Government Orders
Madam Speaker, first of all, the current Quebec government has not decreased immigration that much. It has more or less stayed the same. Second of all, as I was saying, we have two choices. If we increase immigration without sufficient means to teach these immigrants French and truly integrate them, francophones will become a minority in Quebec. If we reduce immigration, as the member said, our po…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend from the Conservative Party for his excellent question. I think that the environment needs to be considered here. We are not against Alberta. We are in favour of combatting climate change, and we think we need to reduce our dependence on oil. We are prepared to help Alberta through the energy transition. I do not think it will have a choice. If we wan…
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Madam Speaker, we will see if our colleagues will consider this to be acceptable and we will draw our own conclusions. I hope that things have changed, but the result of the vote will give us our answer.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague mentioned earlier that no one in the House is evil. I grew up in an anglophone environment, and of course there are no major differences between people on an individual level. Culturally, however, there are some differences. How does my colleague explain, for example, that in many provinces there are not enough schools for francophones at the moment? Some efforts are be…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, the media, in Quebec in particular, has reported a very high rate of rejection—up to 80%—for temporary permit applications from francophone African countries. Ostensibly, the government is concerned that these people may want to stay in Canada, so it does not want to give them temporary residency. Anglophone colleges, however, are advertising that they can facilitate access to permane…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to pay one last tribute to Gisèle Pomerleau, an exceptional woman who passed away at the age of 81. Ms. Pomerleau founded the Centre des femmes de Montréal-Est—Pointe-aux-Trembles in 1995 and stood up for women's rights her entire life. Her mission was to help women recognize their potential, and she believed in it so much that she single-handedly ran her organization, u…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, my Liberal colleagues often say in Parliament that they are in talks with the Government of Quebec, but there is a difference between talking and really listening and discussing. As my colleague said, seven out of 10 provinces are against using the Emergencies Act. The Prime Minister says he consulted everyone and managed to get a consensus, but that is far from the case.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the member for Repentigny, the riding next to mine, for her excellent speech. Even before the Emergencies Act was invoked, she had already spoken about the fact that a whole series of situations had been resolved, including those at the Surrey border crossing and the Ambassador Bridge. Is the Emergencies Act just being used, to some extent, to hide the government…
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Mr. Speaker, could my colleague tell us more about the potential repercussions of using the Emergencies Act when it is not required, as is being done right now?
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, as we know, the Ottawa police asked for 1,800 extra police officers, but the federal government sent only a handful. Can the member explain that?
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I agree with my colleague. The blockades had almost all been removed before the emergency measures came into force. Could my colleague talk about the consequences of invoking the Emergencies Act when it is not required?
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, we knew that there were extremists within the convoy when we first heard it was coming. We knew there were far-right groups involved. It seems they were allowed to settle in anyway. Once that happened, I think the Prime Minister could have showed more initiative and made sure that the police forces were coordinating their efforts, but nothing was done. What does my colleague think a…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I really enjoyed my colleague's presentation, in which he gave examples of situations that appeared to be far more serious, but for which we did not invoke the Emergencies Act. What does he think of the fact that, three days before invoking the Act, the Prime Minister seemed to be saying that the police had all the tools they needed? Are the government and the Prime Minister not using…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Drummond. As we all know, the Bloc Québécois is opposed to invoking the Emergencies Act, especially as written in the orders, since the measures would apply to Quebec, even though the Quebec National Assembly, including the provincial Liberals, voted unanimously to oppose the imposition of emergency measures within its borders. As we all…
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Mr. Speaker, we are talking about a poll of about 300 people. In any case, what does my colleague think about the fact that the Quebec National Assembly voted unanimously against the use of emergency measures? After seeing what has been happening in Ottawa for the past three weeks, it is only natural that people want it to stop. However, putting an end to this situation does not require emergency …
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Mr. Speaker, the chief of the Ottawa Police Service said that the Emergencies Act was useful. However, as constitutional expert Patrick Taillon said, the act must not only be useful, it must be essential. I think that everything we saw could have been done differently. For the past two weeks, we constantly asked the Prime Minister to meet with all stakeholders, to set up an all-party committee wit…
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Mr. Speaker, what does my colleague think that it would take to revoke the emergency measures?
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, for operations that call for multiple police forces to intervene, emergency measures are not needed. Why were such operations not carried out sooner?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, we cannot discuss the Constitution without addressing the elephant in the room. Quebec did not sign the Constitution of 1982, which was imposed on it by the English Canadian majority. This considerably reduces the autonomy of Quebec’s National Assembly, for example on language policy. French is in decline across Canada, but also in Quebec. As the Bélanger-Campeau Commission found 30 y…
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Madam Speaker, the economic update does not include any solutions to address the labour shortage or any ideas on how to increase productivity. I would like to hear my colleague's thoughts on that.
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Madam Speaker, the economic update held the Canadian health transfer escalator to 3%. That is well below the annual health care cost increase. We know the federal government paid for 50% of health care spending in the 1970s. Since then, it has steadily reduced its share down to the 22% we are at now. Right now, Quebec and the Canadian provinces are unanimously calling on the government to increase…
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Madam Speaker, the Canada emergency business account provides interest-free loans of up to $60,000. Initially, repaying the balance of the loan on or before December 31, would have resulted in loan forgiveness of up to 33 per cent. However, in Quebec we are seeing that almost a quarter of SMEs might not survive, and we think more needs to be done. For example, we have proposed increasing the loan …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Department of Canadian Heritage’s official languages funding programs over the past 10 years, broken down by year: (a) what amounts were allocated, broken down by province, by program and by component; and (b) what is the breakdown of the amounts allocated in (a) to the various institutions across the country, broken down by province, by level of education (primary, secondary, p…
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With regard to the $10-a-day national child care program that would provide universal access to all Canadian families as of 2026 and the bilateral agreements that the federal government has signed with the various provinces and territories regarding this program: (a) do the eight agreements already signed with British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, M…
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With regard to federal source revenue of post-secondary institutions in Quebec over the last 10 years, broken down by year: (a) what is the total revenue from federal sources, broken down by institution; (b) what share of the revenue in (a) came from (i) the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, (ii) Health Canada, (iii) the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, (iv) the Ca…
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Madam Speaker, it has been said that this is not a good time to bring this bill forward, especially with respect to eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for firearms offences, such as discharging a firearm with intent or robbery or extortion with a firearm. What does my colleague think about that?
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Madam Speaker, banning demonstrations aimed at intimidating health care workers or hindering the smooth running of hospitals is a good thing. However, does my colleague not think that there is a risk that this will backfire on workers who want to demonstrate, on the right of unions to demonstrate? What could we do to clarify that aspect?
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Mr. Speaker, congratulations on your re-election, as well as your appointment to the chair. Bill C-3 does not really change much. The offences in question are already covered by the law. As stated earlier, intimidation is illegal everywhere, and this bill simply reiterates that. It seems that Bill C-3 is really more about creating the perception that the government is doing something on the health…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, we know that there have been massive cuts to health transfers since the 1970s. At that time, the federal government covered almost 50% of health spending, while today it covers only 22%. Quebec and the provinces are calling for an increase in health transfers to 35%. I would like my colleague’s opinion on respect for the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces.
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, I too congratulate you on your appointment. My colleague spoke about the environment. How does she explain the fact that the Liberal government has spent more on fossil fuels than the previous Conservative government? I think that there is no such thing as clean oil and that we must reduce our dependence on oil. Furthermore, there has been a lot of talk lately about the 80% refusal …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Aéroports de Montréal's decision to jack up user fees at Mirabel airport by 7,000% is a devastating blow to French-language flight schools. Essentially, ADM is kicking the schools out and showing francophone students the door. Once again, a federally regulated corporation is showing little concern for the future of the French language. Will the new Minister of Official Languages reach…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to know what my colleague thinks of the fact that Bill C-2contains nothing for self-employed workers in the cultural sector, even though they are among the hardest hit by the pandemic. Does he not think that there should be something in the bill for self-employed workers in the cultural sector?
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate you on your re-election to the Chair, and I thank all my constituents in La Pointe-de-l’Île for putting their trust in me. My question is this: Given that we can now go to a gym, to a restaurant, to the movies, and even to a hockey game, is the role of Parliament not important enough for us to sit here? Let us remember that there are not always 338 members in attendance…
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