44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 5, 2023 11:00AM
Madam Speaker, minutes after midnight on December 13, 1981, the secret police arrived at my family's door and arrested my father. My father was a member of the Solidarity movement. He was arrested, detained and put in prison. Like many Solidarity activists, he was a prisoner of conscience. Afterwards, when we received letters of support internationally from people in countries like the Netherlands and elsewhere, as well as care packages, these things were really critical to maintaining my family's spirits and my father's spirits.
I just want to ask the hon. member how this legislation may help mobilize global support for prisoners of conscience, and their families as well, as they go through such trials.
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- Jun/5/23 2:25:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I would like to express our solidarity with the Quebeckers who have been evacuated as a result of the forest fires and with all those who are worried. We stand with them. Our MPs are on the ground, and I want to point out that governments are currently working well together.
We are going to have to have a frank discussion about climate change but, in the short term, we must deal with the fires and fully support the victims.
Will the government accept our help and work with us?
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- Jun/5/23 2:29:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government stands with all Canadians in every region and in every province in our country.
That is why we are helping the most vulnerable on July 5 with important targeted support. That is why, to us, jobs and economic growth are the most important targets and that is why we are proud that 900,000 jobs have been recovered.
This is a success for Canadians.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise and speak this evening—although I must say the hour is late, almost 9 p.m.—to join the debate on Bill C‑47.
Before I start, I would like to take a few minutes to voice my heartfelt support for residents of the north shore and Abitibi who have been fighting severe forest fires for several days now. This is a disastrous situation.
I know that the member for Manicouagan and the member for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou are on site. They are there for their constituents and represent them well. They have been visiting emergency shelters and showing their solidarity by being actively involved with their constituents and the authorities. The teamwork has been outstanding. Our hearts go out to the people of the north shore and Abitibi.
Tonight, my colleague from Abitibi-Témiscamingue will rise to speak during the emergency debate on forest fires. He will then travel back home to be with his constituents as well, so he can offer them his full support and be there for them in these difficult times.
Of course, I also offer my condolences to the family grieving the loss of loved ones who drowned during a fishing accident in Portneuf‑sur‑Mer. This is yet another tragedy for north shore residents. My heart goes out to the family, the children's parents and those who perished.
Before talking specifically about Bill C-47, I would like to say how impressive the House's work record is. A small headline in the newspapers caught my eye last week. It said that the opposition was toxic and that nothing was getting done in the House. I found that amusing, because I was thinking that we have been working very hard and many government bills have been passed. I think it is worth listing them very quickly to demonstrate that, when it comes right down to it, if parliamentarians work together and respect all the legislative stages, they succeed in getting important bills passed.
I am only going to mention the government's bills. Since the 44th Parliament began, the two Houses have passed bills C‑2, C‑3, C‑4, C‑5, C‑6, C‑8 and C‑10, as well as Bill C‑11, the online streaming bill. My colleague from Drummond's work on this bill earned the government's praise. We worked hard to pass this bill, which is so important to Quebec and to our broadcasting artists and technicians.
We also passed bills C‑12, C‑14, C‑15, C‑16, C‑19, C‑24, C‑25, C‑28, C‑30, C‑31, C‑32, C‑36 and C‑39, which is the important act on medical assistance in dying, and bills C‑43, C‑44 and C‑46.
We are currently awaiting royal assent for Bill C‑9. Bill C‑22 will soon return to the House as well. This is an important bill on the disability benefit.
We are also examining Bill C‑13, currently in the Senate and soon expected to return to the House. Bill C‑18, on which my colleague from Drummond worked exceedingly hard, is also in the Senate. Lastly, I would mention bills C‑21, C‑29 and C‑45.
I do not know whether my colleagues agree with me, but I think that Parliament has been busy and that the government has gotten many of its bills passed by the House of Commons. Before the Liberals say that the opposition is toxic, they should remember that many of those bills were passed by the majority of members in the House.
I wanted to point that out because I was rather insulted to be told that my behaviour, as a member of the opposition, was toxic and was preventing the work of the House from moving forward. In my opinion, that is completely false. We have the government's record when it comes to getting its bills passed. The government is doing quite well in that regard.
We have now come to Bill C-47. We began this huge debate on the budget implementation bill this morning and will continue to debate it until Wednesday. It is a very large, very long bill that sets out a lot of budgetary measures that will be implemented after the bill is passed.
I have no doubt that, by the end of the sitting on June 23, the House will pass Bill C‑47 in time for the summer break.
What could this bill have included that is not in there? For three years, the Bloc Québécois and several other members in the House have been saying that there is nothing for seniors. I was saying earlier to my assistant that, in my riding of Salaberry—Suroît, we speak at every meeting about the decline in seniors' purchasing power. I am constantly being approached by seniors who tell me—
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- Jun/5/23 9:07:28 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to be able to rise and ask a question of my colleague from Salaberry—Suroît.
In her speech, she once again demonstrated her empathy and warmth for her colleagues by highlighting the work of our colleagues from Manicouagan and Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou. She also highlighted the work of our colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue, who will be leaving in the middle of the night tonight to drive long hours to his riding so he can support his constituents. That is quite admirable, and I congratulate him for that.
A few seconds ago, in response to our NDP colleague's question, my colleague talked about the lack of measures to help seniors financially. The OAS has not been increased for seniors aged 65 to 74. This is an injustice that the Bloc Québécois has been denouncing for a long time.
This class of seniors is not getting that assistance. These people are being deprived of this increase, but we believe they are entitled to it. What is more, when they have to go back to work so they can make ends meet and fight the rampant inflation we are seeing today, they are penalized, because their pension income is cut.
The Bloc Québécois is really troubled by all this injustice. My colleague mentioned it briefly. I also wanted to ask her whether her constituents are approaching her about this. Mine are. Are people talking to her about the housing crisis and the fact that the government has done nothing in this budget to respond to the urgent housing crisis in Quebec?
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- Jun/5/23 9:21:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I can assure the member that, if he carves out that particular element and removes the $60 billion in new spending; if he removes the more than $40 billion in deficit spending, which this country cannot afford right now and which is driving up the cost of everything, and we see the devastating results of that; and if the member wants to go back and say that he thinks they should carve out the 988 suicide prevention hotline, I would be very happy to support it.
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- Jun/5/23 10:42:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think that every single member in this House joins us in first and foremost giving thanks to firefighters right across this country for stepping up every single day in and day out, but particularly during these unprecedented times. I know that all members in this House want to continue to support firefighters.
My hon. colleague, the deputy House leader, has been a champion in our caucus to make sure that we continue to support firefighters and that all brave men and women in uniform will continue to have our support, with her private member's bill.
This is an unprecedented time. As we have done before as the government, we will continue to support all members of communities but particularly those who are risking their lives every single day to keep us safe.
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- Jun/5/23 11:27:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to inform you that I will be sharing my time with the member for Abitibi—Témiscamingue.
I would like to once again thank my colleague, who is far too humble, in my opinion. Naturally, we are grateful to local authorities, the provinces and everyone who is pulling together right now, but to see a member become involved this way too is unusual. Of course, we are there for our constituents, to reassure them, or at least to try. That is part of our role. However, I think the member's involvement in this case is of a different order.
On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I would like to express my support for everyone affected across the country. We are talking about more than 26,000 evacuees at the present time. The situation is extremely fluid. I think that all members who have risen to speak this evening have reported different figures on the number of fires and on the number of fires currently burning out of control, simply because the situation is changing so very quickly.
The teams in the field, local authorities, firefighters, the provinces and the federal government, which agreed to help the provinces that ask for it, all deserve our acknowledgement.
Early last week, we saw Quebec fire crews lending a helping hand out west. Now we have to bring those people back home because we need to have as many resources as possible all over.
I am starting to look at websites that show a map of Canada and what is happening everywhere. There is data on air quality. What we are going through right now is extremely worrisome.
I really want to give all my support to the people affected. I am thinking especially about my colleague from the north shore, the member for Manicouagan, my colleague from Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou and my colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue, who is going home tonight to be with his constituents.
I commend them because when we go through times like this, we wonder a bit about what our role is. It is obviously not always easy. When Quebec was first affected, the Quebec government was in charge of the situation along with SOPFEU and local authorities. As federal members, we were asking what we should be doing.
Not long ago, a tragedy occurred in my riding and civilians were killed. We wondered what we could do in that type of situation. We do not want to hinder the authorities who are doing their job, but it is important that we be there to reassure people and inform them of the information that must be passed on. That is what my colleague was doing before me.
I believe that it is important to repeat messages. I was reading about the potential causes of fires. I know that some are caused by lightning, but we must also mention open air fires and cigarette butts that could be thrown out and start fires. I believe that these messages bear repeating; we also need to make clear that no one should try to be braver than the others, that we should let professionals handle the situation and that we should follow the authorities' instructions.
I think our role is to be there for our constituents, so I would like to salute the work of my colleagues in the Bloc Québécois and across the country. I know that many members are affected.
I want to reiterate my gratitude to the Minister of Emergency Preparedness and his staff. They have been working hard to keep us, the critics for public safety and emergency preparedness, informed of the situation. They told us from the outset that they were going to communicate directly with the MPs affected, because it was important for them to know what is going on.
I have worked with a number of ministers in the House since 2019. I really want to emphasize that collaboration with the Minister of Emergency Preparedness is always impeccable. It is good to see this level of cross-party collaboration. We can set politics aside in these situations. I think the affected citizens deserve nothing less.
Is it important to have this debate tonight? Of course it is. It is urgent. This situation must be discussed and solutions must be found. As I was saying, most members are out on the ground. Afterwards, they will be able to come back and give us their assessment of the situation. They will have seen first-hand the resources mobilized. They will know what additional resources are needed and what should have been done better.
I know I am not allowed refer to the presence of members in the House, but I am glad to see that the people who have to work on this are doing so while we are discussing it.
I do not know what will come of this debate tonight. We certainly need to talk about it. I am talking about Quebec's experience. Until there is evidence to the contrary, we saw that the federal response was quite quick once the request was made. Are we going to run out of resources? That may be the case. We have to ask ourselves these questions. I think there is a contingency plan under way. We need to ensure we have these resources, particularly given that the Premier of Quebec pointed out this afternoon that the situation is likely to continue throughout the summer. Approximately 3.3 million hectares of forest have burned down so far. That is far more than the ten-year average. Normally, it is about 260,000 hectares. That is worrying. We need to make sure we have the necessary resources.
I think we need to take stock and understand the root cause of all this. Obviously, there is the inevitable link with global warming. We have to ask ourselves these questions. Today may not be the right day for that. The Bloc Québécois feels that the priority is putting out the fires and making sure we have the resources on the ground.
I am going to talk more specifically about the situation in Quebec, and my colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue will provide a more detailed description of what is happening in his region. I can speak on behalf of my colleague from the north shore, who went to be with her constituents on the ground as soon as she heard that residents of Sept‑Îles were being evacuated. The situation is extremely worrisome. We are talking about two fires that are very close to each other and are surrounding the city of Sept‑Îles. I was told that the wind was out of the southeast but that, if the wind changes, then the whole city could be destroyed. Obviously, that is very worrisome.
I often hear my colleague from the north shore talking about the importance of breaking the isolation of that area. I would imagine that it takes a situation like this to realize how important it is to do that. When we look at the situation that people from the north shore are currently facing, we see that they have a forest on one side, where the wildfires are burning, the ocean on the other side, and the Touzel bridge, which is currently damaged. They are a bit trapped. People are being evacuated by air, mainly for medical reasons. Supplies are going to be sent in to people in some communities that are also somewhat trapped.
We should be asking important questions about these heavily forested regions, which may be more affected than others. I was saying earlier, in response to a speech by my colleague, that the majority of indigenous communities live in forested or wooded regions. They inevitably become the first victims of this growing phenomenon. What are we as elected members doing to protect these communities?
I understand that fire crews are currently focusing on the out-of-control fires that are closest to inhabited communities, and we can understand what that is urgent. However, seeing the photos, the images of fires that are devastating hundreds of square kilometres of forest, makes me very sad. Obviously, the priority is human beings, but it is still shocking to see how much of the forest has been obliterated.
Today, I travelled from my riding to Ottawa. I live just on the other side of the north shore, so I expected the air back home to be thickly contaminated. It was not too bad. Oddly, the closer I got to Montreal and the Outaouais region, the heavier the smog became. Now, even the people living in communities that are nowhere near the fires cannot say that they are unaware of the situation and unaffected by what is happening.
My colleague was showing me a map of his riding. The fires are closing in. For some communities, it is only a matter of time before the fires reach them. Obviously, this is worrying. More than 780 international firefighters have been or will be deployed on the ground. President Macron will be sending approximately 100 firefighters and fire experts, particularly to Sept-Îles on the north shore. Firefighters have come from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. The Canadian Armed Forces have also deployed soldiers and military personnel to lend a hand. The scale of the situation is obvious. I hope we are ready to face what is coming.
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