Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would have liked to hear the Leader of the Opposition talk more about how the Prime Minister has a stake in just about every decision he makes and how he benefits financially. However, I want to circle back to today's topic, which is the cost of groceries. I see that the Conservatives are proposing to eliminate many taxes, including all carbon taxes and the packaging tax, meaning th…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. A Conservative member is answering my question, and I would like to hear him. However, his own Conservative colleague is making noise. I would have liked to hear my colleague's answer. I wonder if he could say it again so I can understand his answer. No? That is too bad.
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Mr. Speaker, this is not a problem that can be solved with just one solution. There is not just one key that can unlock this door. In my view, the government's efforts to engage the grocery giants have not been successful. In particular, my colleague talked about a code of conduct that the big grocery chains have pledged to follow. I would like to know what has actually gotten done so far, because…
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Mr. Speaker, there are also many farmers in the Drummond area. I realize that this is a complex problem. The issues facing farmers are complex. My colleague from Lévis—Lotbinière spoke about this earlier, and he speaks from experience. However, it seems to me that the Conservatives are reducing this to a very simplistic, even populist solution and are refusing to see the problem as a complex whole…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my Conservative colleague on his speech and I applaud his passion. He is clearly very committed. I can tell that this really matters to him and gets him fired up. The cost of food is a major problem, but I do not think the solution is as simple as what the Conservatives are proposing. It is much bigger than that. Does my colleague agree that we need to do more to suppor…
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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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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives often have the habit of presenting serious problems for discussion and then putting forward rather simplistic solutions, intellectual shortcuts or sometimes even populist shortcuts. The issue we are discussing today is serious. The cost of food and groceries is a serious problem. Even high-income families now have to make choices and be careful about what they buy at…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by saying that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj. I would like to take us in a different direction with today's debate. I thought that it might be beneficial for a number of colleagues here, who regularly hear Quebec's grievances but are not familiar with our history, to learn a little more about our jou…
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Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent example of misinformation, disinformation, or simply misunderstanding what An Act respecting the laicity of the State is about. It prevents no one from running for office, winning an election, or sitting in Parliament. The other thing that we need to stop is thinking that the act is holding back young women who wear the hijab and religious symbols in general, beca…
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Mr. Speaker, I was also blown away when I saw excerpts from this report, which mentions the possibility that a government could reinstate arbitrary executions and consider repealing freedom of the press. My colleague from Pontiac—Kitigan Zibi said earlier that there was a danger of women's rights being rolled back. As my colleague from Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères implied, Quebec is the …
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Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by wishing Shana Tova to my colleague from Mount Royal and to the entire Jewish community in Quebec and Canada who are celebrating the new year today. I acknowledge the fact that my colleague and I will likely never agree on this type of issue. However, having worked with my colleague many times, I admire his openness to intelligent and lively debate. Even so, I have t…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to see that the member for Montmorency—Charlevoix thinks that Quebec can contribute a great deal to the Canadian identity. Personally, I do not see any point in showing anything to the rest of Canada, other than demonstrating that we are going to be excellent neighbours and partners in all aspects of society, whether in commerce or international trade. I understand t…
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Mr. Speaker, some superheroes wear capes and fly, but the one I am honouring today wears warm clothes, a toque and boots with crampons, and he is a climber. On August 12, while most of us were enjoying the summer sun, Charles Page from Drummondville was facing the worst weather conditions imaginable as he reached the summit of K2, the second-highest mountain in the world at 8,611 metres, and the m…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. People who wish to have conversations during the question and comments period may do so outside the House.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles for his speech and for his passion on this particular topic. I know he is a strong advocate for cracking down a little more on repeat offenders. There are a number of ways to achieve this. We in the Bloc Québécois generally agree on the substance, but we may disagree or have other ideas about the form. We have proposed various …
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to pick up on the question that my colleague from Berthier—Maskinongé asked the member for Winnipeg North earlier, because it was a simple question. We talked about a bill that we introduced in the previous Parliament and that the member must be familiar with. It sought to eliminate the religious exemption in the Criminal Code that allows people to…
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Madam Speaker, in the speech he gave just now, my colleague from Rivière-du-Nord quoted comments made by Adil Charkaoui, a very controversial religious leader, during a demonstration literally calling for Jews to be hunted down and exterminated. These extremely violent and hateful comments were made under the guise of religion. As my colleague quite rightly pointed out, the authorities did not eve…
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Mr. Speaker, I commend the parliamentary secretary for his speech. As we said a few times this week, my colleague from Rivière-du-Nord did incredible work on the issue of judicial appointments. Judicial appointments are supposed to be impartial. However, we know that nothing could be further from the truth. The shortage of judges in the system is one of the problems we are speaking out against tod…
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Mr. Speaker, my childhood memories, like the childhood memories of hundreds of thousands of Quebecker children, are filled with winter nights on streets where the hard snow had made a perfect surface for us to play hockey. Sometimes three-on-three, sometimes four-on-four, one goalie, and two or three players on offence. There was no one on defence when we played in the street. At that time, it did…
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Mr. Speaker, I see that you were going to move on to the next item, but my colleague from Berthier—Maskinongé requested that the minister withdraw her remarks.
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Mr. Speaker, on June 24, 1975, the celebrated poet of Natashquan chose the feast day of Saint-Jean, soon to become our national holiday, to bestow upon Quebeckers a priceless treasure: a song they could all call their very own. For 50 years now, whenever we celebrate a loved one's birthday around the dinner table or out at a restaurant with friends and family, we all raise our voices to sing Gille…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague from Lac-Saint-Jean on his speech. Everyone who knows him and has had the opportunity to work with him knows that he is an extremely thorough individual who is capable of working across party lines in the best interests of the issues that he is working on. Immigration is something that is very important to him. After the Minister of Immigration, Refugees…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my Conservative colleague for her speech and for her strong convictions on this issue. We will not always agree on all the measures to be taken or on the entirety of a bill. However, it seems to me that in the case of this bill, everyone had pretty much agreed to finish with this measure, which has already been studied several times in previous versions of similar bills from t…
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Mr. Speaker, the member has held the important and critical position of immigration minister for over a month now. Quebec is experiencing major issues, including with the temporary foreign worker program, and the federal government has been dragging its feet for a long time. Today, I am very pleased to see Bill C-3 has been introduced. It is a good bill, which we were in favour of during the previ…
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Madam Speaker, I do not think I have had a chance to congratulate you on your appointment as Deputy Speaker. As my colleague from Lac-Saint-Jean said earlier, I am happy to see you again. You are my favourite too, so it is good to see you again. I was also pleased to hear our new colleague from Madawaska—Restigouche say that he will support Bill C‑2. I am glad to hear that. However, I would add th…
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Mr. Speaker, today's lunch was the most beautiful meal of the year in Drummondville, as a hearty traditional Christmas dinner was offered to Tablée populaire regulars by the team at the legendary Le Roy Jucep restaurant, where, as we all know, poutine was invented. This is the third year that Laurent Proulx and Léonie Nadeau have invited local politicians and business people to help their generous…
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Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Justice is echoing Amira Elghawaby's request that professors be hired based on their religion rather than their skills. First, why is Ottawa getting involved in the hiring of university professors? Is there a minister of higher education here, and Ottawa forgot to tell us? Second, this proposal flies in the face of secularism. This brings religion back into o…
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Mr. Speaker, the Senate issued a report that blames Quebec's secularism for everything, and the Minister of Immigration said nothing. Amira Elghawaby called Quebeckers anti-Muslim, and the Minister of Immigration said nothing. The Standing Committee on Justice tabled a report that repeats the Senate's anti-secularism arguments, and the Minister of Immigration has no problem with that. Ottawa is pr…
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Mr. Speaker, “We are the offspring of modest French-Canadian families, working class or lower middle class”. With those words, a small group of artists launched an artistic and social revolution in 1948, laying the foundations for what would become modern-day Quebec. The Refus global is perhaps one of the most fundamental texts when it comes to understanding today's Quebec. The manifesto, which wa…
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Mr. Speaker, the Iris gala, the grand celebration of the Quebec film industry, shone brightly again this year. The biggest winner of the night was Gatineau director Ariane Louis‑Seize, whose film Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person has more than just a catchy title to recommend it. This black comedy won best picture, best first film, and best screenplay for the director and her co-…
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Mr. Speaker, I find it quite rich to hear the NDP and the Conservatives passing the buck about who is disrupting the House the most. The Bloc Québécois sits between the two parties. Members on both sides are yelling and hurling insults at each other. There is clearly a lack of decorum in the House. This is not the first time we have risen to point that out. Once again, I appeal to you, Mr. Speaker…
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Madam Speaker, yesterday I tried to move a motion calling on the House of Commons to join the Bloc Québécois in denouncing the presence of a religious exemption in paragraph 319(3)(b) of the Criminal Code. This exemption permits hate speech under the guise of religious beliefs. However, the Conservatives and Liberals seem to be against the idea of repealing this Criminal Code provision and stoppin…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague from Shefford on another brilliant speech. I cannot help but be extremely surprised and disappointed by the question asked by my colleague from Victoria, who appears to be questioning the importance the Bloc Québécois places on this inalienable right, in our view, to access to health care and to full autonomy in making decisions about one's ow…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Victoria for her speech and the passion she has for this issue. Before asking her a question, I would just like to get back to her tone when she accused the Bloc Québécois of siding with the Conservatives on the question of voting to get back to the orders of the day. She said we had voted 36 times. The only two times we voted to get back to the orders…
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Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, the Quebec National Assembly made me truly proud to be a Quebecker when it unanimously adopted a motion denouncing hate speech and calling for an end to the religious exemption. Calling for someone's death in the name of God should not be any more legal than calling for the death of someone we do not like. Freedom of religion does not give a person carte blanche to spread …
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Mr. Speaker, Before I had time to read even a sentence of my motion yesterday, we were already hearing “no” from the Liberal benches. I had just enough time to say, “That the House affirm that no hate speech is tolerated”, when the Liberals were already saying no. Some people in the House have no problem tolerating hate. People can say, “May God strike all the unbelievers dead.” According to these…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. 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 affirm that no hate speech is tolerated—
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Mr. Speaker, Rassemblement pour la laïcité stands united with the Quebec government. Both are calling for the government to remove the religious exemption in the Criminal Code that allows people to spread hate speech without consequence. The Liberals have said they are, and I quote, determined to find solutions that meet the needs of all Canadians. Luckily enough, the Bloc Québécois can help them …
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Mr. Speaker, I am going to have to listen to that again. It did not seem to me like an answer to the question. Hate speech is supposed to be a crime, period. Either we believe that or not. Quebec is asking that the religious exception protecting hate speech in section 319 of the Criminal Code be repealed. The timing is good, because the Bloc Québécois's Bill C‑373 does exactly that. It is the only…
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Madam Speaker, I cannot think of a better critic for this type of debate than our colleague, the member for La Pointe-de-l'Île. He has been researching this for years now. He has documented the subject exceptionally well, demonstrating that, indeed, the vast majority of the funding allocated by the federal government to protect official languages is used to defend the anglophone minority in Quebec…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is correct in saying that the dubbing industry is having a tough time. There is a whole host of challenges currently facing Quebec's dubbing industry, given the changes in technology and the rise of artificial intelligence. This is a real concern. The fact that officials here are not sending a strong signal of support is really disappointing, and this will only hurt the…
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Madam Speaker, those are very interesting questions. When my grandmother talked about her sometimes rowdy grandsons, she would say that we were all smart enough to start a fire, but not smart enough to put it out. When I hear the Conservative leader say that he is going to get rid of the CBC but protect Radio-Canada, it sounds a bit like what my grandmother used to say. It reminds me a little of t…
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Madam Speaker, I am not going to get into a discussion about the wording of amendments and subamendments, because I already take great issue with the political manoeuvring that goes on when we address this issue. For example, yesterday, the member for Mégantic—L'Érable made a post on X in which he says, “The Bloc Québécois just voted with the Liberals to hand out bonuses, including one for the CBC…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague raises a really important point. Not many news outlets have the resources to do in-depth reporting, because it involves research teams and it often takes weeks and months of work to develop these stories. I am thinking of shows like Enquête in Quebec and The Fifth Estate on CBC. These are major programs that do in-depth research, which is expensive. Defunding the CBC me…
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Madam Speaker, to make things perfectly clear, I would like to point out that my colleague from Terrebonne was talking about anglophone members in Quebec who represent majority francophone ridings—
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Madam Speaker, I must return to what I was trying to do a few minutes ago through a point of order concerning the speech by my colleague from Terrebonne. I think there is a connection there with today's debate. I found that my colleague from Mount Royal took umbrage at my colleague's remarks. When she and I discussed it, we immediately agreed that this colleague was in no way targeted by the remar…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I think everyone in the House recognizes that members' statements are an important opportunity for members to pay tribute to people in their ridings, constituents and organizations, but also to highlight events or situations of concern. This week, on several occasions, some extremely sensitive subjects were presented during members' statements. At times, it…
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Mr. Speaker, as Jacques Brel sang, we never forget anything, we just get used to it. After 1,000 days, it unfortunately seems that people are getting too used to the horrific war that is decimating Ukraine. No one can forget the massacres in Bucha. No one can forget the bodies of civilians lying in the streets. No one can forget the bombing of the children's hospital in Mariupol. We will never for…
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Madam Speaker, I think the member probably knows that there are interpreters who need to be able to do their jobs. When someone tries to beat an Olympic record for speed talking, it makes it a little harder for them to work. If the member could slow down, it would allow the interpreters to carry out their work.
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Quebec culture shone brightly last night, as its stars dressed up for the biggest event of the year in the music and entertainment industry, the ADISQ Gala. It was so nice to see and hear Quebec artists of every generation who continue to enrich our culture, playing everything from trad and pop to rap and hip hop. It was magical to see Les Trois Accords, Karkwa, Elisapie, Souldia, Rox…
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