44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 7, 2022 02:00PM
- Dec/7/22 2:18:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I salute the Quebec National Assembly, which is the only national parliament of Quebeckers and which unanimously chose to renounce or, better yet, condemn the oath of allegiance to the king.
I salute the courage and determination of the three Parti Québécois MNAs and the government's swift action, at the very time when the Conseil de presse du Québec was condemning the moderator of the last English-language debate, who basically gave a voice to every prejudice against Quebec, against the French language and against the rejection by Quebec of the church's interference in affairs of state.
That makes us racist, so much so that they are refusing to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jean Paul Riopelle, a giant among giants in Quebec visual arts. I propose that they give us back Riopelle's works. We will celebrate his centennial with style.
As long as we are renouncing the oath of allegiance to the king, let us renounce the monarchy itself. Instead of being a conquered people and subjects of the king, let us be good neighbours.
Long live Quebec!
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- Dec/7/22 2:21:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday marked 33 years since the horrific day that shocked Canadians across the country, the day that 14 bright young women were separated from the rest of their class and shot to death because they were women.
I would like to say that misogyny and femicide are behind us, but that is not at all the case. Since today is one of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, I would like to shed some light on our current situation.
A woman is killed in Canada every two and a half days. In 2021, 173 women were killed at the hands of men in this country and, so far in 2022, 14 women have been killed in the province of Quebec alone.
We need to work together, the government, provinces, territories, municipalities, schools and parents, to make Canada a safer place for all Canadians and put an end to gender-based violence. We will always remember those 14 souls that were taken from us on December 6, 1989.
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- Dec/7/22 2:29:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, is there anyone who has not heard the story of the man listening to the radio in his car who hears on the news that a dangerous driver is driving against traffic? He yells at the radio, “there isn't just one, there are a hundred”, because he does not realize that he is the dangerous driver. The Government of Canada is behaving in the exact same way, and it is not that funny.
Quebec, the provinces and, today, the Canadian Medical Association are asking the federal government to increase health care funding.
When will the government stop going the wrong way, start heading in the right direction and increase health transfers?
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- Dec/7/22 2:30:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Medical Association asked for an increase in federal health care funding, but that has not happened. This is typical and has been going on for years.
Ottawa says it is co-operating, but that is not true. There is no co-operation. Everyone knows that the federal government is underfunding Quebec's health care system, but Ottawa is still withholding funding. Everyone knows that Ottawa knows nothing about delivering health care, but it still wants to impose standards.
Patients do not need lectures. Patients need health care.
Will the government increase health transfers, yes or no?
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- Dec/7/22 2:43:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in light of China's political interference in political party financing, the espionage at Hydro-Québec, the Winnipeg laboratory and the secret police stations, we would have thought that the RCMP would have started monitoring Chinese operations in Canada, but no, China has been monitoring RCMP operations.
The company has been charged with 21 espionage offences in the United States and the government did not even conduct a security check. The contract could have been awarded to a company in Boucherville, but no. It was given to China instead of Quebec.
Seriously, are they doing this on purpose?
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- Dec/7/22 2:45:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, here is an option: terminate it. The government admitted that it did not take security concerns or Sinclair's ownership into consideration during the bidding process. Worse yet, Sinclair's main competitor for the RCMP contract was a Quebec-based firm called Comprod. The government chose made-in-China instead of made-in-Canada, and the difference between Sinclair and Comprod was less than $60,000.
The U.S. blacklisted Sinclair's parent company last year, and Canada just gave it a contract. Did the government really just sell national security for 60 grand?
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- Dec/7/22 2:57:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am the proud member for the rural riding of Brome—Missisquoi, where there are many passionate hunters. I can say for sure that our government has no intention of preventing hunters or indigenous peoples from practising their sport and maintaining their traditions. We are willing to work with all members of the House to make sure our bill achieves its objective of eliminating assault weapons and handguns, the type of weapons used in acts of terror like those at the Polytechnique and the Quebec City mosque.
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- Dec/7/22 2:59:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, 2023 will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jean Paul Riopelle, one of Quebec's most outstanding artists.
He played an unrivalled role in Quebec's art history, but the National Gallery of Canada will not pay tribute to him because, according to them, he is an old white man artist.
According to La Presse, the gallery's CEO did everything in her power to prevent an exhibit in his honour from happening.
Can the minister tell us when his government decided to exclude the fine arts from the National Gallery's mandate?
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois asked that Bill C-32 include a commitment from the government to increase health transfers. Since the third wave of COVID-19, every expert has said that what Quebec and the provinces need is predictability to be able to improve their systems. Short-term and one-time investments are not going to solve the problem.
I would like to ask my colleague what the government is waiting for to meet the needs of Quebec and the provinces, patients and staff. If we want to rebuild our healthcare systems, we need respectable health transfers. We asked for 35%. The provinces spend $200 billion a year on health, while the federal government kicks in $42 billion. Increasing transfers by 10% will not solve the problem.
If health is important to my colleague, does he agree with the unanimous demand made by Quebec and the provinces?
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Mr. Speaker, whether this is done by the municipalities, the provinces or the federal government, housing must be built now. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the CMHC, announced last week that 3.5 million units need to be built before 2030. That is quite a challenge.
Do my colleagues know how many units have been built in Canada since the start of the national housing strategy? The answer is 35,000. About 60,000 have been repaired. That is 100,000 units, if we are being generous. That is what has been built so far. The shortfalls are absolutely insane.
According to a study by a CMHC economist, in Quebec alone, if nothing is done in the next 10 years, 500,000 units will be built. However, to address the two key issues at this time, affordability and accessibility, 1.1 million need to be built. There is a shortfall of 600,000. Somewhere in the process, the government here or the provinces themselves need to get involved. There is money here. The government must get involved to ensure that those 600,000 units are built. They will not fall from the sky.
That is the challenge we have before us.
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Mr. Speaker, we are here talking about money today, and I have heard colleagues from the Bloc Québécois chastise the coalition many times for approving Bay du Nord. Newfoundland and Labrador currently pays into the transfer program, so I am wondering whether the Bloc Québécois will work toward returning the portion of the transfer money that goes to Quebec, which is from the oil industry, to Newfoundland and Labrador and all the oil-producing provinces. Will they send the money back?
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Madam Speaker, once again, I think it is one of the measures that is probably good, but clearly inadequate.
As I said, the Government of Canada is missing the boat. Actually, the boat is sinking. I refuse to see my country, Quebec, go down with it.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague for his comment, which gives me a chance to finish my speech.
The economic statement contains nothing in the way of impactful, innovative measures. At best, it rehashes things we have seen before, such as the FHSA. Worse still, the Government of Quebec has to make up for Canada's lack of vision. This economic statement is just like the government that issued it: weak and ill adapted to the changing economic reality. If Canada does nothing, there is no doubt it will miss the boat.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech.
I think she knows that my riding is home to many seasonal workers. The Gaspé and the Lower St. Lawrence are very popular tourist areas. During the pandemic, temporary measures were put in place for people who had to stop working for mainly pandemic-related reasons. I have to say that those temporary measures were fairly decent. They could have opened the door to employment insurance reform, but in the end, the government did away with those programs, went back to the old program and thus abandoned all of the workers that did not accumulate a sufficient number of insurable hours.
Does she think that the fall economic update or economic statement would have been the right time to announce something for seasonal workers in the regions of Quebec?
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- Dec/7/22 7:22:06 p.m.
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Madam Chair, so much can be said about that particular problem. I was actually just talking about that a few moments ago, because I was just at a gala organized by the organization Equal Voice, and there was a lot of discussion about making more room for women in politics. That said, I see this as a much broader issue, that of representation in government.
I identified the problem. I would especially like to see more indigenous women in politics. I was talking to a representative from the umbrella organization for indigenous friendship centres in Quebec, which are absolutely exceptional centres. My colleague could actually talk more about them. Some of my colleagues have indigenous friendship centres in their ridings in Quebec, and they could talk about the importance of these centres in terms of education, culture and the promotion of indigenous culture. Quebec's indigenous friendship centres are an absolutely incredible model. I hope to be able to visit one soon to see all the educational work they do in society.
As the critic for the status of women, I am very concerned about this issue. In fact, I am in the process of arranging a meeting with the representative of the indigenous friendship centres. I will go back to the Equal Voice dinner to continue the dialogue and arrange visits to discuss the issue of education.
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