- Member of Parliament
- Leader of the Bloc Québécois
- Bloc Québécois
- Beloeil—Chambly
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 55%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $98,385.23
- Government Page
- May/1/24 2:33:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am reassured. I have not been sleeping well for some time now. I am going to be able to return the signs to the printers and cancel the bus. The NDP is voting with the Liberals in favour of the budget. That being said, the Bloc Québécois is voting against it.
Let me read something from Amira Elghawaby:
We are committed to upholding the values of religious freedom...and equality that are imbedded in our constitution and are at the heart of our democracy. That is why we are challenging this discriminatory and unconstitutional law.
If Ms. Elghawaby's mission was—
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- Apr/17/24 3:05:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if you have 10 minutes, I would ask you to explain to the Prime Minister what purpose the opposition serves in Parliament, especially since it comes so naturally to a Quebecker.
The Prime Minister is interfering in all of Quebec's jurisdictions, and yet the Liberals think it is outrageous for Quebec to want to use a tiny piece of the Constitution, the notwithstanding clause, to protect its own jurisdictions. The Prime Minister is abusing his power at Quebec's expense, and I will continue to speak out against that.
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- Feb/7/24 2:44:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, former minister Lametti and other members of the Liberal Party openly considered the idea of opening up the Canadian Constitution. As it happens, Quebec is considering—warning, I am about to use a dirty word—a referendum. Yes, it is considering having a referendum on repatriating all powers in the area of immigration.
Why does the Prime Minister not talk to the Quebec government and give it all the powers so that we can finally have an immigration policy by Quebec, for Quebec?
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- Feb/9/23 10:37:28 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, can I have another 20 minutes?
Even I was still young in 1982, which is when the Constitution was imposed, shoved down the throats of Quebeckers and the René Lévesque government, after the common front shown by the provinces broke down on several issues, as it would do later on.
No, there is no legitimacy whatsoever. The notwithstanding clause is the only part of the Constitution that does anything to help preserve who we are and who we have a right to be.
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- Feb/9/23 10:28:02 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the driver cannot really complain about the route that is taken. Members of the federal government hold more keys to the Constitution and the back rooms of the Supreme Court than Quebec sovereignists or the provinces and territories.
It would be surprising if the federal Parliament were to make use of a constitutional provision that serves to protect it from itself. History being what it is and future prospects being what they are, it is understandable that that did not seem realistic to us.
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- Oct/25/22 10:35:42 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, given my colleague's question, it is very tempting to respond that basically they are not capable and they are not competent. I do not think so. They are probably quite capable, but they do not want to.
They say this is not important and they have other priorities. However, the reason is that they do not want to. They do not want to because Alberta will want to have its jurisdictions. Alberta will not want anyone meddling in its affairs because it does not care about the planet and wants to extract oil. They do not want to because first nations will ask for the recognition of a number of fundamental rights in the Constitution. There is always room for improvement. Quebec will certainly have a very interesting shopping list to discuss.
They do not want that. Everyone is terribly afraid of that. That is why the Constitution is triple-locked, why there is a bunch of padlocks and why the keys are at the bottom of the river—probably in the Thames rather than the St. Lawrence. The point is that they are competent enough to know that if they reopen the Constitution, it is a battle they are indeed not competent to win.
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- Oct/25/22 10:33:53 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, we would gladly take part in a discussion of this nature at any time.
I would immediately rule out giving any more powers to the current Prime Minister. A little trouble is fine, but to ask for more would be madness. Furthermore, some degree of independence is needed, and I think that is feasible.
As members know, one nation, or better still, two nations, that have the technological capacity to go into space should be able to come up with an alternative to a king who has no idea who we are as a people. This could be the subject of some discussion.
If it were up to me, Canada and Quebec would each have their own constitution. Quebec could then start thinking about one that is uniquely Québécois, one that Quebeckers can identify with, and I sincerely hope this happens, but one never knows.
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