Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, Anie Samson is a former city councillor and member of the City of Montreal's executive committee who was responsible for public safety. She said, and I quote, “What does Bill C‑5 do to protect our young people and deter them from taking this path? It does absolutely nothing to deter them, in fact. Abolishing certain MMPs simply exacerbates impunity for these kinds of acts.” Would th…
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Madam Speaker, by calling anyone who disagrees with his reckless policies a racist, this Prime Minister is playing a dangerous game. He should know that even some of his most loyal MPs have had enough with that cop-out, because it is getting harder and harder for them to explain it to their constituents. He calls us racist because we know how bad Bill C‑5 is. If passed, it would reduce the number …
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Madam Speaker, when the Prime Minister calls racist for opposing this dangerous law, he does not realize that, by the same token, he is accusing members of his own caucus of the same thing. Bill C-5 is nothing more than a public relations exercise that seeks to reduce incarceration statistics by letting violent criminals go free when they should be behind bars. Since the Prime Minister likes to br…
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Madam Chair, let us talk about some of projects that are currently being delivered or have been delivered, particularly the Arctic and offshore patrol ships. A witness who appeared before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates last week, Mr. Kendrick, said he really could not understand why the cost of the seventh and eighth ships to be delivered to the Canadian Coast Guard …
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Madam Chair, at present, we see that defence procurement for major projects is rather complex and we understand this complexity. That is why, in his 2019 mandate letters for the then Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Minister of Defence, the Prime Minister included the creation of an organization whose sole focus would be defence procurement. This was missing in the 2021 mandate lett…
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Madam Chair, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, who we are lucky to have, by the way, estimates that the polar icebreakers announced by the government will cost $7 billion, or $3.5 billion each. However, the Government of Canada only announced the purchase of two polar icebreakers, not how much they will cost. Does the Parliamentary Budget Officer have the right figures? If not, what should we expe…
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Madam Chair, let us talk about transparency again. An article in the April 19, 2021, issue of the weekly newspaper The Hill Times discusses the secrecy surrounding the fees that the federal government has paid to Irving, the prime contractor for the construction of these 15 surface combatants. We know that Canada is paying Irving fees, but the Department of National Defence refuses to disclose the…
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Madam Chair, let us talk about transparency. I will give the minister an opportunity to say more. The committee recently heard from representatives of Irving Shipbuilding. For the contract to build the 15 new frigates, the president mentioned that Irving's bid was under $60 billion and added that the government had announced that it would cost $60 billion. However, the Parliamentary Budget Officer…
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Madam Chair, for some time now, the minister has been telling me that the government is monitoring the work very closely. Why does the Parliamentary Budget Officer regularly complain in his reports that the government is so cagey that he cannot get any information? The committee is in the same boat, and the experts who came to testify told the committee members that they were not allowed to know m…
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Madam Chair, obviously it depends on the ships. In the case of these ships, however, we understand that the contract for the first five ships was for $400 million each, but the sixth ship is going to cost $800 million, bringing the total to $2.8 billion. We have learned that the total bill for all the ships would be $4.3 billion. The cost per ship normally goes down, but instead it is going up. Th…
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Madam Chair, about the construction timeline, the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates that construction of the first polar icebreaker will begin in the 2023-24 fiscal year, and the second in the following year. The ships should be delivered in 2029-30 and 2030-31, respectively. How can they even have a timeline when the Davie shipyard is still not an approved partner in the national shipbuildin…
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Madam Chair, Troy Crosby, the person responsible for National Defence procurement, told the committee that the ships are not being built fast enough and that they are costing more. I want to know if the minister has sent the shipyards an official letter, directive or document of some sort expressing the Government of Canada's concerns about the delays and cost overruns. If so, when did she send it…
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Madam Chair, nobody is questioning the shipyard employees' work. What we are questioning is the excessive cost overruns taxpayers have to cover for projects that, to make matters worse, are often delayed. There are delays. Here is my question. Are these delays and cost overruns due to government management, or does the problem lie with the shipyards?
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Madam Chair, I have another point that was raised by officials from Public Services and Procurement Canada. On April 7, these bureaucrats told the committee that we can expect further cost overruns and delays regarding the delivery of new ships for the navy and the Coast Guard, and that the multi-billion dollar shipbuilding program faces significant challenges. Will the minister admit that billion…
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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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Madam Chair, the cost of everything is skyrocketing right now. None of the contracts involve fixed costs. A number of witnesses told the committee that many businesses in many countries had fixed costs. The witnesses suggested signing fixed-cost contracts. Does the minister agree?
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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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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, 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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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, the Prime Minister has always said that Canada's response to the pandemic is based on science. While countries around the world have already abandoned mandatory proof of vaccination, the Prime Minister continues to require it at Canadian airports. If we are talking about science, how does he explain the fact that we can have 28,000 people in a sports stadium without proof of vaccinati…
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence told my colleague that the special forces had planned the King Air flight over Ottawa long before the convoy. However, the operations, which lasted four days, were conducted while people were using cellular communications and moving around. My question is simple. Was the intelligence gathered by the King Air during training used by the government, or w…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister will be pleased to know that many countries are following the science when it comes to managing COVID-19. For example, Cuban travellers can freely enter Cuba as long as they fill out a form and agree to a possible PCR test. The United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland and Ireland all lifted COVID-19-related travel restrictions. In Canada, all of the provinces have lifted…
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Mr. Speaker, let us remember that when the pandemic began in March 2020, we were the first to ask that the borders to be closed because there was a virus coming, and we knew it was dangerous. The Prime Minister's government did not react. It chose to wait. We know what happened next. Then the situation changed. Science did its job, and Canadians are vaccinated. All countries are freeing their peop…
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Mr. Speaker, my question today is on behalf of François et Josée, two young people from Charlesbourg. They hope to one day be able to buy a house, but mortgage rates continue to rise, which makes it more difficult to negotiate a first mortgage. The Prime Minister would have us believe that inflation is a global phenomenon and that no government can control it. That is completely untrue. François a…
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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, 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 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, 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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