Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I would like to thank the people of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun for placing their trust in Louis-Philippe Sauvé. Mr. Sauvé made just one election promise, specifically to prove himself worthy of that trust. I have known Louis-Philippe for many years, and I am sure he will keep his word. The people sent a clear message by electing someone who staunchly defends…
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Madam Speaker, I would just like you to confirm whether we can refer to the presence or absence of other members in the House. I do not think that is allowed.
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Madam Speaker, listening to my colleague's speech made me wonder about something. They are talking about nutrition north Canada and the need for reform. We have actually known that for years. The program did not only just now stop working in the north and other remote regions. In my riding, the boat often fails to arrive, forcing us to transport food by plane. It is getting more and more expensive…
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Mr. Speaker, qujannamiik to my colleague from Nunavut, with whom I was pleased to work on the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs. I am happy that we are talking a little about the north today. Rural and remote communities, in particular indigenous and Inuit communities, often face difficulties due to their geographical remoteness. My colleague touched on the issue of housing. Ob…
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Mr. Speaker, if I am not mistaken, the member for Ajax voted, but we did not see his photo.
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Mr. Speaker, it is as though my colleague from Montcalm can read my mind. Obviously, I agree with him. It makes perfect sense. I tried to bring up the election issue. I know that people may not always want to talk about it in the House, because everyone wants to be above the fray. However, at a certain point, we feel we need to point out some of the blind spots that others may not see. Sometimes w…
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Mr. Speaker, I am not at all surprised by my colleague's question. Perhaps others have answered it, but I will answer again. I have listened to what the coalition of labour unions are saying. I understand that they want improvements to pharmacare in Quebec, but I will repeat that it is up to Quebeckers to do that. Yes, there can be a coalition. I understand that, but the fact remains that we have …
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Mr. Speaker, I have risen three times today because I was so eager to speak. I am pleased to speak today at third reading of Bill C-64. We have been debating this bill for a long time. Clause-by-clause study took place last week, but we do need to wind up the debate at some point. Before continuing with my speech, I would ask my colleagues to respect my right to speak and not talk over me. First, …
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois is actually the voice of the Quebec National Assembly. My colleague repeated his question, and I will repeat the answer. The Quebec National Assembly is made up of people elected from all parties. This is a unanimous motion supported by all parties, including Québec Solidaire. Everyone agrees that the answer is no, that we want to opt out with full compensation. I a…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, the Liberals have transformed the Standing Committee on Official Languages into an endless source of reasons to be concerned for the future of French. After the Liberal member for Saint-Laurent said that Bill 96 prevents anglophones from receiving care, and after the Liberal member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell insulted researchers who are worried about the decline of French, yeste…
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Madam Speaker, this is indicative of a culture problem within the Liberal Party. The whole purpose of the Standing Committee on Official Languages is to promote French in Canada. All the Liberals need to do is choose five of their 156 members who speak French and who want to protect the French language. That is all. Those are the only two criteria, but they cannot even do that. Let us get back to …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, Bill C-377, introduced by the Conservative member for Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, raises extremely important but sensitive issues. The member is correct in saying that the current situation is not working and needs to be improved. When we talk about parliamentarians' access to classified information, there are two conflicting principles. Both of these principles are important, and so we …
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Madam Speaker, the fuel excise tax is $5.5 billion a year. For three months, it is $1.4 billion. What I would like to know is this. How does my colleague think the Conservative Party would pay for its new federal fossil fuel subsidy? What would it cut?
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Mégantic—L'Érable for ascribing such power and importance to the Bloc Québécois. Indeed, we really are a bulwark against the Conservative Party. It seems to me that the Conservative members are doing something they do a lot: making up problems that do not exist and coming up with solutions that certainly do not work. Here is an example. Right now…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, the member for Winnipeg North is making it clear that he could never be the Speaker of the House of Commons because he does not understand the impartiality and discernment needed for the job. That is what he just said: He does not understand and it seems unfair to him. We need to look beyond perceptions and really acknowledge what the role of Speaker involves. The person who occupie…
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to say that I will be sharing my time with the member for Thornhill. To begin, I would like to convey to the House my respect for my colleague, the member for Hull—Aylmer, who is an affable, warm and cordial person and who also happens to be the Speaker of the House right now. I wanted to make the distinction because it is not the individual, the MP himself,…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart, but with recognition and admiration that I pay tribute to a great Nitassinan, utshimau Alexandre McKenzie, who passed away on May 11. The entire north shore is mourning the loss of this builder who has left a great legacy. We owe him for the founding of the Schefferville Airport Corporation, Tshiuetin Rail Transportation Inc., the first indigenous owned railw…
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Mr. Speaker, can you please tell me if a member's vote counts when they do not have their headset on. It is also for the interpreters' sake that I wanted to bring this up.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It is my understanding that everyone is to wear the headset approved by the House of Commons when rising during the vote. The member for Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook was not wearing his headset when he wanted to check that his vote had been recorded. I just wanted to remind all our colleagues of that.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, my colleague's comments are off topic.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I would like to make two points. First, I would like to remind the member that we are talking about a question of privilege. I do not think that raising a question of privilege can be considered obstructing Parliament. On the contrary, that is our right as members. We need to settle this issue. That is the first point I wanted to make. Second, the party in power keeps saying that we…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, as I said earlier, we need to rise above the fray, because it does not matter where the Speaker is from. What matters to me is that the Speaker has the skills to do his job and that he earns the trust of the entire House. As for the anti-Quebec conspiracy, that is not what this is. Other parties are stuck on this because we are the Bloc Québécois. The fact remains that we need to se…
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Madam Speaker, we are not attacking him. This term is being used by the member because he does not wish to rise above the fray. Once again, I may be a Bloc Québécois member, but I do not care which province or territory members who aspire to become Speaker come from. We have to rise above the fray. To answer my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, as a Bloc Québécois MP, I make sure that I am…
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Mr. Speaker, I have all weekend. The Liberal calvary was out in full force yesterday to save the president of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie, or APF. In what was basically an unprecedented situation, interpreters were needed at the meeting because many of the new members do not understand French. We know the result. The president of the APF kept his position, despite the hurtful, s…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that my colleague opposite sees the glass as half full. If I were on the same side of the House as he is, I would likely try to do the same thing. He also mentioned that the government acted very quickly on Bill C-58. I would like to remind him that the first bill was introduced by my colleague from Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel in 1990 and that 30 bills have been introduced s…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal calvary was out in full force yesterday to save the president of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie. In what was basically an unprecedented—
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal calvary was out in full force yesterday to save the president of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie. In what was basically—
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal calvary was out in full force yesterday to save the president—
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, when the Bloc Québécois defends all francophones against violence, insult and injury, I believe it is working on behalf of all of La Francophonie. Here are some of this morning's headlines: “Confidence vote: [APF president] saved by the Liberal cavalry”; “Full of s***”; “[The member] stays on as APF president”. That is what the Liberals' stunt has led to. Gross insults against witness…
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Madam Speaker, the unfortunate thing about the insults uttered by the member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell is that they overshadowed opportunities for a substantive conversation about the French language. While he was publicly humiliating himself, the report of the Commissioner of Official Languages went almost unnoticed. However, the commissioner harshly criticized the federal government, descri…
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Madam Speaker, the Liberal member from Glengarry—Prescott—Russell spent his 15 minutes of fame denying the decline of French in Quebec. It is an odd choice at a time when the Commissioner of Official Languages notes that it is from my colleague's region along the Ottawa river that he receives the most complaints, including from federal public servants who are unable to work in French. The commissi…
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Mr. Speaker, we fully realize that the plan to bring the CBC and Radio-Canada closer together has only one objective, and that is to protect the CBC from a potential Conservative government that plans to make cuts to English-language public television. This has nothing to do with modernization, digital media or efficiency. It is simply management's defence against a potential Conservative governme…
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage is working on a plan. CBC management is working on a plan too. The two are not communicating and have no idea what each other's plans are. What we have here is another example of the federal government's legendary effectiveness. Are these the people we should be relying on to ensure Radio-Canada's independence from the CBC? Are these the people we sho…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, together, let us celebrate May 1, International Workers' Day. Let us celebrate the day together and united to make our voices heard. This is a time to remember the major workers' rights movements and the gains they made. It is also an opportunity to highlight the rights still left to be won, like the right to EI for everyone who has lost their job or whose work season has ended; the r…
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Madam Speaker, people in Manicouagan have a lot of needs in the fisheries sector. We have been hit hard lately, and I would say that the future looks bleak. Of course, there was the issue of Mexican temporary foreign workers, who could not come over because of government measures. The government does not think there is a fishing industry here, so it forgot that this would be detrimental to the fis…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today I would like to pay tribute to a great man from the north shore, Paul Brisson, who died on April 2 at the age of 79. Originally from Les Bergeronnes, Mr. Brisson spent most of his life in Baie-Comeau, where he left his mark. He leaves a considerable legacy in the north shore media community. He began his journey in 1968 as co-founder of the Baie-Comeau newspaper Plein Jour. He w…
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Madam Chair, I am pleased to be here this evening to talk about softwood lumber. I wish to inform you that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Tobique—Mactaquac. I have had some good discussions with him on the issue of natural resources. Speaking of natural resources, I would also like to thank my colleagues from the Bloc Québécois forestry caucus, including my colleague from Saint-H…
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Madam Chair, I would like to thank my colleague for his question and tell him that I hold him in high esteem as well. We have worked a lot together on the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. In a riding like mine, talking about development always means working in partnership. This makes perfect sense to us. For example, we work with the Innu people and the Naskapi nation. We want that econ…
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Madam Chair, indeed, not having a solution to offer the lumber industry and Quebec, I would say, is a failure of all governments. In my mind, it is just one more reason to gain independence.
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Madam Chair, the first thing I would say is, what can we do now? For 10 years now, since this party came to power, something has needed to be done about softwood lumber. The Liberals are talking about state-of-the-art products, but it is already hard enough to offload our two-by-fours. The government needs to do two things. First, it needs to talk about the issue. I am not sure that it has. I have…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I also had the opportunity to sit with my colleague at the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs. I would like him to speak in a little more depth about nutrition north Canada, which was studied in committee. We hear that it cannot resolve the whole situation of food sovereignty or food security in the north. Does my colleague see other possible solutions or arrangem…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, today, I am very pleased to welcome a delegation from my riding on the north shore. I would like to acknowledge the following local ambassadors: Denis Miousse, the mayor of Sept‑Îles; Paul Lavoie, Chantal Pitt and Pascal Langlois from Développement économique Sept‑Îles; and John‑James Blanchette, the director of the Sept‑Îles Uashat mak Mani‑Utenam chamber of commerce. Today, I will n…
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Madam Speaker, last February, the federal government promised to increase health transfers. After a lot of political jousting, it forced Quebec and the provinces to accept six times less money than they needed. A year later, Quebec has not received a cent. There is already a $1-billion gap in health care funding this year because Ottawa is withholding the money. Why is Ottawa withholding it? Becau…
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Madam Speaker, that is not the point. Let me remind members once again that the federal government does not run one single hospital. It has no expertise in health care, but it is withholding the money needed to care for people, because it thinks it can tell health care workers how to do their jobs. Let me also remind members once again that the federal government is withholding nearly $5 billion i…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, my mother was a nurse, my father was a volunteer firefighter, and I have a son who wants to be a police officer. I have been personally aware of the violence that we are talking about my entire life, so the bill introduced by my colleague from Cariboo—Prince George is very important to me. Bill C‑321 seeks to amend the Criminal Code to consider the fact that the victim of an assault…
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Madam Speaker, obviously, the Bloc Québécois agrees there is a serious auto theft problem. However, this is not the only problem right now. There is an argument behind the Conservative motion, but it lacks a certain intellectual rigour. For example, it says the law arising from Bill C-5 is largely responsible for the surge in auto thefts, yet Bill C‑5 only received royal assent on November 17, 202…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, the former director of Le Devoir, Bernard Descôteaux, passed away on January 13, and people's reactions to this sad news say a lot about the kind of man he was. Mr. Descôteaux, who worked in just about every job there is at Le Devoir, including that of parliamentary correspondent here in Ottawa, was a boss who was well-loved by everyone. He deserves much of the credit for the survival…
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Madam Speaker, allow me to repeat it for my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite‑Patrie: We want it to be fair, we want there to be a balance of power. In my mind, there are no exceptions. We are talking about a bill. In the end, it is really what we want. I am focusing on the principle: We want a balance of power, fairness. That is what the Bloc Québécois wants, and we will be prepared to support th…
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