Parliamentary Speeches
523 speeches by Xavier Barsalou-Duval — Page 2 of 11
Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my colleague raises some interesting points. What I heard him say is that productivity is calculated based on the average hourly rate; however, that rate did not increase significantly at the time and did not keep pace with the cost of living. I could draw a parallel with Canada's immigration policies. In the past, Canada's immigration policies were designed to select people based on …
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on his speech. Obviously, I cannot agree with everything that was said. There is a reason we are not in the same political party. The question I have for him has to do with the vitality of Quebec's media ecosystem, although I presume that similar issues are being felt elsewhere in Canada as well. In the bill currently before us, the Liberal government is of…
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Mr. Speaker, my question for my colleague is about indigenous relations. I know that there are several indigenous nations in her riding and that, historically, relations have been difficult. This means that it may have been challenging to built a relationship of trust over the years. In this context, we see that the government deciding to go back on its word—
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Mr. Speaker, after winning the Uteck Bowl in a 49 to 19 victory over Saint Mary's University in Halifax on November 15, the Université de Montréal Carabins flew to Regina where they will now take on the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in the Vanier Cup final. My favourite player on the team is number 44. He is one to watch. His name is Mathieu Barsalou and he is my mother's cousin's son. He pla…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on the birth of his new baby. It can sometimes be quite challenging, but it is wonderful. I know something about that. The Liberal member criticized my Conservative colleague for not voting in favour of the budget. I have to say that I could also criticize him for the same thing but for different reasons. Obviously, the Bloc Québécois is appalled by the bud…
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Mr. Speaker, I find it interesting to see all my Conservative colleagues getting all worked up about the Liberal budget today and saying how bad they think it is. I could get caught up in that too, because I do not think much of it is good. Unlike the Conservatives, we have the benefit of being consistent. This week, when we voted on the budget, we were surprised to see that two Conservative membe…
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Mr. Speaker, something happened in the last Liberal budget. I think the Liberals tried to mislead just about everyone by making a distinction between operating expenses and capital expenditures. Unfortunately, their ploy did not work, because almost no one in the media or the opposition believed it. Even the Parliamentary Budget Officer said that it was nonsense. It might have made sense to separa…
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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…
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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 …
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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?
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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…
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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 …
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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…
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Mr. Speaker, to sum up, what my colleague is telling us is that we should adopt anything and everything on the pretext that the deadline set by the superior court is looming. I beg to differ with his view of things, especially since work was done in committee and proposals were put forward. The committee did some serious work. One aspect had to do with citizenship applicants' knowledge of French o…
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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, …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Jonquière for his very appropriate intervention. I wanted to share my time with the member for Shefford, who will certainly have a lot to say about the bill as well. As I was saying, Bill C‑3 applies equally to everyone. It applies to anyone who has obtained citizenship by birth or naturalization, whether or not they are an immigrant or, like me, someone who …
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Mr. Speaker, my answer to that question is this: Do the child's parents speak French or English? Did the child's parents spend at least three consecutive years in the country over a five-year period? These criteria do not seem that extreme to me. Am I wrong?
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Mr. Speaker, today we are talking about Bill C‑3, an act to amend the Citizenship Act. I will focus on the all-important issue of citizenship, because that is the crux of today's debate. First and foremost, I would like to debunk some myths. Since the beginning of the debate on Bill C‑3, the Liberals and the NDP have repeatedly attempted to demonize the intentions of the opposition, whether Bloc Q…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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 …
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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 …
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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. …
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have never hidden it: They have always said that Quebec's Act respecting the laicity of the State bothered them. Quebec's laws defending French also bother them. Now they have realized that Quebec is using the notwithstanding clause to defend its identity, language and secular principles. Since the notwithstanding clause exists in the Constitution, they are stuck with it …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
moved for leave to introduce Bill C‑245, An Act to amend the Canadian Multiculturalism Act (non-application in Quebec). Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to introduce a bill to exempt Quebec from the application of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act. It is clear that Canadian multiculturalism is directly at odds with Quebec's integration model, interculturalism. By reducing the people of Quebec to just …
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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…
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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…
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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 …
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Mr. Speaker, nothing is too good for the monarchy. The Governor General, yes her again, billed taxpayers $1,117 for shoes and nearly $7,500 for clothing last year. Meanwhile, Quebeckers are talking to us about the cost of groceries. How are we supposed to explain to taxpayers that they have to pay for the high heels of a monarch who earns $400,000 a year while they are struggling to cope with skyr…
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Mr. Speaker, the other ministers do not spend thousands of dollars. They may spend $100 on a pair of boots, but not thousands of dollars. Her salary is $400,000 a year. At that rate, she can afford to buy her own shoes. In 2023 and 2024 alone, the position of Governor General and her entire royal entourage cost taxpayers $59 million. That is $59 million wasted in one year to maintain the luxurious…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague from Jonquière on his speech. I also thank him for referring to some of the issues I am currently working on. I would like to ask him a question in relation to Bill C‑2. My colleague referred to the immigration crisis. I think that he is absolutely right. It really is a crisis. Everyone is talking about it, and we see it in our offices. Can he tell …
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Madam Speaker, I listened to the comments of my colleague opposite, and I beg to disagree with some of the points she raised. Though I am far from a proponent of Bill C-2, an analysis shows that the bill could ultimately be beneficial. That said, some significant changes may be needed. My colleague says that a 150-page bill is an omnibus bill, which surprises me a little. I think that comment may …
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Mr. Speaker, I had a chance to put my question to one of my colleague's colleagues who spoke earlier. I did not get an answer, so I will repeat my question. As I have said several times today, a disproportionate number of asylum seekers make their claims in Quebec, which puts a lot of pressure on our resources. We already have an immigration crisis and a housing crisis, but we also have a resource…
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