Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am entering my eighth year as the MP for Manicouagan. I have seen some great successes over the years, but at times I become cynical. When that happens, I tell myself that it is a question of willingness. We have seen it many times: Large sums of money are spent, very easily, without any criteria. It is not always clear which numbers go with what. There can be some secrecy there. Th…
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Mr. Speaker, if I were to try to sum up my thoughts on the importance of the council with respect to the calls to action and how effective the council itself will be, I would say that it is going to be up to the indigenous people themselves. One of the things I forgot to mention in my speech is that one of the government's responsibilities will be to provide all the information that indigenous peo…
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Mr. Speaker, we have a lot of questions when we see the first iteration of a bill. We always notice things that are missing. We often draw a comparison with the private sector. If a company wants to meet goals, it needs specific targets, deadlines and, in short, the means to achieve these goals. I did not get an answer to that question or several others, but I do believe it is necessary in order t…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. I believe that he knows my love for indigenous languages. Aside from the emotional aspect, it is clear to me that language is part of our identity. Protecting indigenous languages is certainly as important as protecting French. I would like to share a story. I read part of an Innu dictionary and quickly realized that it contained words that prese…
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Mr. Speaker, as my party's critic for indigenous and northern affairs, I am pleased and proud to rise today to speak to Bill C‑29. Being critic for indigenous and northern affairs takes humility and perspective. Certainly the same goes for every portfolio, but I like to mention it. I rise to summarize everything I heard from witnesses in committee and from people I have talked to about Bill C‑29. …
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Desnethé—Missinippi—Rivière Churchill for his speech. I sit with him on the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs and I must say that his diligence, his tireless efforts—we see that there is work behind each of his interventions—and his openness make him a great colleague to work with. I have a question for him because his work goes be…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill S‑207. Of course, the Bloc Québécois will vote in favour of this bill. It is not against this bill. I will not be using all of my speaking time, but I would like—
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Mr. Speaker, the commissioner's text messages also reveal that in the first week of the occupation of Ottawa, on February 5, the federal government was considering invoking the Emergencies Act. February 5 was prior to the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, which began on February 7. When the federal government claims that it resorted to emergency measures because the crisis was national…
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Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois and my own family, I would like to acknowledge World Stroke Day, which is held every year on October 29. In Quebec alone, approximately 20,000 people have a stroke, and some 130,000 people who have had a stroke live each day with physical and psychological damage that affects their motor skills, their communication and even their emotions. Strokes can a…
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Mr. Speaker, it is another day at the Public Order Emergency Commission in Ottawa, and there is new proof that the police never wanted the act to be invoked. An exchange of text messages between the RCMP commissioner and her OPP counterpart reveals that, on February 5, the police became wary of the federal government's intentions. This is what the RCMP commissioner said about the Emergencies Act: …
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Mr. Speaker, I will speak to this Senate bill very briefly today. The Bloc Québécois will naturally vote in favour of this bill so it can be referred to a committee. I would like to speak about two things very quickly. The first is the importance of the names given to federal electoral ridings. It is important in terms of representation, because people must feel understood and represented by the n…
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Mr. Speaker, I must say that praying to a god, the Christian God, and having a head of state who is a man, and ideally a man, are significant concerns for me. I would point out that not everyone in the House prays to the Christian God, and some people do not pray at all. I would also point out to my colleague that I am a woman, not a man, like him. I am not saying that everything is going to chang…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my hon. colleague from Longueuil—Saint-Hubert. What we are discussing today centres around our principles and our ideals, so I do not think this debate is unwarranted. I would like to thank everyone who is taking part in it, including those who just spoke before me. As a matter of principle, I often look back at my roots. Everything we have experienced h…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the member that he does not need to put words in my mouth. I am perfectly capable of saying what I think. In a sense, that is a form of patriarchy. I never said anything was more important or less important. I should hope the government is able to walk and chew gum at the same time. We are talking about principles, values and democracy. The fact that the head of…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to tell my colleague that I absolutely agree with him. I think we have an opportunity here to talk about this. Rather than repeating over and over that we could have come up with more important things to talk about, my Liberal colleague could stand up and state, once and for all, where he stands on the prayer, for example, or on severing ties with the monarchy. It would b…
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Mr. Speaker, on October 13, 1873, Louis Riel, an iconic defender of the French language and champion of Métis rights, was elected to the House. Louis Riel should be celebrated for his commitment to his ideals and his dedication to achieving them. He was a symbol of empowerment and a resistance movement that cost him his life. He was slain after Canada wrongfully convicted him. Louis Riel stood up …
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Madam Speaker, first, I would like to say that I am honoured to be able to speak today about national ribbon skirt day. I am honoured because I represent the people in my riding, but I also hope to lend my voice to other indigenous nations in Quebec. I am honoured because, today, I am wearing a ribbon skirt. I will come back to that later. My riding includes two nations, the Innu and Naskapi natio…
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Mr. Speaker, it is important for me to rise today to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This is a day for remembrance and reflection, for acknowledging our present and thinking of the future we will build. We cannot forget that reconciliation will only be possible once we have uncovered the truth. This means that reconciliation calls on us to objectively learn about the pas…
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Mr. Speaker, the federal government obviously does not understand. By raising the number of hours required to qualify for benefits from 420 to 700, it is putting entire families at risk. The government does not understand the sacrifices that come with the spring gap. Depriving seasonal workers of benefits at a time of year when they do not have work is just going to push them to leave the industry…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today in the House, especially since I am asked these kinds of questions at home. I have two children, a 17-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl, who may have been exposed to politics from a young age. I just want to address a number of points that are fairly nuanced. I first want to speak about the studies. Let us look at the issue purely from an academic perspect…
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Mr. Speaker, there are less than 48 hours left. On Sunday, the temporary employment insurance measures come to an end. On Sunday, unless the federal government does something, it is back to the spring gap, back to the nightmare for seasonal workers everywhere, especially in eastern Quebec. In less than 48 hours, we will be back to an employment insurance system that 60% of workers do not have acce…
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Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise on this 21st day of June to honour National Indigenous Peoples Day. May this, the brightest day of the year, serve as an opportunity to showcase the full spectrum and richness of indigenous language and culture. On this special day, let us become better acquainted with and learn about the diversity and wealth that offer so many pathways to a greater understanding …
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Madam Speaker, I wonder if we have quorum. And the count having been taken:
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Mr. Speaker, the French interpretation was not available.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Calgary Rocky Ridge for his speech. I believe that there are some things we agree on with respect to the hybrid Parliament. I found the points he raised to be very interesting. I would like to ask him a question about constituents. We often hear about the advantages or disadvantages for elected members of voting from home, as though it were a video game. At…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Beaches—East York for his speech. He brought up several worthwhile ideas, especially with respect to private members' bills, for which there is a kind of lottery. I would like to hear his thoughts about question period and the fact that the government asks itself questions. Does my colleague think that this is an appropriate or useful practice? Does he thin…
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Madam Speaker, I am sorry. My question was misunderstood, so I did not get the right answer. Perhaps I could clarify. I was not talking about question period as a whole. My question was about when members of the governing party ask their own government questions.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to know if there is quorum.
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Madam Speaker, I want to know if there is a quorum.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I also thank my colleague from the NDP who spoke earlier. I would have liked him to go further. He talked about transparency, as well as the need to show scientific evidence and to provide an update. We need to go even further. Once the evidence is provided, a strategy needs to be presented to the public as well. The thing that many people find f…
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Mr. Speaker, that is exactly the problem. The border is long and people can cross wherever they want to, even though they should be going through official border crossings. If we suspended the safe third country agreement, migrants would be redirected to the 117 border crossings across Canada, instead of converging to cross at Roxham Road, as 92% of them are doing. The number of irregular crossing…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister refuses to close Roxham Road on the pretext that that is not the solution because irregular migrants “will cross elsewhere”. Yes, they will cross elsewhere. They will cross at the border crossings. That is what they did before the safe third country agreement. If the Prime Minister suspends the agreement, something he can do unilaterally, migrants can cross at any b…
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Madam Speaker, we simply want this bill not to apply to Quebec. That would be the best thing to do.
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Madam Speaker, I could also say that I have good intentions while introducing a bill, for example, to lower gas prices. There is nothing in Bill C‑13. The government sees, accepts, says and commits to saying that there is asymmetry. However, the text does not reflect that, since it does not contain asymmetrical measures. It is a problem and that is the problem. For its part, the anglophone communi…
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Madam Speaker, I could not agree more with my colleague. In all the notes I prepare for my speeches, I am always tempted to remind members of that early and absolutely useless election that cost all Quebeckers and Canadians time. We are now starting over again, discussing bills that we could have tackled back then. Furthermore, the government is constantly telling us that it is urgent. I would sub…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I always like hearing what he has to say. He concluded his speech on China by talking about greenhouse gas emission rates. He said that Canada produces 1.6% of greenhouse gas emissions, while China produces 27%. I would like to bring to my colleague's attention to the fact that the entire world did not experience the industrial revolution at the …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to say from the outset that French in Quebec and outside Quebec is alive and well. In the House, I sometimes get the impression from some speeches that French is being dismissed as a dying language. People have brought up certain monuments from the past. I agree that we can be proud, but French is not a thing of the past and the Bloc Québécois can attest that it has a f…
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Mr. Speaker, as someone who wants to take the time to do things properly and to consult, can my hon. colleague tell me why none of the Government of Quebec's requests were accommodated in this new version of the bill?
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Mr. Speaker, this year, the largest aluminum manufacturing company in the Americas is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Aluminerie Alouette is a source of pride on the North Shore, a jewel for Quebec and the perfect example of how it is possible to be a major, environmentally responsible business on a human scale. A company such as Alouette represents above all the strength, knowledge and expertis…
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Madam Speaker, at no point did I mention the Reign of Terror, if that is what my colleague is suggesting. As I said earlier, I am passionate about both history and knowledge. Naturally I would love to have a conversation with him and very humbly share what I know about the historical period during which humanity achieved democracy. Great Britain is not the only place where peoples have fought for …
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Madam Speaker, my first love as a student, as a teacher and even as a child was literature. In a way, literature was my alma mater. Through literature I perceived—or glimpsed, to be more accurate—the letters themselves, because letters both voluntarily and involuntarily encompass all of human knowledge. That may be why I have always had a grateful admiration for and insatiable curiosity about the …
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Madam Speaker, I could go on at length about that with my colleague from Saint‑Hyacinthe—Bagot. It seems clear to me that there is bias in the thought process, despite what one of my colleagues said earlier. Some say that it makes no difference to have a prayer at the beginning of the sitting. However, as I briefly explained, it is clear that the responsibility for our decisions comes from God, ac…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. I believe that such important issues should be raised and debated in the House, and that everyone should have an opportunity to contribute to the debate. As parliamentarians, we are here to debate. Let us give everyone the opportunity to express their opinion, if I may echo what a colleague just whispered in my ear. That is the intent behi…
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Madam Speaker, it is unacceptable that in 2022, people in distress, like Valéry Bélisle, still cannot reach emergency services. The lives of tourists, the Innu, and the people of Havre-Saint‑Pierre and Natashquan should not be a secondary consideration. Ottawa is responsible for telecommunications. It has an obligation to make this an essential service that is accessible everywhere. The CRTC is a …
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Madam Speaker, Valéry Bélisle, a young woman from my riding, got in a serious car accident about 70 kilometres from the closest cell network. She had to extricate herself from the car on her own and wait on the side of the road for 30 minutes before a good Samaritan, Tony Jean, who I sincerely thank by the way, stopped and drove her to the hospital. The Minganie RCM in Manicouagan has no cell cove…
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Mr. Chair, I believe this is an example of exactly what I was trying to illustrate in the speech I gave earlier. Once again, I feel like the government is making a commercial about the money it has handed out. When it talks about millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars and billions of dollars, it always sounds impressive. However, I would also like my hon. colleague to tell me about t…
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Mr. Chair, my thoughts about the inquiry are the same as my thoughts about the royal commission on another issue in 1996. They consult and consult and consult without ever reinventing the wheel. There is a huge need for consultation here, but it results in precious little action. That is certainly what I am seeing yet again. I may not seem very upset, but I am kind of tired of hearing what amounts…
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Mr. Chair, I am going to talk a little about my experience with housing, not my personal experience, but what I experienced while helping women. Housing really is about safety and security. I come from a vast riding that covers 350,000 square kilometres. Some people live 1,000 kilometres away from one another, and there are not always roads. Due to the lack of housing, sometimes a woman will “agre…
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Mr. Chair, I have a lot to say about that. First, the government always has a good reason for the delays. I am being sarcastic, of course. The 2021 election was mentioned. I am pretty sure I was not the one who decided to call the election; the government did, so it only has itself to blame. Then it talked to us about COVID‑19. Obviously it cannot do two things at once. It shuts down Parliament an…
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Mr. Chair, I replied earlier by saying that all the reports and recommendations have been written. They are there, and I am not about to reinvent the wheel. If I did, as a white woman, I would find myself pointing out which of the recommendations are the best. As a parliamentarian, however, I would really like to see a plan for these recommendations. The government has said that it will fix the is…
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