44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 20, 2023 02:00PM
- Sep/20/23 2:08:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this government, our country is broken. Inflation is already hurting families, and food prices are expected to rise by 34% over the next two years. Repeated interest rate hikes have doubled mortgage payments. One in two Canadians lives paycheque to paycheque.
What is the government's response? It is adamant about going ahead with its plan to increase the carbon tax.
Worse still, the Bloc members are blindly supporting it. They say they want to drastically increase the carbon tax. What does “drastic” mean? It means “extreme”, “radical”. That is what the Bloc-Liberal coalition wants: to make everything drastically, radically more expensive. Could a government be more out of touch? I think not. I want all families in Quebec and Canada to know that a vote for the Bloc Québécois in the next election will cost them dearly.
I want everyone to remember this: A Conservative government will bring back common sense by abolishing the Bloc-Liberal tax and bringing home lower prices.
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- Sep/20/23 2:15:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today I want to express my admiration and gratitude for an exceptional woman, the Hon. Monique Bégin. Driven by the strong liberal values of feminism, equality, social justice and equity that guided her career, she cleared a path for all the women who entered the House after her.
In 1972, she became one of Quebec's first three women members of Parliament. A true pioneer, she also served with distinction as a minister, creating the child tax credit, supporting a guaranteed income supplement increase and passing the Canada Health Act.
After leaving politics, she made Ottawa—Vanier her home and continued serving others as a faculty member at the University of Ottawa. She also influenced and advised political decision-makers, and I am privileged to count myself among them.
We owe Monique Bégin a great deal for her outstanding achievements. We also have a duty to carry the torch she passed to us.
I offer my sincere condolences to her loved ones. May she rest in peace.
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- Sep/20/23 2:17:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is only natural for Quebec to see itself as more than a mere province, since it was shaped by giants like Jacques‑Yvan Morin, who passed away on July 26.
In 1973, he became leader of the official opposition with just six elected members from the Parti Québécois, which would transform Quebec three years later. He then served as deputy premier of Quebec alongside René Lévesque, and later as minister of education, minister of cultural and scientific development and minister of intergovernmental affairs.
Jacques‑Yvan Morin was at the forefront of our nation's history as it was being written. He was a professor emeritus and prominent jurist who was trained at top schools like Harvard and Cambridge. He was the first full-time professor of international law at the University of Montreal. He belonged to a rare breed of distinguished Quebec intellectuals from that era, who toko the plunge and devoted everything they had to serving Quebec.
On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I offer my condolences to his wife Élisabeth Gallat‑Morin, his son Étienne, and all those who loved him.
I am grateful to Jacques‑Yvan Morin, a towering figure in Quebec history, for sowing the seeds of a future that can now be reaped by younger Quebeckers.
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- Sep/20/23 2:30:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, too many Quebeckers and too many Canadians are having to choose between impossibly high rent and the threat of homelessness.
Removing the GST on rental housing cannot hurt, but it may also do nothing to help tenants, who so desperately need it.
Will the government agree to stop wanting to encroach on the jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces, and does it recognize that the ideal solution for everyone would be to release the $900 million it is withholding for social housing in Quebec?
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- Sep/20/23 2:30:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have had many conversations with the people of Quebec. I have spoken with my counterpart, and my team is speaking to his team. We exchanged messages this morning. I hope to get a call this evening.
The fact of the matter is we both see building housing in Quebec and across the country as a priority. We must work together to achieve those objectives. I will keep working on this. I will continue to work with my counterpart and with Quebec.
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- Sep/20/23 2:44:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the government taxes vegetable growers, the truckers who transport those vegetables and the processors, then Quebec families are bound to have higher grocery bills.
While half of Canadians are surviving paycheque to paycheque, the Liberal-Bloc coalition seeking to drastically increase taxes thinks that Canadians are not paying enough. Not only does the Bloc Québécois support the carbon tax, but its members want to drastically increase it.
Why have the Liberals and the Bloc joined forces to impoverish Quebeckers?
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- Sep/20/23 2:45:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we hear all sorts of excuses from the Liberal-Bloc coalition for drastic tax increases.
They say that the carbon tax does not apply to Quebec, but that is false. The second carbon tax, which the Bloc Québécois supports, will add 20¢ to the cost of a litre of gas.
After eight years, the Liberals have managed to convince the Leader of the Bloc Québécois to take more money from Quebeckers and send it to Ottawa. That is totally irresponsible if the goal is to help families who are struggling. Voting for the Bloc Québécois is costly.
Why is the Prime Minister endorsing the Bloc Québécois's wish to drastically increase taxes at Quebeckers' expense?
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- Sep/20/23 2:58:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and his ally, the Bloc Québécois, are driving up food prices by continuing to support the carbon tax.
Yes, the second carbon tax applies to Quebec, contrary to what the Bloc claims. Input costs continue to rise for our farmers and transportation costs continue to skyrocket, yet the Bloc wants to drastically increase the carbon tax. Yes, voting Bloc is costly.
Can the Prime Minister tell us if he is going to listen to the Bloc Québécois's request to drastically increase the tax?
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- Sep/20/23 2:59:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when the federal government finally appointed Davie as the third partner in the national shipbuilding strategy, we thought things would get better in Quebec City. Has anything changed? No, nothing has changed.
The federal government gave Irving nearly $500 million to modernize its shipyard. How much did they give to Davie? Nothing.
How many of the seven icebreaker contracts the Prime Minister promised in April during a nice photo op went to Davie? None. It got no subsidies and no contracts.
As of today, how many dollars has the federal government committed to Davie?
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- Sep/20/23 3:00:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to answer this question.
I would like to point out that my colleague also had the chance to attend the incredible announcement we made last spring. She was able to see, as she did today, just how happy the workers, the 1,300 suppliers and all the political and economic partners in the Quebec City area were with this decision and the choice we made to help the Quebec City area.
She should recognize—and I think she will when she is somewhat less engaged in this partisan effort—that we are there for workers, that we are there for suppliers and that we are there for the Quebec City area.
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- Sep/20/23 3:01:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the federal government gave Irving Oil $500 million in public funds and gave none to Davie. The federal government is investing Quebeckers' money against Quebeckers, but we know how to get things done. Together, Davie and the Government of Quebec invested $840 million to compensate for the federal government's unfairness. Despite Ottawa's inaction, Davie is ready.
This government promised $8.5 billion in contracts last April, and 1,800 jobs depend on those contracts.
When will Davie get those contracts? We want a date.
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- Sep/20/23 3:02:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would be delighted to give my colleague a briefing.
I think she forgot what she heard last spring, and that is that the workers are not waiting for contracts. The shipyard has already been given contracts. Nearly 1,000 people are working at the shipyard as we speak. There will be contracts for the next 20 to 25 years and thousands more workers will be hired, not to mention the tens of thousands of others who will work for the 1,300 suppliers.
That is wonderful news for the Quebec City region, and I would invite my colleague to celebrate that as we are.
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- Sep/20/23 5:46:19 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, children are our greatest wealth. Each of them has different interests, abilities and goals. Motion No. 78 highlights the wealth that our children represent.
For those listening to us now, I would like to make a small clarification concerning the content of the motion tabled by the hon. member for Edmonton—Wetaskiwin. Essentially, the motion asks that Canada recognize its own commitments as a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It also asks that Canada recognize that approximately 50% of children with disabilities across the world are estimated to be out of school and that they were 49% more likely to have never attended school. Finally, the motion asks Canada to spend money on education, domestically or internationally, in order to ensure the maximum inclusion of people with disabilities, including people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
I would also like to mention that primary and secondary education is not within the federal government's jurisdiction, but rather within that of the governments of Quebec and the Canadian provinces. Moreover, Quebec has had a special education policy since 1999. I will return to this later.
I can see in this motion the dignity and desire for fairness that drives the member for Edmonton—Wetaskiwin. To illustrate the merits of this motion, I will provide a few figures to demonstrate the inequity and inequality people with disabilities have to face on a daily basis. I also have a caveat about the Canadian aspect of the motion. I will provide some examples of federal missteps when it comes to Canada's rights abroad.
Having a child is a treasure, as I said at the outset. When people find out that their child will live with a disability, that is an added weight on their shoulders. Some parents find out at birth or even beforehand. Others find out later either because the child has an invisible disability or because there was an accident or an illness.
My colleagues will forgive me for becoming emotional. I was a special education teacher, and while I am talking about these children, I am thinking about my students. I am thinking of Vicky, who was born healthy, bright and full of life. She was what some people would call a normal child. She was eventually diagnosed with brain cancer twice. Vicky stopped growing very early on. Even in high school, she was a tiny, petite girl. She was a spirited little devil, and the only way I could get Vicky to learn something, to get it into her head so she could memorize it, was to turn everything into a game or a joke. It worked.
That is what special education is all about. We need to treat children with disabilities in a way that enables them to succeed. We have to adapt our teaching and our schools to what they are going through and meet them where they are. If Vicky is watching, I salute her.
At the same time, I am thinking of Alexandre, who hated my jokes. He thought they were really bad. I thank Vicky for restoring my faith in my jokes. I have several examples. I could talk about Steven, a child with multiple disabilities who will never learn to read. He is physically unable to show that he understands what we are trying to teach him.
At the time, I was a vice-principal and I wanted to see what was happening with special education, to reacquaint myself with the reality on the ground. When Steven saw me coming, he smiled because he knew that he could go to the computer and that we were going to play a computer game together where he could show me letters and figures. It was his way of showing that he understood, despite his disabilities.
We have that opportunity because we live in a privileged, industrialized country. It is not an opportunity that children in every country have. No, the system in Quebec is not perfect, but there are reasons for that. It takes health care specialists to diagnose a child. It takes special education teachers, speech pathologists and occupational therapists to help these children. However, after 30 years of cuts to health transfers, there are fewer and fewer of these specialists in the public sector and people are forced to turn to the private sector.
Although a child with a disability is a blessing, raising them can be a burden on poor families. These families do not have any money or insurance and they are left sitting on a waiting list that I will refrain from describing here. The federal government has not been sending health transfers, or has been sending only a half or a third of the amount for over 30 years, and parents are the ones who are paying the price. At some point, these children may not get the care they need. By signing the convention, Canada committed to ensuring that children with disabilities are included in society, not excluded. When a provincial government is forced to make cuts to health care to the point where services are compromised, children with disabilities are the ones who suffer the most. At some point, that government needs to make cuts in another area, and then cut its second-largest budget.
The second-largest budget item is education. That is how children with special needs end up in classrooms too crowded for their needs, without the support they require. No specialized educators are there to help the teacher. They have no special education teachers, speech therapists or occupational therapists. Yes, schools need them too. Sometimes all that is needed is a chair lift to help a child get to the washroom. When children in wheelchairs grow into teenagers, they can be six foot four or six foot five. Thanks to widespread budget cuts, there may not even be wheelchairs that fit them. These children's dignity is at stake. Canada has to address this too.
It is hard to change mindsets around the world. However, if we do not act now, mindsets will never change anywhere. We will miss opportunities to have young people like Vicky, who transitioned out of special education and into a regular classroom. She earned her high school diploma. She finished her studies because she was accepted, assisted and supported throughout her journey. Steven, who I was talking about earlier, is able to do simple tasks with a bit of support. Now cuts are being made everywhere. Governments are not investing in our own young people. Having a disability is no reason to be cast aside. Gone are the days of ancient Greece, where children would be cast off if they were missing the end of their finger or leg. There are artists across Canada who are living proof that having a disability is not the end of the world.
This motion is important because, as I have often said in the House, every time we help the smallest among us, we show just how big we are as a society. Every time Canada cuts health transfers, which forces provincial governments to cut funding for education and services to the public, we show just how small we are.
The smallest among us are our strength. Together with them, by giving them the training, education and support they deserve, we can become a great society and, I hope, a better world internationally.
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- Sep/20/23 6:25:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to speak to this issue. I would like to thank my colleague who moved the motion today.
It feels a little like Groundhog Day with this motion. I was listening earlier to the speech by my colleague from Beauport—Limoilou, as well as the speeches from my other colleagues. Basically, this motion could be called “Canada is not doing enough for the less fortunate” or “Canada is turning its back on a bunch of people”. That pretty much sums it up. We would not need this motion today if Canada were doing enough for people with disabilities. Today, we are talking about children with disabilities.
I have often spoken on various issues. I have just returned from a tour all over Quebec. I visited all of Quebec's regions this summer, including Abitibi, Gaspé, Lac-Saint-Jean, the Eastern Townships, Montreal and Gatineau. Every region is facing extremely difficult situations. According to a recent report by the Quebec government, there are 10,000 homeless people in Quebec. How can we accept that? Winter is coming, and those people are going to be left to live outside. Some of them will die because of our inaction and our lack of commitment to the least fortunate in our society. I do not know how anyone can accept that.
We do a lot of debating in the House and all sorts of bills are introduced, but sometimes I get the impression that we are not making any progress. This motion is a sad reminder of that. We are talking about children with disabilities, and earlier I spoke about homelessness, but we can also talk about housing. The government is aware of the statistics. Everyone here is talking about them. The housing crisis was the major theme of the summer. Canada needs 3.5 million housing units to address this crisis. The numbers are astronomical. That is related to the issue we are considering now. We need a national plan so we can take care of the most vulnerable members of our society.
We need 1.1 million housing units in Quebec. We should stop everything and discuss just that, especially with winter on the way. What are we going to do about it? We need an industrial plan. We need measures that are just as broad as those that were proposed at the beginning of the pandemic. We stopped everything. I remember one evening when we adopted an $82-billion plan that involved sending cheques to everyone across the country to help industries, workers and individuals pay their rent. We stopped everything to deal with that crisis. We are in a major crisis right now that is at least as serious, but we are not dealing with it. We are not doing enough. I cannot understand it.
I will never be as moving as my colleague from Beauport—Limoilou in discussing these issues. However, I have some relevant personal experience. One of my nephews has Asperger syndrome. He is 33 now, and has spent the past 20 years or so in his room, playing video games. Now and then he comes downstairs to get a glass of juice or milk from the refrigerator, a sandwich or a cookie, then goes back upstairs to his room. He never speaks to anyone. What could be more devastating for a parent than to think their child will never have a social life or friends?
I had an experience that ties in with the motion we are considering today. When my son was in kindergarten, he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Alarm bells go off in a parent's mind. My nephew had already been going through this for 20 years and I know that he had a very difficult life. He had no friends. It was hard for him to get to school, to go outside or even have a simple conversation with someone. It was the school psychologist who told us that my son might have this disorder. It is thanks to him that a light went off in our heads, but then we needed to find a clinic to get a proper diagnosis so that the school psychologists and professionals could offer him good care to help him learn.
Members can imagine our panic. I remember living in that reality for a year. We looked for a specialist but could not find one. How is it that, in this country, people cannot get the services they need for their children?
This ties in with a story that ran on television this week. It featured a young, single mother who has two children with disabilities. She, too, was unable to find the services to simply have her children diagnosed. It is an uphill battle. What exactly do we mean when we are talking about this? How can we take action?
Health is a provincial jurisdiction. My colleague from Beauport—Limoilou mentioned that. Why is it that, in the negotiations a few months ago, the provinces were asking for $6 billion, but Quebec did not even get $1 billion? It is as though it is not important. Who is getting let down when this happens? Who is not getting taken care of when Quebec gets a cheque for a measly $800 million, when there is need for $6 billion? All of the Canadian provinces were in agreement. Everyone was asking for it. All the provinces were asking the same thing. As my colleague just mentioned, the government gives to oil companies. This country refuses to put a roof over the heads of the most disadvantaged. A single mother is denied the support she needs to have her children diagnosed. What are we doing instead?
According to the International Monetary Fund, $50 billion was invested in the oil industry in 2022. How can that even be? I would remind the House that, in 2022, the five big oil companies cleared $220 billion. In other words, Canada is making billionaires richer, but doing nothing for 10,000 homeless people in Quebec. It is doing nothing for parents who are worried sick about the future of their children who have all kinds of problems. People talked about the autism spectrum and children with a visual or physical disability. These are tragedies. These are not easy lives. These people need support. As a country, do we not have the means to help all these people? Do we want to make other choices, such as enriching billionaires instead of supporting our society's least fortunate? I simply will not accept that. I want us all to be aware of the real issues. Instead of looking up at the billionaires, we need to look down where the needs are.
For example, we also need housing units that are adapted for adults with disabilities. We were talking about the needs of children, but children become adults. In my riding, there is a wonderful housing resource for adults with intellectual disabilities. It is called L'appart à moi and it consists of six amazing housing units. In the basement, there is a shared kitchen where people can meet up. They gather, they hold meetings, they organize activities and they go on outings. In the spring, they even came here to Parliament. I brought the people from L'appart à moi to Parliament. I am talking in particular about Étienne Grutman, who follows politics and spends his time liking my posts on Facebook. Perhaps he is watching right now. I want Étienne to know that we are going to work here in the House to make sure that all of the people like him across Quebec and Canada have access to a resource like L'appart à moi. We will never stop. I promise him that. We will not stop until we fulfill our promise to work for the less fortunate, the most vulnerable and the marginalized, the only promise that should be important, the only lasting promise, the only promise that should guide us. This motion talks about exactly that.
I thank my colleague for moving this motion. I promise him that the Bloc Québécois will support it and that we will never give up the fight for the less fortunate in Quebec and Canada.
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