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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 302

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 18, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 302 - Apr/18/24
Mr. Martin Champoux (Drummond, BQ)
  • Apr/18/24 2:42:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on page 74 of budget 2024, it says, “Halal Mortgages”. This is not the first time the federal government has given some thought to sharia-compliant mortgages. The CMHC commissioned a study on this issue in 2009. The reaction of the Muslim Canadian Congress at the time was clear. Its founder, Tarek Fatah, said that this targets vulnerable and marginalized Muslims, who are told that, if they do business with non-Muslims, they will go to hell. My question is simple. Who exactly is this measure for?
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Context: House Hansard - 302 - Apr/18/24
Mr. Martin Champoux (Drummond, BQ)
  • Apr/18/24 2:43:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, the Quebec lieutenant taught us a lesson: Canada is a secular country. We are also partial to secularism. We are Quebeckers. They are trying to pick a fight. It is the same old story. If the Liberals are so in favour of secularism, then why do they want to change the date of the election to accommodate a religious holiday and why do they want to introduce elements of sharia law into the mortgage rules of this so-called secular country?
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Context: House Hansard - 302 - Apr/18/24
Mr. Martin Champoux (Drummond, BQ)
  • Apr/18/24 2:44:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will need to have someone explain to me why they put that in the budget. I do not really understand. In any case, one thing is certain, we are witnessing a clash of values here. While the Minister of Justice intends to use Quebeckers' money to fund the challenge to Quebec's state secularism law, the Liberals are thinking of incorporating more religion into Canadian law. Again, Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress said that Islamic mortgages are another financial front of the Islamist movement. Those are serious words. Will the government admit that it is not defending secularism, but rather putting more and more religion into the affairs of state?
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Context: House Hansard - 302 - Apr/18/24
Mr. Martin Champoux
  • Apr/18/24 3:17:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on the same point of order as my Conservative colleague, but to add some supplementary comments. Over the past few months, we have seen a lot of irregularities in the way freedom of expression is interpreted in the House of Commons. Freedom of expression is a fundamental part of parliamentary privilege, and we cannot do our jobs as parliamentarians properly if we do not know the limits the House grants us in terms of freedom of expression. Some expressions that could be considered more or less serious than others are subject to sanctions of varying degrees of severity, and there is a certain lack of consistency. I would ask the Chair to come back to the House after some reflection and give us some clear guidelines as to where the line is drawn, so that when we rise to speak in the House of Commons, we are not always walking on eggshells for fear of saying something that could end up offending someone or contravening the rules of the House.
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