Parliamentary Speeches
539 speeches by Xavier Barsalou-Duval — Page 2 of 11
Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship openly admitted in committee that she had no idea how many people would be affected by this bill. The Parliamentary Budget Officer finally gave an estimate of 150,000 people. The Bloc Québécois, with the support of the Conservatives, tabled an amendment to make sure that, after the bill is passed, a report is made to Parliament on …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I already gave an explanation in my speech. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice's decision will apply by default unless we pass the bill before us today. What I said, and what my colleague needs to remember, is that the amendments we proposed were reasonable. Requiring knowledge of French is not too much to ask, nor is it too much to ask someone to spend three out of five years in t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the amendments put forward by the Bloc Québécois and the Conservative opposition were intended, among other things, to ensure that adult applicants have a knowledge of English or French, that they have undergone a security check for national security reasons, and that they were in the country for 1,095 days over five years. There was also a requirement to report on the number of citiz…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question. I would say that there is a big difference between when Bill 101 was passed and the bill that is before us, which we wanted to amend. The same applies to the issue of secularism, a subject we could no doubt discuss. The main difference is that Quebec does not have a majority in this House. We do not have a majority, so the rest of Canada will decide for …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I have not done an in-depth analysis of how citizenship is granted around the world, but I know that there are several different approaches and several possible ideologies. In my view, what we proposed is reasonable. I believe my Conservative Party colleagues agree with us, since we voted together on these amendments. I urge the government to listen to what was said in committee and, …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, one of the proposed amendments sought to ensure that adults living abroad who are descendants of Canadian citizens and who wish to obtain citizenship would be required to know either French or English. The Liberals rejected that amendment. Why are they against making a knowledge of French or English a condition of citizenship?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, what I found interesting about my Liberal colleague's comments is that he said that one of the criteria the Liberals included in Bill C-3 to establish a substantial connection to Canada was the 1,095 days. We are talking about the same 1,095 days that are required for naturalized citizens. Another criterion that naturalized citizens must meet is that they must know how to speak Fren…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, after years of wilful blindness, Ottawa is finally taking action on the Driver Inc. scam, but it is not doing nearly enough. We were told that 100,000 inspections had been done in the trucking industry, but in the end, the government was forced to admit that it did only 1,000, not 100,000. That is one hundred times less. When we pressed the government further, it finally admitted th…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, let us be clear, if not for the Bloc Québécois, nothing would ever have happened. We presented 10 solutions to resolve the Driver Inc. issue. The Liberals are implementing one of them and acting as though everything is fixed. There are nine left to go. There is still no federal inquiry. Temporary immigrants are still getting permission to incorporate. Dating sharing between governme…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, I rise in the House to mark the 50th anniversary of the Maison des jeunes de Boucherville, or MDJ. It all started in 1973 when a group of young people dreamed of a opening a youth centre in Boucherville. The community granted their wish, and it was such a success that the facilities have expanded and modernized several times. Today, more than 1,200 young people from Boucherville reg…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, during question period on October 6, I asked the Minister of Jobs a question about the Driver Inc. scam. In her response, the minister stated that her department had "created a specialized inspection team that has already conducted more than 100,000 inspections and awareness-raising activities in the [trucking] sector." Today, in the news, we learned that her office has issued a corre…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, today we are discussing Bill C‑227, an act to establish a national strategy on housing for young Canadians. After reading the bill, it appears that this strategy would specifically target young people between the ages of 18 and 34 who are having difficulty accessing housing. I cannot dispute the fact that young people between the ages of 18 and 34 have difficulty accessing housing or …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Jonquière introduced in the House Bill C-228 to ensure that all treaties are systematically tabled before the House of Commons, so that they can be debated and amended. This bill also includes a provision requiring a 21-day waiting period after a treaty is tabled before any action can be taken toward its ratification. In relation to what we are discussing right now, …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, my colleague from Saint‑Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton focused a lot on transparency in the process and on the fact that we need to have access to the text that we are voting on. We know that, most of the time, we end up debating texts that we do not even have yet. We cannot consult or amend them. I would like my colleague to tell me whether he thinks it is right that we have to take a stand…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, my colleague is talking about two different battles. Our bill specifically targets Quebec only. There really is no direct effect on other provinces. Of course, Quebec's integration model includes the concept of passing on the French language to Quebeckers. If a French-speaking Quebec becomes stronger and thrives, it can only be a positive thing for francophone communities outside Queb…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I think the reason lies in the history behind the Canadian multicultural policy, which, at the time, was put in place in a way that failed to recognize Canadian biculturalism, or the difference between English Canada and French Canada. Quebec's desire for emancipation and affirmation was drowned out by the rest of Canada, which is made up of people arriving from around the world. Our …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer's estimates, approximately 150,000 new people would get citizenship, which means that they would also get the right to vote. A Conservative member raised an interesting point last week in this regard: We still do not know how it will be determined in which riding these people will be registered and vote. That could become an issue if there…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I believe that my colleague mentioned in his speech that the amendments made as a result of serious work in committee by my colleague, the member for Lac-Saint-Jean, are falling apart because of collusion between the Liberals and the NDP. One of the amendments in question had to do with the tabling of an annual report in Parliament on the bill's impact. What does my colleague think ab…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would like to circle back to my Conservative colleague's question, which has still not been answered. It was a very good question. My colleague asked why the government did not include official languages in the bill's criteria. The purpose of this bill is to define what constitutes a sufficient connection to Canada. This seems like a perfectly normal condition, given that we operate…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, at the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, my colleague from Lac‑Saint‑Jean, who represents the Bloc Québécois, asked the minister about this issue. He asked how many more people would be granted citizenship as a result of this legislation. The minister was utterly unable to answer or provide a figure. My question for my Conservative colleague is this: How can this gove…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my colleague was quite right to point out the factor of the unknown. As the minister said, we have no idea how many new citizens this law will create. In this context, it appears that the committee was wise to ask for a report to be tabled in the House or, at the very least, in committee, to indicate how many people would be affected every year by this new law. I would like to know wh…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
moved that Bill C-245, An Act to amend the Canadian Multiculturalism Act (non-application in Quebec), be read the second time and referred to a committee. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to start debate on Bill C‑245, which I tabled on behalf of the Bloc Québécois. The purpose of our bill is to exclude Quebec from Canadian multiculturalism so that Quebec can apply its own model for integrating immigrants.…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, the Canadian multiculturalism policy rejects any notion of a majority host society. What it says is that all peoples are of equal value. That is correct. Indeed, all peoples in the world are of value. It is important that they exist. Nevertheless, the Quebec people exist in only one place in the world: in Quebec. Considering the Quebec people as just one of many peoples within Quebec …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my colleague across the floor says that the amendments are designed to ostracize immigrants and that they are anti-immigration. I would therefore like to ask her the following question. Suppose I go abroad and my children are born abroad, if they decide to stay abroad and then have children of their own, will this law also apply to them, or does it only apply to immigrants?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Driver Inc. truckers are not just a danger to the public on our roads. They also pose a threat to Quebec workers. Over the past three years, 1,000 Quebec truckers have lost their jobs. Meanwhile, the industry is booming in Ontario. In the last five years, 77% of new truckers in Canada have been part of the Driver Inc. scam. We are losing our Quebec truckers to the benefit of Ontario c…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Quebec is already doing its job to solve the problem. The chief coroner ordered a public inquiry, which the federal government is unwilling to do at this time. The Government of Quebec is going to equip highway traffic controllers with firearms. The Government of Quebec is going to make driver training mandatory. However, the problem comes from Ontario, not Quebec. Almost all the Driv…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, members across the way keep saying that it is because of an anti-immigration attitude that people are critical or would have preferred that the amendments tabled in committee be adopted by the House. I find it really interesting that they are telling us this. I am not an immigrant. If I go abroad and my children are born abroad, their children will not have Canadian citizenship if the…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my question is simple. Serious work was done in committee. The Conservative Party and the Bloc Québécois proposed some amendments. Now the government is joining forces with the NDP to get rid of all the amendments and all the work done in committee. I know that a party that does not sit on committees and is not recognized in the House is allowed to propose amendments, but normally, wh…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, despite what the government refuses to say, the Parliamentary Budget Officer tells us that this bill should allow 150,000 new people to vote. These are people who do not live here. We wanted to propose amendments to limit the scope of this bill. Second-generation individuals who do not live here, who live abroad but were born to Canadian parents, are required to have resided in Canada…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I agree that the study by the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security will probably improve the bill and help us to understand it better. Witnesses will come and tell us what needs to be done differently. However, the question we need to ask is this: Why did it take so long before something was done? The government has been in power for 10 years. We have been complai…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I cannot really comment specifically on part 7(a). Earlier, I spoke in general about part 7, which the Bloc Québécois saw as a positive because it seeks to combat certain fraudulent claims that might have been made or certain massive claims that might be made to bog down the system. If the bill prevents fraudulent claims and attempts to bog down the system, then I think that is a good…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, today, the House is debating Bill C-12, a reincarnation of Bill C-2. Bill C‑2 sparked a great deal of criticism regarding privacy rights, so the government was forced to go back and make revisions. It has returned with a new version of Bill C‑2, now called Bill C‑12. The main difference we see is the removal of the controversial elements of Bill C‑2 involving invasion of privacy, most…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the real problem is that asylum seekers are supposed to be people who are coming here because they fear for their safety, because they are in danger in their own country. However, we have seen that the asylum process increasingly became a completely separate immigration stream used to get around the regular immigration process. This was tolerated by the government and suited its purpo…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on her speech. On reading the bill, we see that it includes some provisions related to asylum seekers. These provisions are similar to past requests made by the Bloc Québécois. When we made those requests, the government called us all sorts of names. Then, 10 years later, suddenly these solutions are applicable. I would like to know how my colleague explain…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I have a quick question for my colleague opposite about asylum seekers. We agree that Bill C‑12 is a step in the right direction. It will help improve the system. However, let us look at the past 10 years. The Liberals came to power in 2015, and it is now 2025. They have been in power for 10 years. During that time, the number of asylum seekers and the number of people crossing the bo…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am sure my colleague knows what I am going to say because this has come up a number of times in the House. Currently in Quebec, roughly 200,000 asylum seekers are waiting for their case to be processed. That represents roughly 40% of the total number of asylum seekers in Canada, while Quebec makes up roughly 20% of the Canadian population. In other words, the number of asylum seeker…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am going to ask the same question I asked another colleague from the same party earlier, since I did not receive an answer. The question was simple, actually. Among other things, the bill deals with border restrictions in order to address situations where asylum seekers are abusing the system. We know that some people are applying for asylum when they perhaps should not be. This wou…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that my colleague's speech was not so much about Bill C‑10 as it was about how passionate he is about oil development in his province. Good for him, if that is something that is important to him. However, it seems to me that the bill before us is the main topic of discussion. The government does not have a particularly good record when it comes to respecting indigenous …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, there is a public danger on our roads because of the Driver Inc. scam. It mainly involves immigrant truck drivers in Ontario who are being exploited by companies to save costs and who are driving heavy trucks without the proper qualifications. This is causing fatal accidents. Vulnerable people are being abused, and truck drivers who follow the rules are facing illegal competition. Ott…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the bill spells out in black and white that the federal government intends to collaborate on cybersecurity with the provinces and territories. This caught my attention, and I want to come back to the word “collaborate”. Collaboration often means that Ottawa imposes its will and everyone else does as they are told. I would like to know whether, this time, the word “collaborate” means…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to highlight the work of the parliamentary secretary, who always has something to say about virtually every bill introduced in the House. We can see that he has a thorough understanding of each of the issues raised. Since he is so knowledgeable about these issues, I would like to know whether his government has communicated with the Government of Quebec and Hydro-Québec…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, we need to keep talking about the Governor General, because it gets even worse. She has spent more than $52,000 on French lessons since she was appointed; that is 52,000 of our tax dollars. That is more than the average salary in Quebec after taxes. However, she still does not speak a word of French. I am sure all francophones will agree that that is a lot of money just to mock us. …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, $52,000 is a lot of money. The $52,000 spent on French lessons for the Governor General reminds us that, last year alone, the monarchy cost us, wait for it, $71 million. Imagine what we could do with $71 million. For example, today everyone is talking about the postal strike and the reduction in public services. Does the government not think that $71 million to offer mail delivery t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I have a question for my colleague, who did a good job explaining how Quebec is already doing a lot to ensure its security. Hydro-Québec is doing a lot in this area, because its infrastructure is massive and important to us. We want to protect it, because we care about it so much. The federal government is proposing new standards and new ways of doing things that would create jurisdic…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like my colleague to answer the question that I put to you earlier. I would like to know why, as a staunch federalist, but especially as a member of the Conservative Party, which always claims to be the most decentralizing party in Canada, he is not defending the rights of his province. He has an opportunity right now to prove it. The Liberal government says that it is going…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, although this point has been made since the day started, I think it is important to raise it again. Upon reading the brief submitted by the Attorney General of Canada with regard to the Supreme Court challenge of Quebec's legislation, An Act respecting the laicity of the State, one can detect something of a sanctimonious tone. The document seems to presume bad faith on the part of the…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, in her speech, my colleague across the way claimed to want to defend women's rights by attacking the notwithstanding clause. I find that odd because it is well known that Quebec's state secularism law clearly indicates that the equality of men and women is non-negotiable. My colleague wants to indirectly fight against Quebec's state secularism law, which enshrines women's rights. Sh…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, municipal elections are in full swing in Quebec. On November 2, voters will go to the polls in more than 1,000 Quebec municipalities. It will be an evening of high hopes for all candidates and it will also be the end of an era for our elected members who decided not to run again. On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I want to thank all the mayors and the councillors who served the public …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, what is happening right now is really frustrating and insulting. I hope you will call my colleague to order because we are talking about an issue that is crucial for Quebec. The federal government is attacking Quebec's ability to decide its own destiny and make its own laws. My Conservative colleague, who is himself from Quebec, does not appear to have any interest in the matter and…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the reason why we are having this debate today, and my colleague did not mention this in his speech, is that Quebec decided to use the notwithstanding clause to implement the state secularism act to ensure secularism in Quebec. Quebec also used the notwithstanding clause to protect the French language in Quebec. It is funny, right? The Liberals on the other side of the House and all t…
Read full speech →