Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I made a passing reference to that in my speech, but it was not really the main point of my speech. That said, I will reserve my comments and response for later, once we have completed the study that is currently being conducted. With each new meeting during this study, we are learning some extremely interesting things. The report on this study will be published at some point. At that…
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Mr. Speaker, earlier, in my speech, I spoke at length about how facts are being distorted and twisted in order to make people who are sincerely concerned accept the position of a political party. I find that unacceptable. I believe we have a duty to be honest. We have a duty to speak responsibly to voters and tell them the truth, the real facts. In this case, I get the impression that a message of…
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Mr. Speaker, I would say that when we ask the Conservative caucus from Quebec this question, we do not get an answer right away. I look forward to hearing a speech on this from a Quebec Conservative. We might hear a bit more about their position and their arguments. That was an excellent question from my colleague from Lac-Saint-Jean.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, perhaps the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons should visit Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean. He would find out that people certainly are talking about building a country, the country of Quebec. I have even more suggestions for the “no” side. The federal government could respect Quebec laws, such as state secularism and the Charter of the French Language. It could fight the decli…
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Mr. Speaker, I know what the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture should be fed up with. He should be fed up with Ottawa twiddling its thumbs while French is in decline. He should be fed up with Ottawa continuing to fund English in Quebec while French is under threat. He should be fed up with the fact that fewer and fewer Quebeckers are able to listen to music in French, read in French and se…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister was in Alberta, where he announced federal approval for the pipeline project that crosses British Columbia and terminates at a deep-water port on the Pacific coast. Yesterday, the Bloc Québécois asked the government a question, and the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons spontaneously answered yes to that question. The question was whether this project …
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Madam Speaker, earlier, my colleague from Lac‑Saint‑Jean asked a Conservative member a question after his speech. He noted that the Conservatives tore apart the Liberal budget in their speeches, and rightly so. However, my colleague wanted to know what efforts the Conservatives made to defeat this budget. The Conservative member replied that his party tried its best to defeat that budget when it c…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister just announced that he is approving the construction of a pipeline to transport oil from Alberta, through British Columbia, to the Pacific Ocean. First nations in British Columbia are threatening to take legal action because they disagree with this decision. There is no social licence for it, unlike what my Conservative colleague said earlier. The Government of Brit…
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Mr. Speaker, I am going to pick up where my Conservative colleague left off. My question to the leader of the Green Party is one I ask with both consternation and curiosity, as there was a great deal of speculation around her support for the budget prior to the vote. It was not completely clear, but it seems that she found reassurance in commitments made by the Prime Minister. Today, I find it har…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, this weekend, we learned of the death of the great journalist Madeleine Poulin. Originally, she was not interested in journalism as a career. In fact, she wanted to teach. In the end, that is what she did. Through her professionalism, she ensured that generations of Quebeckers and francophones across Canada were better educated on social issues, politics and current events in general.…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Lac-Saint-Jean asked a question earlier about the digital services tax and the weakness shown by the Prime Minister, who held out for only 24 hours before obeying a tweet from the U.S. President and eliminating the digital services tax. The Bloc Québécois put forward a proposal to save the cultural industry and the media sector, especially the news media, which are c…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech, and I want to congratulate her on the quality of her French. It is always much appreciated. I want to talk about the media crisis. The Bloc Québécois is very concerned about this issue, particularly this week. There is an easy solution that is within reach and that will not affect taxpayers. I am referring to the much-discussed digital services tax…
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Mr. Speaker, with your permission and that of the House, I would like to share my time with the member for Rimouski—La Matapédia
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Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour for me to rise in the House to represent the residents of my riding of Drummond. I do not know of any parent, any father or any mother, who would boast about feeding two of their children while leaving the other three to go hungry. That, however, is exactly what the Liberals are doing with this budget. Let us start with the media. An amount of $150 million is ea…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, that is a rather odd analogy coming from a former environmentalist. The government has just abolished the digital services tax, which could have financed a fund to support a diversity of information sources and Quebec culture. The government is doing nothing for private broadcasters. When questioned, it says that it is funding the public sector, as if the entire broadcasting system is…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague talked about CBC/Radio-Canada and about the Conservative position. As I said in my speech, I am in favour of a public broadcaster, but I am also in favour of private media and of news and information that is fair and equitable. I am not in favour of just one broadcaster getting preferential treatment over the others. We did not agree with the Conservatives' campaign propo…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague has described exactly what our regions and smaller centres are currently feeling: a genuine loss of confidence that this government will save a significant pillar of democracy. Local media cannot simply be a sort of antenna that transmits what is happening in Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto. They must also have the ability to cover the news, share information, and showc…
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Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if my colleague heard my speech earlier or what we have been saying for days now about the crisis in the media, which has been going on for years. This government is well aware of it. Private media outlets and private broadcasters are complaining about this budget, saying that there is nothing in it for them, even though they asked for very simple, minor measures such as…
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Mr. Speaker, we do enjoy the theatre. That said, one would certainly have expected something more rigorous from an expert in economics and finance. We are somewhat surprised to see so much creative accounting in this budget. There are billions of dollars in spending that the government is treating as assets. We also know that if the same accounting approach were applied to Justin Trudeau's budgets…
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Mr. Speaker, we have to give credit where credit is due. The member for Winnipeg North is definitely entertaining, and when it comes to drinking the Liberal Kool-Aid, that member is second to none. Someone should make a T-shirt with his face on it. Having said that, I do respect his opinions and his point of view. That is what democracy is all about. I accept that we can have different opinions an…
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture is showing a complete disregard for Quebec's private broadcasters and their workers. Québecor has shed 800 jobs, but the minister is standing idly by. Cogeco Media and Bell Media have asked for help, but the minister is not lifting a finger. He is as indifferent to the media crisis as the Prime Minister is to the climate crisis. Does the m…
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Mr. Speaker, yes, but there is nothing for private broadcasters. In order to please the very powerful American president, the Prime Minister decided to abolish the digital services tax. The revenue from that tax could have been used to create a fund to provide long-term support to the cultural and media sectors. That would have helped TVA, which is in great need. Not only did the Liberals refuse t…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague—a former Quebec finance minister, economist and former banker—on his speech. The Liberal government's budget contains some creative accounting of Olympic proportions. It passes off expenditures as capital investments. Here is an example: Security for FIFA is considered a capital investment, not an expense. The budget contains other examples like that, and i…
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Mr. Speaker, earlier, my colleague from Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj asked my colleague from Rivière-des-Mille-Îles a very respectful question. He spoke to her about the fisheries fund, which is an issue of great concern to the people of Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands. He asked her why the fisheries fund was not included in the budget, given how important it is to the industry. My co…
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Mr. Speaker, I think you should give my colleague from New Tecumseth—Gwillimbury more time. It is always entertaining when he gives us his answers. I congratulate him on his speech. Many people criticize the Liberal government's new budget for being very conservative. The budget contains a number of measures, and I would like to ask my colleague which of those measures he is happiest with. We will…
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Mr. Speaker, I am not sure you want even the insults to go through the Chair. It would be nice if people could show a little restraint. I listened with interest to my Conservative colleague's speech. He said something that brought a question to mind. He said we import oil from Russia. I am not sure whether that is true. I know that there has been a ban on Russian oil imports since 2022 and that we…
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Mr. Speaker, earlier, the member for York Centre said in his speech that Canada is importing oil and oil products from Russia. I asked him to clarify and to give some numbers because I know that that is not allowed. Canada has been banning oil imports from Russia since 2022, and we have not imported any oil from there since 2019. He told me that Canada imported oil from Russia last year and that w…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, every year, on November 11, we have a duty to remember those who served in uniform and those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the armed conflicts Canada has been involved in over the decades. This year is a very special one for me. I was asked to serve as the poppy campaign's honorary chair for Branch 51 of the Royal Canadian Legion in Drummondville. I proudly accepted because, as M…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today to speak to Bill C-238. First of all, I want to acknowledge and congratulate the new mayors and municipal councillors who were just elected in my magnificent riding of Drummond. I also want to give a special shout-out to Drummondville's new mayor, Jean-François Houle, who is a trained lawyer. One of the challenges awaiting him is to calm public fears …
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Madam Speaker, yes, it is important to make criminals pay. Yes, it is important to support organizations that help victims, that provide victims with assistance. However, there already exists a process that works for victims. The Canadian Victims Bill of Rights, which my colleague referred to, does indeed affirm the right to restitution. The same Canadian Victims Bill of Rights also defines a vict…
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Madam Speaker, the Liberals take a lot of flack. I would agree that the government is quite often clumsy and imperfect. There may even be some incompetence in certain areas. However, the Conservatives are claiming that a Supreme Court ruling is due to the policies of the government that has been in power for the past 10 years. I would remind my colleague that the Supreme Court assesses the constit…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague made several interesting points in her speech. First, she said that the Liberals are not going to change the Constitution just because they do not like a law. In that regard, I would like to draw the House's attention to Bill 21, which was passed by the Quebec National Assembly and which the government is challenging all the way up to the Supreme Court because it disagr…
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Mr. Speaker, I commend the member for Winnipeg North for doing such a great job getting our Conservative colleagues all worked up. It happens every time: As soon as he gets up to give a speech, emotions run high in the opposition benches. It livens things up a bit in the House of Commons, and we should be grateful to him for that, even if we do not always agree with what he says. As we have been s…
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Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague from Oshawa for her speech. I would like to acknowledge her concern for victims of domestic violence. This is an issue that affects us all and one on which we must all stand together. That is why I think there are some interesting aspects to Bill C‑14. When Parliament resumed this fall, the Conservatives introduced Bill C‑242, another bill that deals with pretty…
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Madam Speaker, let me start by saying that the Bloc Québécois supports Bill C-14. However, we still have some concerns about the text of the bill, including the discretion that it gives to judges to reverse the burden of proof for certain crimes. These include some serious crimes for which it would be justifiable for a judge to keep the accused in remand. However, some crimes on this list, like au…
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With regard to case number 41231, English Montreal School Board, et al. v. Attorney General of Quebec, et al., as of June 17, 2025: (a) how many hours have public servants dedicated to this legal challenge; (b) how much money has the government spent on the challenge; (c) what resources has the government employed with respect to the challenge and how much money has been allocated to each of these…
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With regard to the challenge to Quebec’s Act respecting the laicity of the State, broken down by case in which the government was involved: (a) how many hours have public servants devoted to each legal challenge; (b) how much money has the government spent on each challenge; (c) what resources has the government employed with respect to each challenge and how much money has been allocated to each …
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Mr. Speaker, perhaps my colleague from Trois‑Rivières can respond to that. In the last Parliament, the finance minister at the time, Ms. Freeland, did not want to table a budget with a projected deficit of nearly $42 billion. She thought it was outrageous to propose—
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Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on his excellent speech. What spirit. Earlier, my colleague asked a question of the member for Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, who is an economist and former Quebec finance minister. He lived through the period of austerity, which he helped create. My colleague mentioned the $83 billion in support that is being paid out to the oil industry. The member for Marc-…
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Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, the Liberals are doing a lot of boasting about lower interest rates. They are boasting about having eased the tax burden, the financial burden on middle-class families. In reality, people are more in debt and are having a tougher time taking care of their responsibilities and meeting their financial obligations at the end of the month. The Conservatives are proposin…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on her speech. I always find it a little strange when I hear the Liberals boast about providing relief to the middle class with tax cuts, when it is the middle class that is currently struggling the most because of the cost of living. They are drowning. Despite that, right after the election, the Liberals decided to forgo nearly $90 billion in potential rev…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on his speech and his ability to focus. For a guy who celebrated his birthday yesterday and must have gone to bed very late, he seemed very focused despite the noise in the House. Good on him. Now, he is part of a government that has given up about $90 billion in revenue, according to the most reasonable estimates. His government is still going to provide $…
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Mr. Speaker, my apologies, I know that. I suppose I must have forgotten that this government is the same as the last. I apologize for my blunder. I withdraw the remark. This former finance minister chose to resign rather than propose a budget with an outrageous $42-billion deficit. We are about to see a budget tabled with a deficit of nearly $100 billion. How is it that the $42 billion was so outr…
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Mr. Speaker, I am a little concerned because I am watching the Liberals, and I see them cutting measures that could generate billions of dollars in revenue, such as the digital services tax, which has been eliminated, as well as countertariffs, which we have not seen at all. The same can be said of the Conservatives. When I asked the Leader of the Opposition earlier what he would do to put money b…
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Mr. Speaker, the speech that my colleague from Thornhill made earlier was very interesting. Finally, we have a Conservative motion that the Bloc Québécois can get behind. Of course, it is easy to say that this government's management is abysmal when everyone can see we are digging ourselves in deeper and deeper. This government needs to manage a financial crisis for families in Quebec and Canada a…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are always bragging about all kinds of things and throwing numbers around. They are saying that they have lowered interest rates and curbed the massive inflation we have been experiencing in recent years. However, the reality for Quebec and Canadian families is that prices are still very high. After the pandemic, prices did not go back down, but wages also did not go up. …
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Mr. Speaker, people often say that the Conservatives put forward simplistic solutions to highly complex problems, but their proposal today makes some sense. It is true that we have a duty to protect our communities and it is also true that a growing number of repeat offenders are being released into the community awaiting trial, including people charged with violent crimes against women. Maybe we …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like my colleague to talk to us about the fact that the Conservatives are moving a motion on a bill that has yet to be assessed by the law clerks or even found in order. The Conservatives are trying to use this motion to muzzle the House of Commons. That approach seems rather unusual to me, and I would like my colleague to talk to us about it.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are not entirely wrong. There are several reasons why we really do need to focus on the justice system, look after it and reform it. One of the problems that was identified a long time ago has to do with the appointment of judges. The government is behind on that. However, Quebec has long been asking to have its say on the judges Ottawa appoints to sit on higher cour…
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Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary is talking about solutions to a crisis. Today's motion is talking about the rising cost of groceries. As I said earlier, there is not just one solution to such a complex issue, certainly not a simplistic solution like the one the Conservatives are proposing. Earlier, the Liberals said that there was already a code of conduct that grocers and major grocery c…
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