SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 171

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 22, 2023 01:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 171 - Mar/22/23
Mr. Xavier Barsalou-Duval (Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, BQ)
  • Mar/22/23 6:35:53 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I really liked my colleague's speech. It was inspiring as usual. It leads me to draw a parallel. In 2022, I had the opportunity to visit a city in the former East Germany. While I was there, one of the first things I went to see was the famous Stasi Museum. The Stasi is the secret police that existed when the Soviet Union controlled East Germany. At one point, there were as many as 95,000 Stasi agents and 175,000 informers in East Germany. They were everywhere. The strength lay in the fact that nobody knew who they were, and that is how they managed to impose their reign of terror. No one knew who the Stasi agents or informers were. Basically, their strength lay in secrecy. The government does not want to launch a public inquiry, which I think would bring secrets to light. That is pretty much what we are seeing with the Chinese regime right now. I am trying to understand why the government would want to maintain that secrecy when what would weaken a regime like that the most is greater transparency.
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Context: House Hansard - 171 - Mar/22/23
Mr. Xavier Barsalou-Duval (Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, BQ)
  • Mar/22/23 6:53:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to comment on the speech by my colleague opposite. First, in listening to her speech, one would have thought that this debate was initiated by the Conservatives. That is quite something. I am not a Conservative supporter, but we must set the record straight— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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Context: House Hansard - 171 - Mar/22/23
Mr. Xavier Barsalou-Duval
  • Mar/22/23 6:54:06 p.m.
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Thank you, Madam Speaker. I was saying that I wanted to set the record straight. The NDP asked for this debate. It seems that the Liberals are afraid to mention it because the NDP is a member of their coalition. Now for my question, which is about partisanship. In her speech, my colleague used a certain word about every three sentences, perhaps even in every sentence, and that word is “partisan”. She was once again accusing the Conservatives of partisan politics. I do not understand why she is only targeting the Conservatives, because the Bloc is also asking for a public inquiry into Chinese interference. The NDP is now asking for the same thing. Many people in civil society are asking for the same thing. It is as though anyone who asks for something the Liberals do not want is being partisan. I am trying to understand this. Is it not the other way around? Is it not the Liberals who are being partisan and have things to hide or partisan interests to protect?
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