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Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to hear my colleague talk about climate change. I am pleased to hear her make the connection between the cost of food and extreme weather events such as heat waves and droughts, which have a major influence on inflation and the price of food. We in the Bloc Québécois are offering solutions. The government once pledged to abolish some of the oil and gas subsidies, but…
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Mr. Speaker, I understand that my Conservative colleagues have some concerns about this bill, including with respect to freedom of expression and the right to protest. To us, the new provision criminalizing the act of obstructing or even interfering with people's access to a place is somewhat more concerning. Obviously we will look into this more and work on the bill in committee. However, I would…
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Mr. Speaker, the 250 municipal officials are reminding us that climate change is real. This summer alone, 95 communities experienced unsafe air quality, 54 were impacted by wildfires, 37 were forced to evacuate and 29 experienced extreme heat. As the mayor of Montreal said, we need to develop the economy by moving away from fossil fuel development as much as possible. Do the Liberals not understan…
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Mr. Speaker, people say that when the U.S. sneezes, Canada catches a cold. That is undoubtedly why, while Donald Trump rails against climate change at the UN General Assembly, Canada is turning into a climate change denier with Bill C‑5. Some 250 elected municipal officials have formed a coalition to ask the Prime Minister to build the country instead of burning it. They are demanding that the gov…
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Madam Speaker, we said that we were open to studying this bill in committee in order to amend it. The Bloc Québécois will definitely move amendments to have the religious exemption for hate crimes abolished. The Minister of Justice has said several times that he is open to this idea. He said it again here in the House. I would like to know whether the Conservatives are prepared to support an amend…
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Mr. Speaker, as we have already mentioned, we want to retain some flexibility to amend or remove certain provisions of the bill, particularly those that could unreasonably restrict freedom of expression or the right to protest. Among the provisions currently proposed, the Bloc is particularly concerned about the ones that would criminalize obstructing or interfering with people's access to certain…
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Mr. Speaker, in our view, the offence of intimidation is probably the one that represents a truly important need. Among other things, it will make it easier to crack down on online hate speech. Does my hon. colleague think that the current provisions on intimidation are sufficient? In his opinion, do police forces and prosecutors need more tools than what is being proposed?
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Mr. Speaker, since the new Prime Minister took office, the message is undeniably “drill, baby, drill”. Canada is back in the oil and gas sector. Just recently, an LNG project was approved that will double exports of a gas that, let me remind members, is produced by hydraulic fracking. This technique was banned in Quebec because it is extremely harmful to the environment. The Prime Minister says he…
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Mr. Speaker, it hardly makes sense that we should be having a debate and an opposition day today on eliminating an oil and gas emissions cap when no such cap even exists. In fact, the only thing on the table are draft regulations to cap emissions in the oil and gas sector, a sector that is not only growing, but that ranks number one as the worst polluter in the country. There is no cap right now b…
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Mr. Speaker, it is quite clear that emissions in Canada are not falling. According to the latest inventory, emissions are stable. In some areas, including electricity generation, they are decreasing. In the oil and gas sector, emissions are increasing. There is no room for doubt. This is the science. What is also clear is that this country cannot meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets unless se…
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Mr. Speaker, I must reiterate my serious concern about the fact that the Liberals are not saying anything about what the Conservatives are proposing today. We can see them backtracking in a big way. No one on the other side of the House, on the Liberal side, has indicated that they are committed to capping emissions in the oil and gas industry. Obviously, we could talk about other solutions. There…
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Mr. Speaker, on the subject of amendments, yes, we are listening to Quebeckers. Yes, we said that the $814 million that the Liberals stole to send cheques to all Canadians must be repaid to Quebeckers. That is not what we heard from the Conservatives. When it comes to fighting climate change, the vast majority of Quebeckers want their government to do more, not less, as the Conservatives are propo…
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Mr. Speaker, I would love to talk about sovereignty with our colleague. I would also love to send him a cheque for the costs of climate change, which are directly related to increased emissions in Alberta. That being said, the Supreme Court was very clear. We are talking about capping greenhouse gas emissions in the oil and gas sector. Canada can and must do this, because Alberta is doing nothing.…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like my Conservative and Liberal colleagues to look more at the numbers and the science. There is an agreement called the Paris Agreement. Canada is a signatory to that agreement, which requires us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. That is the baseline year. That is what the science says. People can pretend that it does not exist, but w…
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Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to my hon. colleague, I have no idea where this information comes from. I have seen nothing to suggest Quebec would back away from the cap-and-trade system. On the contrary, according to the latest news, the Quebec government and all parties in Quebec are in favour of a cap-and-trade system. It is not perfect, but it allows us to work with California and the most …
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Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to be having this debate today, especially since it comes after a decade of Liberal rule. We just heard it again. The Liberals approved the Bay du Nord project. They funded the Trans Mountain oil sands pipeline at a cost of $34 billion. Climate backtracking has accelerated since Mr. Carney's arrival—
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Mr. Speaker, backtracking on climate change has accelerated since the new Prime Minister's arrival. Among other things, he scrapped carbon pricing and passed Bill C‑5, which bulldozes environmental legislation and authorizes pipeline projects. In another step backward, the Prime Minister did not renew financial incentives for purchasing electric vehicles. He also backed down on the requirement to …
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Mr. Speaker, we have seen quite a bit of backtracking on several environmental issues since the new Prime Minister's arrival, particularly with regard to carbon pricing, electric vehicles and Canada's greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. Now, we sense some backtracking on the idea of capping emissions from Canada's oil and gas sector. This shift seems virtually tantamount to climate skeptici…
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Mr. Speaker, since the arrival of this new government, we have seen a competition between the Conservatives and the Liberals to see who likes oil and gas the most. This is on full display yet again today, with both sides calling to get rid of all environmental regulations. Investment credits of $5.7 billion are allocated to carbon capture and sequestration, a measure that seeks to help oil and gas…
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Mr. Speaker, experts at the Canadian Climate Institute were very clear last week: Canada will not meet its greenhouse gas reduction target for 2030. This is because of oil and gas production, whose emissions increased by 83% between 1990 and 2022. Last year, they increased even more and that cancels the efforts in other sectors, including the efforts of Quebec. Will the government unequivocally co…
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Madam Speaker, an international report released today clearly shows that oil and gas production is currently on the rise and that, by 2030, it will be twice as high as it should be if we hope to comply with the Paris Agreement. The report ranks Canada among the six worst countries in the world when it comes to projected greenhouse gas emissions. Can the government explain to me how it intends to c…
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Madam Speaker, what we have seen over the past few months is that this new government is all about “drill, baby, drill”. It is open to the idea of pipelines. It is praising the oil sands, when they are already the main environmental issue in Canada. Emissions from oil sands production alone are higher than all of Quebec's greenhouse gas emissions. Given that the government is backtracking on the e…
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Mr. Speaker, an expert report released today by the Canadian Climate Institute confirms that Canada will not meet its 2030 greenhouse gas reduction targets. It is the Liberals' fault. By abandoning policies such as carbon pricing and continuing to encourage increased oil production in the oil sands, the Liberals are standing in the way of reaching their own target. That is what the experts are say…
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Mr. Speaker, it is quite clear that the Bloc Québécois is against the Conservative motion, because these are rather populist positions imported directly from the United States that have already been shown to be ineffective. My colleague talked about that. Personally, I have not seen any studies proving that the Conservatives' proposal would have any positive effect on the fight against crime. I wo…
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleague demonstrated, the Conservative proposal we are debating is literally in direct opposition to what we are promoting, particularly in Quebec, by focusing on rehabilitation. What is being proposed does not involve restorative justice; quite the contrary. I would like to know what my hon. colleague thinks about the importance of rehabilitation and restorative justice, when…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are abandoning the fight against climate change to sell more oil and gas. They are abandoning carbon pricing and incentives for zero-emissions vehicles. They are imposing their Bill C-5 to circumvent environmental legislation and impose energy projects. They are backtracking on capping greenhouse gas emissions in the oil and gas sector. In short, they are acting as though…
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Mr. Speaker, could my hon. colleague share with us his understanding of why, after more than 10 years in power, the Liberals are only now presenting us with Bill C‑2, a bill will require a great deal of work in committee, because it clearly has major shortcomings?
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to be back in the House, especially after a very busy summer as a new member. I think it is important to go back to basics and acknowledge my constituents in Repentigny, because I am here to work for them. My question is this. We have seen Chinese drones being used in the past to patrol the border, among other things, which was problematic. The big issue with b…
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the major government projects that Bill C‑5 covers. Bill C‑5 takes an inappropriately top-down approach that sullies projects, even good ones. Good projects do not need to bypass environmental assessments. They do not need to be able to break 12 federal laws. They do not need to spurn social acceptability. If they really need to do all those things, they are not actu…
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Mr. Speaker, in just one summer, 10 years of progress on the environment has been wiped out. The Prime Minister adopted Bill C‑5 to approve projects that disregard legislation and social acceptability. He says he is open to pipelines circumventing environmental assessments. He has not renewed the incentives for purchasing zero-emission vehicles. He even backtracked on the mandatory sales targets f…
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-2 has several parts and amends a number of laws. Among other things, it allows for the inspection of goods destined for export. This is a welcome measure, in our opinion, because we remember that it was one of the reasons for the lack of action in fighting auto theft, particularly at the port of Montreal. However, there is not a single word about increasing the number of custom…
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Mr. Speaker, I will go back to the question that I asked our hon. colleague, because I unfortunately did not get an answer. The Customs and Immigration Union says that there is a shortage of 2,000 to 3,000 officers and that the government will clearly not be able to properly inspect all exports to combat auto theft. I would like to know what my hon. colleague thinks.
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Mr. Speaker, having standards in place means an increasing number of electric vehicles and higher demand for them. It then becomes more attractive to develop a system that more and more people are using. Quebec is indeed an example when it comes to the number of charging stations available. The current system allows builders who do not meet their electric vehicle sales quota to invest in installin…
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Mr. Speaker, what a fascinating debate this is. Unfortunately, I think we need to reframe it and recognize it for what it really is. The oil and gas companies and carmarkers both here in Canada and around the world are waging a campaign against any government action that would result in lower oil consumption. Let us be clear: Most of the arguments being put forward by my Conservative colleagues to…
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Mr. Speaker, I would be pleased to provide my colleague with some of the studies that have been done on this subject, including by Hydro‑Québec, an organization that we are very proud of. Four out of five factors used in the full life-cycle analysis of vehicles show that electric vehicles are much better. This is true not only in terms of greenhouse gas emissions when compared to gas‑powered vehic…
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Mr. Speaker, like many others, we think the way the program was cancelled is completely unacceptable. There was no predictability for the industry. The government acted very quickly when it could have sent a warning about where the program was headed rather than cancelling it overnight. Today, only the Government of Quebec funds the purchase of electric vehicles, which are very beneficial. We woul…
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C‑5 does not just circumvent environmental assessments. It also enables oil companies to violate 13 laws and seven regulations that mainly concern the environment. With Bill C‑5, there is no longer any need to comply with the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, the Species at Risk Act, the Fisheries Act, the marine mammal regulations, and many more. Worse still, proposed secti…
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Mr. Speaker, this government is hiding behind an election platform, saying that it promised these measures. Yet nowhere in the platform does it mention that the government would be moving a motion to amend 13 laws and 7 regulations, including environmental legislation, in an effort to weaken environmental protection and accelerate the approval of projects such as oil pipelines. Ecojustice speaks o…
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-5 has given rise to a Conservative-Liberal coalition working for the oil companies. After years of saying that the Liberals are the devil incarnate, the Conservatives are now eating out of their hands. They are willing to pass Liberal bills. They are even prepared to adopt Liberal gag orders. They are prepared to do anything as long as it is in the interest of the oil companies…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals told the opposite of the truth.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comment made by my colleague from Bourassa. However, I would invite him to take another look at the bill. It is very clear that a proponent will be able to submit a project to the government and that the minister responsible will be able to issue an order declaring it a project of national interest without any information being made public, without any individual bein…
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Mr. Speaker, I am not sure I understood the question and I am not sure it was directed to me. I think it is important to remember that the Earth is not flat and that climate change is real. Even if the Conservatives want to bury their heads in the sand and insist that it is not real, that there is nothing we need to do and that we can keep sidestepping environmental assessments, pre-approving proj…
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Mr. Speaker, what is clear in this bill is that despite what the Prime Minister says, Quebec's environmental sovereignty is not recognized. That threatens Quebec's power to say no to projects, to ensure that robust environmental assessments are done, and that is why we are asking for a real debate. We are going to propose amendments. We hope that the Liberals and the Conservatives will be open to …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear what my hon. colleague has to say in light of her extensive experience. I believe she has had the good fortune of working alongside governments for many years, if not decades. Does she recall ever having seen anything like the government's plan in terms of powers and the danger of weakening environmental protections?
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague gave a brilliant presentation. I would like him to come back to the notion of free, prior and informed consent by first nations. The government keeps saying that it is going to consult with first nations, but the bill only mentions the word “consultation”. Can my hon. colleague help the government understand the difference between consultation and obtaining free, prior an…
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Mr. Speaker, today I would like to come back to Bill C-5, a bill that has been described by Ecojustice, a recognized Canadian environmental law organization, as giving the Prime Minister sweeping powers not seen before in the history of modern Canadian environmental law. What is being presented today as a bill the Liberals claim Canadians are asking for goes much further than anything announced du…
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-5, as it currently stands, would allow the federal government to say that it will consult Quebec, for example. Quebec says no, it does not want a pipeline project within its borders. However, there is absolutely nothing in Bill C‑5 to indicate that a consensus or Quebec's approval would be required before a pipeline could be built. Is the member aware of this reality? Does he a…
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Mr. Speaker, I think we need to be clear today: The government is talking nonsense. The Liberals' election platform does not state that they will stifle democratic debate in the House, or that they will prevent the opposition parties from doing their job and studying in committee a bill aimed at giving the government superpowers. They are proposing what almost amounts to war measures. They want to…
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Mr. Speaker, the government use of contractors and overspending problem is nothing new. It is even a growing problem. After all, the Auditor General mentions $18 million being paid to private companies for IT services. Quebec is currently holding a public inquiry on the SAAQclic fiasco. This project went about $500 million over budget. When we compare the two situations, we see that Ottawa can go …
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, every one of the 44 Liberals from Quebec voted to steal $814 million from Quebeckers. The Liberals from Quebec voted to make Quebeckers pay for election goodies for Canadians. The Liberals from Quebec voted against the Quebec National Assembly's unanimous demand that Quebeckers be reimbursed. The Liberals, elected by Quebeckers who were afraid that the Conservatives would d…
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