Parliamentary Speeches
722 speeches by Yves-François Blanchet — Page 9 of 15
Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That the House: (i) utterly condemn Nazism in all its forms, (ii) express its full solidarity with all victims of Nazism, past and present, (iii) condemn the invitation extended to a former Waffen-SS soldier on Friday, September 22, 2023, and withdraw a…
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Mr. Speaker, we are wasting time while people are suffering. We know how to solve the problems of poverty, housing and homelessness. We are capable of funding social housing and we are capable of helping seniors who are struggling to make ends meet with the increased cost of living. Oil companies made $200 billion in profit last year, but the government does not have money for social housing or se…
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the minister responsible for housing admitted that there are strings attached to the $900 million Quebec is supposed to get to build social housing. The thing is, social housing is not his responsibility. Is he telling people in distress, who may soon be unable to pay their rent or who are at risk of ending up homeless, that they are being held hostage by the Liberals' desi…
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Mr. Speaker, if you seek it, I think you will find unanimous consent for the following motion. I move: That whereas all parties have agreed on the parameters for the establishment of a public and independent commission of inquiry into foreign electoral interference on Canadian soil, whereas all parties have agreed to the appointment of Judge Marie-Josée Hogue as Chief Commissioner of this inquiry,…
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Mr. Speaker, it is only natural for Quebec to see itself as more than a mere province, since it was shaped by giants like Jacques‑Yvan Morin, who passed away on July 26. In 1973, he became leader of the official opposition with just six elected members from the Parti Québécois, which would transform Quebec three years later. He then served as deputy premier of Quebec alongside René Lévesque, and l…
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Mr. Speaker, too many Quebeckers and too many Canadians are having to choose between impossibly high rent and the threat of homelessness. Removing the GST on rental housing cannot hurt, but it may also do nothing to help tenants, who so desperately need it. Will the government agree to stop wanting to encroach on the jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces, and does it recognize that the ideal so…
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Mr. Speaker, as long as Canada is bent on interfering, it should help the least fortunate cope with the rising cost of living and housing. It should also rein in its own spending so that it does not further contribute to inflation, yet Ottawa is giving billions of dollars to the oil industry. Would it not be better for Ottawa to end oil subsidies and use that money to increase seniors' pensions, e…
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Mr. Speaker, this week, Calgary is hosting the World Petroleum Congress. Ottawa has sent three ministers there. That sends a clear message. At the same time, they have the nerve to attend a United Nations meeting on climate change. Meanwhile, oil and gas companies are lining their pockets. Everyone knows that the main reason gas prices have gone up is oil and gas company profits. Will the governme…
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Mr. Speaker, the government is subsidizing rich oil companies that have absolutely no need of subsidies. At the same time, it is withholding money needed for social housing and refusing to adjust seniors' pensions, who are being hard hit by inflation. This inflation has been exacerbated by oil company profits. Why does Ottawa not take the money it gives to oil companies and invest it in social hou…
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Mr. Speaker, northern Quebec and the north shore are grappling with major forest fires. That is also true for other parts of Canada. Businesses are suffering. Although big businesses may have the financial means to get through this, many small and medium-sized businesses have been dealt a serious blow from which they might not recover. We have proposed measures to help these businesses. I want the…
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Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, Quebec will celebrate its national holiday. Quebec is a proud nation. Soon there will be nine million Quebeckers, and Quebec will still be one nation. While many languages are spoken in Quebec, its common language is French. Quebec sings many songs, dances many dances, colours many canvases as a single nation with diverse backgrounds, with a rich and vibrant diversity goi…
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Mr. Speaker, since we are running out of time, I will ask the Prime Minister to be more specific. Businesses and, obviously, many workers are faced with a short-term challenge that might force them to hide the key under the mat. They need measures, and they need them soon. To facilitate the process, we took inspiration from some of the pan-Canadian measures used for small and medium-sized business…
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Mr. Speaker, the resignation of the special rapporteur appointed by the Prime Minister could turn out to be a turning point in the crisis surrounding the independent public inquiry. The Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities showed signs of openness that I welcome with a mixture of enthusiasm and caution. I would like the Prime Minister to tell me if he would agree t…
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moved for leave to introduce Bill C‑341, An Act to Amend the Inquiries Act. Mr. Speaker, this is bigger than those in the spotlight at the moment. Current events are a good example of how frequently democratic institutions have come under attack during this Parliament and since the Liberal regime came to power. One of the most important elements of democracy is, of course, accountability. When acc…
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Mr. Speaker, I have to come back to this. We have to first agree on one fundamental principle: A commission of inquiry and the one or more commission chairs who are appointed must be completely independent from the government in order to do their job properly. If we agree on that principle, then and only then can we move forward and look at potential candidates. If the minister or the Prime Minist…
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Mr. Speaker, right now, in Quebec, we are seeing a level of devastation roughly 11 times greater than the average for the last 10 years. We have not even begun to assess the dramatic economic impact of these wildfires. Over the next few years, we will likely experience many phenomena that will dramatically worsen the impact of climate change. This is very worrisome. The seasons conducive to extrem…
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moved: That the House: (a) stand in solidarity with and express its support for all those affected by the current forest fires; (b) acknowledge that climate change is having a direct impact on people’s quality of life, and that it is exacerbating the frequency and scale of extreme weather and climate events (floods, tornadoes, forest fires, heat waves, etc.); (c) recognize that the federal governm…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my speaking time with my esteemed colleague from Berthier—Maskinongé, who will be displaying the excellence we all strive for. Quebec and Canada are grappling with unprecedented wildfires. As we speak, we could even say it is a—
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Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the reality is one of investments in the form of tax credits or assistance for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the process of extracting petroleum resources. The only petroleum resources that are safe to develop are biofuels and biogas. They exist, but that is not what we are talking about. The suggested approach is not really useful. If the ind…
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Mr. Speaker, there is not much I can say, because I am not familiar with the bill in question. It has not been on my radar for a long time. However, in the past few days, I have heard statements that have made it rather hard to differentiate between the positions of the People's Party and the Conservative Party, both of which basically claimed that wildfires are a ploy by environmentalists to make…
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Mr. Speaker, a number of suggestions come to mind. As I recently said in the House, we need to walk the talk. In this case, that means that we need to do whatever it takes—even if we are hogtied and gagged—to prevent a government partner from spending billions of dollars on measures that support the oil-related economic chain. That in itself would be a major contribution.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not know what animates this moving and magnificent individual, this artist who left an indelible mark on Quebec, its history, the hearts of its people and the promises of the 1970s and beyond. Serge Fiori is extraordinary. He crafted a brand new musical universe that crossed borders and stood the test of time. His music pierced right through the skin of Quebeckers, flowed through…
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec is grappling with forest fires that are causing 11 times the devastation we have seen for the last 10 years, on average. We are talking about three million hectares and it is only June. In terms of length of season, intensity and frequency, periods of drought and heat conducive to fires can be linked to climate change, while climate change can be linked to oil and gas developme…
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Mr. Speaker, I feel like I have gone back in time 10 years. No serious person can deny that oil and gas are to blame for some of the terrible tragedies happening around the world, and increasingly right here, too. This obsession with oil comes at a very high price. Will the Prime Minister agree to halt all forms of funding, direct or indirect, to the oil companies and transfer the money saved to Q…
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Mr. Speaker, I refuse to see in secret what should be seen by everyone. What I am proposing to the Prime Minister is a type of truce. If Parliament would appoint an independent commissioner who would decide what should or should not be public, we could move on to other things. Otherwise, we will have to ask and keep asking repeatedly how the Prime Minister can retain a rapporteur who is his friend…
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Mr. Speaker, it is not a diaspora, these people have been or are being conquered. I propose that he place the very dangerous file for Canada, democracy, the Liberal Party and the Prime Minister himself in the hands of a true independent commissioner. I refuse to be part of any manoeuvre that will keep his secret, that will not make available to the entire population all possible information, that …
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Mr. Speaker, while the Prime Minister does more to protect Liberal government secrets and the Trudeau Foundation, he is not protecting the people with family still living under the Chinese regime, being oppressed by China as an intimidation tactic. These people have the right to security on Canadian and Quebec soil. He is not protecting them. This morning, representatives from Taiwan, the Uyghur A…
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Mr. Speaker, I am appealing to the Prime Minister's sense of statesmanship. Yesterday, his hand-picked special rapporteur had to admit to a parliamentary committee that his report contradicts the testimony of a parliamentarian who was the victim of Chinese interference and intimidation. The best excuse he could come up with was that he had drafted the report based on what he knew at the time. He a…
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec City once again reigns as the hockey champion of Quebec, Canada and a good portion of the northern United States. Congratulations to the Quebec Remparts, who beat all expectations to win the Memorial Cup on Sunday with a final score of 5-0. The “red devils” finished out the season at the top of their league, after dominating in Quebec. Well done to the organization and the whol…
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Mr. Speaker, the not very independent rapporteur has tabled a preliminary report that the Prime Minister is quite happy with. In writing that report, he did not talk to the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, he did not talk to Canada's election commissioner, he did not talk to anyone from the Chinese diaspora who has been targeted for intimidation, yet he decided, in his great wisdom, that an inde…
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Mr. Speaker, when I refer to the Prime Minister's ignorance, I get chastised, but he gets away with it. I believe the rapporteur, the Prime Minister's friend, spoke to the Trudeau Foundation. Things are easier among friends. I believe the rapporteur spoke to the Prime Minister. The question is whether he was in fact reporting to him. As he explained this morning, his belief is that a commission of…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to use another example. The Quebec National Assembly is unanimously asking for information about Ottawa's interference in the democratic process during the 1995 referendum. The Prime Minister is choosing secrecy. This Parliament is asking to have the information from David Johnston's secret briefings entrusted to an independent commissioner. Again, the Prime Minister is choosin…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is encouraging an insidious culture of secrecy; China is too. David Johnston is making a game out of hiding secrets from Canadians and Quebeckers, like China would. The Liberals' entire strategy is now obvious: to divert attention from the close ties between Liberal power brokers and China, possibly even to protect the interests of investor friends in China by devis…
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Mr. Speaker, he just needs to come out with the facts, but as someone once said, he would not know what to do with the facts. The Prime Minister is protecting someone or something. Who? What? What skeletons are hiding in the Trudeau Foundation's closet? Just how low will he go to protect his secrets? What is China doing and to whom? How has China managed to intimidate the entire Liberal government…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is dragging Quebec into a crisis that will literally undermine democracy with all the secrecy. The Prime Minister responds by grandstanding. We are going to get to the bottom of this matter. How will he explain to Canadians and Quebeckers that he will treat with contempt the vote of an elected majority of the House, with each one being an elected member of Parliament just as he…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada no longer has a government worthy of being called democratic. This Prime Minister refuses to clear up any doubts about his desire to protect secrets that we are only just starting to uncover. Let us ask the people of Xinjiang how China's dictatorship operates. Let us ask the people of Hong Kong how China operates. Let us ask the Tibetans how the Chinese Communist Party operates…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to suggest a hypothesis that explains why we are seeing what we are seeing. Has there ever been a Prime Minister less serious than this one, or one so unworthy of the office he holds? We are talking about the intimidation of elected officials, illegal election financing, industrial espionage, research funded by Huawei, the Trudeau Foundation and contempt for intelligence …
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is starting to become quite isolated. He has few friends left except for Mr. Johnston. All the parties want an independent public inquiry. The former chief electoral officer wants an independent public inquiry. Most analysts are clamouring for an inquiry. Even Morris Rosenberg wants one, but not David Johnston. Who will the Prime Minister listen to, his friend Rosen…
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Mr. Speaker, the appointment of a former member of the Trudeau Foundation, a family friend and a friend to China was not legitimate. The findings and the report have no legitimacy. Mr. Johnston's obstinacy in designating himself to continue on with this matter is wrong. If Mr. Johnston refuses to recuse himself, as Parliament may well ask him to do, will the Prime Minister have the dignity and sta…
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Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness that I learned, that we learned of the passing of historian Frédéric Bastien yesterday. He was just 53. An outspoken historian, a debunker of reheated myths that do not stand up to scrutiny, cool yet merciless before adversaries of the Quebec nation, Frédéric was keen to ask uncomfortable questions even at the risk of being the target of those who feared him f…
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Mr. Speaker, this is an ecological crisis as well as a safety crisis. The government is the only one that is unaware of the crime, the threats and the violence that prevented a legal solution. More than 2,000 indigenous people are living in fear, as are the non-indigenous people in the surrounding area. After years of turning a blind eye to the situation, when will the government act with the reso…
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Mr. Speaker, the residents of Kanesatake and Oka and people living on the shores of Lac des Deux Montagnes are experiencing a major ecological crisis. Lac des Deux Montagnes, the water table and the soil are probably all contaminated. These are indigenous lands, but they belong to the federal government. My colleague from Mirabel has been sounding the alarm since he was elected in 2021. Nothing ha…
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Mr. Speaker, they called their gimmick the Century Initiative. It does not translate well, and that is by design. They want everyone to become English. They said—
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Mr. Speaker, we have an expression in Quebec that essentially means people need to walk the talk. I will explain that some day. That being said, this government has messed up on immigration, with one million cases being backlogged. The Liberals are incapable of managing the foreign students file. They are incapable of managing the temporary foreign workers file. In a year and a half, they have bee…
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Mr. Speaker, the government agreed to a gimmick it called the Century Initiative, which we will not bother translating into French. It does not deserve to be translated because, at that point, we would all be speaking English. The Liberals said that they would drop the slogan. That is fine. Then, the Liberals said that they would abandon the idea of 100 million Canadians by the end of the century …
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Mr. Speaker, I am not sure we talked about reducing that number. I will jump right to the logical conclusion. In my opinion, Canada will do whatever it wants. If Canada wants to divest itself of an entity that is already weakened by its proximity to a cultural giant that swallows up all its differences, then that is Canada's business. If Canada wants to give up anything else that is Canadian, such…
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moved: That, given that, (i) the Century Initiative aims to increase Canada’s population to 100 million by 2100, (ii) the federal government’s new intake targets are consistent with the Century Initiative objectives, (iii) tripling Canada’s population has real impacts on the future of the French language, Quebec’s political weight, the place of First Peoples, access to housing, and health and educ…
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Mr. Speaker, I have always had a soft spot for people who know it all. Our political agenda is not exactly a secret. All we have to do is explain it, and the rest kind of takes care of itself. I feel like asking my relatively esteemed colleague this question: Why is he using immigration as a tool to entirely wipe out Quebec's desire to assert itself as a people, as a nation and as a country?
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Mr. Speaker, the same federal government has outsourced core government responsibilities to that same McKinsey, which is the intellectual soul behind the Century Initiative. The basic idea is to put things off until long after our kids have retired and imagine how wonderful it will be. In the meantime, starting tomorrow, we need to bring in plenty of cheap labour. It is very efficient. For starter…
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Mr. Speaker, that was a wild speech with a lot of hot air, to put it as politely as I can. Anyone who goes to the trouble of the putting the words “French”, “extreme right”, “Bloc Québécois” and “Pierre Karl Péladeau” in the same sentence deserves nothing short of my contempt. As for taking lessons from the Bloc Québécois, the NDP did not take them from the Bloc Québécois. It took them from Quebec…
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