Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I would like to express the Bloc Québécois's concern about what was just said here. There is a rule that members are not allowed to use telephones in the House. However, we were just told that because this is a virtual proceeding, members can use a phone. I would ask the Chair to share its opinion with the House on this matter, because the other parties have just changed the rules in …
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Mr. Speaker, I first want to say that I agree with my colleague from Carleton that trickle-down economics does not work. I am seeking the unanimous consent of the House to share my speaking time with my newly elected colleague from Terrebonne.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my NDP colleague for his question and comments. I would like to correct one main fact. The Bloc leader did not say that he would support Bill C‑2. We are debating it. We actually have some serious concerns, in particular with respect to self-employed workers in the cultural sector. When we read the bill, we do not see anything about that. The government is telling us that ther…
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Mr. Speaker, as I said, we are not yet free from the economic consequences of the pandemic. We need to work together to help those sectors still struggling get through the crisis. We will need these women, men and businesses when the pandemic ends. The bill includes targeted measures and provides for predictability. That is good. However, it disregards the whole issue of self-employed workers, inc…
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Mr. Speaker, the labour shortage is a serious matter. The government has to do something about it and come up with solutions. In the long term, there will obviously be the issue of business productivity. There needs to be a major cleanup at the department of immigration and that is something the government has to tackle. There is also the issue of seniors. Can we put tax measures in place to give …
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Madam Speaker, I would first like to commend and congratulate my colleague from Repentigny on her superb speech, which was passionate and full of conviction. I take my hat off to her. Some people want to defend the industry by saying that it has some positive spinoffs. What does my colleague have to say to them?
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Madam Speaker, I want to begin by saying that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Berthier—Maskinongé, whom I affectionately refer to as my favourite MP. On June 9, the House adopted Motion No. 69, which was moved by my colleague from Montarville. The motion presents six concrete measures to help the government take more effective action against tax evasion and tax avoidance. This e…
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Mr. Speaker, I sincerely thank my colleague from Hamilton Centre for his question and his comment. I completely agree with him: this is unacceptable. Things have to change, and that means taking concrete action. Here is an example. Previously, a former KPMG associate appeared before the parliamentary committee. During his career, this person participated in putting together schemes that enabled mu…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Sarnia—Lambton for her question. I congratulate her on her work in the House and her tireless commitment. She is making a difference and she has my utmost respect. We must indeed pay attention to revenue. We must have tax fairness and tax justice. We need to be very careful with government spending. Every time the government spends a dollar, it must remember …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from New Westminster—Burnaby for his question. I would also like to commend him for his work in the Standing Committee on Finance. He is the one who proposed a motion to have the committee study tax evasion and tax avoidance. I think that we succeeded in making a big difference. We got involved and we took our work seriously. My colleague asked some very good ques…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to acknowledge the member for Davenport, who introduced Bill C‑273. Everyone on the Standing Committee on Finance very much appreciates her contribution. I studied economics for years, and I remember that the great union leader Michel Chartrand published a book about citizen's income with Michel Bernard. I was immediately intrigued by the idea. I was also surprised to l…
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Mr. Speaker, before I begin my speech, I would like to publicly congratulate you. You have fulfilled the duties of your position with brilliance and dignity for 10 years, and you have done a wonderful job of promoting the language of Molière, which is dear to my heart. I therefore want to congratulate you, thank you for everything you have done and wish you all the best in the future. I am very pl…
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Mr. Speaker, this involves Quebec's business community. In Bill C‑30, the Bloc Québécois cut funding to the office responsible for establishing a Canada-wide securities commission. It is a small victory, but a great relief for our economy as we have been fighting for 40 years to prevent the federal government from collapsing Montreal's financial sector for Toronto's benefit. We have not yet won. T…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the parliamentary secretary on his French. Hats off to him. I do not congratulate him on his comments, however, because what he said is not good for Quebec's economy, and everyone agrees on that. Everyone knows that the Liberals are looking at their election timetable and getting as excited as a kid in a candy store. I do not understand why they are reopening the securi…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. During question period, the government misled the House by suggesting that Quebec's finance minister, Mr. Girard, supports the Minister of Finance's harmful plan to centralize securities regulation. That is absolutely false. Quebec's finance minister has never supported this bill that would be devastating for Quebec. No minister, elected representative or g…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend, the member for Shefford. What the political parties in the House did, with the exception of Bloc Québécois, was despicable and inexcusable. In a time of crisis, the government decided to implement a program to support workers and businesses that might not be able to make it through the crisis. That money will have to be paid back through taxes and the …
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Mr. Speaker, my regards to my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, and I thank him for his intervention. I look forward to listening to his speech because his remarks are always very constructive. I completely agree with him, and I will give an example. The Standing Committee on Finance heard testimony from the Conseil national des chômeurs et chômeuses. The organization's spokesperson, Pierr…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question and comments. I would like to note one thing that concerns me in Bill C-30: the reduction of the Canada emergency wage subsidy, including for the hardest-hit sectors like the cultural industry and the tourism sector. The minister has the power to increase the percentage of this subsidy and even extend it to November. With no predictability being o…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my friend, the hon. member for Longueuil—Saint-Hubert. The housing issue is a major cause of concern. Like food and clothing, housing is an essential need. Any self-respecting society must at least be able to ensure that every individual has access to housing. The cost of housing must also be reasonable. These concerns are shared by virtually every count…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question. First, I want to remind him of the Liberal government's cuts to social housing in the 1990s. This caused hardship to ordinary people, and we must not forget that. Second, as my colleague and I both mentioned earlier, elected officials in the municipalities, the provinces and Quebec are more familiar with their communities and are in…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his comments. What FRAPRU is asking the federal government for is more funding. Even with the funds announced in recent years, federal investments in housing have fallen as a percentage of GDP. Then there are the interminable delays. It is terrible that social housing and homelessness initiatives are being subjected to longer and longer delays. P…
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Mr. Speaker, I salute and thank my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie for his tireless advocacy on behalf of ordinary people, particularly on the housing issue. When there is a good social housing system in place, it reduces the pressure to raise the rent across the housing market. That is the system we want, because housing is a necessity. Our society must ensure that there is enough housin…
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Madam Speaker, yesterday marked the end of the public hearings regarding the tragic death of Joyce Echaquan on September 28. We anxiously await the coroner's report. Yesterday, thousands of people gathered in Trois-Rivières to demand justice so that this never happens again. The Atikamekw of Manawan, Wemotaci and Opitciwan, other first nations and white people all gathered to say “never again”. Th…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie for his question. There must be a “before” and an “after”. Things cannot stay the same. Since the report was presented six years ago, we have heard lots of talk but no real action. As my colleague pointed out, the government is still fighting these people in court. That must change. We must move from words to action. The remains of…
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Madam Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for her intervention. The Bloc Québécois has acknowledged the existence of systemic racism from the start of the debate on this issue. As I mentioned in my speech, the Indian Act is a racist act that must be overhauled. The act's title is racist. This must change. As an elected member in Ottawa, I carefully read Joyce's principle. I support the re…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I completely agree with him that there is an urgent need to act, and that we must act now. The discovery of the remains of 215 indigenous children is horrific. The House is discussing this tragedy, and the public is aware of it. We must seize the moment to take concrete action and change how things are done. The indigenous people who were sent …
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Madam Chair, I would appreciate it if you allowed the minister to finish answering my questions about division 8 of part 4 of Bill C-30. This division enacts the new retail payment activities act, which establishes an oversight framework for retail payment activities. Changes in the banking and financial services sector mean that financial technology companies, or fintech, which include GAFA, now …
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Madam Chair, I thank the minister for her answer, and I want to ask another question on the same topic. In relation to the minister's answer, paragraph 101(1)(a) of the proposed new law gives the governor in council regulatory power respecting risk management and incident response frameworks. Are we to understand that the minimum requirements will be set out later in the regulations, as the minist…
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Madam Chair, again, I thank the minister for her answer. Here is my last question for this round. It is on the same subject. As it now stands, the bill suggests that the minimum protection provided to a consumer could vary depending on the provider. What kind of latitude do payment service providers have in that regard? Should that protection not be set out in the legislation rather than in the re…
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Madam Chair, my second round of questions is about asymmetry in client and consumer protection. We know that, in the case of an unauthorized use of electronic funds transfer, such as a credit card, a debit care, a prepaid payment product such as a prepaid card, or even an online or virtual payment, a bank client's maximum liability under subsection 627.33(1) of the Bank Act and section 5 of the Ca…
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Madam Chair, I thank the minister for that answer. As we have heard from both sides, in its current form, the proposed legislation on retail payment activities would provide end-users with less protection than is offered to a bank's customers. This asymmetrical legal protection creates an inequity between a fintech company's customers and a bank's customers, although I understand that that is not …
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Madam Chair, I thank the minister for that answer. Can I get her comments on the broader issue of privacy, consumer consent to access their bank accounts, where required, and consent to initiate an order to pay, as well as the possibility of having the bill cover cryptocurrency? This is my last question.
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Madam Speaker, that is not what we are hearing on the ground. We are hearing a lot of grumbling about the creation of two classes of seniors and the exclusion of seniors aged 65 to 74. From our point of view, this is not being well received on the ground. I would like to start by informing the House that the Bloc Québécois will support the principle of the bill. We will make amendments in committe…
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Madam Speaker, since I have little time left, I will be brief. Several elements of the mammoth bill are appealing, but others are not. We will vote in favour of the bill at this stage, and we will try to make it better.
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Madam Speaker, I have a big problem with division 5 of part 4 on the centralization of securities. This plan to set up the pan-Canadian securities regulation organization in Toronto is bound to result in regulatory activities transitioning out of Quebec. The minister is allocating nearly $120 million to this ill-conceived plan. This is not just a conflict between provincial and federal responsibil…
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Madam Speaker, I salute and thank the parliamentary secretary. We both sit on the finance committee, where we both work very hard. This is a very interesting question. Economists welcomed the income support measures during the pandemic, and they are currently debating the need for a recovery plan. The Bloc Québécois and I are in favour of a recovery plan, as long as it is used properly. It should …
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Madam Speaker, I salute my colleague and thank him for his comments and questions. Obviously, we have reached a record debt level, which is troubling. Every dollar borrowed must serve the economy well. As I said before, there was some consensus on maintaining income for those who lost their jobs during the pandemic. The money used for the recovery must generate more savings than it costs. I remind…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, and I sincerely salute all the work he does in the House for the well-being of ordinary Canadians. Can Canada still afford to allow the wealthiest, multinationals and Bay Street banks to shelter their money to avoid paying income tax? Given the colossal amount the pandemic cost, can we still allow them that privilege? In my opinion, we cannot. Eve…
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Madam Speaker, the admiration is mutual. I appreciate how productively we work together at the Standing Committee on Finance. He raised some super-important issues. As I was saying to a colleague who spoke earlier, this inequity has been around for decades. It is actually getting worse. The gap between rich and poor is widening. My question is, given the economic and social costs of the pandemic, …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague and send him my regards. I congratulate him on the work he is doing for social housing and affordable housing. He is out there on the ground with people and doing an excellent job. I am proud to be part of his team, no doubt about it. If social housing is in such bad shape, it is because Ottawa withdrew from the file in the 1990s, essentially abandoning it. Queb…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by making a few comments. In his speech, the Liberal member said that he was presenting the government's position, which made my heart sink. This is yet another example of how Ottawa is as terrible at combatting tax evasion and tax avoidance as it is on the world stage. We are already at a disadvantage since the government has a bias towards tax havens. I also ha…
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Mr. Speaker, the longshoremen have been without a collective agreement for 850 days, and during all that time, there was no involvement by the government, who has been dragging its feet from the start only to introduce special legislation. In the end, what is the government saying? It is telling the boss that he does not need to negotiate anymore, that he can let things drag on, because the govern…
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Mr. Speaker, I have the answer to that question. To be able to act, to step up to the plate, to be proactive, to settle a dispute during the first few days instead of waiting until the last second to bring in special legislation, it takes guts and it takes a spine, two things the Prime Minister lacks. The Prime Minister let the situation deteriorate and ended up bringing in back-to-work legislatio…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comment. As he says, it is not the unionized workers who are holding the entire economy hostage. Yes, there are some major implications. The economic consequences of a strike at the Port of Montreal are terrible for all sectors of the economy. However, for 850 days, the employer never showed up for negotiations. In particular, my whole point is that the Pr…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères for his question and comment. Those are indeed very tough conditions. How is anyone supposed to balance work life and family life or have any life at all outside of work under those conditions? These demands are perfectly legitimate. Obviously the port has its considerations, and that is what bargaining is for. In order …
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Mr. Speaker, one of the Prime Minister's marquee commitments in this budget is for a universal child care system inspired by Quebec, which became a global pioneer when Pauline Marois and the Parti Québécois created early learning centres in 1997. The Prime Minister is following Quebec's lead, so of course he would not presume to tell Quebec what to do with its share of the money. As they say, stud…
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Mr. Speaker, we want to know whether there are any strings attached to this asymmetrical agreement. Quebec wants it to be unconditional. We want confirmation of that. Will the agreement be unconditional or not?
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Mr. Speaker, there are good measures in the budget, but we are in the midst of a health crisis, and the Liberals must be out of touch with reality to run a $354-billion deficit without permanently increasing health transfers. Quebeckers' priority is health. That is also the Government of Quebec's priority. The only thing it asked the government to do was boost health transfers to cover 35% of heal…
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Mr. Speaker, that is a far cry from the 35% proposed in our amendment. It is not a question of money, because Ottawa has staked everything on its borrowing capacity. Despite the historic deficit, it is creating $100 billion in new spending. It has money for health care. It is clearly a political choice not to invest in addressing the problems that the pandemic has exposed. It is a choice not to in…
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Madam Speaker, I completely agree. Take, for example, the Attikamek community in Manawan, which is located in the northern part of my riding. The housing situation there is absolutely deplorable. We are often talking about five, six, seven or eight and sometimes even up to 10, 12 or 14 people crammed into small, overcrowded bungalows. Often, these homes are old and in a state of disrepair. They al…
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