44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 3, 2023 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, I want to commend the minister for his leadership. I say that because this was a request that the Bloc Québécois made in a supplementary report for the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology, which looked at the Investment Canada Act. It is nice to see that the government wants to better protect our businesses.
However, in my opinion, national security goes hand in hand with economic security. It is important to protect our head offices, particularly in Quebec. The Quebec economy depends on SMEs and the Investment Canada Act sometimes becomes a weakness or an obstacle for the province. The threshold issue could have been addressed in Bill C-34, but obviously the minister decided not to go that route.
How can we ensure that our head offices are properly protected? How can we do a better job of that? Do we need to think about investment thresholds, particularly if we are on the verge of a recession?
In the context of COVID-19, we saw how an airline company can be devalued very quickly. Would the ability to rely on clear thresholds have been of net benefit to Canada?
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- Feb/3/23 11:02:57 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, six years ago, on January 29, a gun man entered the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City and murdered six Canadians. Two years ago, a Canadian Muslim family of four were killed in a premeditated hit and run in London, Ontario. These cowardly crimes have terrorized Canadians. Hate is growing from the far-right across Canada.
Police reported that hate crimes have increased 72% over the last two years. The Liberal government has been dragging its feet in fighting Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and all forms of racism and bigotry. New Democrats have been calling for concrete measures to protect all Canadians. Canadians expect their political leaders to fight against hatred and to work with people and communities who are at the forefront of this fight.
New Democrats stand and mourn with the families of the victims of that horrific night. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to stand up to Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, homophobia, racism and, indeed, hate in all its toxic forms.
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- Feb/3/23 11:25:19 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, Quebec schools are feeling the full effects of what is happening at Roxham Road.
Since the beginning of the school year last September, the Quebec government has had to create 224 new classes just to accommodate the children of asylum seekers. That is 224 new classes, while we are in the midst of a shortage of teachers and specialists. That is 224 new classes, the vast majority in the Montreal area where schools are already filled well beyond their capacity.
There is a huge human cost to all this, which I will come back to, but first, will Ottawa commit to at least footing the bill?
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- Feb/3/23 11:25:56 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is essential for us to meet our national and international obligation to protect asylum seekers. I had a meeting today with my counterpart from the Province of Quebec, Minister Fréchette, to talk about ways to collaborate in order to continue supporting asylum seekers and meet our national and international obligation on this issue.
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- Feb/3/23 11:26:23 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, let us talk about the human cost.
There is a labour shortage in our classrooms. We cannot just ask our teachers to take in even more children who do not speak French and who are more likely to have special needs. The elastic is stretched thin and stretching it further would cut the quality of education offered to all children. Quebec does not have the resources to take care of all the asylum seekers from Roxham Road on its own. That is the reality.
When will the government finally suspend the safe third country agreement so that asylum seekers can be welcomed across Canada?
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- Feb/3/23 11:27:01 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is proposing a solution that simply shifts the problem somewhere else. It is not a good solution. It is essential to have an international strategy that is established in collaboration with the Province of Quebec.
We are going to continue to work with our provincial counterparts in Quebec, as we have done to support efforts to provide housing for asylum seekers and as we have done to support health care for asylum seekers. I have a meeting this afternoon with Minister Fréchette to discuss some of these issues, and I look forward to continuing our partnership to collaborate as we move toward a long-term solution with a modernized safe third country agreement with the United States.
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- Feb/3/23 11:51:56 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague has pointed out an extremely important problem that exists in Montreal, Quebec and across the country.
I would like to understand one thing. If my colleague is concerned about violence linked to firearms, why do the Conservatives systematically block measures that would make it easier to control firearms in Canada?
Our government introduced Bill C‑21 to put a stop to handgun sales across the country, but the Conservatives are against it.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Winnipeg North for the question. I want to reiterate that the Bloc Québécois supports the bill, but it is also proposing some improvements, including to ensure that we can keep head offices in Quebec.
The issue surrounding thresholds is simple: What happens in the case of devaluation? We may be entering a recession, and that worries me. COVID‑19 was especially worrisome for our businesses and flagship companies such as Air Transat, whose value dropped largely because of the loss of commercial flights. This had consequences, and if its value keeps falling and dips under the infamous threshold I was talking about earlier, it could be bought up by a foreign American, European or Chinese company. This means that its head office would move, and company decisions would no longer be made based on the best interests of the Quebec nation.
In Abitibi‑Témiscamingue, we are having a major problem with flights from Rouyn‑Noranda to other destinations. Air Transat once expressed an interest in offering flights to international destinations. Unfortunately, that never happened, but there is no doubt that if it were another company, it would not be interested in the future of regional aviation.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my fellow Quebecker, and I feel I can call him that because his presence at the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology means that we talk even more about Quebec. I really want to highlight his always relevant contribution on issues related to economic development. He is an entrepreneur, as he likes to remind us.
I would like to remind him that my region is called Abitibi—Témiscamingue. It is important to be inclusive, and my constituents would be upset with me if I did not mention it.
With regard to the member's question, the sale of Neo Lithium did raise a lot of questions, first of all because the mechanism was not automatically triggered. It was an acquisition, but at the same time, the portion of Neo Lithium that was in Canada was an empty shell. The only thing Canadian about it was its head office. How could Canada's best interest have been protected? That said, some serious reflection is required regarding the importance of owning our resources.
We are living in a time of increasing resource scarcity. Strategic critical minerals come to mind, but this is true across a range of areas, so we need to be able to maintain ownership of our resources to further fuel our industries.
Take Lion Electric, for example. It would be absolutely fantastic if we could supply that company with lithium. However, if we send all of our lithium elsewhere—for example for Tesla vehicles because it is great to provide Tesla vehicles with Quebec lithium—we will be neglecting our own economic development. That raises a lot of questions for me.
I think that we need to make a major change in terms of our national economy. We need to start protecting our businesses.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Simcoe North, a rising star in the Conservative Party. I am always interested in seeing his progress.
What is happening with China is worrisome. We know that China controls 80% of the lithium market.
If we want a strong domestic economy, since globalization is basically over, we have to be able to protect our domestic economy and ensure that our companies have the supplies they need, especially chips for building electric vehicles. We have to put ourselves and Quebec first.
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