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Ms. Louise Chabot (Thérèse-De Blainville, BQ)

Mar/1/22 11:32:47 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech, and I have a really simple question for him. This Bloc Québécois motion and the bill that will accompany it are about doing something major for Quebec. It is not about recognition based on demographics alone, because the demographic situation could change. For example, in terms of demographics, the two provinces with the highest aging populations are Ontario and Quebec, a fact that is not even taken into account in health care funding, by the way. It is more a question of political weight. Quebec has been recognized as a distinct society and as a nation. Do Quebec's political weight and representation in the House deserve to be maintained or even increased?

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Context: House Hansard - 38 - Mar/1/22

Mr. Alexandre Boulerice

Mar/1/22 11:50:41 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I believe I was quite clear in my speech. The equality of citizens is clearly a basic principle of democracy, but the demographic formula is not the only one we use. There are several others. We have shown that. This has consequences for the Prairies, the Maritimes, and Quebec as well. We can consider this discussion because we live under a system that has multiple criteria and exceptions. As for immigration, I would say that Quebec and Canada are countries of immigrants. We are all to varying degrees sons and daughters of immigrants, except for the indigenous peoples and the Inuit. I would like to see Quebec welcome more immigrants. I think that is also a good way to solve the problem of the labour shortage. However, at this time, the Government of Quebec makes decisions about economic immigration, as it should. It is up to Quebec to decide. Personally, I believe that a good part of the solution to Quebec's political weight is demographics and immigration. It would also help solve the labour shortage.

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All Topics

Context: House Hansard - 38 - Mar/1/22

Ms. Kristina Michaud

Mar/1/22 3:42:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. He is absolutely right. I do not think that demographics should be the only factor determining the distribution of seats in the House of Commons. I think that cultural, historic and regional contexts need to be taken into account, as my colleague pointed out. My region has been designated as a resource region by the Government of Quebec. There are three types of regions: manufacturing regions, resource regions and urban regions. Back home, we extract natural resources and often export them outside Quebec. Our economy is perhaps below the Quebec average. Our voice is important and deserves to be heard in the House of Commons. We must share our concerns to ensure that we get what we are owed. The context and uniqueness of the regions must be taken into account in these kinds of calculations. I would also like to remind members that our net migration was positive. This is a good thing, and it must be taken into account by the Chief Electoral Officer during the redistribution study.

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