Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Jonathan Gravel committed a violent sexual assault but avoided going to prison after eight years of legal proceedings. Instead, he received a 20-month suspended sentence that he can serve in the community. Why? It is because the Prime Minister, with the help of the Bloc Québécois, passed Bill C‑5. When the sentence was handed down, the Crown prosecutor, Alexis Dinelle, said, “Now [the…
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Mr. Speaker, I can tell the minister that until last November no judge could impose a sentence to be served at home for aggravated sexual assault. Again, with the complicity of the Bloc Québécois, this option now exists. Crown attorney Alexis Dinelle also said, “What message are we sending to victims of sexual assault? I get the impression that we are now going backwards, and we will again allow c…
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Prime Minister's right-hand man in Quebec, had a strong reaction to the appointment of Amira Elghawaby, the federal representative to combat Islamophobia, who once made disparaging comments about the Quebec nation. He said, “As a Quebecker, I am deeply hurt by these comments, I am deeply insulted”. Given that he is hurt and insulted, will his wor…
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Mr. Speaker, under Bill C-21 on firearms, law-abiding citizens will no longer be able to hunt, but criminals will be able to continue terrorizing our streets. Meanwhile, the provincial premiers are unanimously calling on this Liberal government to take immediate action to strengthen Canada's bail system. In December, a police officer was killed by a criminal who had been granted bail even though h…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and the leader of the Bloc Québécois are totally out of touch when it comes to the safety of Quebeckers. They are working together to criminalize law-abiding citizens, while allowing criminals to roam free in our communities. Bill C‑5, which was passed with the Bloc's support, allowed a criminal to avoid jail time this week despite being arrested in possession of tw…
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Mr. Speaker, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration has assigned more than 59,000 immigration applications to 779 inactive employees. Some of those officers have not even been employees of the department since 2006. What is most disturbing about this whole affair is that the Liberal government does not seem to care. Even the minister does not seem to think this is all that serious. Will the…
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Mr. Speaker, if I understand correctly, the minister is saying that CBC News is reporting fake news. That is what it sounds like to me. It is being reported in the news this week that 59,000 cases were transferred to 779 employees who no longer work there. On top of that, we are also learning that CBC News warned of problems at the beginning of the year. However, the minister never said anything a…
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Mr. Speaker, is there any country in the world where the prime minister allows the Chinese communist regime to have access to its secrets? I know of one: Canada. Two years ago, the Prime Minister awarded a contract to Nuctech, a company with ties to the Chinese communist regime. It was hired to install systems in our embassies around the world. Luckily, this contract was cancelled. Today, we learn…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada has a major problem with its contracting. Two years ago, when the Nuctech issue came to light, there were specific recommendations to halt purchasing from companies with close ties to the Chinese communist regime. How could the government have awarded a contract to a company tied to the Chinese communist regime for, of all things, security devices as important as the RCMP's com…
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Mr. Speaker, there has to be some sort of limit to what we are going to hear from the Minister of National Revenue today. It is one thing to attack the Auditor General and say that she doubts her integrity, but she even had the gall to say that managing the pandemic as a minister was more difficult than managing the Second World War. Does the minister have the courage to stand up today and apologi…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very disappointed in the Minister of National Revenue's lack of courage. She is the member for Gaspésie, and I would remind the minister that there were people from my regiment, the Régiment de la Chaudière, who landed at the beaches in Bernières‑sur‑Mer in 1944. Those soldiers were courageous people. Can the minister from Gaspésie demonstrate as much courage as the Régiment de l…
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Mr. Speaker, December 5 is International Volunteer Day. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the exceptional community involvement of my constituents in Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles. Since being elected in 2015, I have had the opportunity to meet many devoted people who do not hesitate to do their part and give their time to help others. These volunteers quite often work in the…
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Mr. Speaker, in January 2017, the Prime Minister invited all those fleeing persecution and war to come to Canada. Instead of prioritizing genuine refugees, he rolled out the red carpet for those who were visiting or were permanent residents of the United States, a safe country. It is possible that, in 2017, those individuals wanted to flee the United States because they were afraid of Donald Trump…
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Mr. Speaker, I believe I am well aware of it, just as I am well aware that the United States is a safe country. People in the U.S. who want to seek asylum should seek it in the U.S. When people cross the border from the U.S. to Canada, they are violating the safe third country agreement. There is a loophole in the safe third country agreement, and we are waiting for the government to close it. It …
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With regard to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), broken down by department, agency, Crown corporation, or other government entity: (a) how many government employees have been found to have made fraudulent claims for the CERB; (b) what amount of money is represented by the fraudulent claims in (a); (c) of the employees in (a), how many were (i) terminated, (ii) disciplined, but not term…
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Mr. Speaker, listen to this. Hunting is part of Québec's history, and has become a way of reconnecting with nature and escaping the daily grind. Whether for the challenge...or to obtain good quality meat, hunting is within everyone's reach. Who said that? It was the Government of Quebec. What is more, the Conference Board of Canada said that, in 2018, nearly three million Canadians participated in…
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Mr. Speaker, we have excellent gun control in Canada, but I think the Liberals have lost their minds. They have very quietly introduced an amendment to Bill C‑21 that will ban rifles and shotguns. Later, when the amendment was made public, the Minister of Public Safety said that no, it was not true, that the Liberals would not ban hunting weapons. The Liberals say one thing and then they turn arou…
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Mr. Speaker, that is the problem. The Prime Minister is trying to tell Canadians that people have assault weapons when what we are talking about are rifles and shotguns, old guns with wooden stocks that people use to shoot ducks or squirrels. These are not assault weapons. That is why the Prime Minister needs to see pictures from the list of all the firearms the Liberals are going to ban. He says …
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Mr. Speaker, something wonderful happened on Saturday, November 26, that made me very proud: The Rouge et Or, the football team for Quebec City's Laval University, won its 11th Vanier Cup, this time against the Saskatchewan Huskies. It was a thrilling game that proved that it pays off in the end to work as a team, persevere and keep up the effort until the end of the game. The last time the Rouge …
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Mr. Speaker, according to a survey, 84% of Quebeckers are concerned about the growing violence on the streets of greater Montreal. The Montreal police's annual report from 2021 confirms that crimes against the person have increased by more than 17% compared to the past five-year average. Crimes are committed with illegal firearms by criminals, not hunters. Will the Liberals finally do the right th…
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Mr. Speaker, the Laval police have just launched a major investigation into violent crime. About 150 officers are being assigned to this investigation, including personnel from the Sûreté du Québec, the RCMP and other police forces. Everyone is working together to fight gun violence, except the Prime Minister. His soft-on-crime strategy has resulted in a 32% increase in violent crime across the co…
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Mr. Speaker, the mayor of Laval is asking for help to fight violent crimes in his city. At the same time, Statistics Canada has confirmed that homicides in Canada and crimes related to street gangs have reached their highest levels since this Prime Minister came to power in 2015. In the meantime, the Liberals, with the help of our Bloc Québécois and NDP friends, voted to eliminate, for example, mi…
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Mr. Speaker, there are so many things being said in the House that are completely false. The fact remains that we are currently seeing a 32% rise in violent crime. According to the Montreal police, there were 144 shootings in the streets last year. That is one shooting every two or three days. All of these shootings involved illegal weapons. University of Quebec professor Marc Alain said that our …
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Mr. Speaker, according to the mayor of Laval, most of the criminal activity in his city is linked to illegal firearms and organized crime. He says that better border control is needed to stop illegal weapons from being smuggled in. However, in the Prime Minister's fantasy world, the solution is to take guns away from hunters and relax penalties for criminals. When will he put the safety of Canadia…
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Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, it is the Liberals who have failed. Statistics Canada just released a report showing that homicides have increased over the past three years and that 40% were gang-related. More specifically, the rate of gang-related homicides was the highest in 16 years. Street gangs are elated because they know that the Liberals are going eliminate minimum sentences, for example wit…
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Mr. Speaker, in 2015, the violent crime rate in Canada was 1,070 per 100,000 inhabitants. After seven long years under this Liberal government, the rate has increased by 32%. Things will only get worse when Bill C-5, which is backed by the NDP and even the Bloc Québécois, abolishes minimum sentences for illegally importing firearms. What message are we sending to people who live in at-risk communi…
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Mr. Speaker, according to a recent Canadian Federation of Independent Business, or CFIB, survey, 94% of businesses in Canada and Quebec say that price increases are related to the cost of transportation and fuel. Furthermore, 80% of businesses say that government costs such as fees and permits have driven prices up significantly. CFIB members' first recommendation to the Prime Minister is to stop …
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Mr. Speaker, that is one thing the Canadian Federation of Independent Business is calling for, but there are other things as well. Are members aware that of the 4% of SMEs with an average debt of $150,000, 78% are experiencing persistent stress and 17% are thinking of closing permanently? Small and medium-sized businesses are the heart of the Canadian economy, and they are clearly asking the Prime…
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Mr. Speaker, I am here to talk about the fall economic statement, which was presented last week. For the past seven long years, the Liberals, with the shameful complicity of the NDP, have succeeded in breaking the spirit and morale of Canadians by making them poorer than they have ever been in the history of our country. When asked if I would like to share my thoughts on the fall economic statemen…
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Madam Speaker, we are against it because these are inflationary measures. Even Mark Carney said that Canada's inflation is domestically generated. As long as we are comparing ourselves to other countries, why not compare ourselves to countries such as Switzerland that do not have inflation? Should the government copy countries that are not handling things well, that are taking insignificant measur…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his many questions. We definitely need to find savings. Over the past two years, at least $205 billion has been spent on who knows what. Imagine all the auditing that needs to be done. I do not think that getting out of energy production is a good idea. We would end up buying foreign energy, which we are already doing too much of. Instead, we should be self-…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. There is a balance to everything. There needs to be balance when it comes to taxes, both for individuals and businesses. However, let us not forget that businesses are wealth creators. Without businesses, there are no jobs. We have to ensure that there is balance and no abuse. We also need to ensure that companies that make a profit reinvest in…
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Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service informed the Prime Minister that the Chinese communist regime had interfered in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections. This illegal interference included the clandestine financing of a network of at least 11 candidates, and no one was deported or criminally charged. The Prime Minister boasted to the media that his government had taken …
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Mr. Speaker, the threat is very real. For the first time in Canadian history, criminal charges were laid today against a Hydro-Québec employee who was sending industrial intelligence to the Chinese communist regime. However, Canadian intelligence officials have also said that the peril Canada faces if it chooses not to act on allegations of Chinese foreign interference is significant. Even Canada'…
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Mr. Speaker, the Bank of Canada aims to keep inflation at 2% of the consumer price index. The bank has failed to do that, but the Prime Minister is in no hurry to see inflation go back to its normal level because that would reduce his government's revenues. That explains why he is continuing with his inflationary spending and trying to raise taxes. Canadians are suffering because this Prime Minist…
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Mr. Speaker, actually, we are blaming all the measures that have been put in place by the Liberals over the last seven years. Because of those measures, we are now experiencing inflation the likes of which we have not seen in 40 years. Mark Carney, who could potentially be the future leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, said that inflation in Canada is domestically generated. This government cre…
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Mr. Speaker, I was in Montreal recently to meet with victims' groups, racialized community groups and police associations to talk about crime in the streets of Montreal. They are unanimous. Bill C-5 is a mistake. Doing away with mandatory sentences for gun crimes is a mistake. I am not the one saying it. It is all the groups that I met with. This does not make any sense. The bill is currently in t…
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Mr. Speaker, according to Equifax, non-mortgage debt is over $21,000 per consumer, and over 50% of Canadians are worried about not being able to pay their monthly bills. Over the past two years, the Prime Minister has spent over $200 billion on things that had nothing to do with the pandemic. That is equivalent to the federal income taxes of 27 million middle-class Canadians. Once again, will he c…
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Mr. Speaker, can my colleague explain why Canada's debt has surpassed $1 billion since the arrival of the Prime Minister in 2015? According to Desjardins, Canadian taxpayers will have to pay $49.5 billion in interest alone to service the debt. We have gotten to this point because of the Prime Minister's unjustified spending. For example, he cancelled the repayment of two multi-million dollar loans…
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance contradicted her Prime Minister when she said that the government would have to tighten its belt and rein in spending. Even Mark Carney, the man who wants to replace the Prime Minister, contradicted him when he said that inflation in Canada is a Liberal-made issue. Although the finance minister wants to rein in spending, she is being pressured by the NDP and th…
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Mr. Speaker, we will always vote for what is best for Canadians. Every time the Liberals present measures that create economic problems, as we are seeing now, inflation rears its head. Interest rates have had to be raised because of the inflation created by the Liberals' spending in various areas. The Parliamentary Budget Officer confirmed that of the $500 billion spent in two years, $200 billion …
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Mr. Speaker, we all remember the Liberal slogan about working for the middle class and those working hard to join it. In fact, the current President of the Treasury Board used to be the minister of middle class prosperity. That position no longer exists, by the way. What is the end result of all that? Martin Munger, the executive director of Food Banks of Quebec, says that food bank use is current…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to shutter the department of middle-class prosperity was an admission that he did not understand the economy. He even said, as members will recall, that he did not think about monetary policy and that budgets balance themselves. However, the Royal Bank of Canada has confirmed that middle-class Canadians may well see their purchasing power decline by $3,00…
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Mr. Speaker, we all remember when the Minister of Finance said that she could afford to increase the debt to record levels because the interest rates were so low. Now that she is vying for the Prime Minister's job, she is changing her tune and warning Canadians of the dangers of rising inflation and the fact that her government has to tighten its belt. In the meantime, millions of Canadians cannot…
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Mr. Speaker, what is clear to Quebeckers and Canadians is that the Bank of Canada's key interest rate has just increased for the sixth time. Now it sits at 3.75%. This will have an impact on mortgages, car loans and the money Canadians need to borrow to live decently. Inflation, accelerated by the Liberals' unprecedented spending, is eating into Canadians' wages, purchasing power and pensions. Mea…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Jonquière for the question. First, I would remind him that in Quebec, there are still millions of cars on the road, so people need fuel, and that is quite natural until other modes of transportation are established. We know that electric cars generate a lot of pollution at the battery design stage. Once we have hydrogen cars, as we are currently seeing in A…
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Madam Speaker, I will begin by saying that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Mégantic—L'Érable. The subject today on opposition day is the motion moved by the Bloc Québécois. Is the issue raised in the motion relevant? I could say yes, the same way Canada's intervention in support of Ukraine is relevant, or the treatment of the Uighurs by the Chinese Communist regime is relevant. Th…
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Madam Speaker, one of my Bloc colleagues just said that it is true. He considers himself to be in a foreign parliament. That is the background for our speeches. I am not making it up. This form of belligerent rhetoric is the Bloc Québécois's standard discourse. The fact remains that today's motion is part of a long tradition of political spinning by the Bloc. The Bloc members get up in the morning…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question. This is the issue with having Bloc Québécois members working as federal MPs in the federal Parliament. MPs should consider and focus on the common good in Canada, which obviously includes Quebec. Quebec has twice decided to remain part of the Canadian federation. Our duty is therefore to ensure that Quebeckers are happy in their count…
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Madam Speaker, as a matter of fact, when we consider the country from coast to coast to coast, we notice that every community and every region has its own distinct character. Obviously, Quebec is very different because our main language, our only language, is French. Consequently, our way of being and our way of life are very different from other parts of Canada. However, aside from the language c…
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