44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 2, 2022 11:00AM
- May/2/22 11:18:30 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on his clarification.
In Quebec there are no less than 24,000 members of the Hindu community in Montreal. The Bloc Québécois is obviously in favour of occasions to promote culture and heritage.
My question for my colleague is the following: What is the reason behind my colleague moving this motion at this time to declare November Hindu heritage month?
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- May/2/22 11:19:10 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, Quebec has always shown welcome to Hindu Canadians. In fact, less than two weeks ago, I was in Montreal celebrating a Hindu-Canadian festive event.
November is a holy month. Mid-October to mid-November is the time when major Hindu festivals, such as Diwali and Navratri, are celebrated, so we thought November would be an appropriate month for Hindu heritage to be celebrated in Canada.
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- May/2/22 11:31:29 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, namaste.
I am very pleased to rise in the House as the my party's critic on living together to speak to Motion No. 42, which would declare November Hindu heritage month.
The motion, for the benefit of my colleagues, reads as follows:
That, in the opinion of the House, the government should recognize the contributions that Hindu Canadians [and Quebeckers] have made to the socio-economic development of Canada [and Quebec], and their services to the Canadian society, the richness of Hindu Heritage and its vast contribution to the world of arts and science, astronomy to medicine, and its culture and traditions and the importance of educating [this is very important, I will come back to it] and reflecting upon it for our future generations in Canada [and Quebec] by declaring November, every year, Hindu Heritage Month.
First, I want to say hello to my colleague from Nepean who moved this motion. It has the support of 14 other members, so it must be relevant. I will state right away that, for many reasons, and I will not go into them all today, we will be voting in favour of this motion. I would nevertheless like to explain why we, in the Bloc Québécois, are the sort of people who appreciate this kind of initiative.
The reason is that this is an era of extremes. These days, people are so afraid of offending anyone that they are constantly walking on eggshells. Victimhood activists everywhere are monopolizing the public debate to the extent that many people hesitate to speak up out of fear of inadvertently making a faux pas. This silences voices that would be more worth listening to than the ones we hear nowadays, which yell but, of course, do not listen.
I recently learned that I, a white man in my fifties—by the way, I am turning 54 tomorrow, for those who would like to know—am not allowed to talk about racism or social injustice, or even express an opinion on certain situations, not even to defend the oppressed. The simple reason is that as a white man in my fifties, turning 54 tomorrow, I am privileged, which means I do not know what I am talking about. My opinion is immediately considered to be patronizing for the individuals or groups who define themselves as victims of oppression, injustice or inequality.
However, I call myself a progressive. I consider myself to be someone who has actively worked on opening doors and removing barriers so that immigrants can join our society as smoothly as possible, with respect for our respective values, both their values as new Quebeckers and ours as Quebeckers of all origins who have been in Quebec for one generation or many.
My generation played a role in making progress for groups that have been oppressed and discriminated against. My generation recognizes that there is still a lot of work to be done before every person is included and respected. However, the pendulum is swinging so far the other way that it seems people in my generation would no longer be included in these efforts.
I object to how people like me and many of my colleagues are being shut out of the discussion. It upsets me because this is a divisive, not to say polarizing, debate that serves as a distraction from what I feel is the most obvious point when we are talking about cultural diversity and the integration of immigrants in Quebec and Canada.
The only reason that intolerance and racism are still an issue in 2022 is ignorance. The only way to combat ignorance is through education, which is precisely what Motion No. 42, which we are debating today, would allow for, and that is why I support it, as I said. Activism is not what will help swing that pendulum back to the other end of the spectrum. As I said earlier and as we can see, when the pendulum moves so swiftly, there is no time for any nuance, for discussion or for education. If people are to learn, they need education. They need to be taught. People need to be able to speak up, talk to each other and explain things without having others constantly take offence. As members know, everyone has a thin skin these days, but it has not always been this way.
I would like to take a moment to look back on the past, my past. Let us imagine that it is 1971 in Quebec City. I am a little boy. My brother and I are excited because we are about to welcome our little sister, who my parents just adopted. This baby, who was born in Jamaica, is going to become part of our family, and our lives are about to take a rather unexpected turn as a result. It is important to understand that there were not a lot of Black people in Quebec City in 1971. I always joke that, besides my sister, the only Black people in Quebec City in 1971 were one or two African professors at Laval University and a guy who got lost trying to find his way back to Montreal and ended up staying.
I was lucky. I had a sister who opened our minds and helped us become aware of the issue of difference at a very young age. I am not yet talking about racism. As we grew up, we felt the disconcerting sidelong glances that people gave not only my sister, but us as well, her family members. Although we did not feel as hurt by this as she did, we were still targeted.
I heard every kind of comment imaginable, from derogatory remarks to things that were less hurtful but that clearly showed that ignorance and fear of the unknown were the cause of the resulting intolerance and racism. Ignorance does not always manifest itself in a disparaging or mean way. Sometimes, it can even be a bit funny.
Here is one example. My sister was probably about two years old when a woman approached my mother to ask, intrigued, how she would understand my sister when she started talking. Had my mother learned the language of my sister's native country? My mother gave me a little wink and told the woman that she was completely fluent in the language of my sister's country.
All through my childhood, I answered questions about my sister. How long was her hair when she straightened it? Could she get a sunburn? It was naive ignorance. Unless it is addressed head-on with education and discussion, that kind of ignorance can grow and morph into intolerance, racism and fear of the other.
I feel that I did a pretty good job of educating people around me about my sister at the time because, a little later, when we were teenagers, my friends' questions about my sister changed. Was she single, and would she mind if they called her?
I just wanted to share that story to illustrate how important it is to be open-minded and to educate each other. That is the secret to a diverse society in which people of all different backgrounds must and can live together and integrate while upholding the host society's basic values and still honouring their own culture. In my ideal world, all these diverse cultures actually help strengthen Quebec society's guiding principles with their customs, flavours, music, poetry and traditions.
I am not talking here about Canadian‑style multiculturalism, which I think is more like a Tower of Babel than an integration model. I am talking about my dream society, where all cultures converge and become part of a strong tree whose roots serve as a foundation for each one to thrive in a context of mutual respect. It is about opening up, and learning from and about each other.
Just talking about Hindu heritage month made me learn 100 times more than all I knew or thought I knew about the culture and Hinduism. One of the things I learned is that we have architectural treasures. In Dollard-des-Ormeaux, for example, there is an absolutely majestic temple that is worth a visit for its architecture, as well as the history of its design and construction.
I also learned a lot about certain rituals that had to be adapted because events cannot always be celebrated outside, as they are in India or in other places in the world where the weather allows it. The dates of celebrations and events have even been moved during the year to adapt to the weather in Quebec.
I was fascinated to learn so much in so little time while doing a bit of quick research for my speech this morning. If I could learn so much in the little time I had, imagine what an entire month could do if used properly.
What will we do that month?
We are often asked to devote months to different cultures or different themes. I am certainly open to declaring November Hindu heritage month, but my one hope is that the month will be used for communicating, sharing and promoting the culture, because that is how these months become relevant, in my opinion.
I will quickly close by congratulating Sunil Chandary, a constituent in my riding who made a lot of sacrifices to come here. I know that he is watching today. I want to tell him how glad I am to have him here and how much I appreciate the advice he gave me for my presentation this morning. I want to assure him that we will help him and be there for him throughout the process to get his wife and son here from India so they can join him in Drummondville and enrich our society, just as people from all backgrounds do.
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- May/2/22 2:03:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, May 1 is International Workers' Day. It is an opportunity to recognize the many battles workers have waged to improve working and living conditions in our societies.
The reason we have eight-hour work days and labour standards today is because there were workers who made a lot of sacrifices and stood up for their rights and those of future generations. When faced with repression and injustice, they chose to stand in solidarity and push the limits of what is possible.
The theme yesterday was about ensuring health and safety as we come out of the crisis, and thousands of workers from Quebec marched in the streets to remind us of that.
I salute all those men and women who fought and are still fighting. Happy May 1.
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- May/2/22 2:16:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last Thursday, our great lady of Quebec song, Ginette Reno, was named a Knight of the Legion of Honour, the highest national honour of the Republic of France.
This singer, with a distinctive voice that is both tender and powerful, can sing that she is qu'une chanson, only a song, but everyone in Quebec knows that she is much more than that. She knew how to take her craft Un peu plus haut, un peu plus loin, a little higher, a little further, by showing that L'essentiel, the main thing, is Quand on se donne, when you give yourself, completely.
To give you an idea of the depth of her talent, when Ginette sings O Canada before a Canadien's game, she even gives separatists goosebumps.
A warm and authentic person known for both her engaging personality and her talent, she is an incomparable ambassador for Quebec and a living treasure of French culture. We salute this touching initiative by our French cousins who also offered her Des croissants de soleil pour déjeuner, croissants made of sunshine for breakfast.
Thank you to France, and congratulations to Ginette.
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- May/2/22 2:39:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last Friday the Prime Minister refused to grant any immigration powers to the Premier of Quebec.
It would be less insulting if the federal government were the least bit competent, but everything it touches is a disaster. The wait time is now 31 months for Quebeckers applying for permanent residence. There is a backlog of 29,000 case files. The government is being sued by people who have been waiting for 13 years.
Does the Prime Minister realize that not only should he give Quebec the powers it is asking for, but he should be grateful to do so?
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- May/2/22 2:40:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, immigration is essential to our economy.
As the member opposite knows, Quebec sets its own immigration targets. Last year the province welcomed over 50,000 new permanent residents. This year Quebec has increased its immigration targets significantly, which will help reduce wait times.
We will always work very closely with the Quebec government to ensure that the immigration system continues to work for Quebeckers and Canadians.
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- May/2/22 2:41:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, they cannot even name the problem, so it will be really difficult to solve it.
There is a backlog of 29,000 files, and there are court cases that have been dragging on for 13 years. These are people. They are not files; they are people. That is what the Prime Minister is forgetting in his quarrel with Quebec.
The federal government has proven, year after year, that it is either incapable of taking care of these people or does not consider this issue important enough to do better.
Why not simply give Quebec the power to manage its own immigration?
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- May/2/22 2:41:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would again like to thank the member for the question, but he is well aware that Quebec sets the selection criteria for immigrants coming to Quebec, and that includes language skills.
Immigration is crucial and, as I have already told the member, we have welcomed more than 50,000 new permanent residents to the province. Quebec and Canada are working together to welcome more immigrants here, in Canada.
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- May/2/22 2:42:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Ottawa must also give Quebec the power to manage temporary foreign workers.
Each year, the federal government creates delays by forcing every business to produce labour market studies that already exist. Quebec already produces them for all of its economic sectors. Quebec could simply apply them to temporary foreign workers by integrating them into its labour strategy. It is as easy as that.
When will the federal government stop burdening our businesses and transfer the management of temporary foreign workers to Quebec?
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- May/2/22 2:43:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec reaps significant benefits from the Canada—Quebec accord on immigration.
In fact, Quebec selects 74% of permanent immigrants. It sets the criteria, including knowledge of French. Quebec also determines the profiles for temporary foreign workers and foreign students, including their knowledge of the French language. In 2020-2021 alone, we sent nearly $700 million to Quebec to help integrate immigrants, which includes French-language learning.
We are working together despite the fact that the Bloc would like to stir up trouble where there is none. We are working well together.
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- May/2/22 2:50:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, francophones outside Quebec need strong institutions to help their communities grow and prosper. Francophones in Sudbury and northern Ontario would like to see the University of Sudbury return to its francophone roots as an autonomous French-language university under the principle of governance by and for the francophone community.
Can the Minister of Official Languages tell the House how this government is turning that dream into reality?
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- May/2/22 2:56:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is the same thing every spring.
Just as predictable as the return of warm weather is the return of federal delays in processing temporary foreign workers. Once again, the same farmers must pay for the same market studies. Once again, the arrival of workers is delayed and farmers are afraid they will miss their chance to harvest their crops.
As Albert Einstein said, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. When will Ottawa finally put an end to this tradition of failure and transfer the program to Quebec?
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- May/2/22 2:57:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois has proposed plenty of possible solutions.
At the very least, the federal government could eliminate the requirement for the same market impact assessments every year when everyone knows there is a labour shortage. It could speed up foreign workers' arrival in Canada by collecting their biometrics here. It could deal with their work permits once they arrive in the country.
There are plenty of things that the government could do, but it refuses to do better. Since it is refusing to take care of temporary foreign workers, why not let Quebec take on that responsibility?
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- May/2/22 5:31:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have been working with my colleague for several years and I respect him, but I must say that he has shown only one side of the coin.
He forgot all the times the NDP voted to move files forward. We are here to advance the cause of ordinary Canadians. My colleague knows that. Right now, the Conservatives systematically want to block everything. They do not want anything to happen in the House of Commons. Even when Quebec’s farmers or teachers want us to pass bills, the Conservatives refuse. They absolutely do not want it to happen.
The NDP pushed to have the government implement a dental care program and, for the first time, an affordable housing program. My question is very simple.
Why does the Bloc simply stand by when it has seen the Conservatives’ systematic obstruction in the past months?
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- May/2/22 5:37:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the excellent and eloquent member for Elmwood—Transcona.
I am truly saddened by what I just heard from the Bloc Québécois. For months, the Bloc Québécois have watched the Conservatives block everything. Instead of intervening to help the people of Quebec, who need these bills to be passed, the Bloc decided to just stay on the sidelines and let things slide. The Bloc wants to let things keep sliding for the next few months. That saddens me because the Bloc was not elected in Quebec simply to let Parliament go around in circles and to allow one party to block everything. I think the Bloc is really here to make things happens, but it decided not to. That is sad, but I am happy to hear that it will be voting in favour of some aspects of Motion No. 11. That is a positive thing.
Personally, I will be voting in favour of the motion. I will explain why I am voting in favour of the motion by recapping the history of this Parliament.
When we came out of the unnecessary election last fall that Canadians did not want, Canadians rightfully said they were going to have the same Parliament that they had in 2019. They basically adopted the same numbers, but the message that they were sending to all of us was to work together.
We had a shining moment in Parliamentary history when every single member working together unanimously adopted the ban on conversion therapy. That point is worth applauding. That was a shining moment in this Parliament. Conservatives actually proposed the adoption unanimously of that important bill, and members from all parties voted together.
We know what happened after that. The leader of the Conservatives at the time was deposed. The Conservatives broke into various factions. Subsequent to that, we have seen a rogue element within the Conservative Party decide that it was going to block every piece of legislation coming forward: every single piece. “Nothing will pass” is the motto of the Conservative Party today.
I know that there are Conservative members who are uncomfortable and in fact do not believe that this is appropriate, particularly in a time of pandemic and particularly at a time when we need to get legislation through the House, but that is not where the interim leadership has decided to go. They have decided to block absolutely everything, and that is why we have this motion before us.
Bill C-8 was put forward last year and has provisions that every single member of Parliament is aware have a profound impact on teachers and farmers. It has an impact on how we, as Canadians, can respond to the continuing pandemic. For no other reason than this radicalization of the Conservative leadership, Bill C-8 has been blocked systematically now for months. I am saddened by this.
There are good members of Parliament in the Conservative Party who understand that this is the wrong thing to do, but the leadership that is in place in the Conservative Party wants to block everything, come hell or high water. It does not matter if teachers or farmers, or Canadians generally, are suffering as a result. Conservatives simply refuse any legislation, and that is why we have to take extraordinary measures. What the NDP has proposed and pushed the government on, and what the government has accepted, is the condition that we now increase our working time in order to get legislation through. We will be sitting until midnight when it is appropriate to do so. That is extremely important because it allows us to move legislation through the House.
The official opposition House leader has raised the point, and so has the House leader for the Bloc Québécois, that we need to ensure and enhance our translation services over this period. I certainly agree, and the NDP agrees. We have been pushing for more resources to be provided to translation. Our interpreters have not had the resources allocated to them that need to be allocated. I sincerely hope that we will have all parties coming together in order to achieve that.
We sit longer. We will be sitting evenings, and that is important. The question then is what the results of that are, if we can eliminate this impasse and start getting legislation through the House.
Immediately, of course, there is Bill C-8 and those provisions. I know that will make a difference to the teachers, farmers and health care professionals I have mentioned who have been waiting now for months to get a simple bill through that comes out of the fall economic update.
I know that my colleague for Elmwood—Transcona is going to speak to the issue of what many people are calling the NDP budget. The budget implementation act would put in place, for the first time in Canadian history, national dental care. It would start first for children and would move, over the course of the next year, to people with disabilities, seniors and teenagers. Canadians right across this country who have never had access to dental care would finally have access to it.
Also, there is the most significant investment in housing that we have seen in decades. The NDP has been very critical of the former Liberal government under Paul Martin that destroyed, gutted and ended the national housing program, and we have seen how housing has been in a crisis ever since. We need supply. We need to have affordable housing built, and that is co-operative housing, social housing and indigenous-led housing projects.
These components of what is coming forward need to be adopted swiftly, with the appropriate scrutiny, of course, and not held up, as we have seen with the legislation coming out of the fall economic statement, for months and months purely at the whim of a Conservative Party that is fractured now into so many different factions that none of them knows which way they are going. Their only reaction is: “Well, let us hold up everything”. That is simply not appropriate in a time of pandemic when so many Canadians are suffering.
We need to have these extended hours so that we can get through the important components of what the NDP, and the member for Burnaby South, our national leader, pushed the government to put into place for this budget. It is the first time under this Liberal government that I can actually see a budget that Canadians can have some hope for, with national dental care and a national housing investment that seeks to meet the gravity of the affordable housing crisis that we are seeing right across the length and breadth of this country, including in my communities of New Westminster and Burnaby.
To do the scrutiny, it means that all parties should be working together, but that has not been the case. We have seen, over the past few months, that the Conservatives have blocked everything they can at all times without explanation, and without really trying to even justify their actions. We saw it today when they presented the same motion that they presented last week, even though the Standing Orders require that discussion next week. They just wanted to hold up the House for the purpose of holding up the House.
Who suffers? It is Canadian families who suffer. It is Canadians who are waiting for those affordable housing investments that the NDP has pushed for who will suffer. It is Canadians who cannot afford dental care for their children who will suffer if we continue to allow the Conservatives to block everything in the House at all times.
What this is, is a common-sense approach when it is obviously not working, and when everything is being blocked by the Conservative opposition for internal reasons, I guess, that only they can explain. They have not really attempted to explain it either. We need to put in place extended hours, work harder and longer, but make sure that we get those tax credits in the hands of teachers and in the hands of farmers immediately. We need to make sure that we actually provide the health care professionals with those COVID supports. We need to make sure that we start to put in place that national dental program that the member for Burnaby South has been such a strong advocate for, and put in place that national housing strategy that will finally produce affordable housing from coast to to coast to coast. That is why I am voting yes.
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- May/2/22 5:52:45 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would be happy to explain.
I find it unbelievable that the Bloc Québécois is not helping Quebeckers and that it refuses to say that Quebec's teachers and farmers are affected by the fact that Bill C‑8 has not been passed. Dental care and affordable housing are issues that also affect Quebeckers. I find it unbelievable that the Bloc refuses to do whatever it can to get this bill adopted and ensure that these people—
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- May/2/22 7:33:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I listened to my colleague's speech, and I must say that four words caught my attention, specifically “francophone minority in Quebec”.
I wonder whether my colleague said that deliberately or unconsciously. Sometimes people say one thing when they actually mean the opposite. I wanted to confirm that, because it would be quite hurtful if he said that deliberately. Even if he did not mean to say that, it still raises some questions. Often what comes out unwittingly actually, in some way, reflects what we really feel.
I wonder if my colleague wants French to become a minority language in Quebec.
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- May/2/22 7:34:42 p.m.
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Come on, Madam Speaker.
That is an absurd accusation. I was talking about minority languages, about official language minority communities in Canada. There is a francophone linguistic minority outside of Quebec and an anglophone linguistic minority in Quebec.
What I was saying is that Bill C‑13 is designed to strengthen the French fact across Canada. That is one of the objectives of the bill.
The member seems to have misunderstood, because that is clearly not what I was saying.
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- May/2/22 10:15:02 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, while listening to my colleagues, I thought that a song might help soothe their nerves. Do not worry, I am not going to start singing. Instead, I will ask my colleague from the governing party a question.
I am a little concerned. In the fiscal update we are studying and in the government's recent statements, we sense that it is once more trying to interfere in one of Quebec's and the provinces' jurisdictions by meddling in Quebec's property taxes, even though the real cause of the crisis is the scarcity of affordable housing.
I would like some reassurance from my colleague in that regard. I am a little concerned by the fact that more attention is being paid to meddling with property taxes and the provinces' and Quebec's jurisdictions than to addressing the real problem, which is a lack of social housing.
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