Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will be voting in favour.
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Madam Speaker, I am going to try to show restraint. This is astounding. I hope my colleague has put his earpiece in to understand what I am about to say. The Bank of Canada has analyzed the impact of the carbon tax, and it is 0.02%. The carbon tax has a very minimal impact on Quebec. It is very minor. I would like to inform my colleague that Quebec has its own system, known as the carbon exchange,…
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Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague for making an effort to speak French. I would say that every elected member could make the effort to properly read the documents they are given. The Bloc Québécois is the third-largest political party, and we have a whole research department. Our researchers are brilliant and work very hard. They carry out analyses and give us a really detailed background…
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will be voting in favour.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a very simple question for my colleague. How does he explain the fact that the minister made the documents public today after this motion was tabled? Can my colleague encourage the members of his government to learn from their mistakes and to be more transparent? Now, the Liberals are going to try to appear virtuous. They are going to say that, yes, they provided the study. Tha…
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Mr. Speaker, I commend my hon. colleague from Pierre‑Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, who set the bar high, as usual. When we, the members of the Bloc Québécois, share our speaking time with each other, we always want to go first because we are all good and that puts pressure on the next person. I will try to make sure my speech is as good as my colleague's. Today's motion is indeed repetitive, as…
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Madam Speaker, I am going to repeat my colleague's last sentence. He said that if we do not measure, there is no result. He is right. We have to measure. If there is one thing the Conservatives are right about today, it is that we need information. We voiced our agreement right from the start. Parliamentarians need information to make sound decisions. Does my colleague agree with me that just know…
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Mr. Speaker, it is funny that he should mention that, because I raised it earlier in the day. I do not know if he heard my speech. What I would like to say is that we have two choices. We have a bill that has been amended by the Senate. We can choose to accept the amendments and immediately give our grain producers a win, since they would be able to get the exemption this fall, and then do somethi…
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote, and we will be voting yes.
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Mr. Speaker, I was impatient because I was so excited to answer. What a great question. I am certainly getting spoiled this evening. We are not against pharmacare. Let us ask these union representatives the question and give them the choice. Let us tell them this: The federal government is increasing health transfers and we can put more money into our Quebec pharmacare program, which has been arou…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my distinguished colleague from Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques. That is unfortunate, though, because I have so much to say. I am going to break free from the populist, accusatory cycle where each person accuses another of having done this or that. I am going to offer some actual substance. In the last few minutes, people have been talking abou…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about many things, obviously, including international trade. He talked about the importance of improving our performance in international trade and increasing our markets. That is good. There is Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy. I think it is important to make every effort to diversify our markets. My question has more to do with respecting existing international t…
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Mr. Speaker, in his speech, the member talked a lot about housing, massive investments and connections with the municipalities. Is he aware that, in Quebec at least, the money for municipalities has to go through Quebec? It is a law that exists in Quebec. Is he aware that Ottawa imposing conditions, trying to set requirements and starting to get involved in municipal zoning, when it is so far from…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the minister a question on a topic she is quite familiar with because of her former role. What does she think about the budget being allocated to defence across the country? As a member of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Canada should theoretically be investing 2% of its GDP in defence, but that is not happening. It is not clear that the plan that h…
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote, and we will be voting yes.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will be voting yea.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will be voting yea.
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Mr. Speaker, farmers suffered disastrous harvests last year, due in part to natural disasters. Last week, they finally reached an agreement with the Quebec government on compensation and have said loud and clear that now it is Ottawa's turn. Representatives of produce growers are in Ottawa today. They met with the minister this morning to remind him that they exist and that they deserve support. T…
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Mr. Speaker, while the Weather Network is predicting another high-risk summer for natural disasters, the federal government has yet to provide any compensation for last year's disasters. We are not off to a good start. What is the result? One in five farms is unable to pay its debts. One in 10 farms wants to shut down within a year. Emergency assistance is urgently needed. Farmers have been callin…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech and for his effort to speak in the language of Molière. I would like him to explain something to me. If foreign interference and trust in democratic institutions are so important to his government, how come it took months for his government to take action? How come it is the Bloc Québécois that is moving a motion today to move things forward, so t…
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Madam Speaker, I do not have a rational explanation. That is what I said for half my speech. The only explanation I have is that we are the adults in the room, we are the trustworthy ones. I am glad we are doing this. I am glad that the other parties support us. When we have a Prime Minister who openly says that he does not read the CSIS reports, it makes us wonder. Does the Prime Minister know ho…
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Madam Speaker, the answer to his question is yes. That is actually what our leader decided to do, and I think that all the leaders should do the same to ensure that they have all the information. Apart from that, what my colleagues and I wanted to say at the outset is that we thought that the parliamentary secretary thought we wanted names when we were asking questions. Obviously, we understood th…
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Madam Speaker, I am glad to know that at least one member listened to my speech from start to finish. We get along well and agree on most things. That is why the commission's terms of reference need to be expanded, so that these individuals can be identified and each party leader can do their job and kick these people out of Parliament. I completely agree with my colleague that these members shoul…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like the parliamentary secretary to explain his vision. In his opinion, why are trust and truth so important in a democratic system like ours? I would also like him to explain why his government does not act unless it is pushed into a corner. I do not think it is right that the Bloc Québécois was the one that had to move a motion on this matter. If there were effective governa…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a privilege to speak in the House. I want to begin by saying that I will be sharing my time with my respected colleague from Saint‑Hyacinthe—Bagot. I say that it is always a privilege to speak because it is a great privilege just to be in the House. Out of more than 40 million people, there are 338 members. It is a prestigious position, and the people have put their tru…
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Mr. Speaker, when my colleague from Joliette asked the member a question about the possibility of putting the Canada Border Services Agency under third party management, his response was not really clear. Do the Conservatives approve of this measure? Also, how do they envision the right of appeal for people who feel they received abusive or inappropriate treatment at the hands of border services o…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to know my colleague's thoughts about setting up an appeal process for inspections that are deemed unfounded. Also, does he agree with the Bloc Québécois's proposal for oversight at the port of Montreal, that is, temporarily implementing some form of third party management to find out what is going on and why this location has become a conduit for all kinds of illegal goo…
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Mr. Speaker, our colleague wants to know if we are going to support the motion. I will answer his question. We completely agree in principle with the substance of the motion on transparency. However, there are things in the motion that simply do not work. For example, the motion imposes a 14-day deadline on the production of documents and makes a recommendation directly to the RCMP. I am not sure …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to hear my colleague's take on something. As I said earlier today, we have before us a government that keeps piling up scandals in a rather spectacular and surreal way. The Liberals never have to account for the previous scandal because it gets buried by a new scandal in the news. Does this situation not help to dispel the suspicions that we have about some members of t…
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Mr. Speaker, while Ottawa drags its feet, the processor Saladexpress in Châteauguay—Lacolle has just shut down its operations. When workers arrived this morning, the doors were locked. This means that a lot of our growers found out just this morning, after the planting season, that they had lost their one and only buyer. This comes on the heels of a disastrous season in 2023 and repeated natural d…
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Mr. Speaker, last year was disastrous for our farmers. One in five farms is unable to pay its debt. After months of demonstrations, the farmers have been heard by their government, the Government of Quebec. Now it is Ottawa's turn to listen, warned the Union des producteurs agricoles. Quebec already asked the federal government in November for a one-time relief payment through the AgriRecovery pro…
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Madam Speaker, the tragedy in all this is that every time there is a Liberal scandal, they quickly cook up a fresh scandal to bury the previous one. There is no end to the mismanagement and lack of transparency. I think that, in this matter, there are reasonable doubts that justify making these documents available to parliamentarians. Will the parliamentary secretary commit to providing them, as w…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. He just responded to the Conservatives by saying that this money needs to be spent to provide a service. I agree with him. However, we have to be efficient. To be efficient, we should entrust this money to the people who are competent. A system already exists in Quebec. My colleague is well aware of it. I am going to give him a mission to fulfill…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to follow up with my colleague about the question that I asked earlier and he repeated. It was about health transfers to the provinces and Quebec, which has the expertise in this area. I would like him to tell me how he interpreted the answer the member gave earlier, when he told me that Quebec has the expertise and that Canada wants to learn from that expertise. Meanwh…
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Madam Speaker, at the beginning of his speech, the member said that it was important to have the expertise required and a committee of experts to analyze things. We do, in fact, have expertise in this area, and it is in Quebec. My question is simple. What is the problem with the decentralization of funds to Quebec, which could work fully in its own jurisdiction, in an area where it already has a s…
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Mr. Speaker, this Saturday is World Milk Day. From skim milk to lactose-free milk to chocolate milk, this beverage will always be a comfort food. However, because of market share surrendered in past agreements, about one in five pints of milk will eventually be imported from abroad. That is why the Senate must pass Bill C‑282 as soon as possible. Our dairy farmers do not want to beg for temporary …
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Madam Speaker, we are in a Parliament where certain political parties are actually competing to see who can do more to help the oil companies, which are making huge profits. I would like to know how my colleague can live with the fact that her government, in the last two budgets, proposed six tax credits that could cost taxpayers a total of $83 billion. That money will be given to the oil companie…
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Madam Speaker, I would like the parliamentary secretary to comment on the fact that the amounts that are collected through these taxes are returned to the provinces in the form of road maintenance transfers. That money would no longer be available if we were to implement today's motion. Where does my colleague think we could get that money? What impact would that have on the rest of the budget?
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Madam Speaker, is my colleague aware that the carbon tax does not apply in Quebec? I wish someone would recognize that at some point. He is therefore asking the government to create a major imbalance between people in Quebec and people in the rest of Canada. If the Conservatives suspend the carbon tax and the gas tax for the entire summer, without suspending the rebates that the federal government…
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Madam Chair, is the date for implementing this measure, which is scheduled for January 1, 2026, set in stone or can there be an extension for some suppliers who have a lot of packages in stock and would suffer significant losses? The minister can simply give me a quick yes-or-no answer.
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Madam Chair, when it comes to front-of-package labelling, the minister is aware of the situation, because I spoke to him recently. I want to talk to him about the cranberry situation. It is a healthy fruit, but it often has added sugar. Sugar is added because, once the fruit is dried, it has a bitter taste that needs to be balanced out. Cranberry farmers are really worried about seeing their produ…
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Madam Chair, I am going to talk about one final subsidiary issue. I would like us to talk about people affected by thalidomide. A recent announcement extended the coverage period. I was very pleased to hear that, because there are people who were affected by that. I would like the minister to tell me whether he thinks everyone will be covered. If a few exceptional cases should come to light involv…
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Madam Chair, I hope that we will not have any nasty surprises over the summer holidays. That is good. Now I want to talk about the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, or CFIA. Right now there is a major problem in the duck industry, 80% of which is concentrated in Quebec. As for duck liver, 100% of that industry is in Quebec. Again, this agency is not collaborating. I would also point out to the mini…
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Madam Chair, we are always reasonable. This means that several meetings will be needed. Still in the duck industry, it is extremely difficult for our producers to export to Japan, Taiwan and China at this time because of avian flu outbreaks. Producers now have to certify the absence of avian flu in their area. We are currently in a period without any avian flu outbreaks. However, Japan, China and …
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Madam Chair, times are tough right now due to climate change. Even scientists at the agency are concerned about emerging diseases caused by climate change and globalized markets. As the minister just mentioned, we need to be more efficient. At the same time, we need to ensure Canada's food resilience. That is fundamental. While we have a duty to take precautions, we also have a duty to prevent pla…
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Madam Chair, I have a suggestion. It might even be a possible solution. It would involve recognizing what is being done in other countries, and perhaps partnering with other countries. A private member's bill has been introduced, Bill C‑359, which proposes taking into consideration the fact that a given product has been approved in two different jurisdictions recognized by Canada in order to devel…
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Madam Chair, my questions will be for the Minister of Health, through you. As the critic for agriculture, agri-food and supply management, that is what I will talk about. I will begin with questions about the Pest Management Regulatory Agency. In registering phytosanitary products, people in the sector are hoping for more efficiency and more transparency on the part of the agency. No one doubts th…
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Madam Speaker, I will try to pick up the pace a bit. I still have a lot of material to get through. Could the minister tell me how much progress has been made toward the implementation of the DNA testing that was developed by chicken farmers to detect chicken that is brought across the border falsely declared as spent fowl? This has been a problem for several years. The farmers developed the test,…
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Mr. Speaker, Louiseville and Maskinongé have lost one of their most illustrious sons and a great leader: Yvon Picotte. Mr. Picotte began his career as a teacher and principal. He also worked as a radio host and newspaper columnist and served in many volunteer positions in the community. Elected MNA in Maskinongé in 1973, he represented his riding in the Quebec National Assembly for 21 years. He se…
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Madam Speaker, this business about chocolate bars borders on demagoguery. Can we get serious? The member for Winnipeg North mentioned several times in his speech earlier that opposition members do not like the Speaker. It is not a question of liking or not liking him. We actually have a great deal of respect for the member for Hull—Aylmer. That is not the issue. The issue is confidence. It is not …
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