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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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague and friend, the member for Shefford, for her question. SMEs and merchants in Shefford, and in the rest of Quebec and Canada, are struggling with these excessive fees made possible by the credit card duopoly. These companies are using their power to rake in more money that does not end up back in merchants' or consumers' pockets. The government's ro…
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Madam Speaker, the subject of the report in question is obviously interchange fees. What we are saying is that, in order to lower grocery prices, the government could take action by regulating the fees the companies are charging merchants. The gist of my speech is that the government is not taking action. The question that was just asked, which has nothing to do with the subject being debated, ref…
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to say that the question of privilege just raised appears to be very worrisome. I am sure that once the Speaker has heard the views of each party, he will make a very enlightened decision. Today we are debating the 20th report of the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology. It deals with interchange fees, the fees that credit card companies charge busi…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my seatmate for his speech. He talked a lot about the cost of living and housing. I want to refer to two articles from The Economist that were published in mid-October. This magazine is very critical of the current government when it comes to housing. It indicated that the cost of housing has risen by 66% since 2015 and that Canada's per capita housing rate is v…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to know what my colleague thinks about the foundation format itself. We are talking here about a foundation that seems to have engaged in wrongdoing. We are asking the government for documents and the government is refusing to comply, which is why the question of privilege was raised. When the Liberal government created 15 or so foundations in the late 1990s, the then a…
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Madam Speaker, all the foundations, like the one in question, were created in the late 1990s. They were the brainchild of Marcel Massé, who was president of the Treasury Board under Jean Chrétien. The government chose to impose austerity on the provinces, cutting transfers by 40% over three years. Ottawa was left with large surpluses. It looked bad on the balance sheets, so they chose to put those…
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Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague for his speech in the House and all the work he does on the Standing Committee on Finance. We are talking about the prebudget consultation report tabled in February of this year, after which the government tabled its budget. Does my colleague feel that the budget the government tabled in the spring was well rooted in the consultations we held and the repo…
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Madam Speaker, I have had the pleasure of working with my colleague for many months on the Standing Committee on Finance. At the beginning of his speech, my colleague criticized the fact that the government is a big spender. In my opinion, what it spends the most on is support for the fossil fuel industry, including oil and gas and the oil sands. We can talk about the Trans Mountain pipeline, whic…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to go back to the question asked by my friend, the member for Lac-Saint-Jean. As the parliamentary secretary said, we will be discussing Bill C‑319 shortly. However, what is in Bill C‑319 is also in the report we are discussing. A majority of the committee, including the Liberals, supported this measure. For Bill C‑319, we need a royal recommendation from the government…
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Madam Speaker, I was surprised to learn this afternoon that we were going to discuss the Standing Committee on Finance's report on the pre-budget consultations from February. Although the report was tabled in February, most of the work was done the previous fall. We worked very long hours in committee, where we heard from many witnesses so that we could take all aspects and needs of Quebec's econo…
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Madam Speaker, when the Prime Minister makes a promise, that only matters to people who want to believe it. If he is not there anymore or changes his mind, then it is worthless. However, if there is legislation in place and a government wants to go against it, it will have to introduce a bill to reverse it and then defend its decision to the farmers. I say good luck, Charlie Brown.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague and friend from Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, who does an extraordinary job for the people of his riding. I also thank him for all the work he does in the House. He raised a number of very important points. First of all, he reminded us that a very high proportion of the people in his largely rural riding are over 65. This concerns us once again…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for asking his question in French. His effort is much appreciated. Quebec adopted a family policy in the late 1990s. While the Liberal government was cutting all social transfers to the provinces in order to balance its budget, we decided to roll up our sleeves and forge ahead. Although it is far from perfect, we adopted a pharmacare plan to suppor…
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Madam Speaker, first of all, I think my leader was clear, and that mirrored what I said here. Second, October 29 is the date that was chosen based on the fact that we will be discussing Bill C-319 later today and proceeding to the vote next week. This bill will then be sent to the Senate. We chose this date to ensure that everything would be passed here by then. That is the analysis that took plac…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to start by returning all the compliments I received from my hon. colleague for Courtenay—Alberni. I also consider him an outstanding member who works for people, for those who sometimes run into problems. Social equity is very important to him, as his question showed. My personal fight in the House is a fight against tax havens. How do we make unlawful that which is im…
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The hon. member knows that members have a great deal of latitude when speaking in the House. However, I would remind the hon. parliamentary secretary that he must stick to the subject at hand. The hon. parliamentary secretary.
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Before we continue, I would like to remind hon. members how the House works. Only one person at a time is allowed to speak. In the meantime, other members must listen and wait until they are recognized before speaking. We have time for a 30-second question. The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government.
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The hon. member for Sturgeon River—Parkland is rising on a point of order.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her very informative speech. She clearly has a firm grasp of the file. I also want to acknowledge the Minister of National Defence for listening carefully to the positions of each of the other parties. Unfortunately, the House seldom sees a minister so diligent about his legislation. We appreciate it. We support the bill in principle, although it sho…
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Madam Speaker, after that 15-minute break to discuss Bill S-224, I am going to return to my speech on Bill C-69. I want to focus on the division that creates the federal framework for the open banking system and centralizes powers. As I said before the break, under this bill, banks under federal jurisdiction would have only one set of regulations to follow, whereas an institution under provincial …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend from La Pointe-de-l'Île for his intervention. Yes, it is interference, and yes, it is a concern for provincially regulated financial institutions. Desjardins is subject to Quebec regulations. Representatives of Desjardins appeared before the committee and raised many serious concerns in their testimony. Federal governments of every political stripe al…
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Madam Speaker, I served with the current Conservative leader on the Standing Committee on Finance. He knows perfectly well how it works. When he says that the forthcoming bill cannot be amended or modified, that amendments cannot be brought forward, he is lying shamelessly. He is lying through his teeth.
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Madam Speaker, that is a big problem for us with this bill. The bill is 660 pages long and amends or creates 67 laws. Some of it is good, and some is not so good. One example of something good is that it changes the rules so that companies that declare their profits in tax havens are taxed more effectively. That is a step forward. That is good. We applaud that. The $11 billion being given to the g…
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Madam Speaker, Bill C‑69 is a budget implementation omnibus bill that creates or amends 67 different acts. The government promised never to use this type of thing, but for the past several years, it has continued to do so. Bill C‑69 enacts, among other things, the consumer-driven banking act, which establishes that it is the federal government alone that regulates this sector and that the Financia…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my friend, the member for Shefford, for her comments. First, the capital gains tax comes into effect on June 25, but the bill does not yet exist. We are told that there will be a draft bill at the end of July and that it will not be introduced, debated and studied in the House until this fall. We certainly intend to make amendments to improve it. We will make sure that milli…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague. I am also pleased and privileged to work with him at the Standing Committee on Finance. We sit next to each other and I think we are learning to work well together, which is a great privilege. I raised this question, this thought earlier today in committee. The irony is that it was the Conservatives who increased the capital gains inclusion rate to 75%. It is t…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the interpreter is saying that there was some feedback. There is a problem. They are no longer able to interpret.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, in 2019, Mary Foster from Solidarity Across Borders said, “We have enough experience to know that making a complaint to the CBSA about the CBSA doesn't really lead anywhere.” Having the ability to challenge the findings of the CBSA's investigations is essential to maintaining Canadians' trust. That is my first point for my hon. colleague. Also, I want to know whether he is concerned t…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his very powerful speech. The Bloc Québécois was in favour of the principle of the motion, but we had concerns about its wording. However, with the amendment that the Conservative Party proposed a few moments ago, it would be entirely appropriate for us to lend our support. I am confident that the House will be able to adopt this important motion. We ne…
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Madam Speaker, the Auditor General's findings are devastating and call for a comprehensive review. This story cannot be allowed to end with the end of SDTC's operations. It is imperative that all documents are preserved to help determine what really happened. Does my hon. colleague agree?
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Mr. Speaker, as we know, the CBSA has serious governance problems. The ArriveCAN file exposed that, as did the lack of oversight at the port of Montreal, which is a nexus for car theft. Many whistle-blowers have identified systemic internal problems. The Bloc Québécois believes that the CBSA should be placed under third party management while the governance problems are sorted out. What does my ho…
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-59 includes more than $12 billion for carbon capture by western oil companies. It also includes $18 billion to help oil companies buy nuclear power plants, known as small modular reactors, to replace the natural gas used to heat the oil sands with polluted water, so that they can save the gas and export it instead, particularly through the Coastal GasLink pipeline. Bill C‑59 gi…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his very interesting speech. I especially liked the part about the tidal energy industry in the Bay of Fundy, which has the highest tides in the world. As for the bill before us, we supported Bill C‑49 at second reading because we expected a collegial approach, and we thought we would be able to discuss it and improve it in committee. However, the government rej…
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Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her very interesting speech. She raised some important issues. I sit with other colleagues on the Standing Committee on Finance. Introducing mammoth bills, budget implementation bills that affect a whole bunch of different acts, seems to be the government's way of doing things at the moment. It is positioning itself above the provinces, above other jurisd…
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Mr. Speaker, in Bill C‑59, the government is creating a new department, the department of housing, infrastructure and communities. None of those areas fall under federal jurisdiction. This means the minister can interfere more, impose conditions on the provinces and municipalities, and cause more bickering and delays. Pierre Elliott Trudeau already tried this in 1971. He created a similar departme…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her very interesting speech. This bill makes it clear that it does not end oil and gas exploration in Atlantic waters. However, fishers are being asked to do more and more to protect the right whale. My colleague had started to list some potential solutions that could be put in place. I invite her to continue with that list, for the benefit of all our collea…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I had the pleasure of working with him at the Standing Committee on Finance a while ago. My question is on the process during the study of a bill. The Bloc Québécois voted in good faith in favour of the bill at second reading stage. We hoped to be able to study this bill in committee to improve it so that it would meet our needs. We proposed seve…
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Madam Speaker, Bill C‑49 has passed the committee stage. We now see that the government has chosen not to implement a real environmental assessment process for future energy projects. These offshore projects ought to undergo robust, effective, transparent environmental impact assessments to ensure that they are part of proper marine spatial planning to identify and prevent adverse cumulative effec…
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The hon. member for Timmins—James Bay.
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Before recognizing the hon. member for Thérèse-De Blainville, I would like to remind the member that he is not to refer to members of the House by their first or last name, but only by their position or the riding they represent. The hon. member for Thérèse-De Blainville.
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Unfortunately, I have to interrupt the hon. member for Thérèse-De Blainville. She has more than exceeded her time. Resuming debate. The hon. member for Timmins—James Bay.
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Madam Speaker, with its latest budget, the federal government has launched an unprecedented attack against Quebec and the provinces' powers. We saw it coming with the striptease leading up to the budget, when the Prime Minister, worthy successor of his dear old dad, proclaimed that Canadians did not care about jurisdictional matters. Although the federal government has always tried to centralize p…
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Mr. Speaker, this is the centralizing, Ottawa-knows-best attitude of telling the provinces what to do and how to act. First, Ottawa cuts health transfers and underfunds health care. Then it tells the provinces that they are mismanaging their affairs because health care is underfunded due to the fiscal imbalance, so it creates its own parallel programs. When Quebec's health transfers were cut, the …
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Mr. Speaker, I refer the parliamentary secretary to Confederation in 1867. The historical compromise was to have assemblies that were equally sovereign in their respective areas of jurisdiction. However, listening to the parliamentary secretary's speech, what we see is nothing but interference. All he is doing is justifying the interference, and he is breaking this agreement of a federation made u…
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Mr. Speaker, what we want is for the government to take responsibility. We want it to spend every dollar it takes from taxpayers effectively. That is why we are telling it that, instead of interfering in the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces—which is the focus of today's motion—it should use its public servants, existing resources, and the taxes it collects to do its own job properly. Take…
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Mr. Speaker, I was not aware of this proposed amendment, so I am not in a position to fully criticize or justify the proposed amendment that was just raised. I would say that, in general, these elements are included in the spirit of our motion. As far as the dental care and pharmacare programs are concerned, the Bloc Québécois's position is that jurisdictions must be respected. Why did Ottawa not …
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, it was not about the substance of what was said, but it was really about the heckling. I am sitting next to the member for Mirabel, and I could not hear him respond. My question is this. In the last budget, the government told Quebec that it has until January 1 to sign an agreement or it will negotiate with the cities on housing. That is illegal in Quebec. The Conservati…
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Pursuant to an order made Wednesday, February 28, the minister's request to extend the said sitting is deemed adopted.
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