Government Orders
Madam Speaker, during the campaign, and even long before that, the Bloc Québécois kept saying and is still saying that certain industries have been harder hit than others and are having a harder time recovering from the pandemic. Aeronautics, aerospace, as well as the tourism and hospitality industries are doing well, but arts and culture is not. I heard my colleague from Outremont speak very pass…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to inform you that I will share my time with my colleague, the hon. member for Thérèse-De Blainville. Before I begin my speech, I would like to come back to the answer the colleague from Outremont gave me a few minutes ago. I realize that theatres and cultural enterprises will be able to continue to benefit from these programs, but artists and workers are not included i…
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Madam Speaker, the assistance being provided to help theatres and cultural businesses pay the rent is one thing. It does help keep the buildings in good shape and functional. Cultural businesses can also benefit from some form of assistance. However, self-employed cultural workers do not get hired by these businesses when there is no work to be had. Last year on the heritage committee, we did a st…
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Madam Speaker, even though my speech was more focused on culture, I am glad my colleague raised the subject of seniors. The Bloc Québécois has always positioned itself as a strong advocate for seniors. To us, it is unacceptable that the current government has generally and systematically ignored seniors. The best example of that is how it created two classes of seniors by enhancing benefits for se…
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Madam Speaker, I would be in favour of any measure designed to remedy unfair, inequitable treatment of seniors, regardless of their age, specifically unjust treatment resulting from the creation of two classes of seniors and the fact that only the needs of those 75 and up are being addressed.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment to congratulate you on your appointment. You have a voice that carries, and everyone can hear you all the way at the back of the House. I think that, even without a microphone, you could make yourself heard and maintain order in the House. Congratulations. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance stated her firm intention to help the sectors most…
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Madam Speaker, earlier my hon. colleague from Lac-Saint-Jean mentioned the study done by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage last year. The study looked at the impact of the pandemic on the cultural sector and noted something, nearly a year ago, about organizations representing the cultural community. It found that support from government programs at that time was not reaching artists. We …
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a remarkable woman and ambassador of francophone literature, Acadian author Antonine Maillet, who was honoured in Paris yesterday. She was awarded the rank of commander of the Legion of Honour, and it was the French President himself who handed her the insignia. It is the highest distinction awarded by France to a person who is not a French citizen. Many…
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Madam Speaker, I too would like to congratulate you on being elected Deputy Speaker. I would also like to congratulate the member for New Westminster—Burnaby, whom I understand is to be my counterpart at the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. It will be my pleasure to work with him to move forward on cultural matters and the important bills awaiting our attention. I heard the member's argume…
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Madam Speaker, the speech we heard was rather predictable. In fact, when the parliamentary secretary rises, we know almost exactly what he is going to say for the next 20 minutes. We also heard him laying a lot of blame and expressing a lot of criticism toward the opposition, particularly for making the president of the Public Health Agency of Canada appear before the House and for stalling bills …
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Madam Speaker, when I hear my colleague from Berthier—Maskinongé discuss topics that affect so many colleagues in the House, particularly on the issue of agriculture and the urgent need to treat our farmers and dairy producers with the respect they deserve, I must admit that I am surprised not to see more of a reaction to his speeches. As he just said, dairy farmers in Quebec and farmers in genera…
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the results of the vote, and we will indubitably vote in favour.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the results of the vote, and we will vote in favour.
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Madam Speaker, I request a recorded division.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will be voting in favour of the motion.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote in favour of the motion.
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Madam Speaker, the Bloc Québécois did not get its turn to rise in this debate. I think there must have been some mistake.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote against.
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moved: That Bill C-10, in Clause 23, be amended by adding after line 33 on page 32 the following: “(a.1) increasing the administrative monetary penalty amounts set out in subsection 34.5(1);”
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moved: That Bill C-10 be amended by adding after line 17 on page 43 the following new clause: “Review 46.1 (1)During the fifth year after this section comes into force, and every five years after that, a comprehensive review of the provisions and operation of this Act must be undertaken by the committee of the Senate, of the House of Commons or of both Houses of Parliament, that is designated or e…
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Madam Speaker, I request a recorded division.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote in favour of the motion.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will be voting in favour of the motion.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will be voting in favour of the motion.
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Mr. Speaker, I listened to my colleague's speech, and I must say that it was shockingly chock full of fearmongering. I have seldom heard anything like that. On top of that, these words are from a former journalist. He himself said that he had been a journalist for 30 years. I remind my colleagues that facts are important in journalism. They have clearly chosen party lines over the facts in this de…
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Mr. Speaker, we have finally reached the end of this bill on which many people have worked very hard in the past few months. I commend the members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage who have been working hard since Bill C‑10 was introduced. As we have said many times, this bill was not perfect when it was introduced. I used a metaphor, comparing this bill to a brand new paint by number…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan for his question, and I want to say how much I appreciate his work on human rights. I am delighted that he is asking a question that elevates the debate somewhat, and I very much appreciate it. The issue of algorithms is tricky, actually. There has been a lot of talk about it, and we learned a great deal from this study, but we…
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Mr. Speaker, I just want to say what amazing progress my colleague from Kitchener—Conestoga has made in learning French, and I would like to take a moment to applaud his hard work. He is a member of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, and every time we do a sound check, which is mandatory before committee meetings, he does his in French, which is his way of sharing what he has been learni…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, and I want to return the compliment because I know how committed he is to culture. I think we have worked collaboratively and effectively together over the past few months. I think we are past the point of throwing rocks and tomatoes and pointing fingers at one another. In the case of Bill C‑10, the government probably had some diff…
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Madam Speaker, at one point or another, we have all seen unflattering and unhelpful remarks in social media, but there is something we, and especially my colleagues in the Bloc Québécois, see a lot. It is called Quebec bashing. In fact, it is a national sport for some, which consists in knocking Quebec indiscriminately. I would like to thank my leader for his speech. It was inspirational as always…
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Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons for his speech. I noticed that he spoke of the importance of taking action instead of just talking. That is actually one of our biggest criticisms about the current government. It is important to protect francophone culture. I know that many members of the House really care about the French language. They have often demons…
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Madam Speaker, the member did give us a nice history lesson. Today we are talking about the French language and about Quebec and francophone culture, and we are also in the midst of a rather heated debate on Bill C‑10, an important part of which is designed to protect francophone culture. However, there is a lot of opposition to this bill in my colleague's party. I would like to hear my colleague …
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be able to ask my question again, because I did not get an answer at all. I heard the hon. member talk about the importance that his party seems to place on the myth that Bill C‑10 would infringe on freedom of expression, but that was not the point of my question at all. I wanted his opinion on the importance that should be placed on protecting francophone and Quebec…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite‑Patrie and thank him for his speech. I have two questions for him, and I have no doubt that I will get a clear answer this time. I would like to know what my colleague thinks about the fact that the government chose to table a bill meeting many of the requests made by the National Assembly today, on an opposition day …
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Madam Speaker, after such an inspiring speech, I can understand that our colleagues are somewhat hesitant to rise. I will be delighted to do so, first to congratulate our House leader, the member for La Prairie, who is an esteemed colleague. He mentioned something that I believe to be very important in our discussions today and that we have often heard from our colleagues from English Canada. He s…
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Madam Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for his speech. As the member for Rivière‑des‑Mille‑Îles said earlier, it is music to our ears to hear all the sounds, tones and accents in French that are coloured by people's homelands. The parliamentary secretary is a great example of the beauty of our beloved language. This is also the intention behind what we, the Bloc Québécois, are introduc…
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Madam Speaker, I thank and congratulate my colleague from Montarville for his brilliant speech. He is passionate about the language, francophone culture and Quebec culture, and has been a great defender of them since the beginning of his political battle. The question I would like to ask my colleague has more to do with the bill that the government has chosen to introduce today, the day the Bloc Q…
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Madam Speaker, I am honoured to rise to speak today on this special day as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of my party, the Bloc Québécois. Contrary to what some uncharitable souls have said, the Bloc Québécois has always been relevant. As evidence of this, for our opposition day, the Bloc Québécois is moving a motion to have the French language recognized as the official language and the only c…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. Unfortunately, I have to answer yes. There are issues that Quebec cares a lot about, and all members of the Bloc Québécois promised to defend and represent the values and interests of Quebec in the House of Commons. Without the Bloc Québécois here, many of Quebec's concerns and interests would likely be simply swept under the rug or shelved for…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Montarville for his question. It is certainly something I find difficult to explain. For some time now, the more I think about it, the more I believe we should perhaps do things differently and change the way we communicate and share our vision and our plans. I always thought we would do better to be good neighbours than difficult bedfellows. When it comes …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, who always speaks with tremendous passion and a great deal of emotion for the sector that she is part of, the cultural sector. She asked me to say just one thing to the cultural sector, and that will be easy. I would just tell them that we will never abandon them.
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Madam Speaker, allow me to go back in time a bit. In 2019, when the Bloc Québécois was campaigning across Quebec, the 32 Bloc Québécois candidates running for election to the House and all of the others who ran in other ridings committed to—
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Richmond—Arthabaska. I know that he has been very emotionally involved in the issue of freedom of expression on the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in recent weeks. After clause 4.1 was removed on that fateful Friday in late April, we were interrupted by the Conservatives, who saw a potential violation of freedom of expression, the imp…
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Madam Speaker, I will now get back to the premise of my speech, the 2019 campaign in which every Bloc Québécois candidate made a serious promise to voters, a commitment made solemnly and with conviction: Whenever we are in the House, we will make decisions, take a position and support bills and motions that defend Quebeckers’ interests and values. Even today, it is still the question we ask oursel…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan for his question and comments. As I mentioned in my speech earlier, for one thing, the end justifies the means, and for another, desperate times call for desperate measures. Our Conservative colleagues dug their heels in in committee, putting on an appalling show for the world about how democracy works. They filibustered in com…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite‑Patrie for his question. I want to remain focused on Bill C‑10 and I would say that things could have been done far more effectively a long time ago. If you ask me, there was a bit of foot dragging at several stages in the process. In terms of time allocation, my leader made a proposition on the May 16 edition of Tout le monde en parle, whi…
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Mr. Speaker, I listened to my colleague from Lethbridge speak for about 10 minutes. I will give her a chance. We can talk about content, but I do not think we will ever agree. As the old saying goes, if a lie is repeated often enough, people start to believe it. However, that is not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what she said in an interview she gave to the Lethbridge Herald, in …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Calgary Shepard for his speech, a few words of which he considerately delivered in what we know is his nearly impeccable French. However, when my colleague said that it is shameful of the Bloc Québécois to support this government's time allocation motion, I would refer him to the speech I delivered earlier this evening, which would help him understand our r…
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Madam Speaker, it is fascinating to hear that the Conservative member did not need to read the bill after all. It is so much easier to just defer to Michael Geist. They are making speeches but, in the end, their understanding of the topic is limited to the spin and partisan arguments they were asked to propagate. I have a simple proposition for my colleague. I would like to hear his thoughts on am…
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Mr. Speaker, I honestly do not know where to begin. I am trying to find something relevant, interesting and enlightening in my colleague's speech, but honestly, I cannot find any such thing. For months, I have had the so-called “pleasure” of working on Bill C‑10 at the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. Now I wonder, because I am hearing falsehoods. It is said that if a lie is repeated often…
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