Government Orders
Accordingly, pursuant to Standing Order 85, the amendment cannot be moved at this time.
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I thank the member for that clarification. The hon. member for Sarnia—Lambton.
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The member for Lethbridge is rising on a point of order.
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Resuming debate. Before giving the floor to the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs, I must note that he will have about five minutes to speak right now. He may continue his speech after oral question period.
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Order. It is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 38 to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, Natural Resources; the hon. member for Yellowhead, The Economy; the hon. member for King—Vaughan, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
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The hon. member for Courtenay—Alberni on a point of order.
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Of course, we ask that all members of the House maintain decorum. I would ask the hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan to continue his speech.
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I thank the hon. member, but his point of order is more a matter of debate. That said, all members of the House are obviously asked to keep the tone of debate very respectful. The hon. member for Miramichi—Grand Lake.
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I apologize to the hon. member for interrupting him, but the hon. member for Battle River—Crowfoot is rising on a point of order.
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I understood the intervention by the hon. member for Battle River—Crowfoot. Would the hon. member for Courtenay—Alberni like to speak to this point of order?
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The hon. member for Courtenay—Alberni having apologized to the House, I consider the matter closed. I invite the hon. member for Miramichi—Grand Lake to finish his answer.
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Order. We have a point of order.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his excellent, dynamic speech. My question has to do with the underused housing tax. Constitutional expert Patrick Taillon told the Standing Committee on Finance that it was probably unconstitutional and would be nullified by the courts. One of the concerns Mr. Taillon raised was that, in the meantime, Ottawa would have put a whole system in place to c…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by congratulating my colleague from the Standing Committee on Finance for his speech. There is one thing about Bill C-8 that the Bloc Québécois members find particularly bothersome, and that is the 1% tax on underused housing owned by non-resident non-Canadians. We could discuss the policy to determine whether it is a good measure in the context of the current housing …
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Mr. Speaker, these days, we seem to be jumping from one crisis to the next. The Emergencies Act was applied recently in response to the siege in Ottawa. Now there is a barbaric war going on, in which crimes against humanity are being perpetrated. This is unconscionable in 2022. All of this is going on against the backdrop of an environmental crisis. Yesterday, the Governor of the Bank of Canada ap…
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Mr. Speaker, we are at report stage for Bill C-8, the economic and fiscal update implementation act of 2021, which contains a number of measures. The Bloc Québécois agrees with the thrust of the bill. However, from the beginning, we have been pointing out a major problem, and that is the fact that the federal government is sticking its finger in the property tax pie. This is the first time that ha…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague from Sarnia—Lambton for her question. Bill C-8 provides funding for COVID-19 tests. Ottawa is going to pay for COVID-19 tests and send them to the provinces. We want transparency and the ability to follow up. We naturally agree with this necessary expenditure. However, it reminds us that Ottawa is not contributing its share to health care. In the 1990s, t…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my brilliant and esteemed colleague from Mirabel for his speech. The housing shortage is affecting everyone throughout Quebec and Canada. It is a major problem. A whole series of measures is required to remedy it. Yes, a 1% property tax for non-resident owners of underused housing is more than marginal. It is symbolic, and this level of government has no business collecting it…
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The hon. member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo has one minute remaining.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his speech and his bill. In his speech, he talked about the provinces' involvement in developing all this. What provisions are there to force the government to heed the report? What can be done to ensure the government does not just shelve the report?
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Madam Speaker, I have a question for the parliamentary secretary. Why does his government refuse to impose immediate, concrete sanctions on the Russian oligarchs who have interests, who have direct or indirect stakes in the development, production and transportation of Canadian oil? Is it for lack of courage?
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Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague for his very good and very heartfelt speech. In his opinion, why is the government refusing to sanction Russian oligarchs who have direct or indirect interests in western Canada's oil sands?
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. He said, among other things, that there are safeguards built into the act, and they include consultation with the provinces. Seven out of 10 provinces said that they did not want the act to be invoked. The Quebec National Assembly unanimously adopted a motion. The Government of Quebec said that it did not want the act to be invoked. However, the …
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Madam Speaker, from day one the Bloc Québécois has been calling on the government to act, to roll up its sleeves and to prevent the situation from deteriorating. The government allowed the situation to deteriorate and now, instead of moving in a measured way and using existing laws, it is using the nuclear option, the Emergencies Act, which is unnecessary. Did the parliamentary secretary listen to…
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As I was saying, as far as child welfare is concerned, the file is already open. In what way are Canada's laws inadequate for coping with this situation? Why does the government consider the Emergencies Act to be necessary? We do not know—no one knows—because the government is not saying. The order provides for the possibility of having financial institutions freeze the accounts of those who parti…
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Madam Speaker, clearly people watching the situation deteriorate in Parliament want it to stop. They want it dealt with. If a polling firm asks questions about the Emergencies Act, most people are not going to take the time to dissect the act and understand why it was invoked and what has to be proven. Here, we study it, we analyze it, and we say the government needs to prove there is a legislativ…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague for his speech. This is indeed very concerning. We must not let foreign powers influence domestic policy, that is for sure. That is why, in my speech, I referred to the five reasons given by the government to justify its decision to use the Emergencies Act. I also pointed out that these reasons were justifiable and worthy of debate. However, in order to…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague for her question and comments. I want to be clear. We are criticizing the possible associations between questionable political positions, the unwarranted occupations and the use of the Emergencies Act, which we do not think is justifiable. I completely agree with what the member said about denouncing hate speech and unacceptable comments and continuing …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to begin by commending the work of the various police forces. So far, the clearing of the protest has been carried out in a calm and orderly manner, under the circumstances. I hope to see that continue. I would also like to thank the House of Commons staff and security service, whose outstanding efforts have made it possible for us to sit today under these exceptional c…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I completely agree with him. Everyone is saying that something needs to be done. This situation is a problem, but nothing justifies the nuclear option. The government was obliged to prove that there was no other option before it invoked the act. The government did not even try to prove this in the official documents it sent us, nor did it review …
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Madam Speaker, my colleague said that we need the Emergencies Act to secure the joint participation of police forces. That is completely false. That sort of thing is commonly done under ordinary laws. The same is true for criminal financial activity, which can be dealt with under existing laws. In fact, when we look at everything that is invoked in the orders, there is not a single measure that is…
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Mr. Speaker, the truth is that the government had the power to freeze the bank accounts of those participating in an illegal protest from day one. There was no need to invoke the Emergencies Act. It could already do this under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. The federal government has had the power to freeze funds belonging to those who have been occupying Ott…
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Mr. Speaker, the government has given itself the extraordinary power to freeze the bank accounts of individuals and businesses whose trucks are blocking downtown Ottawa. That is part of the Emergencies Act, which has been in effect since February 14. Today is February 17. My question is simple. How many bank accounts of the occupiers in Ottawa have been frozen in the last three days?
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague and friend, the member for Shefford. Bill C-2 came back to the House after being examined and even improved in committee. I want to explain to the House why the Bloc Québécois supported the principle of the bill and voted in favour of it. As the omicron variant has unfortunately reminded us, we are still in the midst of a pandemic and many s…
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Mr. Speaker, we are in the middle of a serious housing crisis. A few years ago, it was mostly limited to Vancouver and Toronto. Today, prices are through the roof in Montreal and throughout Quebec. House prices in Joliette are higher than they have ever been. It is a serious problem. In my opinion, the solution definitely lies in increasing the housing supply. In terms of redistributing of wealth …
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Mr. Speaker, I totally agree with my colleague from Winnipeg North. We need to pass this bill before we break for the holidays. It is very important for supporting Quebec's and Canada's economy. However, I would like to remind my colleague and the House that the Liberal government has once again resorted to its usual tactics. It tabled this important and urgent bill late and is now pressuring us m…
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Mr. Speaker, the economic update will not go down in history, but it speaks volumes about federal priorities. The crux of this document is a promise to pick a fight with Quebec and the provinces over health care. Five days after all the premiers called for a meeting to negotiate an increase in health care funding, Ottawa told them they will not get another dime until 2027. Why is the government tr…
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Mr. Speaker, I agree that when a problem affects people with significant economic power, it gets solved quickly. They have the government's ear, so the problem is soon corrected. However, when it comes to poor people, people who do not speak loudly and are living their own lives as best they can, problems take longer to solve. These people are not heard as much because they speak less loudly and a…
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Madam Speaker, I will start with the end of my colleague's remarks. Interprovincial barriers are subject to negotiations among the provinces and fall under their jurisdiction. The Bloc Québécois wants to respect their areas of jurisdiction, but Ottawa is always insinuating itself into areas under provincial jurisdiction or, as in today's economic update, areas under municipal jurisdiction. We woul…
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Mr. Speaker, at the risk of repeating myself, there was an election at the end of the summer. There was certainly no need for that election. We wondered why the election was called, what purpose it served, what were the priorities, what should be asked and what should be changed. Today, we are right back where we started: The Liberals have a minority government. Again, the people did not have enou…
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Madam Speaker, I completely agree with my colleague from Kitchener Centre. This update offers absolutely nothing for the environment. Last spring's budget did include some measures, and we even expected to move on from the pandemic and into the recovery by greening our economy to achieve net-zero emissions, which would mean a major environmental shift. The Bloc Québécois has all kinds of ideas for…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Elmwood—Transcona, with whom I have the pleasure of working on the Standing Committee on Finance. I have seen how hard-working and brilliant this member is, as we have sat intensively over the past week. He is motivated to serve the public, he does it for the right reasons and he is very talented. I salute him. My colleague raises some good points. A soluti…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question and her comments. She is clearly committed to the people the Bloc Québécois defends, and seniors in particular. I was very touched by what my colleague, the member for Shefford, said. I would say to her that the government is doing things piecemeal. It gave a little, hoping to do the bare minimum and still save face. With respect to the working-…
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Madam Chair, I thank the minister for her answers. Once again, we in the Bloc Québécois expect a formal commitment from the government to be prepared to step in and amend by regulation the parameters of the upcoming bills passed to support the sectors most affected. As a society we cannot afford to turn our backs on them. The purpose of assistance programs is to collectively support these strategi…
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Madam Chair, my next question could be handled by the Associate Minister of Finance. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the House has passed a number of bills to provide income support to workers, including the self-employed, and to businesses affected by the pandemic. The House is currently considering legislation that would extend the Canada emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency rent…
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Madam Chair, I thank the minister for his response. We obviously expect the government to take quick action to rectify the inequity associated with CERB and the GIS. This is essentially a humanitarian issue. Some seniors in my riding say they are no longer able to pay for medication, even though Quebec has pharmacare. They are therefore choosing to go to the hospital, since that is the only place …
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Madam Chair, I thank the minister for his answer. I would like to point out that the Bloc Québécois is calling on the government to make a public and formal commitment to support self-employed workers in the cultural sector and to not leave them behind. A few years ago, we asked the government to distinguish between employed and self-employed workers. In Quebec, this is what we see in most cases. …
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Madam Chair, I want to inform the government members that my questions will be primarily for the President of the Treasury Board and the Deputy Minister of Finance, who is also the Minister of Tourism. I also want to say that I do not need the timing of questions and answers to be precise but that I hope that the government will try to respond within a reasonable amount of time. My first question …
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Madam Speaker, today the world is marking the International Day of Disabled Persons. The theme for this day is always equity, accessibility and inclusion. On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I want to commend the many contributions of persons with disabilities to Quebec society, despite the very real obstacles in their way. The World Health Organization estimates that more than one billion people in …
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Madam Speaker, my regards to my colleague, and congratulations on his election, his commitments and his speech. I have two quick questions for him. First, in his opinion, should the government have convened the House shortly after the election rather than waiting two months? That would have given us time to take a closer look at bills like this one and do a more effective job. Second, as he pointe…
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