Government Orders
Madam Chair, I would like to salute and welcome the minister. Now, on to the first question. The Parliamentary Budget Officer said the following at the February 4 meeting of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates: “The pattern is that whenever we look at major procurement issues, for example, combat ships, supply ships, and now polar icebreakers, there is one constant: the c…
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Madam Chair, Andrew Kendrick, who testified on May 13 at the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, mentioned that the major shipyards always transferred the risk to the smaller suppliers, the contractors, and that the costs associated with the risks were assumed by them. If they needed to boost the price, they just had to increase the bill and the government paid. Why are the …
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Madam Chair, was Canada the only country to experience COVID‑19 or did it happen in other countries as well?
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Madam Chair, I will come back to the issue of the polar icebreakers. We currently have the cost estimated by the Parliamentary Budget Officer. I understand that the minister is in negotiations. I would like to know who she is negotiating with. Is the Davie shipyard included in these negotiations, because it is not yet a partner in the national shipbuilding strategy?
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech, in which he took multiple shots at the concept of populism. I would like to know what my colleague thinks about the fact that hundreds of sovereignist voters in Quebec who vote for the Bloc Québécois often ask the same questions as Conservatives on issues like the vaccine mandate and airport management. There are a large number of Blo…
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Mr. Speaker, a criminal is a criminal, no matter their race. Does the Prime Minister know that 90% of victims in 2021 belonged to the same communities as the perpetrators? Black, white or indigenous, it does not matter. The unlawful use of a firearm must be punished. Why not stop Bill C‑5? Why eliminate minimum sentences for gun crimes?
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Mr. Speaker, 16-year-old Thomas was shot and killed in northern Montreal after an individual called out to him from an alleyway. Thomas lived in the riding of the member for Bourassa. A 17-year-old teen was shot several times in his upper body in Laurier—Sainte‑Marie and later succumbed to his injuries. Now the NDP-Liberal coalition, supported by the Bloc Québécois, wants to expedite the passage o…
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Mr. Speaker, we are seeing more and more shootings by street gangs. There were three in Laval last week. The Quebec association of police chiefs does not support Bill C‑5, and for good reasons. In addition, the Montreal police service reports that there has been an incident involving a firearm every two days since the beginning of 2022. Does this mean that the Prime Minister follows expert advice …
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Mr. Speaker, the minister is deliberately conflating two different matters. We are talking about Bill C‑5, which would change the law so that the offences of using a firearm during a robbery, discharging a firearm with intent or being in possession of an unlawful firearm will no longer carry a minimum sentence. Street gangs are making fools of us all. This is sheer hypocrisy. Can the minister talk…
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Mr. Speaker, as reported by various news outlets, the Taliban are controlling the people of Afghanistan in a very radical way. This government has abandoned our Afghan interpreter friends. We are talking about people who served Canada for years with our armed forces, people who are very well known to our military and who are already trusted by Canadian authorities. Given that this is a matter of l…
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Madam Speaker, what planet is my colleague from? China is one of the biggest economies in the world, and that has a direct impact on Canada's economy. Let us not forget what happened when China blocked canola imports with billions of dollars at stake. How about hospitals and health care? Chinese nationals worked against Canada and Quebec to steal intellectual property and research. There are plent…
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Madam Speaker, at the beginning of his question, my colleague spoke about drugs. Do members know that fentanyl comes from China and that this opioid comes into our country through Vancouver, British Columbia, my colleague's region? We need to mobilize a lot more resources to control that fentanyl, which is another public health and safety issue we need to talk about. My colleague mentioned an agre…
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Madam Speaker, knowledge is the best resource to have. We need to understand the Chinese Communist regime and its approach to the economy and national security. With that information, we can make the right decisions for Canada.
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Mr. Speaker, is the minister denying that the RCMP commissioner, in her testimony, said the police did not need the emergencies act to clear the borders? Maybe the act helped the authorities do other things, but the salient point here is that the commissioner confirmed the RCMP did not need the act to clear the borders. Is that true, yes or no?
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Mr. Speaker, the RCMP commissioner's testimony in committee flatly contradicted the Liberal government's position. For weeks, the Minister of Public Safety and the Prime Minister asserted that law enforcement asked the government to invoke the Emergencies Act. On May 3, the minister said he acted on the recommendation of law enforcement, but Commissioner Lucki testified that the RCMP never asked t…
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes. When I was asked if I wanted to speak to our motion, I jumped at the opportunity, of course. Since the beginning of the debate this morning, I have been hearing my Liberal colleagues making assumptions about the way we see Chinese people. I would therefore like to read the first four …
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Mr. Speaker, the government announced that it planned to grant asylum to more than 40,000 Afghans, but we must also give priority to the Afghan interpreters who risked their lives to help the Canadian soldiers who were deployed there over 10 years. The interpreters have not been able to come, however, because the minister has made ridiculous demands, such as requiring travel documents that cannot …
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Mr. Speaker, when the government declared a national state of emergency, every blockade had already been cleared by local police, except here in Ottawa. It is a lie to say that this special legislation was needed. As in other parts of the country, the blockades were easily cleared by local police. To try to justify his actions, the Prime Minister decided to consult the provinces. However, the prov…
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Mr. Speaker, that is where the Liberal government is not being honest. The terms of reference that it dictated to Justice Rouleau allow him to investigate wrongdoing by police but prevent him from investigating the Liberal government. We already know the outcome of the inquiry: Protesters are bad, police officers are bad, and the Liberal government is perfect. As with all the other scandals, it is…
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Mr. Speaker, in May 2020, the pandemic was just beginning and we became aware of the storm that was raging around us. We all understood that many people's lives were in the hands of our guardian angels, the health care workers. At that moment, as an MP, I wanted to show them my support and highlight the importance of their work, so I decided to join the Together We Stand movement, which started in…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister sees all of our questions as personal attacks. In fact, we are asking questions of the person who is meant to represent moral authority. The title “right honourable” comes with certain responsibilities. In the House yesterday, the Prime Minister admitted to the one thing that the RCMP was unable to establish in order to charge him with fraud. Will the Prime Minister…
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Prime Minister finally called a public inquiry to look into the reasons for invoking the Emergencies Act. The public safety minister said, “Our intent is to collaborate with [Justice Rouleau] so that he has a fulsome record, so that he can do his job”. This is wonderful. We all want the inquiry to get to the bottom of the wrongdoing in this saga. Will the Prime Minister…
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Mr. Speaker, when we were debating the Emergencies Act, there were 13 points in the order. During that debate in this place, I demolished 12 of those points because there were many things that were not clear. Today it was announced that Justice Rouleau has been mandated to shed some light on this. Can the minister explain why the mandate is already biased with predetermined questions?
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Mr. Speaker, I have been looking forward to joining the debate on this motion. As a former member of the military, I understand the importance of adequate funding for national defence and the importance of Canada's role on the international stage. The purpose of the debate is to bring all parliamentarians to a clear consensus on our defence posture. The motion specifically calls for an increase in…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. I am no longer a member of the Standing Committee on National Defence, so I am not completely up to date on all the reports that have been produced over the past five years, but the fact remains that the 2% issue keeps coming up. Something tangible needs to be done. The budgets have been lacking the past few years. For example, there is the “Stro…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. Everything having to do with defence forms a big circle. Having operational resources and good, modern equipment encourages young people to enrol in the Canadian Forces and serve their country. I doubt that 17- or 18-year-olds are reassured by what is happening with the jets and the ships. They are not sure what is going to happen. Eventually, th…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question. Those were different times. Let us not forget Afghanistan and spending on the operation in Afghanistan. The equipment I mentioned in my speech was purchased by the Conservatives to quickly meet an urgent need to support the troops. Ask anyone who was in the Canadian Armed Forces when the Conservative government was in power if they were ashamed to …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Lévis—Lotbinière. The Arctic is an immense and complex area that requires surveillance. Essentially, that requires an effective radar system. At present, the radar system in place is outdated. The government has stated that it has invested more than $600 million, but that is for standard maintenance. It is not deploying any new equipment. The U.S. is worried …
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Mr. Speaker, in 2015, the Prime Minister promised not to buy F-35s, even though he knew that the Canadian industry had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in order to fulfill its commitments to Lockheed Martin. Even with his announcement last week that he would begin negotiations for purchasing the F-35s, the Prime Minister is keeping the industry in limbo. He has not committed to choosing th…
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Mr. Speaker, I think the notes are a few months old, but I have another question. If military spending is to continue, the leader of the NDP must agree to it, but he has already vowed to oppose increased defence spending related to Canada's NATO commitment, while the Liberals have said they will increase spending. The new confidence and supply agreement with the NDP, the third opposition party, gu…
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Mr. Speaker, the F-35 file clearly shows that the Prime Minister is not serious about Canada's defence and our commitments abroad. In 2015, when he promised not to buy F-35s, he was putting his political ambitions and those of the Liberal Party ahead of the aspirations of the Canadian Armed Forces. When he wasted $360 million on Australia's old, rusted-out F-18s, it was to buy time. Even the exper…
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Mr. Speaker, in 2015, the Prime Minister promised not to buy F-35s, even though he knew that Canada's defence industry had already invested hundreds of millions of dollars and had to meet its obligations to Lockheed Martin. Even with this week's announcement, the Prime Minister is still keeping Canada's defence industry in limbo. He did not commit to buy F-35s. He agreed to talk about it. When wil…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada has been part of the F-35 development and procurement program with 10 other countries for more than 14 years. We have lost seven years because the Prime Minister made an election promise not to purchase this jet. After losing so many years for purely political reasons, we now want a real answer. Will the F-35 be Canada's final choice or will the government drag this announcemen…
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Mr. Speaker, exactly two years ago, I was the first MP to ask the government to close the border. It was taking too long. It took too long. People in Quebec died because it took too long. Now the situation has changed, and it is taking too long to reopen the border and lift the senseless restrictions. If tourists want to visit Quebec City to, say, go to the summer festival in the minister's riding…
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Mr. Speaker, I come from the Quebec City area, the most beautiful tourist city in North America. The city has suffered enormously over the past two years, economically speaking. Everyone is talking about our businesses, restaurants and hotels. How can the Minister of Health, who is the member for Quebec, justify to the hotels, restaurants and tourism industry in his riding that he is maintaining h…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister. We now see that her answer to Mario Dumont yesterday was wrong, because she did not clearly answer the question: Our weapons have not reached Ukraine. It is like last week, when the Prime Minister travelled to Europe with his ministers. They went all over the place, but we do not know why, if not for pointless photo ops. Tonight, the Prime Minister is heading off…
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday I asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs a question, but the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence was the one who answered by reading something that had nothing to do with my question. I will therefore ask the question again today because it is a very important one. The Liberals finally recognized the importance of sending lethal weapons to Ukraine, and…
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Mr. Speaker, after several requests, the Liberals have finally agreed to send lethal weapons to Ukraine. Canada has sent 4,500 M72 rocket launchers, 7,500 grenades, 100 Carl Gustav M2 anti-tank weapons, and 2,000 rounds of 84-millimetre ammunition. This morning, the Minister of Foreign Affairs confirmed that all the weapons had reached Ukraine. My question is simple: Have all the Canadian weapons …
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Mr. Speaker, that is not an answer. We want to know if the weapons we sent have reached the battlefield. Are Ukrainian soldiers using our Carl Gustavs, our M72s and our grenades, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs told Mario Dumont this morning on LCN? It is a simple question: Are the weapons on the battlefield at this time, yes or no?
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Mr. Speaker, the former president of the United States and the Prime Minister issued a joint statement in February 2017, in which the Prime Minister committed to modernizing our NORAD equipment. Five years later, nothing has been done. The Prime Minister has to realize that Vladimir Putin is a danger to Canada and that our country does not currently have the capacity to defend the Far North. Will …
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Mr. Speaker, that is funny, because according to an April 2019 report from the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, the committee was surprised to learn that Russia's military had significantly increased its air and naval capacities in the Arctic. The members of the committee said that the North Warning System was approaching the end of its life expectancy and that …
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Mr. Speaker, when Russia attacked Ukraine in 2014, Stephen Harper indicated that Canada should be prepared to respond to potential Russian incursions into our territory. Yesterday, the Defence Minister said she would work with U.S. partners to ensure that NORAD gets modernized. In other words, the Liberals have done nothing since 2015. This morning, there are reports in the media that Russia is am…
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Mr. Chair, that is actually a major and recurring problem at the Department of Citizenship and Immigration. The government wanted to bring 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada, but it barely managed to bring 5,000 to 6,000. We have just learned that the Taliban has decided that no one else will be leaving Afghanistan. It is impossible. It will now take resources and, above all, a sense of urgency. Eve…
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Mr. Speaker, Vladimir Putin just put Russia's nuclear forces on alert. He is a dangerous man, and we must not forget that Russia is our neighbour to the north west. As the crow flies, Russia is not far from Canada. The Prime Minister has been caught off guard because he neglected to modernize the north warning system and is still refusing to buy F-35s. Canada's sovereignty in the north is in jeopa…
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Mr. Speaker, that $250 million will be used to pay an Inuit company to maintain the system, but the system is obsolete. It is finished. It is urgent that it be replaced. The government has known this for a long time. We have another problem. Aluminerie Alouette in Sept-Îles was the victim of a cyber-attack. Cybersecurity experts believe that it was a Russian attack and that cyber-attacks will defi…
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Mr. Chair, I rise in the House this evening to add my voice to those of millions around the world who now see just how dangerous Vladimir Putin is. I spent years in the Canadian Forces learning the structure of the Warsaw pact by heart, studying and memorizing Soviet tactics, learning to recognize vehicles, such as T-80s, BRDM-1s and BMPs, and various types of aircraft. I can say for sure that one…
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Mr. Chair, I see where my colleague is going. I think we need to open our eyes to what is going on in Europe and Russia. The Russian threat was there before, but people were reluctant to really acknowledge it. We see it now. Canada has natural resources. Yes, we must combat climate change, but in the coming years, we will still need natural gas, a resource that happens to be much cleaner than coal…
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Mr. Chair, I do know a little about this because I have operated various anti-tank weapons, among others. I would like to remind my colleague that the Conservative Party has been asking for several months that Canada provide weapons to Ukraine. Before the invasion, people were too scared to say the words “lethal weapon”. However, now that Ukraine is under direct attack by Russia, no one is afraid …
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Mr. Speaker, in any situation where police intervention is required, whether it is to maintain or restore public order, our peace officers must demonstrate a strong sense of individual and collective responsibility. They must maintain their composure in the face of insults being hurled at them, and still demonstrate empathy. Cohesiveness is the key to success, and I want to congratulate the police…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are not easily fooled, and even the Prime Minister's caucus is growing increasingly nervous about his reckless governance. The Prime Minister claims he has no other choice but to invoke emergency measures. Today, he is turning this into a confidence issue for his own caucus. The emergency measures constitute a precedent that must not be taken lightly. What is more, the Prime…
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