Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) and subsection 85(1) of the Official Languages Act, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the draft regulations on administrative monetary penalties for official languages. Also, pursuant to Standing Order 32(5), the proposed regulations should be immediately referred to the Standing Committee on Official Languages.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois leader's question might be more relevant if he had not authorized drilling on Anticosti Island, right in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, and if he had not allowed the reversal of pipeline 9B, which means that 50% of Alberta's oil is now being consumed in Quebec thanks to the leader of the Bloc Québécois. We applaud him for that. What is more, his speech might …
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Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of respect for my Bloc Québécois colleague, but the Bloc is acting like a pyromaniac firefighter on this issue. First, it is sounding the fire alarm and then it is adding fuel to the fire. The Bloc Québécois voted against a budget that would invest $38 million in local media and $150 million in CBC/Radio-Canada. That would help our media outlets across the country and hel…
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Mr. Speaker, the REM represents a milestone for sustainable transportation in Montreal and for Quebec as a whole. The opening of the Deux-Montagnes line will change the way more than 170,000 people, including families, workers and students, get around every day. The REM will generate major economic spinoffs, including the creation of 1,000 permanent jobs over time. It will also help reduce greenho…
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Mr. Speaker, the budget presented by my colleague, the Minister of Finance and National Revenue, includes tax credits for local journalism. They voted against it. There is money for a local journalism initiative. The Bloc Québécois voted against it. There is $150 million for our public broadcaster. The Bloc Québécois voted against it. It is the largest producer of culture in Quebec. The Bloc Québé…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct the leader of the Bloc Québécois. We did not announce $500 million in the budget for arts and culture across the country. We announced $770 million, the largest investment in Canadian history. That includes $38 million for local media, and the Bloc Québécois voted against that. It includes $6 million a year for the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Bloc Québ…
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Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc Québécois was once the president of ADISQ. This budget provides $41 million for the music sector over the next three years, yet the Bloc Québécois voted against it. It provides $38 million a year for local media, and the Bloc Québécois voted against it. Quebecor is receiving millions of dollars under this budget, and the Bloc Québécois voted against it. The Bloc…
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Mr. Speaker, I would encourage the leader of the Bloc Québécois to read CBC/Radio-Canada's annual report and the strategic plan that was recently released, which states quite clearly that CBC/Radio-Canada will invest in opening local news stations across the country, including in Quebec. It is $150 million, and it is our first investment in CBC/Radio-Canada. Bloc members voted against the largest …
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Mr. Speaker, in the budget that the Bloc Québécois voted against, there is $150 million for CBC/Radio-Canada, Quebec's largest cultural producer. The Bloc voted against that. There is $26 million for the National Film Board of Canada, which is located in Montreal, and the Bloc voted against that. There is $127 million for the Canada Media Fund and $48 million for the Canada Music Fund. The Bloc vo…
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Mr. Speaker, our thoughts are certainly with the families and communities affected by these job losses. However, my Bloc Québécois colleague's question might have been more relevant if the Bloc Québécois had not voted against the most important budget in the history of the country, which includes funding for local journalism. The member opposite is rising in the House to say that what is happening…
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Mr. Speaker, in the face of global uncertainty, it is vital that we protect our identity and our cultural sovereignty. That is why budget 2025 invests historic amounts in culture, identity and media, including $38 million for local media across the country. The government made a strategic choice to strengthen our cultural and media sectors by investing $150 million in CBC/Radio-Canada. This sector…
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Mr. Speaker, I think that the Conservative member across the way is a bit confused. If he wants to be less confused, all he has to do is ask his colleague seated next to him the question. She was a member for the Quebec Liberal Party and she voted in favour of the carbon pricing system in Quebec. Quebec's carbon pricing system is not the federal system. All the member has to do is ask his colleagu…
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Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers voted for 44 Quebec MPs to sit on this side of the House. People may recall who the president of ADISQ was in 2003. It was the leader of the Bloc Québécois. Does anyone know what ADISQ said about our budget? It welcomed the government's budget. This is the most significant investment in culture in the history of Canada. The leader of the Bloc Québécois is going to tell all …
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Mr. Speaker, I must admit that I am a bit surprised by the Conservative member's question because, when she was an MNA for the Liberal Party of Quebec, she voted in favour of carbon pricing. She should be in a very good position to know that federal industrial carbon pricing does not apply in Quebec, since she voted for a program that is uniquely Quebec-based. There is a a great deal of hypocrisy …
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Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to correct what my hon. colleague just said. More than 28,000 people participated in the pre-budget consultations. We have had many conversations with the opposition parties, including the Bloc Québécois. I had some of those conversations myself. Several of my colleagues, including the Minister of Finance, have had them as well. We have worked with all parties …
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Mr. Speaker, tomorrow's budget will include major investments in infrastructure and technology that will create jobs across the country, including all across Quebec. The question is what the Bloc Québécois wants to do. Does the Bloc want to help the people of Quebec? Is the Bloc willing to work with us in these hard times, or will the Bloc choose to force us into an election? That is the question …
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Mr. Speaker, in fact, between 2015 and 2024, the government doubled the funding for the arts and culture sector in this country. It has doubled the funding for the Canada Council for the Arts. We will continue to be there for our artists and for our cultural sector.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. Just last Friday, my colleague from Les Pays-d'en-Haut and I visited the Crête Group plant in the Laurentians to discuss federal assistance. The Business Development Bank of Canada is providing $700 million, and another $500 million is available for business modernization. Softwood lumber is a key sector all across Canada. We will be there t…
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Mr. Speaker, it is rather interesting to hear the Bloc member talk about all peoples when the Quebec government just tabled a draft constitution without even consulting Quebec's indigenous peoples. Quebec did not even have the decency to sit down with the first nations and ask if they could talk before tabling a draft constitution. That is not how collaboration works. On this side of the House, we…
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Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers and Canadians went to the polls a few months ago, and the people of Quebec elected twice as many Liberals as Bloc Québécois members. I knocked on hundreds of doors and spoke with hundreds of people on the phone, and no one asked me for a referendum. People said that they want life to be more affordable, that they want a budget to build Canada, and that is exactly what we ar…
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Mr. Speaker, we are facing very significant global challenges. On this side of the House, we believe, as most Quebeckers do, that we are stronger if we face these challenges together, rather than apart. If the Bloc Québécois wants to continue to focus on division, it is free to do that. On this side, we will continue to focus on unity and on the fact that we are stronger together than apart.
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Mr. Speaker, last summer, the Canada Strong Pass allowed families to discover our incredible country while making it affordable to do so. It was a huge success. Over 200,000 children received free admission to the national museums, which saw a 15% increase in visitors. Provincial museums saw a 26% increase in young visitors. Some Parks Canada sites saw a 20% increase in use. In addition, Canadian …
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moved that Bill C-13, An Act to implement the Protocol on the Accession of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, be read the second time and referred to a committee.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to reassure my honourable and kind colleague. No one on this side of the House is slapping anyone around. The Prime Minister, the House leader and the Minister of Finance all met with the leader of the Bloc Québécois. I also met with him to hear about what the Bloc Québécois wants to see in the budget. There are measures on housing and affordability in the budget. The Bloc Québ…
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Mr. Speaker, just last Friday, I was with my colleague from Les Pays-d'en-Haut to meet with representatives from one of these companies to discuss the measures that the federal government has put in place: $700 million in liquidity supports through the Business Development Bank of Canada and $500 million to modernize these businesses. We are supporting the sector. We will be there for the softwood…
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Mr. Speaker, when a member opposite asks a question like that, I have to wonder whether they have even read the Food Banks Canada report. Let me quote four of the recommendations I have here from that same report. What does the report propose to help with affordability? It proposes "finalizing the Canada Disability Benefit [or CDB]". The Conservative Party and the member voted against that. The re…
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Mr. Speaker, I think I am going to ask you to help me because I am having a very hard time understanding the Bloc Québécois's position. A meeting was held between the leader of the Bloc Québécois, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and me. The Bloc Québécois presented us with a series of demands and then said that it would not vote in …
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Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc Québécois seems to change his mind as often as he changes his shirt. After the election, he told us that he was prepared to work with the government and that he wanted to give us time so that we could help Canadians and Quebeckers. Now what is he saying before he has even read the budget? He is telling us that he will not vote in favour of it. I would like to kn…
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons met with the leader of the Bloc Québécois to talk about the budget. The Minister of Finance and National Revenue met with the leader of the Bloc Québécois to talk about the budget. The Prime Minister met with the leader of the Bloc Québécois to talk about the budget. I myself met with the leader of the Bloc Québécois to talk about t…
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Mr. Speaker, I think those of us on this side of the House share the Bloc Québécois leader's concern. Hate speech has no place in Canada. That is why the Minister of Justice introduced amendments in Bill C‑9 specifically to address hate. In the last Parliament, we introduced a bill on online hate. We will keep working to ensure that hate speech has no place in Canada.
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Mr. Speaker, I have said it before and I will say it again: Hate speech has no place in Canada. The Minister of Justice has offered to work with the Bloc Québécois on reforms that are before the House as part of Bill C-9. We are prepared to work with the Bloc Québécois to improve the situation and ensure that hate speech has no place in this country.
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-9 is currently before the Standing Committee on Justice. The Bloc Québécois is free to make proposals regarding this bill and we invite its members to do so. We will hear from experts on this issue and we are ready to work with the Bloc Québécois and all parties in the House to ensure, once again, that hate speech has no place in our country.
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Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to my colleague opposite, he knows full well that our government did more for official languages than any other government in the history of this country with the reform of the Official Languages Act. We have invested $2 billion in official languages. For the first time in the country's history, we are set to meet our targets for francophone immigration outside Qu…
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleague is well aware, hate speech has no place in Canada. The federal government has a number of tools at its disposal to fight hate speech. We will do everything we can to work and ensure that Canadians are not subjected to such speech.
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleague pointed out, a lecture was indeed cancelled on the grounds that it constituted hate speech. We have a number of tools at our disposal. In the last Parliament, we introduced a bill to tackle hate speech, particularly online. I will be working on this file as heritage minister. We will keep working to tackle hate speech in all its forms across the country.
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Mr. Speaker, in addition to the bill on online hate speech that we introduced during the last Parliament, Bill C-9, which is currently being studied in the House and will be debated in the coming weeks, contains a provision that specifically addresses the issue of hate speech. The federal government is very proactive on this issue and will continue to be.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a little news flash for my colleague across the aisle. We are the government that has done the most for official languages in Canada. We modernized the Official Languages Act and, as part of the process, made a historic $4-billion investment in our official languages across the country. For the first time in the country's history, we met our target of 4% for francophone immigra…
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Mr. Speaker, I strongly disagree with what my Bloc Québécois colleague just stated. Our intervention before the Supreme Court is intended to defend Canadians' rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. No part of our intervention before the Supreme Court of Canada will prevent the provinces from continuing to use the notwithstanding clause if they so desire. However, when using the no…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his commitment to our official languages. Our government has already announced over $732 million to support French-language education across the country, from preschool to post-secondary education: over $13 million in Yukon, $15 million in the Northwest Territories, $43 million in Saskatchewan, $523 million in Ontario and $133 million in New Brunswick.…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that, of all the countries in the world, Canada has the best agreement with the United States and the lowest tariffs: 85% of our economy is exempt from the U.S. tariffs. I think that all the Canadians watching us know that the situation with the United States is complicated right now, but despite that, our country is faring the best. Every mont…
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Madam Speaker, the Governor General plays a very important role in our democracy, and she is making an effort to learn a third language. She is already bilingual. I think we should be encouraging her, not discouraging her. I admire her efforts to improve her French, and I would point out that her French is improving. What the member opposite said is not true. I have spoken with her, and have done …
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Madam Speaker, I think that we have a good example why the Bloc Québécois will never be in power. Canada Post's accumulated deficit over the past few years is $4 billion. Seventy-one million dollars out of $4 billion does not make much of a difference. It is important in our democracy to have our Governor General as head of state. This has been part of our democracy since the very beginning. We wi…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very sorry, but what my colleague is saying is simply not true. Our intervention before the Supreme Court is aimed at defending the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We are the party of the charter. We have always defended it, and we will always continue to defend it. Just last week, one province announced that it would be using the notwithstanding clause in three bills at…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague that, in the last election, Quebeckers voted in twice as many Liberals as Bloc Québécois representatives. I repeat, twice as many. Why did they do that? It is because they know that we will be there to defend their rights, but they also know that we are capable of working with the provinces and territories. Just last week, I was with two Quebec gove…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned exaggeration. Considering the speech she just gave, that is a bit rich. She is well aware that the answer to her question is in her question. Obviously, the courts cannot change the Constitution. The point of our intervention is not to enable the courts to change the Constitution. As she said yesterday, the only entity that can change the Constitution is Parliam…
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Mr. Speaker, I am a very proud Quebecker. There are a lot of very proud Quebeckers on our side of the House. We have been defending the Quebec model for years if not decades. What the member opposite is saying is simply not true. We are the first federal government to have acknowledged the decline of French and to have invested $4 billion in official languages. For the first time in history, we ac…
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Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to my colleague, what she is saying is misinformed. The federal government's intervention before the Supreme Court will not prevent the provinces or territories from continuing to use section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the Canadian Constitution and to use the notwithstanding clause if they want. The Minister of Justice, who is seated next to me, w…
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Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada is responsible for defending one of the pillars of our democracy, that is, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. All across Canada, the government must stand up for the rights of all Canadians. It is our job to defend this charter and to ensure that everyone in this country is protected. We are doing our job. The matter is before the Supreme Court and w…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague knows full well that the federal government's intervention in the Supreme Court case will not prevent any province or territory from continuing to use the notwithstanding clause. That is very clear, and she knows it. If there are any problems, I would be happy to ask the Department of Justice to offer a briefing, but the purpose of our intervention is to protect Canadians…
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Mr. Speaker, what we need to do to address the housing crisis is co-operate with municipalities, provinces and people on the ground. That is the opposite of what the Conservative Party is proposing. The Leader of the Opposition has repeatedly criticized the mayors of cities like Quebec City, Montreal and others across the country. Yesterday, my friend and colleague, the Minister of Housing and Inf…
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