Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the people speaking out today are the women and men who care for others every day around the clock. They want their voices to be heard. They know what they need, because that is their job. They are not here today to play partisan politics. They are here to be invited to share their experience at a public summit on health care funding. The real experts want to tell us how to care for o…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, at the start of his speech, the member spoke about the Liberal government's goal of maintaining a balanced budget while also adhering to the very worthy plan of safeguarding social programs. However, I wonder why this government is depriving itself of the gargantuan profits made by the big banks in 2021, nearly $60 billion. Why are the Liberals opposed to eliminating tax havens?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives want to cut the deficit and taxes while still taking care of people. It is as though money were falling from the sky. Money does not fall from the sky, but we do know where to find some. Major Canadian banks made fat profits of nearly $60 billion in 2021. Why has his party always opposed abolishing tax havens for major Canadian banks?
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, the bill we are debating today has to do with protecting the freedom of conscience of health care professionals and practitioners when it comes to medical assistance in dying. I think we should base our debate on the approach that Quebec took on this matter back in 2010. Quebec studied this issue from 2010 to 2014. The debates were non-partisan. The process allowed for all points of…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would first like to indicate that I will be sharing my time with the member for Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques. Since the start of this pandemic, I have often asked myself the following question: What should I do? It is the pre-eminent ethical and political question. In this debate, we must consider the ethical principle of responsibility. That is the approach taken by th…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague speaks French very well and his question is fundamental. We are in a pandemic. By definition, a pandemic is global. This is not an epidemic; it is a pandemic. I invited members of Amnesty International to appear before a parliamentary committee. They came to speak to us about this waiver, which Canada should support. It is absolutely clear. Canada has good intentions, but…
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Mr. Speaker, as one of my colleagues stated this morning, the Bloc supported the Conservatives' last motion, which called for a plan. Today, we continue to ask for this plan, but we will not support the motion. In light of the situation around the world and here in Canada, vaccination is not the only indicator used to monitor the pandemic. That is why we will be voting against the motion.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent speech. In debates about the pandemic, it has often been said that the challenge for public health policy has been to ensure that people are willing to comply throughout the pandemic. Does my colleague not think that if the government came up with a plan to ease these restrictions, this would provide some degree of predictability and encourage co…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, in their agreement, the great experts in the NDP and the Liberal Party chose to tell Quebec and the provinces what they need, specifically how many nurses and doctors should be hired, where the money should go, and how their networks should be managed. However, the real experts are not on this side of the House, they are not across the way, nor are they sitting next to us. Quebec and …
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Mr. Speaker, we could, in fact, be on the verge of a resurgence of infections. Quebec is preparing for a sixth wave. We have not yet reached what is referred to as the endemic phase, where the rate of infection levels off and, with the appropriate measures and predictability, we are able to control the vectors and therefore the health care networks. We are a long way from that. Just look at what i…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, it is unanimous. Everyone is asking for increased health transfers with no strings attached. Quebec and the provinces, whether Liberal, NDP or Conservative, are all in favour of increased health transfers. That is called a consensus. I am sorry to be the one to say it, but when the government goes up against consensus and unanimity, it is the one picking a fight. My question for the g…
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Mr. Speaker, without a sound argument, it just sounds like bickering. Pharmacare, home care, long-term care, hiring doctors and nurses—none of this is a federal responsibility. Obviously, the NDP-Liberal deal is about more than just strengthening the minority government. More than that, it aims to weaken the powers and choices of Quebec and the provinces, unless there is an opt-out. In everything …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, since the start of the conflict, the Conservatives have been calling on the government to impose strong sanctions. In this morning's edition of La Presse, we learned from a respected journalist that Roman Abramovitch controls 28% of Evraz, which is supplying most of the steel to build the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and the Coastal GasLink pipeline. We also learned that anothe…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, unfortunately, history has shown us many times how destructive war can be. A recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report shows how destructive the climate crisis can be. The Conservatives are claiming that theirs is an ethical solution. However, replacing one bad thing with another bad thing is not an ethical solution. What does my colleague think of the Conservatives' c…
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Madam Speaker, La Presse newspaper published an excellent article by Paul Journet this morning about the Conservatives' obsession with building pipelines and exporting fossil fuels. He wrote that there are two obstacles standing in Canada's way. First, competing countries are already lined up to supply Germany. He mentioned Norway in particular and wrote that time is not on Canada's side. It would…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I rise to speak to Bill C‑216 from the member for Courtenay—Alberni, whom I like very much and have known since 2015. He is a noble-hearted man. I am confident that he brings his bill to us today, at the passage-in-principle stage, because he hopes to address this acutely alarming issue. I will read out the summary because the bill has three parts. I would have thought the governmen…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I want to pay tribute to Sylvain Racine and his immense contribution to the development of community television in Les Moulins. Sylvain has not only been a community television professional, but also a stalwart supporter. He started in 1983 as a volunteer and saw TVRM through its experimental stage, when staff were creating content with whatever they had on hand. He enjoyed the experi…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, there is a serious problem here. All day, it has been said that it would be preferable if members voted their conscience. The member for Louis-Hébert just told us the orders do not respect the invocation criteria for the act. That is what he just told us. If it were not a confidence motion, he would vote against it, but he does not know whether it is a confidence vote or not. What d…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, the Emergencies Act is the ultimate action a government can take. By making this evening's vote a confidence vote, is the Prime Minister not injecting partisanship into a vote that should reflect the conscience of each member of the House?
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, I would like to hear the member for Oxford on the fact that the Liberal members are suggesting that the Emergencies Act’s usefulness for coordinating police forces is enough to warrant its use. However, the test is much more important and imposing: It is the necessity and essential nature of the act. Will this legislation be used every time that it is useful for coordinating police …
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, according to some constitutional experts, it is not enough for the Emergencies Act to be useful for the government to proclaim its application. It must be demonstrated that it is necessary and indispensable. Would my colleague agree that this will be difficult if not impossible to demonstrate, given that the conflict has been allowed to worsen for three weeks, and that not all the l…
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, proclaiming the Emergencies Act is the executive branch's measure of last resort. Out of respect for those of us in the legislative branch, and given the gravity of the issues, does my colleague think there should be a free vote on this question?
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans—Charlevoix. I taught political philosophy for 30 years. The democratic ideal is at the heart of my political involvement. That is why I am a sovereignist, because the political sovereignty of the people is the very foundation of the democratic ideal. The debate that is coming to a close today is one…
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, a very specific and targeted order would have been sufficient to address the towing issue. The government did not have to get out the heavy artillery and invoke the Emergencies Act simply because it would be useful. The act should only be used when absolutely necessary.
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, I have no idea, but it is clear that the order does not meet the criteria set out in section 3 of the act.
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, obviously, my colleague understood the questions I asked earlier. I think that our colleagues opposite should indeed be able to vote freely, without any party lines, on an issue as important as this one. Invoking the Emergencies Act is the ultimate act that the executive branch can take, and it should therefore respect our legislative authority.
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, I think the police did a remarkable job this weekend. However, even though the chief of the Ottawa Police Service found the Emergencies Act helpful, I think the police operation could have gone ahead even if the Emergencies Act had not been invoked, simply by using the laws that were already in place. In that regard, it is possible that people are losing confidence in their democrat…
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, not only do the orders not meet the criteria set out in section 3 of the Emergencies Act, but, to hear the arguments from our Liberal colleagues, we really get the impression that they are turning the ultimate tool at the government's disposal into a public interest law. Does my colleague not find that this trivializes the act?
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, during question period, the Minister of Emergency Preparedness said that he wanted to restore the rule of law. However, following the rule of law involves meeting the criteria required to invoke the Emergencies Act. The government failed to do that, but it still talking about restoring the rule of law. Does my Conservative colleague not think that the government is basically just livi…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I would advise the parliamentary secretary to adopt a tone and attitude similar to that of his colleague from Louis-Hébert, because, in both form and substance as well as in tone, other than creating a distraction, he has not contributed all that much to the debate. One thing is clear, for instance. We know that there is at least one member on the Liberal side of the House who agrees …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, the Liberals tell us that passing the Emergencies Act in its 1988 version is not abusive because it is guided by the consideration and review of the legislators we are. However, by making this a vote of confidence, the Prime Minister is perverting the free and informed review that we should be conducting as legislators. Worse yet, he is hiding his real intentions from his members. D…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, it is Suicide Prevention Week, and it is more important than ever to talk about suicide. We are going through a difficult time together, and talking about suicide saves lives. We are all at our wits' end: isolated seniors, people living alone, our children who are making so many sacrifices, our caregivers. However, we must remember that we are in this together, that we are not alone. …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, there have been consultations among the parties, and I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That this House salute the dedication of the health care workers who have been tirelessly on the front lines for 22 months administering vaccines and caring for the patients of COVID-19.
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, the throne speech is ultimately a reflection of the last election, which was useless. Maybe the Liberal government could have taken this opportunity to connect with the people of Quebec, especially seniors. Why does my colleague think the Liberal government insists on creating two classes of seniors, even as inflation surges?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to give my hon. colleague a chance to talk about something he failed to mention regarding this bill. Perhaps he has an opinion on this. Does he not believe that, as we face this disturbing opioid crisis, it is important to ensure that addictive behaviours are not criminalized and, with that in mind, the best approach to helping people who are struggling with substance a…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague's speech, but I would like him to clarify something about maintaining mandatory minimum sentences. Would Bill C‑5 maintain mandatory minimum mandatory sentences for firearms offences? I am thinking of firearms trafficking, firearms importation and exportation, certain restricted or prohibited uses of firearms, and use and authorization related to…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Vancouver Kingsway. I would like to start with a simple little question. Has the minister received his mandate letter?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, once again the minister is sidestepping the question. The minister wants to impose standards, but he does not have the answers to questions about what is happening on the ground in Quebec. There are 200,000 patients waiting, and some are past the recommended wait time. The good Dr. Legault, of the FMSQ, said that it will take at least 10 years to clear the backlog. He stated, “The fed…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, the throne speech was so empty we had a hard time understanding anything about the government's priorities other than its plan to interfere in areas under provincial jurisdiction. Since the minister avoided answering my question, I have to assume he is not aware of the work of the Standing Committee on Health. If he were, he would have known that all the experts confirmed that chronic…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, the minister says he wants the pandemic to end as soon as possible, but does he know that at the end of the third wave the lack of cancer screening meant that 10,000 people went undiagnosed? Does he know how many patients were waiting in the middle of the third wave according to the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec, the FMSQ? I would like to note that we have reached the…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, the election was supposedly necessary and urgent. For those people watching us who do not know, I want to make it clear that it is the Prime Minister who sets out the new ministers' priorities in their mandate letters. The Minister of Health claims to know what the Prime Minister expects of him, so it would be great if he could table his mandate letter in the House soon after he recei…
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Madam Chair, I want to inform the minister that I am my party's health critic. It is 79 days after the election and 43 days since he was appointed, but the minister has not yet received the statement of priorities of his mandate. How does he explain that?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the COVID testing chaos at airports is straight out of the permit A38 scene in The 12 Tasks of Asterix. Quebec families who have gone through this airport fiasco will surely think of the minister when they watch Ciné-cadeau during the holidays. How is this government going to stop the chaotic management of testing from being “the place that sends you mad”?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, last week it appeared as though Ottawa was being proactive at the border, but now we see that it just bungled things up more quickly. The government decided to require COVID-19 tests for passengers arriving by plane even though it knew that some airports were unable to provide these tests. People are confused and they are worried about having to quarantine somewhere while they wait fo…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Quebec government did not wait for the Liberal government to pass a law to deal with these types of protests held near institutions. That said, I would be remiss if I did not remind my distinguished colleague of the reason why we find ourselves discussing Bill C-3 about two weeks before Christmas. Earlier, the government referred to the 2019 report from the Standing Committee on H…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, since I have not yet had the opportunity to do so, I would like to congratulate you on your appointment. I am sure that you will be up to the task of ensuring that the debates run smoothly. I would like to hear my colleague's comments on something that I have been thinking about. Does he not believe that, had the government not taken so long to bring Parliament back after calling an e…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, let me start by congratulating you. I am very happy to see you back in that chair to oversee our debates. I would also like to congratulate my colleague on winning his sixth election. I gather from the first part of his speech that he was disappointed about the disparity between the number of votes his party got and the number of seats it ended up with. Would he have liked to see a …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, back in May 2020, the Bloc Québécois called on the government to help businesses cover their fixed costs. This led to the creation of a general-purpose rent relief program that is not at all tailored to the realities of the hospitality sector. I wonder whether my colleague from Newmarket—Aurora would agree with me that the government should amend its restrictive rent relief program …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, since I have only 30 seconds, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of Montcalm for trusting me to represent them in the House for the third time. I can assure them I will do my utmost to be worthy of their trust. Self-employed workers in the cultural sector are artisans fashioning the future of our nation. Every member of every party in the House voted in favour…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate you. I am sure that you will make use of our speaking time fairly, as you usually do. Earlier, my colleague from Montarville asked the leader of the government a question. He did not get an answer. He was referring to what my colleague from La Prairie had been speaking out against since earlier. However, by way of response, the government House leader told us …
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