44th Parl. 1st Sess.
January 31, 2022 11:00AM
- Jan/31/22 4:53:05 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech.
I found several parts of his speech very interesting, particularly those relating to rural life, the cost of living and especially seniors.
I would like to know what he thinks we should do. He mentioned the carbon tax, but I do not think that is the way to go. Would it not be simpler to immediately increase old age pensions starting at the age of 65, without discriminating and without creating two classes of seniors?
We have been demanding this for months, but the government is not budging. I am reaching out to my Conservative friends so that we can lead the fight for this. Does my colleague agree?
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- Jan/31/22 5:11:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia.
It is a pleasure for me to address the House in relation to the throne speech. However, I will confess that it was not a pleasure to read it, because it contained almost nothing.
My introduction will be fairly brief because I have a lot to say. I have plenty of content, and the Bloc has plenty of proposals. The throne speech may be vague, rambling and meagre, despite the fact that it took over 60 days to write it, which really boggles the mind, but the Bloc Québécois has things to propose. We are humbly putting those proposals on the table.
The throne speech encroaches on many areas under Quebec and provincial jurisdiction, including housing. Some of the measures in the throne speech may be worthwhile, but the government needs to be careful when it comes to jurisdiction. It talks about fighting inflation and creating a child care program. I congratulate the government for transferring funds unconditionally to Quebec. That is commendable.
However, there is still work to be done elsewhere. If the government really wants to fight inflation to help those most in need and those bearing the brunt, I have one little word to say. I said it earlier when asking a question: “seniors”.
People over the age of 65 who no longer work, who are receiving old age security and the guaranteed income supplement, need a decent increase to their income, not an insult to their intelligence and integrity. If the government is going to give an increase of $1.25 a month, it might as well not give one at all.
I am having a hard time with this. Other members spoke about this issue earlier and kept remarkably calm. I tip my hat to them, because the more time goes on, the more I struggle to keep calm when I am talking about seniors. This situation is revolting and needs to be fixed as soon as possible. The majority of members in the House would support this increase. I will therefore ask the government to make a formal commitment to this.
Other intrusions into areas of provincial jurisdiction include police reform, mental health, natural resource management, and the prevention of violence against women. We all agree on these general principles. I do not want anyone to think that we disagree with the actions. When it comes to Quebec's jurisdiction, however, the role of the federal government, which collects half the income tax but does not assume half the responsibilities, is to sign a cheque and send it to the person responsible for managing it. It is essential not to add any more layers. That is fundamental.
Rather than meddling in areas where it does not belong, I suggest that the federal government provide adequate transfer payments, in particular in health care. I will come back to that later. I also suggest that it look after its own affairs. I believe my colleague from Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia will also talk about this.
With respect to gun control, for example, we are not just talking about domestic regulation, but about increasing and improving border controls. What is happening in our cities in Quebec is awful. It is a national emergency that must be addressed immediately. Managing international borders actually is the federal government's jurisdiction, so let us co-operate on this issue.
There are a lot of things missing from the throne speech. It is a vague document that does not say much. It says nothing about health transfers. I mentioned this earlier. All of the provinces and Quebec are unanimous. This is not a matter of separatists wanting to pick a fight. I do not want to hear anyone say that to me later. Please, let us elevate the debate. All of the provinces and Quebec are asking for an increase in health transfers and for the government to pay its fair share of the costs. Let it do this unconditionally, please.
We are talking about the energy transition and green financing. Let us take concrete action.
Let us also talk about the need for employment insurance reform, which was missing from the throne speech. Right now, there is someone who has to wait 12 weeks because a public official thinks that there may be fraud involved. The person waiting is a father or mother who is not getting any cheques, who cannot pay rent, who has trouble getting groceries and who has to wait 12 weeks because an official thinks that someone may have committed fraud.
We need to pay these people. It is okay if the investigation takes three years, public officials can eventually get the money back, but in the meantime people need support. Employment insurance is not something people should have to beg for; it is not a privilege, it is an insurance plan that workers contribute to.
I am getting angry because these are frustrating situations. I am thinking about people with a severe illness. It is terrible. Why not increase the period of benefits to 50 weeks?
I have already talked about seniors. Obviously, when I rise, my colleagues think that I am going to talk about agriculture and agri-food. What is there in the throne speech about that? Absolutely nothing. I would like my Liberal colleague to enlighten me about that, because I do not understand it. Is it because they do not have any ideas? Is it because they have no vision?
I certainly have a vision. I am not being pretentious, because my vision was developed through teamwork. It is not the vision of the hon. member for Berthier—Maskinongé, but rather the Bloc Québécois’s policy: We have a vision of the future and concrete proposals to make.
What I would like to hear in a throne speech is the government’s vision. After that, we could work with the Conservatives’ and the NDP’s visions for the future of farming, and we could sit down together, as we manage to do in the standing committee on agriculture and agri-food. We could work together to find something feasible. Instead, after a 60-day wait, we have been given a document with nothing in it. I tossed my paper but that is okay, because there was really nothing of substance written on it. That was my summary of the throne speech. It boggles the mind.
As usual, my time is swiftly running out. I will therefore address three topics. Food sovereignty is a priority. Everyone is talking about it, everyone is making speeches with tears in their eyes, and so on. However, we need to act; we need to promote buying local.
Earlier when I rose, I removed my mask, which was made by the Prémont company in Louiseville. It is a Humask brand mask, made locally in Quebec. Before the holidays, my party was forced to move a motion in the House calling for the masks that are provided at the door in Parliament not to be made in China. I will refrain from saying the word that springs to mind as I think back on that ludicrous episode.
Let us talk about food sovereignty. We have to protect our people and keep our promises. I talked about the empty throne speech, but fortunately, there were a few lines on this subject in the mandate letters of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. That reassures me, and we will work on that with my Liberal friends.
Our goal is to support people under supply management who were sacrificed in CUSMA and pay them the compensation they were promised. These people expect this to happen immediately. Supply management must not be compromised any further. We know the solution to this problem. We know what to do. We will reintroduce a bill on this and ask once again for the government's support, which I greatly appreciated in the last Parliament. These are things we can do.
The second point I want to make about agriculture and agri-food is the environmental partnership. A Conservative member brought up this topic earlier. We must support the people who work the land and who are actively working to protect the environment. We must provide financial support, for what it is worth, in the form of a sort of “agri-investment”. We should give these people the money they need to invest in their own businesses.
The third point I want to make has to do with the reciprocity of standards. International trade is here to stay, but the government could show some basic respect to producers and subject imported goods to the same standards as goods produced here. The government will have to allocate resources at the border and conduct inspections. Let us respect Canadian producers and take real action. We are here and willing to work together. The door is wide open.
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- Jan/31/22 5:22:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, of course it is important to keep these industries. The fact that we were manufacturing fewer masks locally before the pandemic is one of the lessons to be learned.
That is why I am talking about food sovereignty. I am not talking about stopping international trade, but we must have a minimum of local production.
As for the masks that were handed out to us at the doors of Parliament at the start of the session last November and December, I am very sorry for my colleague, but there is no excuse for the fact that they were not locally made. I am still not over it. We had to get a motion passed about it.
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- Jan/31/22 5:23:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague. I am happy to hear that he appreciated my comments this morning. This shows that we can work constructively.
I commend him on his excellent French. He made a tremendous effort to ask his question in French.
From what I understand, my colleague wants us to talk about housing, which is, indeed, an important issue. I think that the idea of taxing foreigners has potential. However, as I mentioned earlier in my speech, the government needs to be careful with such taxes because there is a potential overlap with Quebec's and the provinces' jurisdictions. I am not saying that we should do nothing, but the government must work with the level of government responsible for the issue even if that means transferring the funds.
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- Jan/31/22 5:25:23 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I also appreciate the work that he does.
He spoke about how people are fed up, which is only natural. Things are difficult for everyone, and these reactions are understandable.
My colleague asked me to talk about bold action, so I would like to talk about one of the key measures among those I spoke about earlier, which is support for environmental measures.
The government should not hold back from supporting farmers. Everyone in the House knows that farmers south of the border get twice as much funding, often through direct subsidies. The ratio is even more bigger when we compare ourselves with Europe. People here work very hard and are subject to significant restrictions. They need our help.
The government should compensate them for taking tangible environmental actions, such as renovating a building or restoring riparian zones that are no longer being farmed. There needs to be some economic value, and it needs to be tangible to encourage people to keep taking action.
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- Jan/31/22 6:20:13 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comments and the previous member for his question. I got the sense that both of them care about agriculture, and I think that is great.
We could easily spend several hours talking about what various governments have done in the past. My colleague mentioned the slaughter backlog, a serious problem that is impacting Quebec in particular. Application processing times for foreign workers, especially in the poultry sector, are also horrendously slow. There is a backlog of hogs. It is appalling.
Unfortunately, a Conservative government set caps on the number of foreign workers in agri-food and processing, but that is not the point I want to make. We have since managed to raise that cap to 20%, but it took a very long time. The announcement was made in August, but it just recently came into effect. I am sure my colleague will agree that it took a long time to implement. Does he not think the hiring cap should be raised yet again? What can be done to recruit workers for this sector and facilitate immigration—
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Madam Speaker, I thank my valued colleague from Brandon-Souris for his speech. I will once again have the privilege of changing the dynamic in the House so that we stop focusing on who did what and who did it better and start focusing on constructive feedback and the content.
I would like my colleague from Brandon—Souris to tell me about the minister's mandate letter. He is right in saying that the throne speech contains absolutely nothing for the farming community; we agree on that. That is why I went back to the document, which contained a little bit of content. The minister's mandate letter talks about facilitating the transfer of family farms. We managed to work together to pass a historic law during the previous Parliament. I thank my colleague again for promoting and introducing this bill.
I would like to know if he is concerned about that note in the mandate letter. When the Liberals want to try to make changes to the great work we have done, what aspect of the law does he think we need to keep an eye on?
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