Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for being so thorough and taking an interest in intersectional issues affecting women. The example she gave is an excellent one. I think the government will be judged by its actions, and the council will be a great example of that.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Calgary Shepard for his intervention and for his sensitivity on this issue. I think he made a number of important distinctions. He mentioned a few times that the government was not facing up to its responsibilities and was shirking its duty. I would like to ask him a straightforward question, and I hope he can offer some clarity. First, will the Conservativ…
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Madam Speaker, it is with deep humility and a great sense of responsibility that I take up the torch today for indigenous relations and the development of the north and its regions within the Bloc Québécois. First, I would like to salute my hon. colleague from Manicouagan for her outstanding dedication and hard work on behalf of the indigenous nations of Quebec and Canada over the years. I am comm…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to once again thank my colleague from Nunavut for her intervention. Of course, first nations themselves will have to invest considerable sums of money as a result of this bill. We have found that, since 2015, the government has invested about a third or a quarter of the sums needed, so there is a cost to investing. I wonder if my colleague can talk about the cost of not…
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Madam Speaker, I want to say a special thank you to my colleague for her leadership with the community of Listuguj. She clearly knows every detail of that community's needs. It is unacceptable that a day care does not have drinking water. What happens as a result of a situation like that? The same entity, be it the municipal or local administration or the day care itself, will have to make choices…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands for her question and her remarks, as well as for her genuine commitment to first nations. I will give an example concerning water quality. She accompanied the Kebaowek First Nation here so that its members could speak at a House of Commons news conference on a fundamental issue, namely the quality of water in the Ottawa Ri…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Nunavut for her comments and question. She was already one of the members of the House I most respected. When I had the chance to get to know her better on the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, I grew to admire her and her genuine commitment to the first peoples even more. Obviously, in this context, the government must do something tow…
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Madam Speaker, it was an excellent brief question because it leads me to point out the importance of first nations self-governance. Funding is key, but it must be significant, recurring and predictable. Let us talk about Quebec's water policy. Quebec made that policy a fundamental law. Based on my discussions with first nations back home, I would say that if the federal government wants to take me…
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Winnipeg North for his commitment to first nations and for his question. I will answer it by pointing out that the Minister of Indigenous Services was asked to release a list of the first nations and organizations that were consulted about the bill. That request went nowhere, and instead the minister stated that all first nations had received the bi…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Nunavut for her commitment and her speech. I would like to ask the member a question in light of where she is from. What is the drinking water situation in her community? As I understand it, the territorial governments provide safe, clean water in communities, including first nations and Inuit communities. It is my understanding that this is b…
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Mr. Speaker, I wish we had started the year the same way you did, with a new look and new priorities. I wish the Conservatives would do the same and let us move on to something other than the carbon tax. That said, it is the topic of the day, and we will respect that. In his speech, my colleague said something about the energy transition that I find very interesting. He talked about the Stellantis…
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Madam Speaker, I will take the liberty of asking my colleague, the member for Timmins—James Bay, who is also my neighbour, about a climate change issue that directly affects his riding, as well as mine. I am talking about the forest fires we have seen happening. He talked about this when he discussed the impact on farmers. The carbon tax has a very small impact, we agree on that. However, I am won…
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Mr. Speaker, the budget statement was read for the first time last fall. It is now the end of January, and February is just around the corner. We expect a budget to be presented in March or April. At the rate things are going, does the member really expect his government to successfully get bills passed? It seems to me that the Liberals' legislative calendar has been very sparse for the past two o…
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Madam Speaker, this economic statement obviously will not make history because it was supposed to address an urgent situation, namely the housing crisis, but the only solutions the Liberals proposed for solving the housing crisis will not apply until 2025 or 2026. We are talking about budgets. They are saying that construction will be pushed back by a year or two or three. Considering the other ag…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, it seems holiday magic is not meant for everyone. According to Statistics Canada, more than 98,000 companies are unsure whether they have the liquidity or access to credit available to repay their CEBA loans. With 98,000 businesses in limbo, SMEs are not the only ones in need of reassurance before the holidays. Hundreds of thousands of workers need some too. The January 18 deadline …
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Madam Speaker, the federal government has one last chance before the holidays to prevent a wave of SME bankruptcies. It has to extend the January 18 loan forgiveness repayment deadline for the emergency business account. As inflation chips away at families' budgets this Christmas, the customer base for restaurants shrinks by 20% and bankruptcies increase by 81% compared to last year, the life is d…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Manicouagan for the hard work she does for workers in her riding and the bills she has introduced for them over the years. I would like her thoughts on Bill C‑58, on its urgency and the good news it offers. In the meantime, there are flaws in this bill, including the 18-month requirement. Is that really necessary? Is there no way for this to come into force…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to welcome three farmers from my riding to Parliament Hill: Éric Lafontaine, Alexandre Bégin and Mathieu Dumont. I salute the courage of all agricultural entrepreneurs, who just experienced one of the worst years ever from a climate perspective. Abitibi West farmers lived through a crop-damaging winter freeze, historic wildfires that required livestock evacuations and a cat…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are abandoning victims of sexual misconduct in sport. They promised an independent public inquiry. The victims want sport organizations to clean house. Yesterday, the Liberals backed down. They proposed a voluntary commission. A voluntary commission has no power to compel sports federations or abusers to appear. A voluntary commission has no power to compel documents. A v…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, my colleague from Winnipeg North mentioned that more than 19,600 amendments had been tabled at the Standing Committee on Natural Resources. I would like him to tell us more about this matter. How is it humanly possible to produce so many amendments in such a short time? Does he think that the Conservatives used artificial intelligence to help with this? If so, and in the circumstanc…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, everyone is obviously wondering whether this is a good situation for the Speaker. I would like to mention two values that a Speaker would be wise to demonstrate while in office. There is impartiality, certainly. There is also judgment, because that is what the Speaker has to demonstrate in everyday life, on the throne obviously, but also in everything a Speaker has to embody. In thi…
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Madam Speaker, I do not get the feeling that the Liberal government is inclined to be a responsible government. It is more inclined to be a political government that is scared as it watches the Conservatives rise in the polls and it figures it will create a sort of false austerity. In any case, it will be able to control Parliament for another two years before the next general election, probably, …
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Madam Speaker, I wish I had the same speaking chops as my colleague from Longueuil—Saint-Hubert to properly express how angry I feel over the lack of action. In my riding of Abitibi—Témiscamingue, visible homelessness is increasing steadily as a direct result of the government's inaction. There is one thing that can justify an economic statement. It has to solve a problem that did not exist six mo…
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Madam Speaker, under the circumstances, every step taken to improve access to housing and lower costs is positive. The problem is that my colleague says that no government has ever invested as much as the one in power now. Of course costs are increasing in real terms, but the federal government has not invested in social housing in years. That is one of the major problems. The Liberals say they ar…
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Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C‑56, which has just passed an important milestone. However, it is with a touch of disappointment that we note that a super closure motion has prevented the Standing Committee on Finance, and perhaps even the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology, from doing the work that needed to be done in terms of competition. I will come back to that later.…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Winnipeg North for his contribution to the debate on Bill C‑56. However, I would like to put myself in his shoes. The member works tirelessly, and the work that he does is vitally important, but is seems to me that he occasionally has to defend the indefensible. Would he not like to have a little help from his colleagues, especially on something like Bill C…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I would like my colleague to elaborate on how this situation will affect our farmers. Are we doing enough for our farmers from a public accounts perspective? It is easy to look at other countries. Indeed, inputs are a major issue. This has changed in the past two years. My colleague reminded us that this report was produced two years ago. Are we doing enough for our farmers? I am th…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, this is the first time I have had the opportunity to speak to the member for Winnipeg North through you. I want to offer him my sympathies for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' loss to the Montreal Alouettes in the Grey Cup final. That aside, we are having a discussion about protecting Canada's food system. Obviously, the Ukraine issue is important when it comes to inputs. I would like to ta…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I was listening to my colleague's speech. There is something about agriculture that fascinates me. Why are we not focusing on local distribution channels? Obviously, my Conservative colleague will say that, if we focus on local distribution channels, we will be spending less money on transportation and using less oil, and that is not good for that industry. I think that, when it comes…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the fact that there has been no significant movement toward launching this public inquiry raises concerns about the government's actual desire to ensure access to justice for all the survivors. We can legitimately ask ourselves whether the government is protecting its little friends at the expense of the truth and justice that we, as citizens, deserve. The number of people responsib…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, today I rise with a mix of concern and profound disappointment, even a bit of cynicism because of this government's continued inaction toward athletes. I am talking about victims who courageously called out the heinous acts committed against them by their coaches and were received with indifference by the heads of 16 national sports organizations. That is what we have learned over t…
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Madam Speaker, I want to pick up on something intriguing my colleague said. He said that Ottawa, which collects half of our taxes, could reinvest a portion of that money in stimulating regional agricultural development. For example, it could invest in abattoirs, which are few and far between right now. The rules say that abattoirs cannot get more that 50% in public money because they are not money…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for being here, for working with the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage and for her empathy. I also want to say that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity has a reasonable excuse for his absence today. I want to remind everyone that there is a crisis in sport, and every…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am going to be fairly direct with the government about the Ignoble Purpose Award it received a few weeks ago. After hearing testimony from survivors and whistle-blowers, and considering that 98% of the 114 witnesses heard by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage called for a public inquiry into abuse and mistreatment in sports, it is clear to me that any other option is no lon…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, as my colleague aptly pointed out, the report in question is a little out of date, but it looks at the issue of greenhouse gases and the environment, as well as the associated costs. When we go through the documents, one interesting thing we find is that there is a supplementary report. The government's response was mentioned, but the Conservatives also make recommendations, includi…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the timing of this report is rather odd. I would like to ask my Conservative colleague if that was intentional. The Conservatives have led the charge, which the Bloc Québécois and the NDP support, to get to the bottom of public funds being used or misused in a green fund that was created by the government. We are dealing with an independent group, but we see that the use of funds is n…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today, this little guy from Rouyn-Noranda is very pleased to rise to honour one of his childhood idols, Pierre Turgeon, who will finally be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Born in Rouyn-Noranda, Pierre Turgeon was not just a good hockey player. He led our town to the Little League Baseball World Series in 1982. This terror on the mound could have been quite the baseball star ha…
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Madam Speaker, I think it is important, and even fundamental, that the federal government consider the matter of air transportation, which, it is important to remember, falls under federal jurisdiction. In this context, I want to talk about the situation in Rouyn‑Noranda. We have a new airport that is subsidized in part by the federal government. It is wonderful and ready to welcome people, but th…
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Mr. Speaker, one of the dangers is indeed investing heavily at the end of the supply chain. We are happy to see companies like Stellantis and Northvolt investing here, but we are at the end of the supply chain. No one is investing at the beginning, in other words, close to our mining companies, so we can protect our resources. We need to unblock the entire supply chain to ensure that we put lithiu…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Sarnia—Lambton for speaking French and for the effort that she makes. I commend her for that. That is indeed a major problem. How can we bring in foreign capital to grow our economy? What was of particular interest to me in the context, and I had the support of my Conservative colleagues in that regard, was how to regulate critical and strategic minerals, par…
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Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, the Bloc Québécois intends to vote in support of the bill. However, the main amendments that we wanted to include were not compatible with the bill. From the outset, when we were talking about modernizing the Investment Canada Act, the Liberals should have included this notion of revising thresholds. Let us take COVID‑19, for example, with our airlines. When the value …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to share with my colleagues some of the other ideas that emerged during the work of the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology. One of the most important changes for which the Bloc Québécois vigorously advocated involves transparency provisions. I know how important transparency is to you, Mr. Speaker. We could have included other provision…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, what the member is talking about is 18 days during the holidays, but 250,000 businesses are going to go bankrupt. The government is not only unwilling to let them defer payments, but it is also unwilling to speak to them directly. That is not what being financially responsible looks like. That is not what being flexible looks like. That is not what it means to deliver for Quebeckers. …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by telling the interpreters that I will not try to fit my speech into the six minutes, although I think I could. The fact that I will not have to take questions immediately afterwards may save me from getting a question like the one my colleague from Windsor West asked. I will prepare accordingly. I rise today to speak to Bill C‑34, which has just passed an impor…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from South Shore—St. Margarets, who is my Standing Committee on Industry and Technology co-chair. I have to say that I am liking him more and more. We have been working together for a good year now, and I appreciate how thorough he is and how creative he can be. He stands up for small businesses, and he has a good understanding of Quebec's economy. The member prop…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to see you in the chair. The Investment Canada Act was in need of a review, especially when one thinks of businesses in the context of COVID‑19, like our aerospace businesses. There is an issue. Are we protecting them enough? I do not think we talked enough about thresholds at committee. The government did not exactly show it was open to reviewing these thresholds. At wha…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always the same with the Liberals. They make announcements when they feel the pressure, and then they drop the ball. A year ago, the former minister of sport promised a public inquiry into sexual misconduct in sport. A year went by, and nothing was done. Did the Prime Minister reprimand her? No, he promoted her. Canada could have been a world leader in fighting misconduct in spo…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is finally making a name for itself internationally. It has just received the Ignoble Purpose Award from Professor Declan Hill of the University of New Haven in Connecticut for its refusal to hold a public inquiry into sexual misconduct in sports. The federal government has been promising this inquiry for over a year. The Liberals had enough time to change ministers of sport, b…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste recently honoured the memory of Mike Bossy, one of the greatest hockey players in the history of Quebec, who sadly passed away too soon last year. It would be hard to find a candidate more deserving than Mike Bossy of the Maurice Richard award, which is bestowed upon Quebec's greatest athletes. What he accomplished will unlikely be seen again. He was th…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to a bill that is vital to residents of Abitibi—Témiscamingue and Quebec, and that is Bill C‑244, which was introduced by the hon. member for Richmond Centre. Bill C‑244 amends the Copyright Act in order to allow a person to circumvent a technological protection measure, or TPM, if the circumvention is solely for the purpose of diagnosing, maintaining or repairin…
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