Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, does my colleague agree that the government has really taken too long to introduce this bill or its previous version, Bill C‑66? Members will recall that, when the scandal broke, the Liberal government decided to appoint Justice Louise Arbour to make the military justice system independent of the chain of command. That was six years after the Deschamps report, which made the very same…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to sincerely congratulate the hon. parliamentary secretary on his speech, much of which was delivered in French. I think that is a first for him in the House, so I applaud and congratulate him. I have the pleasure of serving with him on the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology, where we are doing very constructive work, at least from my perspective, so far. I rea…
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Mr. Speaker, following the reasoning presented by the hon. parliamentary secretary, which the government also argued in court, today in Le Devoir, journalist Marie Vastel said: However convoluted it may be, this reasoning would lead to a federal rewriting of the constitutional compromise that would usurp parliamentary sovereignty and give judges the final say. According to this logic, it would be …
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Mr. Speaker, I think there was a misunderstanding. What he meant was that his comments were not based on a written speech, but rather on what he had just heard. Therefore, he did not use papers as—
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear my colleague's thoughts on what André Binette, a constitutional lawyer, has written. He points out that the notwithstanding clause first appeared in Canadian law in the Canadian Bill of Rights, a federal statute passed by John Diefenbaker's government in 1960. Yes, he was a defender of individual freedoms but, coming from western Canada, he was also a fervent admi…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by congratulating my hon. colleague on his excellent speech. I would like to quote a few lines from constitutional lawyer, André Binette. Defending the Canadian Constitution means defending the notwithstanding clause, and everyone must accept that. It is impossible to remove it because it is the central component of the 1982 political compromise from which Quebec was e…
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Mr. Speaker, I sincerely want to congratulate my friend and colleague on his passionate speech. I would like him to tell us, what exactly are notwithstanding clauses, also known as parliamentary sovereignty clauses? We know that the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding or parliamentary sovereignty clause in Bill 21. At the Supreme Court, there was the Ford decis…
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Madam Speaker, former U.S. president Barack Obama said we are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it. Does my hon. colleague agree with this statement? If so, what measures does she suggest we take, aside from eliminating the cap on greenhouse gas emissions?
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Mr. Speaker, could my colleague come up with an amendment to make that proposal acceptable and in line with the court's decision? Under the current legislation, if diplomats have a child abroad and that child also has a child abroad while working as a diplomat, the grandchild will lose their Canadian citizenship. The court is telling us to fix this. The government is proposing something. In my opi…
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Mr. Speaker, it is no secret that this bill is a revival of a previous bill and a response to a ruling from the Ontario Superior Court dating from late 2023, which gave the government six months to comply. My question is as follows: Has the six-month deadline passed?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to housing programs and initiatives and federal housing transfers to Quebec and the provinces: (a) what is the breakdown of the amounts and data, for the provinces and Quebec, for the projects under the various programs managed or financed by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada since October 1, 2023; (b) what is the updated est…
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Mr. Speaker, as I read Bill C-3, its purpose is to resolve this issue. It is not a question of being deserving or not. If the parents and grandparents were temporarily abroad at birth, it should—
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Mr. Speaker, the fact is that we, as legislators, are the only elected officials in the entire system, which goes from judges and the Senate to ministers and the Prime Minister. We legislators are elected. In that sense, we are all the government's boss. If the government introduces a bill that elicits concern or opposition from elected members, those members are duty-bound to raise those concerns…
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Mr. Speaker, the hypothetical case that was just raised illustrates exactly what Bill C-3 aims to regulate. A court has ruled on a similar case. A couple working in the public service had a child in Switzerland. They said that if their child were then to have a child abroad while working in an embassy or elsewhere, that child would not have Canadian citizenship. Bill C-3 seeks to address that. Cit…
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Mr. Speaker, as members know, Bill C-3 responds to a court ruling. I will provide a bit of background. In 2009, the Harper government amended the Citizenship Act to prohibit passing on citizenship beyond the second generation. On December 19, 2023, the Superior Court of Ontario struck down certain provisions of the Citizenship Act, ruling that they violated the section on mobility rights, which st…
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Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to congratulate my colleague and friend who will also soon be celebrating 10 years in the House. We were elected at the same time on October 19, 2015, although he served as a member of the Quebec National Assembly before that, and I did not. I also want to thank him for his kind words about the history I gave on this bill. I try to learn as much as I can about the h…
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Mr. Speaker, I will pick up where my colleague left off. This bill is a direct response to an Ontario Superior Court ruling in a case similar to the example she gave. It involves the child of a Canadian diplomat born abroad, in Switzerland. If the diplomat's child also has a child abroad, that child will lose their citizenship. This bill has nothing to do with security and criminals. We do need la…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, the government is handing out election goodies by eliminating the GST for two months. This measure will benefit the wealthy when they go out to eat or buy alcohol. When the government presented this measure, we saw that it was a pre-election move that would benefit the wealthy and that it was not the right approach to take. That is the new measure set out in the economic statement. …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his kind words, but I must correct the record. The mandate that my Bloc Québécois colleagues and I have was not given to us by the Conservative Party or by Conservative voters. We were all elected in our ridings to come here and be the voice of Quebec. Every time we stand up, we are thinking about the people in our ridings and in Quebec, whom we hold in our …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, nothing has changed. The former minister came up with an $83-billion plan that essentially targeted the oil and gas industry. The striptease continues, and the statement comes up short on new details. For example, the government is now explaining how it plans to support hydrogen production from methane. It says that this is good for the environment. In truth, it is really about supp…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I rise on the same point of order. I just spent the past few hours in camera analyzing the budget documents and preparing to speak in the House because there was an agreement allowing me to present my party's position. I analyzed the document with colleagues and with my entire team. We prepared our position to present in the House. At the very least, each party should be allowed to pr…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, today in the House, the government tabled the 2024 fall economic statement. Whose economic statement is it, exactly? Did the former finance minister, who announced her resignation this morning, draft it? I am not sure, because she chose to resign rather than endorse it. Is it the economic statement of the new finance minister, who was probably just sworn in moments ago and was the M…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, in his speech, the parliamentary secretary once again boasted about the merits of the GST holiday that the government adopted with a super closure motion and that we did not even get to study and analyze in committee. In our opinion, the GST holiday does more to help higher-income households. Suspending the GST on diapers and children's clothing is obviously a good measure. However, c…
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Mr. Speaker, if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent to see the clock at 2:30 p.m.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I will be very brief. We have just learned that the Minister of Labour and Seniors is invoking section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to force striking Canada Post workers to return to work. Does the hon. member believe that this government respects the rights of workers and union members?
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I would like to correct the record. In his speech, my colleague said that the Bloc Québécois is against farmers because we oppose Bill C‑234. Let us review the facts. The bill was studied in the Senate, which proposed an amendment. To speed up the process, we are prepared to accept the amendment and vote on the bill as is. That was what our agriculture critic said last January. Howe…
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Mr. Speaker, what a day it has been in the House. I have never seen anything like it. I believe if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to see the clock as 3:00 p.m.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
The hon. deputy leader of the official opposition can continue his intervention and try to come back to the question of privilege being discussed here. Obviously a bit of latitude is always given by the Chair.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I would like to come back to two specific points in my colleague's speech. She talked about the $250 cheque that would go out to those making up to $150,000 in net income, as she said. In Quebec, that is roughly equivalent to $270,000 a year. The government is going to go further into debt to send cheques to these people, and yet it is excluding people with no employment income, who…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, the GST holiday does not cover any of the major core expenses for low-income households who could have used some help this Christmas. At least there is a silver lining for lovers of fine wines. If anyone is buying a bottle of the legendary 1945 Romanée-Conti, which sells for over $700,000, the Liberals and NDP will take off $35,000. That is a lot of money. In fact, it is the median …
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The hon. member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie is rising on a point of order.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, the temporary GST pause helps everyone except the people who need help the most. Low-income households will not save a penny on food, because food is not taxable. They will not save a penny on their hydro bill, because hydro is not covered. They will not save a penny on their rent, phone bill or Internet. The measure does not cover any of their major core expenses. The Liberals and …
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I thank the hon. member. I want to remind all members rising to intervene on this question of privilege to try to go straight to the point, in other words to the points that were raised in this question. The deputy House leader of the official opposition.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the GST Christmas holiday is a $1.6‑billion gift to people who do not need it. It is a reward for spending money. It will not make much of a difference to low-income seniors, minimum-wage workers or families that receive Christmas hampers, but it will certainly benefit people who have reservations at fancy restaurants or who buy their New Year's Eve champagne by the case. How can the …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, that is not a good example since food is not taxed. The GST holiday also burdens our small businesses. It is nothing for Walmart, Best Buy and so on to pay to adapt their systems to remove the GST. Our small businesses do not have the means to lose thousands of dollars adapting their systems or dealing with the logistical nightmare of figuring out which product is still taxable or not…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague and friend, the member for Shefford. Eliminating the goods and services tax, or GST, on diapers and children's clothing is great and should be made permanent. However, we have serious reservations when the government says it is going to eliminate the GST on champagne and fancy restaurants, where only the rich can afford to go. In fact, the…
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Madam Speaker, we cannot even study the bill in committee. We cannot even amend it. We cannot do anything. For example, seniors have been calling my office to talk about the fact that children's diapers will be tax-free, so why not seniors' diapers as well? This is no joke for these individuals. What they are asking for is not even in the measure, but a $100 bottle of champagne is. Now that is usi…
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Madam Speaker, if we include the cheque for $250, the gift from the government to buy people's votes, then this initiative is going to cost more than $6.5 billion. We have been asking the government to address the inequity among seniors with the old age security pension, but the government said that doing so would cost too much. It would cost $3 billion, or half of the amount we are talking about …
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Madam Speaker, first of all, the GST holiday for essentials is great. We have no problem with that. However, why design the measure to include $100 bottles of champagne and $500 restaurant bills? That is short-sighted, and it makes no sense. As for dental care, Quebec was already administering a public program. Now, the government is handing it over to the private sector, to Sun Life, for a total …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I have a question for my colleague. For me, what is happening in the House right now is unprecedented. The House has been seized with this question of privilege for over a month and a half, and things are at a standstill. We know what the government needs to do to resolve this impasse. It can produce the documents, which the majority of elected members are asking it to do, or it can…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I have never seen anything like this. Parliament has been dealing solely with the question of privilege for the past month and a half, as my colleague pointed out in his speech. I was under the impression that the Conservatives wanted to trap the government by making Parliament dysfunctional. However, the fact that this has been dragging on for so long seems to suit the government. Th…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, November 15 is National Philanthropy Day. It is a day for us to celebrate the agents of change who make an important contribution to our communities. Their engagement makes the world a better place in so many ways. Over and over again, I am impressed by the positive impact that community organizations can have in our communities when given the means to get involved. I am thinking of…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
After consulting with the table officers, I would ask each member to be measured and disciplined in the use of their words. If need be, we can come back and intervene, but for the time being, debates must be respectful. I invite the hon. parliamentary secretary to continue his speech.
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The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes on a point of order.
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I am sorry to have to interrupt the hon. member. The hon. parliamentary secretary.
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We will check. And the count having been taken: We have quorum. The hon. parliamentary secretary.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
I thank the parliamentary secretary. His intervention seems to be more a matter of debate. I invite all members, when rising on a point of order, to specify which standing order they are referring to. The hon. parliamentary secretary has 14 minutes to continue his speech.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
The parliamentary secretary's point was understood. It is more a matter of debate. I therefore invite the hon. parliamentary secretary to continue his speech. He has 14 minutes left.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, we can see how it has evolved over time. If we asked the credit card companies that question, they will say all sorts of things. They will say that everything is serious and that nothing must change. However, when we consider how the situation has evolved over time and compare ourselves to other countries, as the member pointed out, there is no rationale for this. The rationale, as …
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