Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the ink on the health transfers agreement is not even dry and the federal government is already making cuts. It has announced $82 million in cuts to health care funding, and half of those cuts will be made in Quebec. Ottawa is taking $41 million out of our health care system. The minister must know that all our health centres are in crisis. At this time, the ER in Lachine has been par…
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Mr. Speaker, what the federal government is doing is completely unacceptable. Quebec has not yet received one cent from the forced agreement on health transfers. On top of having to wait for the money to be budgeted in Ottawa, we now know the minister is already making cuts. Not only is he barely meeting one-sixth of Quebec's emergency room needs, but, before the money is even paid out, he is taki…
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Madam Speaker, on March 1, Paper Excellence got its hands on Resolute Forest Products, a forestry industry giant that controls 25% of Quebec forests. If a buyer were to revitalize Resolute, which was investing very little in modernizing its facilities, that would be a good thing. However, an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which includes CBC/Radio-Canada…
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Mr. Speaker, that is not the issue, but all right. Better forestry development, increased processing and new products to replace oil will be key to having a prosperous and renewable carbon-neutral economy. However, that is not the business model of Asia Pulp & Paper. It does as little processing as possible and sends kraft pulp directly to China. The jobs and value added are in China. What conditi…
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Madam Speaker, that trap was easy to see coming. I said earlier in my speech that that was what the NDP would say. It is easy. Populism involves using overly simplistic explanations to describe complex realities. They are saying that if we do not vote in favour of the NDP motion, it is because we are in favour of giving the private sector a bigger place in the health care system. We will not be vo…
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Madam Speaker, I agree with the NDP leader that the solution for improving our health care system is not privatization. However, it is not predatory federalism either. It is not up to the federal government to dictate standards for managing the health care system. The only solution is to fight against the scourge of federalism, or the fiscal imbalance. If the NDP leader is serious, what he can do …
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Madam Speaker, I want to say that I will be sharing my time with my mentor, the member for Rivière-du-Nord. I think that having a discussion about the role of private health care is a great way to distinguish between certain ideological positions. On the one hand, there are those who think of themselves as social democrats or progressives, even if the latter term is a bit overused. On the other ha…
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Madam Speaker, I understand the difficulties my colleague has experienced in the health care system, but the major issue is one of funding and imbalance. To fix that, the government should have listened to the provinces when they asked for an additional $28 billion to increase health transfers from 22% to 35%. That is what needed to be done, and the NDP still has an opportunity to do it. The budge…
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Madam Speaker, I would like my colleague to tell me how he can magically find solutions, here in the House, to wait times in the health care system. How can he magically do that when his government cannot even deliver passports on time, deal with irregular border crossers who do not have work permits, and help people who spend weeks waiting for their EI payments? The Liberals should take care of t…
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Madam Speaker, this is Teacher Appreciation Week and I would like to salute them. This year's theme is most appropriate: “Everyday we measure the significance of your role.” Indeed, every day we entrust our teachers with the most precious thing in the world, our children. We send them to learn, grow and develop under their teachers' watchful eye. Our teachers put their hearts and souls into their …
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Madam Speaker, first, I would like to mention that I will be splitting my time with the mischievous member for Mirabel. Now let us talk about the notwithstanding clause. I began by wondering why the Prime Minister wanted to restrict the use of the notwithstanding clause. When he came out and said that, the Prime Minister seemed to use his desire to protect individual rights as an excuse. He was ta…
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Madam Speaker, that question is a classic. It is a classic Conservative move to say now is not the time to be debating this. When we talk about Quebec, it is never the right time. The speech given by her colleague this morning mentioned that. It is never the right time to talk about Quebec, it is never the time to use an opposition day to express Quebec's views. I would like to say to the member t…
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Madam Speaker, the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles said this morning that he thought this debate was futile. This is what I would say to my colleague. If he wants to do something useful, he could tell us clearly whether the Conservative Party is for or against Bill 21 and Bill 96. I would like the Conservatives to tell us if they would challenge these laws in court if they were in powe…
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Madam Speaker, what a great bill. I wondered which member had come up with this brilliant idea, and then I found out that it was the member for Mirabel, an inspiring member. How did he come up with this brilliant idea? Unfortunately, people often mistakenly accuse us of looking for a fight, and yet we have plenty of solutions to offer all the time. The member for Mirabel had this fantastic idea to…
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Mr. Speaker, as you and I both know, the Conservatives love saying that the government is spending too much money. Yet their leader has promised to maintain the Liberal health care funding offer if he ever takes office. It is literally the only Liberal public policy that the Conservative leader has committed to protect if he becomes prime minister. Everyone knows that the Conservative leader think…
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Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary is proving me right, because he is using the exact pretext I was talking about earlier. Let us talk about what the notwithstanding clause is really for. In 1977, when Bill 101 came into force, everyone in Canada was complaining that it was disgusting and terrible and that the act needed to be repealed. Today, no one would go against what Bill 101 stands f…
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Mr. Speaker, I have my trinket with me. I hope I do not show it off too much tonight. I would like to go back to Groundhog Day. I loved that movie. In fact, I feel like I just relived Groundhog Day while listening to my NDP colleague speak. I am the member for Jonquière, and the tax centre at issue is in my riding. I remember how in 2019, the former member for Jonquière, an NDP member, said that t…
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec, the provinces and the Bloc Québécois have been demanding this for years, and now the Prime Minister is finally inviting his counterparts to a meeting to discuss health transfers on February 7. The Prime Minister does not have the right to turn this meeting into a PR stunt. February 7 should mark the beginning of the end of the crisis. On February 7, the Prime Minister needs to…
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Mr. Speaker, on February 7, the first ministers will finally meet with the aim of increasing health transfers. This was not a foregone conclusion. As recently as mid-November, the Minister of Health was calling this request futile. After years of repeated calls from Quebec, the provinces and the Bloc Québécois, Ottawa is finally taking note of the crisis in the hospitals. Quebec and the provinces …
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Mr. Speaker, enough with the analysis. What we want is results. However, as long as Ottawa is withholding money, there will be no results. The real reason for the impasse is that Ottawa does not want to pay 35% of health costs. Ottawa wants to shatter the provinces' consensus in order to negotiate individual agreements on the cheap and invest as little as possible. While our hospitals are stacking…
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Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties, and if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That the House call on the Prime Minister to meet with the premiers of Quebec, the provinces and the territories as soon as possible regarding long-term sustainable funding for health care through the Canada health transfer.
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It is groundhog day, Mr. Speaker. Once again, on Friday, all of the premiers of Quebec and the provinces called for a meeting with the Prime Minister on increasing health transfers. They costed their needs 27 months ago and are calling for a meeting. For 27 months, the Prime Minister has been ignoring them. For 27 months, their ability to provide health care to the public in our hospitals has been…
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Mr. Speaker, that “transparent discussion” is code for standards. We will say it again. What the health system needs is not standards; it needs Ottawa to contribute its share. Quite frankly, no one believes that there are no standards in the Quebec health care system. The federal government's pretentious and dismissive attitude toward the provinces, saying that it will show them how to do things, …
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec's finance minister will table his economic update on Thursday. He will have to make do with what he has because the Liberal government is still stubbornly saying no despite Quebec and the provinces calling for higher health transfers for years. ERs are in crisis. There are not enough workers. Even pediatric units, which care for our children, are paying the price, yet Ottawa co…
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Mr. Speaker, the government does not want to increase health transfers. It wants standards. What standards? What makes Ottawa think it can tell Quebec and the provinces how to do their job? Consider what Ottawa did with Phoenix, Roxham Road, the passport crisis, the old age pension delays, and the delays with EI and the immigration department, which is where applications go to die. How dare the go…
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' carbon tax rhetoric never fails to surprise me. Let me point out that this tax does not apply in Quebec. To hear my Conservative colleagues tell it, the carbon tax can be blamed for everything from the temperature to a Canadiens win or a Bruins loss. I have a hard time seeing a connection between fighting poverty and the carbon tax. Even the best economists have not…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, later on, I will be presenting the Minister of Employment with the demands of local organizations that are fighting for a better EI system. Two weeks ago, L.A.S.T.U.S.E du Saguenay, which represents unemployed workers, and Récif 02, a round table of Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean women's groups, held a protest in front of my office to condemn not just the inhumane delays at Service Canada, b…
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Mr. Speaker, it has to be said that the only two things the federal government has done to respond to the crisis at children's hospitals is to blame the provinces and hold back the money. I challenge any Liberal member to visit a pediatric emergency room in their riding and tell a parent that it is the provinces' fault that there are no health transfers. We do not have any more time to waste playi…
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Mr. Speaker, children's hospitals are overflowing like never before, yet, the day before yesterday, the Prime Minister once again blamed the provinces instead of announcing solutions. Seriously, this has to stop. The provinces are not to blame; underfunding is. For two years now, Quebec and the provinces have been asking the government for $28 billion, and, for two years, the government has been f…
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Madam Speaker, there is a problem with the interpretation.
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak about Bill S222. If we want to trace the origins of the discussions that led to an act that would benefit forest products, we need to go back to the proposals of the Bloc Québécois. As early as March 2010, Bill C‑429, which dealt with something very similar and was sponsored by the member for Manicouagan at the time, was being studied. The same thing happened …
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Mr. Speaker, it was not clear, but perhaps the interpretation was better. Moving up the deadline by two years and threatening to keep the money if cities cannot turn on a dime is almost blackmail. The federal government wants its infrastructure fund to be used quickly. We agree. However, it should be used intelligently and equitably for the best possible projects for all municipalities, both small…
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Mr. Speaker, on the topic of health, the Prime Minister came out of his meeting with François Legault at the Sommet de la Francophonie a changed man, I would say. He said that Quebec is doing, and I quote, “a very good job” with data collection. It is amazing how things progress when we communicate. Imagine how much progress would be made if the Prime Minister brought all the premiers together to …
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Mr. Speaker, that is a fine grocery list, but that is not what we are talking about. Incredibly, this is the first time in over a year that the Prime Minister has had anything good to say about Quebec or the provinces in terms of transfers. All it took was a face-to-face meeting. In my mind, that would suggest that organizing meetings could lead to an agreement on increased funding for health care…
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Mr. Speaker, we must act now. The time for distractions is over. For over a year now, we have been calling for a premiers' summit on increasing funding for health care. Meanwhile, surgery waiting lists are extremely long. Some people feel ill but cannot get a diagnosis. Some health care workers are thinking of changing careers. All of these people expect their governments to reach an agreement to …
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Mr. Speaker, as always, you seem jubilant and you are in shape, so I will be pleased to talk to you about health. As my colleague pointed out with respect to implementing the economic statement, we do not find the required measures in this bill to counter the reality that affects us today, that being inflation. Members can rest assured; I will not take the same direction as my Conservative colleag…
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Madam Speaker, I totally understand my colleague's frustration, but I do not think the defeat of her bill has anything to do with what we are debating today.
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Mr. Speaker, I am indeed aware, but I feel like asking my colleague whether he is aware that since 1977, health technologies have advanced and the tax points given in 1977 are no longer adequate. Is he aware that the Séguin report came long after 1977? Is he aware that the reports from the Conference Board and the Parliamentary Budget Officer that prove that the federal government is not paying it…
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Mr. Speaker, to be honest, I think the first thing that needs to happen is for the Minister of Health to understand that this is not just about who has the power. There are real needs on the ground. Unfortunately, the federal government does not have the skills to analyze those needs. It has to listen to health experts and it has to listen to the provinces. That is not what it is doing right now. …
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Mr. Speaker, sometimes the answer should actually match the question. That needs to be made clear to our colleague. The federal government can clearly see that the health care system is underfunded. Everyone can see that the elastic is about to snap. People are at the end of their rope, but what the federal government fails to see is that it is the one that must do more. Quebec allocates 43% of it…
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Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers want governments that work together, but the Liberals have opted to govern by taking hostages. When it comes to health care, the hostages are patients, victims of the feud between Quebec and Ottawa, which is withholding $28 billion from us. As for infrastructure, the government is holding municipalities hostage by forcing them to get their project proposals in by March or m…
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Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with my colleague. Respecting jurisdictions is one thing that could improve the federal system, which is completely dysfunctional. Unfortunately, we have a government that is very centralist when it comes to health. We now have a Minister of Mental Health. I did not know that was a federal responsibility. I completely agree with my colleague. Things would be better …
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Mr. Speaker, why not just increase transfer to 35%, then? I will quote the minister. When leaving the meeting on health transfers, the minister said, “My job is not to send dollars to finance ministers. My job is to make sure that whatever we do helps my colleagues, health ministers, do the difficult and important work that they are doing.” Quite rightly, all his health minister colleagues clearly…
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health's fight against funding comes at a cost. It is not just the patients who are paying the price, it is every taxpayer in Quebec. Quebec invests more than 40% of its budget in health. Even with 40%, we know that expenses are going up in a hurry. All that money is money that is not going to our overflowing classrooms, it is money that is not being redirected to the …
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health insulted Quebec and the provinces by saying that their demand for increased health transfers was futile. That is outrageous. Quebec spends more than 40% of its budget on health care. Allocating forty percent of a budget is not futile. That is not futile, especially when we know that, even with 40% of the budget, our system is depleted and out of resources becaus…
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Madam Speaker, our Conservative friends are talking about how the cost of government is driving up the cost of living. They are saying that the government needs to use taxpayer dollars more wisely and eliminate waste. They are focusing on the $54 million that was spent on the ArriveCAN app. I agree with them that that was a stupid mistake. Last week, we pointed out an even stupider mistake: the mo…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about sound management, reckless spending, financial disaster and the fiasco surrounding ArriveCAN and its $54‑million price tag. He is right. However, there is another even greater fiasco that is part of what I would call the sacred cows of the Conservative Party. First, there is the monarchy, which represents $67 million a year. That said, the fiasco to end all…
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Madam Speaker, I am not mean-spirited. I will not start up again on the subject of hypocrisy, and I will not accuse my colleague from Mégantic—L'Érable, whom I like too much, of being a hypocrite. However, there is a sort of hypocrisy in what I have been hearing for a while now. It is hypocritical to not recognize that Canada is an oil-producing country, which is the reason we keep missing our env…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today my riding is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Association forestière du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean. Founded in 1942, the association devotes its day-to-day activities to informing and educating the region's citizens about the importance of our forests, our natural wealth. The association is more than just an educational organization; it also champions the idea of cultivating an…
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