Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I have two quick points that I feel are valid. I could have been handsome or intelligent. Unfortunately, I am neither. I am trying to see the link between the passionate speech by my colleague from Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan and the Bloc Québécois's proposal to broaden the scope of Bill C-14 and study it at the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. There may be a l…
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Madam Speaker, I am going to take the liberty of passing the puck to my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie. He can decide whether it lands on his stick or his skate; it depends how he takes it. We are trying to make the Liberals understand that the Bloc Québécois does not want to pick a fight. We just want to maintain Quebec's political weight and representation in Parliament. That is the ra…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today following my distinguished colleague, friend, member for Beloeil—Chambly and leader, in that order. I also want to acknowledge the exceptional work that my colleague from Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques has done on the research chairs file, work that is behind the opposition day we are presenting today. The motion reads as follows: That: (a) the …
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Madam Speaker, my colleague's question is a pernicious one. People need to stop saying that we are against achieving objectives. They have to stop insinuating that we are sabotaging the achievement of equity objectives. That is not okay, and that is not the right way to ask questions. As we have said, we agree, we are aware and we fully support implementing measures that will give these communitie…
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Madam Speaker, indeed, my colleague from Rivière-des-Mille-Îles is raising a very important point. The independence of institutions of higher learning is fundamental and essential. Any institution where knowledge is developed and shared, where the leaders of tomorrow hone their critical thinking skills, must not be influenced by any external factors, and certainly not by any government. These crit…
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Madam Speaker, those are two different things. My colleague talked about systemic racism, and I think that is an issue that can be dealt with separately. However, my colleague raised a very important point in her question. We should let universities manage the hiring of professors. Targets can be set. Universities can be asked to ensure that they achieve a certain representation and make room for …
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Mr. Speaker, a true Quebecker would stand up, defend French and defend Quebec culture. I want to talk about the Liberals' actions when it comes to French. The posting for the appointment of a new CRTC chairperson states: “Proficiency in both official languages would be preferred”. It is not mandatory, simply preferred. The Liberals decided to make French optional for the person responsible for the…
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Mr. Speaker, do you know who is turning 40 this week? None other than Rock et Belles Oreilles. Although the group has not been active for some years now, RBO's humour remains part of the daily lives of Quebeckers, thanks to sketches such as Mini-putt, Hockey for the blind, and Deaf news bulletin, which have all become classics. With such charming characters as Cherze Siachon, Monsieur Caron, the S…
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Madam Speaker, I very much enjoy listening to my colleague from Edmonton Strathcona talk about Alberta. When we hear her talk about Alberta, we see that there is another type of Albertan, one who is more concerned about the environment and less concerned about oil, one who sees that there are solutions for breaking our dependency on oil and who is open to a transition to renewable energy. We are v…
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Madam Speaker, I hope that my colleague from Calgary Centre was not offended by my little joke earlier. I loved his speech, and I barely missed a second of it. The Conservative members spoke earlier about the billions of dollars the oil industry reinvests in society, and we have also heard about the extraordinary profitability of the sector. The first quarter of 2022 does show record profits for C…
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Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Battle River—Crowfoot on his speech. I am not disappointed at having voted in favour of the motion so that he could be heard. Let me draw a parallel between Bill C‑14, which we are debating this evening, and Bill C‑246, which I recently introduced in the House of Commons. There is a link, a parallel between the two bills. Bill C‑14 obviously stems fr…
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Madam Speaker, I completely agree. I believe that the Bloc Québécois has already stated several times that we will support this motion to create this committee. However, there is something that I find to be somewhat paradoxical. I draw a parallel with Bill C-11. The Conservatives are arguing that we must not regulate the Internet, and that we must be careful not to put up barriers in the free mark…
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Madam Speaker, all of this has me wondering. I sometimes understand the political game of Liberals systematically opposing motions that come from the Conservatives and vice versa, on the principle that nothing good ever comes from the other team. However, I think it is a fairly old-fashioned idea that really should be reconsidered. Many of the indicators and facts here have already been proven. Th…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague from Montarville on his speech. I have learned more about international politics and global issues from his speeches than I did during all my years at university. I would remind my colleague that, in 2020, the House of Commons adopted a motion calling on the federal government to develop a strategy to combat Chinese aggression and make a dec…
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Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Shefford on her speech. I know she is passionate about journalism, the arts and culture, and I know how important this bill is to her. The previous version of the bill, Bill C‑10 was very important to her. This year's bill is all the more important because it is urgent. Lately we have been talking a lot about the place of indigenous cultures, of firs…
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Madam Speaker, I really liked my Conservative colleague's speech. I also liked the fact that he quoted experts other than Michael Geist. That was refreshing. He mentioned Scott Benzie, the director of Digital First Canada, whom I had the opportunity to meet in committee. He appeared before the committee to speak to Bill C-11 when we were talking about something else, so it was not exactly the righ…
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Madam Speaker, there is no doubt that you are doing an excellent job. Respectfully, our colleague from New Westminster—Burnaby just gave a speech and we would have liked to have asked him some questions. Just two questions were asked. Perhaps the questions and the answers were a bit long, but I would have liked for a third party to at least have the opportunity to ask a question. I wanted to menti…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation on his speech. It was a great pleasure to listen to him talk about improvements that have been made to Bill C‑10, including on the discoverability of content and on developing francophone content. I heard him talk more about francophone, Quebec and Canadian content also. Of course, it was the Bloc Québécois that really pushe…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my Conservative colleague on his very passionate speech. He mentioned that we can have a debate. It would indeed be very interesting to have a debate, if only our Conservative colleagues would drop the ridiculous rhetoric of censorship. Our colleague spoke earlier about the diversity of cultural expression that we have here, in Quebec and in Canada, and the importance o…
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Mr. Speaker, I am sure this may be just an oversight on the part of my colleague from Peace River—Westlock, but I think it has already been made clear that wearing buttons in the House of Commons is not allowed.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie for his speech. Our opposition day is clearly not useless since it has allowed the NDP to reel off its accomplishments. At least that is something. Several thoughts came to mind during his speech. First, in 2019, we sought the unanimous consent of the House to adopt a motion with similar objectives, but it was defeate…
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Madam Speaker, we request a recorded division.
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Madam Speaker, I am delighted. Unfortunately, I missed part of the speech by my colleague from Mount Royal because I was busy doing other, less interesting things. With my colleague's speech, we finally got a speech about the motion being debated today. We have heard more criticism about the relevance of the motion than about the content of the motion itself, so I very much appreciate the speech b…
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Madam Speaker, there are a number of points I want to address in the speech by the hon. member for Kings—Hants, but first I want to congratulate him because he is just about the only member of the Liberal caucus who took the time today to discuss the substance of the motion, and I appreciate that. In fact, I believe he received the same memo from his party as his colleagues, warning that the Liber…
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Madam Speaker, this gives me the opportunity to explain why I believe the NDP amendment proposed by my colleague from New Westminster—Burnaby is out of order. I do want to mention that I really enjoy working with him on heritage files, among others. Today, certain members stated in their speeches that our motion is not important and that there are more important matters to address. All of a sudden…
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Madam Speaker, with all due respect, I do not consent to the amendment.
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Madam Speaker, the motion that we are moving here deals only with the reciting of the prayer. I will give my NDP colleague the same answer that I gave my colleague opposite earlier. There is no good or bad time to propose this kind of motion and hold this kind of discussion. The issue of whether to have the House include a statement regarding indigenous peoples is a whole other debate. What we are…
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Madam Speaker, my first point is that we are in a place that represents Canadians and the people. We are in a place where state decisions are made and, in my opinion, there should be a clear separation of church and state. My second point is that I do not feel attacked or concerned at the prospect of hearing prayer. I could turn my colleague's question back to him by asking how his expressing his …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to respond by telling my colleague that there are indeed issues in the world that deserve our full attention, as they are more worrisome and more serious than prayer in the House of Commons. However, the very purpose of an opposition day is to hold debates on topics that may not be as urgent as those we normally discuss in the House of Commons. In 2019, the Bloc Québéco…
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moved: That, given that the House respects the beliefs and non-beliefs of all parliamentarians and of the general public and it is committed to the principle of the separation of religion and the state, the diversity of views and freedom of conscience while upholding the secularism and religious neutrality of the state and out of a desire for inclusiveness, the reading of the prayer at the opening…
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Madam Speaker, I want to commend my colleague for his speech. We used to work together on the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. I am glad he is not on the committee anymore because he made me do push-ups. He forced us to do physical activity. There is a reason he is now the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Sport. Seriously though, it was a pleasure to work with him. Obviously, the…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague spoke about how people are reporting longer wait times for surgical treatment. That is true. She said that her government has transferred money to help address these backlogs. I was stunned when I heard my colleague make that statement, because that is exactly what the premiers of all of the provinces and Quebec keep telling the federal government. There are wait lists …
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to see my colleague from Calgary Nose Hill in the House again. It has been a while, and we miss hearing her during our debates. One section of Bill C‑19 has to do with the luxury tax. I agree on the principle: Those who benefited more during the pandemic can and should contribute to helping those who struggled a bit more. However, this section includes a measure on…
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Mr. Speaker, these are tough times for the press. In Ukraine, journalists are being bombed to death. In Russia, journalists have to go into exile or let themselves be put in jail, where they are silenced for telling the truth about the war. Journalists, columnists and bloggers everywhere are being imprisoned, threatened or killed. The planet is warming, the pandemic is lingering and war is raging …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, namaste. I am very pleased to rise in the House as my party's critic on living together to speak to Motion No. 42, which would declare November Hindu heritage month. The motion, for the benefit of my colleagues, reads as follows: That, in the opinion of the House, the government should recognize the contributions that Hindu Canadians [and Quebeckers] have made to the socio-economic …
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Mr. Speaker, last Thursday, our great lady of Quebec song, Ginette Reno, was named a Knight of the Legion of Honour, the highest national honour of the Republic of France. This singer, with a distinctive voice that is both tender and powerful, can sing that she is qu'une chanson, only a song, but everyone in Quebec knows that she is much more than that. She knew how to take her craft Un peu plus h…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to hear my colleague from Louis‑Saint‑Laurent speak in the House. One thing we would have liked to see in this bill is a bit more recognition of the issues facing small businesses. My numbers are from October 31, 2021, and the situation may have gotten worse since then, but the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, or CFIB, states that more than one-qu…
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Madam Speaker, these are tough times for local and regional newspapers. Even as they grapple with challenges brought on by online competition, they have to contend with changing habits as “Publisac”, the plastic bag used for door-to-door flyer distribution, fades from view. Across most of Quebec, the unassuming Publisac is how our regional newspapers are distributed because Canada Post charges exo…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. In recent years, we have been seeing more and more of all kinds of not-so-subtle little interferences in areas under the jurisdiction of Québec and the provinces. This latest one is new: interference in municipal jurisdiction. I know it, the Bloc Québécois knows it, and constitutional lawyer Patrick Taillon confirms that the federal government's …
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Madam Speaker, country music great Julie Daraîche passed away suddenly this week, leaving millions of Quebeckers and Acadians in mourning. Whether she performed solo, with the Daraîche family or as a duo with her brother Paul, this extraordinary artist made Quebec's cowboys dance and sing for over 50 years. Her songs will continue to resonate for many years to come. With hits like Pardonner et oub…
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Madam Speaker, I heard my Conservative colleague say a moment ago that if the Liberals do not understand how the economy works and do not know how to get the job done, they should step aside and let a responsible party do it. I heard my colleague's appeal, but I regret to say that the Bloc Québécois has no intention of taking over the government. We are here to make proposals, but we do not want t…
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Madam Speaker, I really liked the parliamentary secretary's answer, but it was a good answer to a question I did not ask. The answer had nothing to do with the question. Local and regional news has been dwindling before our very eyes for the past 20 years. This did not become a crisis overnight. I am not talking about digital media; I am talking about the distribution of local and regional weekly …
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois supported this bill at second reading because it did not have much substance and there were so many things to improve. Acting in good faith, we voted in favour of the bill so we could work on it. Basically, not much has happened since, and we are once again left with a bill that is devoid of substance. This bill does very little to address the labour shortage and gi…
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Mr. Speaker, these are the words of Jean Ferrat: They were twenty and one hundred, they were in the thousands, Naked and gaunt, trembling, in sealed wagons, They tore at the night with their restless fingers. They were in the thousands, they were twenty and one hundred. On this Yom HaShoah, we remember. We remember what people can do when they lose their humanity. We remember the atrocities that e…
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Madam Speaker, following the NDP-Liberal agreement and alliance and the announcements made about pharmacare and dental care, there is something missing in the budget, namely a recurrent and unconditional increase in health transfers. This an important, basic and unanimous request by Quebec and the provinces, to which the government is responding only in a roundabout fashion. That is not what this …
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Madam Speaker, like the Bloc Québécois, the Conservatives often champion Quebec's and the provinces' jurisdiction and generally oppose federal interference in areas under their control. Bill C‑8 would see the federal government claim a piece of the property tax pie, which is under municipal jurisdiction. That kind of interference is new. What are my colleagues' thoughts on the Liberals' interferen…
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Mr. Speaker, I heard my colleague from Saskatchewan talking about the wait times experienced by francophone veterans and veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces in the processing of their cases. That fact really struck home. In my riding, one veteran has been caught up in red tape for a decade. To illustrate how ridiculous this situation is, he stated that if the government had put as much energy an…
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Mr. Speaker, the Oscars gave talented Quebeckers in the film industry their due, and now the Grammys have recognized our music industry stars. Yesterday, Montreal orchestra conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin picked up the Grammy for best orchestral performance for the Philadelphia Orchestra's recording of Florence Price's Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3. This honour reflects well on our institutions, which are …
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Mr. Speaker, a call for applications for research chairs at Laval University is attracting a lot of attention because it excludes white men. There are a lot of ways to promote inclusion and diversity within our institutions, and we completely agree with the principle. One way to do so would be through anonymous résumés, for example. However, exclusion is not the way to go. Exclusion is not a metho…
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Mr. Speaker, excluding the answer to a question is not a good idea either. Exclusion is not a method of inclusion. What is more, what starts as a good intention creates division. There are young, competent male researchers out there who are in no way associated with the discrimination of the past, yet they are not even allowed to apply. These individuals are having their opportunity taken away in …
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