Parliamentary Speeches
634 speeches by Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay — Page 11 of 13
Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I must say that the Bloc Québécois is very much in favour of Bill C‑294. One of the reasons we support it is that it also addresses the problem of planned obsolescence, which means that devices must constantly be updated and upgraded. We can finally break the “buy-use-toss” cycle, where scientists are asked to put all their efforts into innovating products designed to become obsolet…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to begin by telling my colleague that we are also very proud of the success of our early childhood centres, a big success of a competent and pro-independence Quebec government. However, in her speech, there is one thing that I did not understand. She spoke of the need for dental care for seniors. However, her government's proposal is for children aged 11 and under. Coul…
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Madam Speaker, I thank the NDP House leader for his speech. The cost of groceries is going up, but some members of society are having a much easier time of it. We know that the highly subsidized oil industry is raking in the profits. The banks are, as well. The government is doing nothing for those who are struggling the most, nothing to deal with the housing crisis, nothing for seniors and nothin…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his colourful speech. I personally confess to being a great admirer of our colleague, and I do not think I am the only one in our party to feel that way. There is a problem that is even bigger than consumer prices, and that is housing prices. There is truly a lack of available housing. Home ownership is really problematic. I would like to know the position o…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his intervention and for his speech. Since he taught economics at two CEGEPs, I would like to ask him something. We are familiar with the incendiary declarations that the Leader of the Opposition made regarding the central bank, before he became leader of his party. We know that the central bank is often a target. In the 20th century, however, John Maynard K…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. I want to make sure I understood something. The motivation behind this debate—
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Madam Speaker, there is something I want to be sure I understand. The argument being bandied about is that the carbon tax is going to triple. The carbon tax will not be tripled right away. It will take around a decade for that to happen. My crystal ball is not showing me with any certainty what the inflation rate will be at that time. I want to understand. What is the urgency in all this?
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Madam Speaker, I still think there are better solutions. I would like to know what my colleague thinks about this. Right now, we know that rising prices are often driven by a lack of competition. We also know that the Competition Act encourages company mergers, which means more monopolies. Does my colleague agree that the act should be amended? Should the Investment Canada Act also be amended to c…
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Mr. Speaker, I am somewhat surprised to hear my colleague speak of rare disagreements between members of the Bloc Québécois and members of the Conservative Party. It seems to me that we do indeed have disagreements and that they are numerous. That, by the way, is part of democracy. As to the worship of oil in Canada, there seems to be a non-Quebec cross-party consensus in the House. That said, we …
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Mr. Speaker, I will begin by stating the obvious: Inflation is a real, serious problem. That is the first thing. Some people are even talking about a recession. The Premier of Quebec, Mr. Legault, estimates that we have a fifty-fifty chance of ending up in a recession. Back when he was a separatist, that very same François Legault said that if a slowdown or a recession were to happen, Quebec would…
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Mr. Speaker, I am sorry, I have some terrible colleagues who have no sense of solidarity. For consumers, this new increase in the key rate will lead to higher interest and mortgage rates—
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Mr. Speaker, at the same time, wages are catching up with inflation. The labour shortage is forcing employers to increase wages in order to remain competitive and continue to attract employees. Wages are therefore catching up a bit in some respect. However, the Government of Canada only started talking about it last month. There was nothing about it in last spring's budget, nor was there anything …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, we are here this evening to talk about this motion to recognize, create, rename and symbolically designate a Hindu heritage month. I have to say that it is the word “heritage” that makes me receptive to this motion because, of course, all of us here support secularism. I personally am a great supporter of secularism and freedom of conscience. Unfortunately, the concept of secularism i…
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Mr. Speaker, I am certainly not against the idea, but we have to be careful not to expand the council's role too much. As I was saying earlier, its mandate is quite broad. Perhaps it should focus more on the government itself, on the public organizations or agencies that are the responsibility of the Government of Canada. That being said, when it comes to promoting indigenous languages, I was fort…
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Mr. Speaker, today I am speaking on behalf of the Bloc Québécois about Bill C‑29, which provides for the establishment of a national council for reconciliation. I am especially grateful for the opportunity to participate in this debate because I am a member of the Huron-Wendat nation, the first Huron-Wendat to be elected to the House of Commons. Like the minister, I too was present when the surviv…
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Mr. Speaker, I am certainly in favour of collaboration. As I said, we are taking part in a democratic debate. I have expressed reservations, but we agree on the fundamentals. We will look at ways to improve the bill and see what kind of answers we get to our questions. Then we will make up our minds. Clearly we need a collaborative approach to the duty to remember. That goes without saying. One th…
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Mr. Speaker, obviously, I am concerned about that. I talked about it specifically and at length. Quebec did an amazing job creating oversight committees. Now it is observing the potential creation of another federal committee that may encroach on its jurisdiction. Of course that worries us, and that is why I talked about it.
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Mr. Speaker, let me give a broad answer. The Indian Act, which is a completely racist piece of legislation, must be replaced through real dialogue with first nations, with indigenous peoples. Any model we identify must be based solely on dialogue with the first nations and on their will. That is the first thing that must be made clear. It is appalling that an act with such a name is still in force…
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Madam Speaker, I think that we all agree that this is a statement of good intentions and sound principles. This is not the first time such a bill has been introduced. There is no problem there. I also agree that, sometimes, it is important to support the principle and then give the bill some substance or correct certain grey areas during study in committee. The Bloc Québécois agrees, and that is w…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, there are currently companies in the world that are based in Canada. I say “based” because Canada is a veritable flag of convenience. In reality, there is often nothing Canadian about these companies. They are committing serious human, social, and environmental rights abuses around the world. I myself have participated in human rights observation missions, and I have seen that these c…
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Madam Speaker, we are currently discussing a bill that would strengthen gun control. We are prepared to study it and analyze it in committee. However, as the Montreal police have fully shown and documented, most gun violence is committed with illegal weapons, contraband weapons. Why is it that the government is not taking steps to stop this smuggling, despite all the pressure we have been exerting…
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Mr. Speaker, in the 2015-19 Parliament, my predecessor attempted, by similar means, to change the name of my riding, Saint‑Hyacinthe—Bagot, to Saint‑Hyacinthe—Acton, so that all constituents would feel represented. Unfortunately, the bill died in the luxurious sleepy hollow known as the Senate. I do not want my colleague's bill to meet the same fate. I am going to try to take advantage of the curr…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague, the chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade, and thank her for her speech. We agree on a number of points, including the fact that minimum sentences are utterly ineffective. They do not work, and all of the studies have shown that. However, we are questioning the timing of abolishing such sentences for gun crime, given the problems on the…
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Mr. Speaker, a few minutes ago, there was a discussion about the hour of adjournment for tomorrow's sitting. The official opposition asked which leader had agreed to that. I want to make it clear that it was not the leader of the Bloc Québécois, and we would also like to know who it was.
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Madam Speaker, personally, I know of very few criminals who are aware that mandatory minimums exist and I know of even fewer actual empirical studies that show any kind of connection between mandatory minimums and a decrease in crime. Unfortunately, there are still some people in the House who are advocating a demagogic, cavalier and repressive “get tough” approach, when what we really need is pre…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Liberal and Conservative members from Quebec showed their true colours yesterday. They voted against protecting Quebec's political weight in the House of Commons. They voted against maintaining the proportion of seats in Ottawa for the Quebec nation at 25%. Because of them, Quebec is doomed to slowly disappear. Maintaining Quebec's political weight at 25% is not a new concept. It was …
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Madam Speaker, our colleague is talking about child care. We do actually get a sense that he really cares, that he is truly concerned about people in need. One of the things that really bothers us about this budget and its implementation act is, first, that health care is being completely ignored. When I say that, I am not talking about an intrusion. We are not talking about dictating standards to…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Joliette, who is our excellent finance critic. One file overlaps both of our critic roles: the luxury tax. One of my parliamentary files is aerospace. For over a year now, I have been hearing about this tax, which we agree with in principle. In the Bloc Québécois, we are big fans of better distribution of wealth. We gladly support that goal, since the ultra…
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Madam Speaker, to pick up on what my colleague from Joliette was saying, there was indeed not much of a connection between our colleague's statement and the subject at hand, which has me wondering if he is tacitly acknowledging that there is nothing in the budget.
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Madam Speaker, I listened with great interest to the excellent speech by my colleague from Thérèse-De Blainville. I have to say that this has really affected me. When I was young, I remember seeing the signs at election time asking who had stolen money from the unemployed. Movements like the Sans-Chemise coalition spoke out election after election, reminding us that workers were always worse off a…
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Madam Speaker, in any case, one could argue that my colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue can bury the government better than the government can plant trees. I salute him for that. My colleague spoke at length about competition. There is a basic rule: The more competitors, small suppliers and small businesses there are, the better the prices. He talked a bit about solutions to create more competiti…
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Madam Speaker, the amount that the member is referring to had already been announced. It was then put into the bill, so it is nothing new. It was not specific to this bill. It also falls well short of expectations, given inflation and skyrocketing costs. I remind members that this amount is far from what was promised in the Canada Health Act. We could ask the provinces what they think about workin…
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased that someone has finally found a riding where that technology works, because we have been searching for one from the start. In any case, we do not believe in that. The best carbon capture facility is a tree. There was a strategy for that. The government was supposed to plant billions of trees, but it has yet to plant a single one. I myself have planted more than th…
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Madam Speaker, we believe in the idea of having more green vehicles. I understand that this is a general question on green vehicles. Canada has long presented itself as a leader, but it was not one. In 2019, Canada was the last western country to bring in rebates on the sale of individual electric vehicles. That is bad, if we think about it. The delay is unfathomable, considering how many things n…
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Madam Speaker, as I said several times, we support the principle. We support the underlying idea. Even industry stakeholders tell us that they agree with the idea, but they are asking us to do things properly. It has nothing to do with momentum and everything to do with how this is deployed and how the targets are set. It would have been a good idea to do an impact study for something this big.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to inform you that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Abitibi—Témiscamingue. We are heading into the final hour of Wednesday, June 8. I am pleased to be spending the final moments of this day with my colleagues. I want to thank them in advance for their rapt attention. We are here tonight to discuss Bill C-19, an act to implement certain provisions of th…
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Mr. Speaker, I am sorry to have unsettled my colleagues with this surprising revelation this morning. In this morning’s Journal de Montréal, Michel Girard, in an article entitled “Les pétrolières nous pompent des milliards”, or oil companies are siphoning billions out of our pockets—another article that will prove to be unsettling for some—reported on the expected and past profits of several major…
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Madam Speaker, first of all, there is no problem with the part about fertilizer, and I want to make that clear. That is probably one of the things that is having a very big impact on my riding as well. The member is talking about giving people a break, but this motion would give a break to the oil companies. There is “short term”, and then there is “short term”. It will only take the oil companies…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by saying that I will be sharing my time with my hon. colleague, the member for Mirabel. I am pleased to rise today to speak to the motion moved on the Conservative Party’s opposition day. This motion comprises many of the motions that have been moved by the Conservatives here in the past, most of which were defeated. They decided to take all these motions and lu…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be able to hear myself talk without anyone talking over me when I am trying to ask a question. In 2021, we floated the idea of a type of minimum tax for G7 countries to prevent competition among the tax systems and to prevent multinationals from taking advantage of that competition to engage in blackmail, for example, by threatening one country that they would move t…
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Madam Speaker, thank you for recognizing that I have the floor. I would like to ask my colleague, with whom I had the pleasure of serving on the Standing Committee on International Trade during the last Parliament—
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question, because I would have liked to speak to that point if I had had more time. If I understand the question correctly, in terms of those who are struggling the most, that is exactly what we must do. We need to help those with the lowest incomes. We also need to help seniors by giving them a real pension increase starting at age 65, not a one-time ch…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is correct; the Bloc Québécois will be voting against this motion. I am also happy to see my former colleague from the Standing Committee on International Trade, and I give her my regards. That said, I am appealing to our government colleagues. The energy transition ball is also in the government's court, and I would encourage them to listen to us. There needs to be a r…
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Madam Speaker, the government called a snap election last fall, and Canadians and Quebeckers voted to keep the government to a minority. That means the government cannot act as though it has a majority. Voters sent a message that we need to work together, to collaborate, in full transparency. They did not ask to be left in the dark. We should not be ramming through legislation, especially such an …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I am very pleased and somewhat excited to rise on this beautiful Monday morning in June to speak to Bill C‑246, which was introduced by my valiant colleague from Drummond. This bill would provide that the total number of members from Quebec could not be less than 25% of the total number of members in the House of Commons. I first want to clarify one thing, since we have heard quite …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Canadian mining companies operating abroad and accused of violations, as well as the government and Canadian embassies: (a) do Canadian embassies have a mandate to ensure that Canadian companies are respecting and advocating for human rights, and, if so, what are the full details and implications of these actions; (b) do embassy staff keep a record of all requests regarding (i) serv…
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Madam Speaker, I apologize. I would also like to take a moment to sincerely apologize to the interpreters. I was saying that the five largest Canadian banks are all still on the list of the world's top 25 investors in fossil fuels. Knowing that today's investments will be used to increase tomorrow's production, I will be polite and simply say that we are not exactly positioning ourselves to meet o…
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Madam Speaker, it was with great interest that I read the bill introduced by our colleague from Winnipeg South Centre, which calls on the government to work with key stakeholders to develop an action plan to move the prairies toward a greener economy. It may not be easy, but western Canada must move away from fossil fuels. Everyone acknowledges the pressing need for an energy transition away from …
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Madam Speaker, if my colleague would like us to increase scholarships to encourage more first nations people to attend university, I would be his best ally. I support that. There are currently programs that pay first nations students' tuition for a certain number of years. That already exists. Some measures could still be improved. Racism is still far too present with respect to first nations, of …
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Madam Speaker, I have a lot to say in response to that. I am amazed by how concerned they get about the topics we choose to debate on our opposition days. It is the same argument every time. Why did we not move a motion on another topic? It makes no difference to the government what topic we want to debate. I often get the impression that people still think of Quebec as being just the city of Mont…
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