SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Dominique Vien

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of Parliament
  • Conservative
  • Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis
  • Quebec
  • Voting Attendance: 66%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $88,640.78

  • Government Page
  • Jan/29/24 3:02:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this government has been in power for eight years, and in that time, the debt has doubled, inflation has hit a new record and not one single budget has been balanced. The Bloc Québécois has given its full support to all of that. We Conservatives will balance the budget. How? We will get rid of wasteful Liberal spending on things like ArriveCan and the unused $54 million. Will the Prime Minister take responsibility for this fiasco and hand over the reins to people with good sense?
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  • Oct/20/23 11:56:01 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, of all the provinces, Quebec is the one most affected by inflation. Quebeckers are spending 23% more for their groceries. Food banks are swamped with people no longer able to afford supermarket prices, but this is a matter of utter indifference to this government and to the Bloc Québécois, which wants to drastically increase the tax. Voting Bloc is costly. Will the Prime Minister show some empathy, do the right and reasonable thing and cancel his costly carbon tax?
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  • Oct/18/23 3:22:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, eight years of Liberal inflationary policies have driven Quebeckers further into debt. Young people fear they will never be able to buy a house. Some are even experiencing financial anxiety. Despite that, the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois are adding a second carbon tax. We can never say it enough: It is costly to vote for the Bloc Québécois. My question is simple. Will the Prime Minister scrap his inflationary carbon tax?
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  • Oct/18/23 3:20:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of bad policy, this government continues to fuel inflation with uncontrolled spending. Today, we learned that Quebec has won Canada's inflation game for the fourth month in a row. Groceries, housing, gasoline, everything costs more, courtesy of the Liberals, backed by the Bloc Québécois. Experts are not expecting things to return to normal anytime soon. Can this government finally offer Quebeckers concrete solutions, put an end to out-of-control spending and abolish the carbon tax?
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  • Jun/12/23 2:44:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as everyone knows, the government's reckless spending is causing serious problems across the country. A few days ago, the Bank of Canada had to react to this Prime Minister's inflationary spending by raising interest rates for the ninth time. Canadians are struggling to stay warm, to buy food and to pay their mortgages, which, I would remind members, have doubled. Some Canadians are even in default. Will the Prime Minister immediately put a stop to his inflation-causing deficit spending and table a plan to balance the budget as soon as possible?
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  • May/17/23 3:16:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with this Prime Minister everything already costs more and now inflation is taking off again. Some experts are even saying that the Bank of Canada might increase interest rates yet again. It was in all the media. That is not reassuring for Canadians. This Prime Minister is at it again. He is proposing other inflationary policies like his carbon tax. When will he abandon his disastrous plans for Canadians?
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  • Mar/9/23 3:07:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, paying their rent has become a headache for Canadians. The monthly cost of a two-bedroom apartment has doubled in the 10 largest Canadian cities since 2015. This phenomenon was created by this Prime Minister with his out-of-control spending, which has impacted inflation. Young families are giving up on their home ownership dreams. Others have resigned themselves to living in their parents' basement. Will the Prime Minister finally accept responsibility for the crisis he has created?
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  • Mar/7/23 3:10:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years under this Prime Minister, property and housing prices have skyrocketed. Interest rate hikes have dealt a major blow to homeowners. The average cost of a mortgage in Canada has more than doubled. It is now $3,000 per month. As a result, young families cannot afford to buy a home, young adults are camping out in their parents' basements and students are staying in shelters. When will this Prime Minister acknowledge the problems he has caused, show some compassion and finally help Canadians?
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  • Feb/14/23 3:44:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, taxes are high right now. I think we are an overtaxed society. After eight years under the Liberal government, Canada is ranked 58th out of 63 countries when it comes to climate change. That is a total failure.
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  • Feb/14/23 3:43:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that was more of a comment than a question. I am rather surprised to hear the Bloc Québécois criticizing us today for wanting to talk about the cost of living and about how badly Canadians and Quebeckers are suffering because of what is currently happening in Canada, with high costs and families overburdened by tax hikes and increased housing costs. What we are proposing is to make sure that we are spending in a smart and careful way. For every dollar spent, there must be a dollar found in savings.
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  • Feb/14/23 3:41:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, just a short while ago, during oral question period, some of my colleagues rightfully and frankly pointed out that this government has been making very bad decisions for the eight years that it has been in office. We are not the only ones to say so. Experts have also been saying that the Liberal government is spending recklessly and that it must turn off the taps. We are proposing a much more rigorous vision for public finances. This will allow the country to be in a more peaceful and balanced situation. What we are saying is that every dollar spent must be accounted for by the public service and government.
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  • Feb/14/23 3:30:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House are romantics, so I too wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day. I am pleased to share my time with my colleague from Prince Albert. I am very happy to speak today about this important motion introduced by my colleague from Calgary Forest Lawn. I congratulate him on it. I think he has done an outstanding job. Unfortunately, the Bloc member for Longueuil—Saint‑Hubert is criticizing us for speaking often and extensively about the cost of living. In my opinion, it is our duty as members of Parliament to discuss these things. These concerns and issues worry and trouble the lives of our constituents, Canadians and especially Quebeckers. I will read part of the motion, because it contains extremely important elements that can never be repeated too often to get the government to see reason. It reads as follows: (i) after eight years of this Liberal Prime Minister, inflation is at a 40-year high, (ii) after eight years of this Liberal Prime Minister, the cost of groceries is up 11%, (iii) after eight years of this Liberal Prime Minister, half of Canadians are cutting back on groceries, (iv) after eight years of this Liberal Prime Minister, 20% of Canadians are skipping meals, (v) after eight years of this Liberal Prime Minister, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment across Canada’s 10 biggest cities is $2,213 per month, compared to $1,171 per month in 2015... I would like to remind the House that 2015 is the year the Liberals came to power with the current Prime Minister. ...(vi) after eight years of this Liberal Prime Minister, 45% of variable rate mortgage holders say they will have to sell or vacate their homes in less than nine months due to current interest rate levels, (vii) after eight years of this Liberal Prime Minister, average monthly mortgage costs have more than doubled and now cost Canadians over $3,000 per month... I will keep it short because there may be more information to be shared from our colleague's very important motion. What we are ultimately asking the government to do is stop spending recklessly so that our economy can get back on track. I am going to address some very specific elements of the cost of living, ones that affect different sectors, whether it is housing, groceries, or other aspects of people's daily lives. On the overall economic front, I would like to remind the House that the Prime Minister of this Liberal government is the one who has single-handedly run up more deficits than all previous prime ministers of Canada. That is a lot of money. Somebody, somewhere, has to pay for that. We must also remember that the federal debt has doubled since the Liberal government took office. I would also like to remind the House that this Liberal government has never managed to table a balanced budget. It repeatedly told us that there would be just small deficits for a time, not for all time. In the end, that has not been the case. Experts have issued a warning to the government. It will have to rein in its spending if it wants to avoid adding further inflationary pressures. I am not the one saying this, but rather the experts. Still, we know that this Prime Minister almost never listens to anyone. In a report published in January, the Business Council of Canada and the firm Bennett Jones said that the forecasts in the last budget were overly optimistic. Not only do the Liberals not know how to count, but they are throwing money around like it grows on trees. Let us talk about the state of mind of Quebeckers. I am a Quebecker, so I would like to talk about what is going on in Quebec. I should mention that their state of mind is at its worst. According to a Leger survey, Quebeckers are going into 2023 with a high level of stress, and their number one concern is the impact of rising consumer prices. The Bloc Québécois has the nerve to stand up in the House and tell us that we are repeating ourselves and that we need to stop talking about this, when this is the number one concern of Quebeckers right now. Furthermore, over 20% of respondents are worried about not having enough money and said that increased interest rates are problematic. I want to quote a worker at the Association coopérative d'économie familiale de la Rive-Sud de Québec, a well-known organization in Quebec that helps Quebeckers ensure that they have a budget that they can stick to. The worker said this, and I quote: “People are very stressed about this. Before, they used to ask us how they would get by. Now they are telling us that they are not getting by anymore”. Let us talk now about businesses. The results of a recent study by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business were released this week. According to that study, 73% of Quebec's small businesses, about three-quarters, said that they will have to raise their prices to deal with inflation. If businesses raise their prices, Canadian and Quebec consumers who need to purchase goods and services are the ones who will be affected in their everyday lives. Quebec businesses are now telling us that things are so bad that they will be forced to raise prices for consumers once again. Obviously, this will have a major impact on Quebeckers' wallets. The study also found that just over half of companies, nearly 60%, plan to work longer hours to reduce labour costs. This really bothers many businesses. There is a lot of information in this survey, and one statistic that was really troubling to me was this: 43% of SMEs plan to temporarily reduce their profit margins in order to remain competitive, and 32% of SMEs are going to reduce their investments and growth forecasts. What does this mean in concrete terms? The vitality of a society is also measured by the vitality of its businesses. If businesses do not have confidence in the future, but rather fear it, they stop investing. It is not hard to see what this means. When a business stops investing, it is because it does not have confidence in the future. A lack of confidence disrupts society's economic balance. Do I have to remind the House that Canada is in the middle of a major housing crisis? Young adults are sleeping in their parents' basement because they cannot afford a house. What are the consequences of that? It puts pressure on the rental market and drives rents up. House prices have doubled in the past eight years. If I remember correctly, prices have gone up 21% in and around Quebec City. If we cannot house our people, we have a real problem. The cost of housing has gone up way too much, and now people, young families, cannot afford a house. Not only are they living in their parents' basement, but some students resort to shelters because they have nowhere else to go and not enough money for decent housing. In closing, I want to touch on the environment. The government loves to crow about its environmental record. Not to rain on its parade, but I would like to see it set a more ambitious agenda in that department. After eight years of Liberal rule, Canada is ranked 58th out of 63 countries in the fight against climate change, according to the UN. The government must carry out a full review of all the bad decisions it has made and its entire vision, because it is the wrong one and is getting us nowhere.
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  • Feb/14/23 2:23:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, one solution would be not paying $6,000 for a hotel room. After eight years of this government, food banks are facing record demand. One in four families will pay an extra $1,000 for food this year. On top of that, a majority of businesses say they will have to raise their prices. This mess is just part of this government's pattern of shortcomings, failures and other displays of incompetence. When is it going to apologize and set things right?
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  • Feb/14/23 2:22:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that they think it is normal to pay $6,000 for a night at a hotel. After eight years under this Prime Minister, Canadians are worse off. Inflation is eating away at their wallets. Today we are debating a motion calling on the government to cap its spending, stop wasting resources and eliminate the taxes and deficits that are causing the cost-of-living crisis. Will the government take the necessary fiscal and budgetary measures to get the country out of this disastrous inflationary crisis?
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  • Feb/9/23 2:34:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, who is killing the Canadian economy? It is the Liberals. According to a recent Léger poll, Quebeckers are feeling extremely stressed about what this year will bring. The number one concern is the impact of rising consumer prices. What will it take for the Prime Minister to see and hear the same thing that we are seeing and hearing across Canada?
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  • Feb/9/23 2:33:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years under this Prime Minister, inflation is out of control. Simply put, everything costs a lot more: groceries, heating, and housing. The Prime Minister would like us to believe that he has nothing to do with it, but it is precisely his reckless spending that has put us in this situation. Even his former finance minister Bill Morneau said so recently. Can he face the truth and admit that he is doing immense damage to the Canadian economy?
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  • Feb/1/23 2:58:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this government, Canadians are struggling. Every month, inflation takes more and more of their paycheque, and 1.5 million people used food banks in one month. Students are living in shelters. Mothers have to choose between feeding the child they have or the child they have on the way. What is this out-of-touch government telling us? It is saying that Canadians have never felt so good. What will it take for the Prime Minister to see and hear that Canadians are suffering?
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  • Dec/1/22 2:38:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the plan she is referring to is a tax plan. At the same time that the Liberal government is insisting on increasing the carbon tax, it is announcing new spending to please the NDP, which, members will recall, is keeping the Liberals in power. People living in rural areas no choice but to drive because there is no public transit. Families, workers and businesses are being hit hard by the carbon tax. How can this government just look away and pretend that it does not see that the carbon tax is slowing down the economy, making Canadians poorer and not helping the environment?
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  • Dec/1/22 2:37:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we all know Canadian families are feeling the financial pinch. Liberal inflation is hitting them right in the pocketbook. The Liberal government needs to give them a break. The easy way to do that is to agree to our one key demand: do like other G7 countries and cancel the carbon tax hike. Canada is the only country fixated on increasing the carbon tax. Will this government finally agree to our demand and follow in the other G7 countries' footsteps?
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  • Nov/30/22 3:00:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, he is talking about going to the dentist. I am talking about buying groceries. People are telling us they are struggling, but the Liberals ignore them and keep going. They want to raise taxes. Each of my colleagues here today has long been sharing in the House some of the awful things that their constituents are going through in their community. I will repeat my question: Will this Prime Minister and his government cancel their carbon tax plan?
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