44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 25, 2023 10:00AM
- Apr/25/23 2:16:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on April 24, 1915, the Turkish police conducted a raid and imprisoned 250 Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople. The next day, another 600 were rounded up. They were all executed. Thus began the first genocide of the 20th century, which resulted in the death of 1.5 million people.
In September 1915, the minister of the interior, Talaat Pasha, sent a telegram that said, “The government has decided to destroy all Armenians living in Turkey. Their existence must come to an end, however tragic the means may be; and no regard must be paid...to conscientious scruples.”
Unfortunately, the Turkish regime denies the existence of that genocide to this day. Equally serious, Armenians are still being targeted, and attempts are being made to drive them out of their lands. Since December 12, 2022, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia has been blocked by Azerbaijan. This leaves 120,000 Armenians isolated, cut off from the world, with no food or medical supplies. A humanitarian crisis is looming, and, unfortunately, the international community is looking the other way.
Let us stand up for human rights everywhere and let us do it now.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech, which focused on fiscal responsibility, a balanced budget and a zero deficit. I would simply like to remind my colleague that a deficit was posted in eight of the nine years of Stephen Harper's Conservative government. The only year that did not show a deficit was the year before the election, and that was because his previous government had sold the GM shares it purchased during the auto sector crisis. It was a bit artificial.
I have two questions for my colleague. What would he cut and where would he look for the additional money to balance the budget?
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Madam Speaker, the NDP obviously has a nuanced view of the budget. There are some good things in it, mainly because we forced the Liberals to include them. Take, for example, the dental care plan for seniors and teenagers and the doubling of the GST tax credit, which will help those most in need. There is also the anti-scab legislation that is coming. We are going to force the Liberals to introduce it, even though they have always voted against that type of legislation.
One of the points that my colleague raised and that the NDP is also raising is that there is nothing in the budget about an EI reform, which many groups and unions in Quebec have been waiting for for many years. What would my colleague like to see in an EI reform that would meet the needs of workers in his community?
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Madam Speaker, tonight we are hearing a lot about fiscal responsibility from the Conservatives. That is nothing new, and we are not surprised. However, they never seem to mention the fact that the Harper government ran deficits eight of the nine years it was in power, and it was not until the ninth year that it balanced the budget. Even then, it was because the government sold off the GM stock that it had bought during the auto crisis.
If the member really wants to eliminate the deficit, what is she going to do? Is she willing to go out and collect more revenue by stopping subsidies to oil companies or taxing billionaires? If not, what public programs and services does she intend to cut?
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for speaking at length about the importance of anti-scab legislation. Yes, Quebec was a leader in that regard. Thanks to an NDP government, British Columbia also has this type of legislation. We are pleased to force the Liberals to introduce a bill in that regard. They said that they would do it in 2023. I know that, in the past, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP have both introduced federal anti-scab bills.
I am wondering why my colleague thinks the government is dragging its feet on this and why it has not already introduced such a bill. We have been waiting and waiting, but the longshoremen in her riding cannot wait any longer.
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