminal Code's prohibition against promoting hatred, which is a criminal offence. There have been situations, like that of imam Charkaoui, for example, who promoted hatred against the Jewish people. He was not prosecuted because of the religious exemption. Eta Yudin, vice-president of the Quebec chapter of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said t…
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Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of Justice. I believe we are discussing a serious offence here, that of promoting hatred. Can the hon. minister remind us what promoting hatred means in legal terms?
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Mr. Speaker, we request a recorded division.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his excellent speech. I want to come back to a point he raised about the open banking system, consumer protection, data portability and things like that. To his knowledge, has the Government of Quebec been consulted and is it on board with the content of Bill C-15? To his knowledge, has there been communication between the Government of Quebec and the …
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Mr. Speaker, at the end of his speech, my colleague mentioned the Prime Minister's interests in Brookfield and his other investments. I would like to ask him a question about the governance choices the Prime Minister is making and the potential benefits to Brookfield, for example. One example is his elimination of the minimum tax for American companies that use tax havens. Brookfield had just move…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague and friend for his excellent speech and congratulate him on it. I would like to continue with the issue of taxing web giants. This is a matter of basic fairness. These multinationals use tax havens to avoid paying a single penny of taxes in Canada. The government had put in place a tax to offset that, but over the summer, the current Prime Minister s…
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Mr. Speaker, we request a recorded division.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to ask my colleague more questions about high-speed rail and the contents of Bill C‑15, which takes rights away from expropriated individuals. Last week, I attended high-speed rail consultations in the town of Berthier, in my riding, near Joliette. I witnessed a massive mobilization effort by farmers, who are deeply concerned. The government says that a corridor 10 kilometres w…
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Mr. Speaker, I went to an Alto event last week in Berthierville where the farmers of Lanaudière turned out in force. They are deeply worried. In my colleague's opinion, what does Bill C‑15 require in terms of taking rights away from expropriated individuals? If that was not part of Bill C-15, what would stop the project from moving forward, perhaps with a little more respect for the people it woul…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her compassionate speech. My question has to do with a point that she raised in her speech and in her response to the government, and that is the atrocious processing times for claims. We are currently talking about roughly 40 months, whereas some European countries that are also facing waves of migration have implemented measures to speed up the process. In F…
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Madam Speaker, at the end of their motion, the Conservatives ask the House to “pass policies to immediately expel foreign nationals convicted of serious crime in Canada”, but under the existing legislation, such individuals serve their sentences here in Canada and are then deported. Our concern is that people who are convicted of serious crimes will be immediately deported without having to serve …
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Mr. Speaker, I have a question concerning the last part of the motion, which reads: “(d) pass policies to immediately expel foreign nationals convicted of serious crime in Canada”. Under the existing legislation, a person who is found guilty of an offence must serve their sentence before being deported, while under the motion, such individuals would be deported without serving their sentence. I am…
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Mr. Speaker, I have two questions for my hon. colleague. First, does she agree that the main problem with regard to asylum claims is the processing time, which is currently more than 40 months? Let us look at Europe, for example, which is dealing with waves of migration and where officials have made a significant effort to reduce processing times. In France, the processing time is six months, and …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his insightful comments. The government's intention is to create a new structure to reduce red tape and bureaucracy and to consolidate services that were scattered across various departments and agencies. Like my colleague, I am cautious. Will the government really succeed in simplifying the process and reducing bureaucracy? That remains to be seen. Given th…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend for her question. This is an ongoing issue. We have seen it. In this case, we are talking about Build Canada Homes. What will the delays be? The government must take quick action, in collaboration with Quebec through a memorandum of understanding, so that every dollar voted in the budget gets out the door as quickly as possible. We know that the cost …
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Madam Speaker, it is not complicated. We have been in a housing crisis for several years now. Housing prices have skyrocketed, and people no longer have access to home ownership. There are not enough condos, apartments or houses. More importantly, there is a huge shortage of social housing. The most vulnerable people are making immense sacrifices to find housing, often in unacceptable conditions. …
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Madam Speaker, today, we are discussing Bill C-20, which seeks to establish Build Canada Homes as a Crown corporation to build affordable housing. Obviously, the Bloc Québécois is in favour of that. The budget, which is currently being debated as part of Bill C-15, provides for $13 billion over the next four years, until 2030, and gives the government and the Crown corporation the power to build s…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comment and question. In the most recent budget, the government committed to keep the deficit at just $78 billion this year. That is double Justin Trudeau's deficits and makes him look positively frugal. The government is saying that it is going to make cuts to the public service, that it is going to cut 40,000 jobs, which is huge. We are still waiting a…
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Madam Speaker, the need is great. There is a crisis, so yes, urgent action is needed. We are asking the federal government and the Quebec government to come to an agreement. They signed an MOU. They seem to be in agreement. I want to make sure that the areas of jurisdiction are respected. Why? It is because we want the federal government to do a good job in its own areas of jurisdiction, which it …
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Mr. Speaker, the motion calls on the government to “bar non-citizens convicted of serious crimes from making refugee claims”. However, it seems to overlook the existence of political refugees, people falsely accused of committing criminal acts by corrupt authoritarian regimes. If adopted as is, the motion would prevent someone like Raif Badawi from joining his family in Canada. That is why the Imm…
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Mr. Speaker, I am increasingly concerned about the parliamentary secretary's growing anger. I have had the honour of serving with him for just over a decade. Instead of talking about the motion, he is saying that the government is unable to move its legislative agenda forward as it would like. He is talking as though the government has a majority, when, as we know, this is a minority government. T…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my hon. colleague whether he thinks that political refugees who have been convicted in their country should be excluded from the motion.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend for his speech that revolved around social justice and responsibility. In his speech, he spoke about the Canadian federal government's backtracking in recent years in terms of protecting human rights. In his response to the parliamentary secretary, he provided the example of Jimmy Lai. Can my colleague provide us with other examples of this backtracki…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I would also like to thank him for sponsoring this bill. As we know, people who work in health services and as first responders do essential work. As we see in the media, they are increasingly facing acts of violence. I have a lot of family members who are paramedics, and they have talked to me about this. My friend Louis-Olivier Roussin, the ope…
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Mr. Speaker, my question is this: When the government implements measures like this one to reduce the tax burden, does my colleague prefer measures that target people with lower incomes, meaning those who need it most, or does he prefer measures that help everyone, such as the tax cut that was announced in Bill C-5 and included in the budget? Speaking of which, what does my colleague think about t…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Mirabel for his eloquent speech. He addressed a number of topics related to the bill. I would like to hear his thoughts on a few things. First, he pointed out that we are in a kind of oligopoly when it comes to food retailers. He noted that their numbers have declined over the past few decades. How is that putting pressure on people's grocery bills? Second, t…
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Mr. Speaker, obviously, the Bloc Québécois strongly supports this measure. It will help those who need it. I have two questions for my colleague. First, this measure will cost nearly $12 billion over six years, and the first payment will cost $3.1 billion. Why did the government not think to include this in the budget it tabled just three months ago? We want to have a clear picture of public finan…
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Mr. Speaker, of course, we support this measure, which targets the people who need it most. However, I have two questions. First, why not make the payment monthly? Receiving the payment every three months could cause some people to accumulate credit card debt for three months, and they would have to pay interest on that. If they received a cheque every month, that could reduce the interest they pa…
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Mr. Speaker, I have two questions for the member. The government is proposing a measure that we welcome and support because it will really help people, but it is going to cost a lot of money. Why did the government not include that measure in the budget that was tabled just a few months ago so that we could see the overall fiscal plan? We were already talking about a $78-billion deficit. This meas…
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Mr. Speaker, I am quite surprised by the response that was just given. Rather than competing to see who is the best cheerleader for the oil industry, we should be considering the wide variety of measures that can be implemented to reduce inflation. My Liberal colleague shared a few of them, and I will share some others. What does my hon. colleague have to say about the labour shortage in the food …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague a question about food production costs and the labour shortage in the agri-food sector. What is his government proposing to address this shortage? There is also the issue of climate change, which is causing floods, droughts and wildfires, all of which have a direct impact on food production in this country. The government recently backtracked on many o…
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Mr. Speaker, going by the calendar on the Table, I see that it is February 3, but it sure feels like February 2, Groundhog Day, because this is yet another Conservative opposition day dedicated to talking about the carbon tax, even though the government eliminated the consumer portion. The motion also deals with groceries, so I would like to ask my colleague about two things. The government introd…
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Mr. Speaker, a few decades ago, we had 13 grocery chains and now we are down to three. That number goes up to five if we include Walmart and Costco. In other words, we are dealing with an oligopoly. In the last Parliament, the government enhanced the powers of the Competition Bureau, not necessarily to bring more players into the sector, but to prevent future mergers or acquisitions. The Governor …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank and congratulate my colleague and friend for his speech. He is truly an expert on matters of international trade. He has depth and a strong, confident philosophy. A few hours ago, the Liberals and a majority of the Conservatives voted against a Bloc Québécois bill on the prior review of treaties by Parliament. He touched on this in his speech, but I would like to ask him the f…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague and friend on his very interesting speech. He always shares such insightful thoughts with us in the House. We are in favour in principle of having an agreement with Indonesia. We must continue to diversify markets, but, as he said, the United States is still our main partner, so we will have to continue to negotiate and trade with it. I want to ask my colle…
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to reiterate how sensitive my party and I are to violence against women and their children. We must work tirelessly to ensure that all women and children can thrive in a safe environment at all times. A woman was killed in the north of my riding recently and I am quite shaken up by it. This has to stop. The bill under consideration seeks to remove parental alienat…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her very interesting speech. She spoke at length about the importance of working with first nations. She also acknowledged that we are on unceded territory. The Assembly of First Nations is calling on the government to withdraw from its memorandum of understanding with Alberta to build a pipeline. However, the government has said that it will consult with firs…
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