Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague for his intervention. Rather than eliminating the taxes on gas, does he not think that we should charge a special tax on the profits of oil companies, which have reached a record high this year? We could also introduce a special tax on businesses that made more than $1 billion in profit last year in order to help those most affected. We could stop decre…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my distinguished colleague from Laurentides—Labelle for her fantastic question. I proposed a few solutions earlier. For example, we talked about green financing. It is quite a challenge to get pension fund managers to give a clear answer about where our money is invested so we can ensure that it is not going into fossil fuels. It can take a long time to find out that informa…
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Madam Speaker, I have no doubt that the member for Winnipeg North could have continued speaking for some time. I will make him happy and start with his last statement, which referred to child care. We are pleased that this has now been established in the rest of the country and that Quebec has served as the model. That makes us very proud. I would invite my colleagues in the House to remember this…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech, but I do need to share some concerns. I might encourage her to dial back some of the things she said. She said western oil is among the cleanest in the world, but we need to acknowledge that, empirically, tar sands oil is extremely polluting. I would like her to clarify what she meant and tell us what oil she was talking about. Given this problem…
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Madam Speaker, the member can go ahead and insist that they increased health transfers, but the truth is that the provinces and Quebec unanimously called on the federal government to increase health transfers to 35% of health spending. Her government ignored them and refused to do it. Here is my question. Will she commit to working on the inside to enable the government that has jurisdiction and k…
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Madam Speaker, the member for Newmarket—Aurora talked a lot about labour shortages from various perspectives. I would like to ask him about a proposal made by the Bloc Québécois to offer a tax credit to early retired or retired workers aged 65 and over after a certain number of hours or years of work. This could help keep a skilled, efficient and reliable workforce active in our businesses. I hear…
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Madam Speaker, that is certainly not very much time. I thank my colleague for his question. I think he, too, would agree that Quebec is a model to follow in many areas. I never claimed that Quebec's pharmacare system was perfect. Our day care system is not perfect either. There is a shortage of spaces and so on. However, it can serve as a base model for reference. What sets me apart from my collea…
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Madam Speaker, the federal government would do well to follow Quebec's lead in many areas, and pharmacare is one of them. When the Liberals are ready to bring in their own pharmacare plan, I would invite them to follow the model I referred to at the beginning of my speech, namely child care, and let Quebec continue to manage its own affairs, which means giving Quebec its fair share of the funding.…
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Madam Speaker, today I will be tabling a petition that I sponsored calling for shoreline protection, as well as a series of resolutions in support of the petition, which were passed by various municipal councils in my riding. The petitioners are calling upon the federal government to implement a shoreline protection program for the St. Lawrence River and take the necessary steps to counter erosion…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask for the unanimous consent of the House to present the petition I planned to table today. People from Berthier—Maskinongé made a special trip to Parliament Hill for this reason.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I want to start by thanking every single one of my colleagues for their kindness. I rise today to present petition e-3748 regarding shoreline protection. I sponsored this petition, which is backed by a series of resolutions of support from various municipal councils and RCMs in my riding. I will share these resolutions of support with the minister in the coming days. This petition, wh…
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Mr. Speaker, today, June 1, we are celebrating World Milk Day. This year, again, I want to acknowledge the contribution of dairy farmers who take care of their herds and put high-quality milk on our tables, as well as precious milk products such as butter, yoghurt and cheese. Today, milk was delivered to the lobby. It was a good opportunity to raise a glass to the health of our local farmers, whic…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I congratulate him again on his excellent French, which just keeps getting better. My colleague seems to wonder what the problem is in our motion today. There is always this argument that we could have chosen another topic. We hear this every time that we bring an issue forward. I will identify the problems and ask my colleague to respond. The fi…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech and making an effort to speak French. I get the impression that we are engaging in a dialogue of the deaf. People think that we support discrimination, when the exact opposite is true. We absolutely support better representation of women, cultural communities and so on in institutions. The main problem, and the reason for our motion, is that some …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. We all agree that we need to increase representation within our institutions for visible minorities, women and people with disabilities, but we have to do it the right way. Does my colleague not believe it is better to engage in positive discrimination based on a criterion that, for equal or comparable qualifications, favours certain minority can…
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Madam Speaker, actually, that is what I try to do every day. I will give an unrelated example. It still happens quite frequently that I learn that someone I know belongs to the LGBTQ+ community. I did not know, even if I have known these people for a long time. Why did I not know? Because it was none of my business and because I do not pay attention to these things. It is the same when I meet some…
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Madam Speaker, I am very grateful to my colleague from Victoria for her excellent question, because it will allow me to clarify matters. I said earlier that we are going too far with this approach. I did not say that the proportion of under-represented people was too high. What I said was that, when introducing new measures, we should avoid discriminating against a new group of people on the prete…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague from the Green Party for his question and commend him for his excellent French. I absolutely understand that, and I thought it was clear in my speech. I acknowledge this reality. A 50-year-old white mean who says that he understands cannot truly understand since he has not experienced these difficulties. He should say that he can appreciate these diffic…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak on this opposition day today. I would like to start by saying that I will be sharing my time with my esteemed colleague from Shefford. I believe that this is the first time in two and a half years that I have said this at the beginning of my speech. The debate that we are having today is an important one. I will start by saying that I have enjoyed the last few …
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her fine speech. Once again, I feel like I am taking part in a dialogue of the deaf, because I agree with everything she said. She pointed out that we need to tackle all forms of discrimination, and that is exactly what we are trying to do. Prohibiting someone from submitting their application crosses a dangerous line. How does the member feel about the fact t…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Calgary Shepard for his speech. I was listening to him carefully, and at one point he talked about the fact that we are here to work seriously on legislation for the real world. We are talking about the WE Charity scandal, a very important issue that we should have dealt with over a year ago. That was delayed through what I would call questionable political…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking my colleague for her clear statement, which provided a timeline of events that, let us be honest, happened a very long time ago, and that the Liberals tried several times to sweep under the rug. I would like my colleague to tell us about the wrongdoing that was seen during her committee's study and the important recommendations that came out of it. …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, long-term solutions to bee mortality also need to be found. That is why I presented a notice of motion to the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food to try to come up with solutions. That said, there are producers on the brink of despair and companies on the brink of bankruptcy right now. There was a call for an emergency plan yesterday, or rather Wednesday. The pollination…
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Madam Speaker, today is World Bee Day, but there is nothing to celebrate because Quebec's bees are dying. Their mortality rate is 60%. An average mortality rate of 60% is unbelievable. Bees play an essential role in pollination, and our crops depend on them. On Wednesday, farmers sounded the alarm and called for emergency aid for the sector. No agricultural producer can face a catastrophe of this …
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, on May 20 we celebrate World Bee Day. This year, this day is especially significant because many of our beekeepers lost a large percentage of their bees, with mortality rates of up to 80%. No producer can afford such a loss. Producers held a press conference yesterday to sound the alarm. They need support. Higher temperatures due to climate change are having a devastating impact and p…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her speech. I really enjoyed the message she conveyed, but some of the technical details do not add up. My colleague talked about the fact that the government is a good friend to the oil companies. She also talked about all the nice words and the fact that action is needed. It is such a shame, but I am going to have to tell her about her friends in the …
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Madam Speaker, let us come back to the topic at hand. In his speech, my colleague mentioned that, although the oil industry is heavily subsidized, it also brings in a lot of revenue and that that money is used for other things. The figure he mentioned was $20 billion a year. Did he forget about the $10 billion that we are paying into the industry? Did he forget about the $10 billion invested in Tr…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague was focused on his speech. People were shouting at him while he was speaking, which is why he simply responded without thinking—
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the interpretation is not working.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois is firmly in favour of sanctions against Russia and stands with the Ukrainian people, but the sanctions need to punish the Russians, not Quebeckers. Our farmers are being hit with a 35% surtax on fertilizer they bought from Russia and paid for before the war. It is costing our farmers an extra 35%, but it is costing Russia nothing. This measure is not penalizing Mos…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, disgraceful incidents of intimidation, both of elected representatives and of journalists, have become all too frequent in the last while. Allusions, disagreements, heated tones and often-inappropriate innuendo are all part of politics, and sometimes these get taken too far. That is normal. Many issues evoke passionate feelings. Threats and intimidation, on the other hand, have no pla…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I think he grabbed the wrong sheet of talking points for his response. We agree with the sanctions. What we are asking for is a no-brainer. The bill for the fertilizer the farmers bought predates the conflict. The federal government needs to exempt the farmers from the 35% surtax. It is as simple as that. It is not complicated. Farmers also stand with the Ukrainian people, but they sh…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for this very important question and for the opportunity he has given me. It is indeed a very good question. Yes, I recognize the importance of this legislation in Canada and why it is needed. No, we do not need to scrap the bill. We are not here to create obstacles. We just want to protect our people. If the bill stated that the law would apply in Quebec as lon…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my valued colleague from the agriculture committee for his question and for his nice introduction in French. He put in a great effort. I also recognize that British Columbia is an exception, in that there is more demand for French. He asked about how we can develop a partnership. It is simple and I mentioned this earlier. The feds need to stop acting as though they know all.…
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Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for the question. I acknowledged at the beginning of my speech that there had been some gains for francophones outside Quebec. However, for Quebec, I am sorry to disappoint the minister, but this bill is harmful for French. It is harmful because it will allow businesses to take the easy road. They can decide to follow the letter of the law without needing to wor…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill C‑13 this evening. However, I am going to spoil the general mood of happiness and joy. I will begin by pointing out that this is the second time that we are dealing with a bill like this one in a very short period of time. We had made a lot of progress the last time, but the bill died on the Order Paper because our fine government decided that it was hi…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Longueuil—Saint-Hubert for his passionate plea, from the bottom of his heart, in favour of our magnificent language. The previous question was about whether the Bloc was aware of the existence of francophone minorities in Canada. Yes, we are aware, but I would like to give my colleague the opportunity to explain to our colleagues across the wa…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, what I was saying is that it is an incentive. For an incentive to lead to a transition, there needs to be a possibility for change. If I decided to buy a sports utility vehicle with a V8 engine to drive home from my work when I do not need it, it would make a lot of sense to tax the vehicle to encourage me to buy an electric vehicle or a smaller one. I would be in favour of such a m…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak to Bill C-234, an act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. I listened carefully to the previous speech and I want to reassure my colleague that we fully support the pollution pricing principle. It is an important principle, because polluting has to cost something. However, this tax is supposed to be an incentive. We do not want to tamper w…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague spoke a lot about investigations into money laundering and recovering money. We agree with all that. However, there is something that really bothers me. How does my colleague explain the fact that his government is not doing anything at all about tax havens? They are perfectly legal and everyone is aware of them. It is estimated that the government is losing at least $7…
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Madam Speaker, the interpretation service is indicating that the member's headset is not working properly. Perhaps it is something technical that should be checked.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his speech. I know he lives in the Niagara region, whose wines I really enjoy, by the way. He heard what I said earlier about temporary foreign workers, about the lack of resources and about the ridiculous chaos we are experiencing, which is jeopardizing not only our agricultural production, but also the survival of our businesses. Could my colleague co…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. I would like to hear her thoughts about immigration and resources, particularly when it comes to temporary foreign workers. I am a bit disappointed that there is not much about that in Bill C-19. There are a few general measures on economic targets, but they will not really affect Quebec, because Quebec makes its own selections in the economic cl…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to commend Michel Désy for the 35 years he has devoted to the farm union movement. This farmer in Berthier has been involved with the Fédération de l'Union des producteurs agricoles since 1984 and the Producteurs de bovins de Lanaudière since 1986. He has held various roles, such as administrator, vice-president of UPA Lanaudière and president of UPA Autray. Among h…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, three things are certain in life: death, taxes and federal government delays in bringing in temporary foreign workers. However, there is nothing more predictable. Spring arrives at about the same time every year, as does the harvest. Every time, the federal government seems surprised. Every time, farmers face the same delays. Every year, they wonder if the workers will arrive on time.…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to see that at least one person understands what we want. Ultimately, what we want is for Quebec to be independent. In the meantime, why are we here? We are not here to cause trouble. We are here to salvage something from the wreckage and to work together in a positive way. That is what we try to do every day. I would like the parliamentary secretary to understand that …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague about a specific aspect of Bill C-8, and that is the tax on underused housing. Everyone agrees with the basic intent. My first question has to do with the rate of 1%. Is that enough? We know that other places like British Columbia and France have much higher rates than that. Other than the rate, there is also the way this tax will be applied. The fed…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. As my colleagues may guess, I appreciated the fact that he talked a lot about agriculture. I would like him to tell me what more we could do for our agricultural community. We are talking about a credit that does not even apply to Quebec. Beyond that, how could we treat our agricultural community in a more forward‑looking and respectful way, if o…
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Madam Speaker, I will begin by saying that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Kingston and the Islands. This is a pleasant surprise for me. I am happy to share something with this colleague. Perhaps this is the beginning of something. We do not usually see eye to eye. I am going to talk about Bill C-8. The main problem that we have with it is the underused housing tax, which is yet a…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague. I really enjoy working with him on the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. Obviously, he wants me to talk about Bill C-234, so that is what I will do. The Bloc Québécois is extremely rational. We want to protect the environment in a way that makes sense. The reason we are supporting this system is that there is currently no other alternative. Howev…
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