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Gabriel Ste-Marie

Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
Bloc Québécois

Joliette
Quebec
Voting Attendance: 68%
Expenses Last Quarter: $132,165.46

Government Page

Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie (Joliette, BQ)

May/9/24 6:43:35 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-59

Madam Speaker, I have a question for the minister. Bill C‑59 provides for more than $30 billion for the oil industry. For example, there is the $12.5-billion credit for carbon capture, utilization and storage. I would like to quote what his former colleague, Catherine McKenna, said about it and then have him share his comments with us. It should never have happened, but clearly the oil and gas lobbyists pushed for that....We are giving special access to companies that are making historic profits, that are not investing those profits into the transition and clean solutions. They are returning those profits to their shareholders, who for the most part are not Canadian, and then they ask to be subsidized for the pollution they cause, while Canadians have to pay more for oil and gas for heating. What does the hon. minister think?

148 words

Context: House Hansard - 254 - Nov/23/23

Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie

Nov/23/23 10:55:18 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I want to first point out that my hon. colleague did a tour of Quebec to talk about housing. He stopped in Joliette. We had a full house. Everything he is contributing is wonderful and informative. My colleague spoke about the financialization of housing and how to put an end to that. For example, that is what we are seeing in Montreal, and it is mainly the Bronfman family's company that is doing it. It is hard to get any closer to the Liberal Party than that. These people are taking affordable housing off the market, and not enough housing is being built to counter that. What we suggested is to offer an acquisition fund interest rate, which is something that the Union des municipalités du Québec has been calling for. This would involve implementing a measure to fund the purchase of these buildings at an interest rate that is lower than the market rate, to get them out of the financialization spiral that is causing people to be evicted and rents to go up. The current market rate is very high. However, with the borrowing authority of the government or the CMHC, we could simply pass the better rate on or even subsidize it to make this acquisition possible. Let me give an example. The government borrows at 3.6%. Suppose we want to give a non-profit organization an interest rate of 2% for one billion housing units that we want to get out of the financialization trap and that we are going to make truly affordable in the long term. That would cost $16 million. The difference between 3.6% and 2% is almost nothing for the government. By using its leverage, the non-profit would have an advantage. That would prevent financialization, which is what happens when big conglomerates like the Bronfmans get their hands on housing that is affordable and make it so that it is no longer affordable. This is one possible solution we are proposing to the government.

343 words

Context: House Hansard - 209 - Jun/8/23

Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie (Joliette, BQ)

Jun/8/23 8:00:02 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, economist Pierre Fortin studied Quebec's early learning centres. He found that subsidized child care centres were self-funding in the sense that they resulted in more women remaining in the workforce, earning income and paying income tax. Their income tax exceeded the cost associated with this measure. What does my hon. colleague think about that?

58 words

Context: House Hansard - 209 - Jun/8/23

Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie (Joliette, BQ)

Jun/8/23 7:27:11 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague, the member for Yukon, which is an amazing place. I would like to hear what he thinks about the implementation of this bill, which will support subsidized child care. The member spoke at length about the rural nature of his riding. How can we ensure that this program serves both the city of Whitehorse and the more remote communities equally?

67 words

Context: House Hansard - 209 - Jun/8/23

Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie (Joliette, BQ)

Jun/8/23 7:13:39 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague raised a number of important issues. I would like to hear his thoughts on some of those issues. He talked about the labour shortage. Is it not true that low-cost child care that enables more women to remain in the workforce does more to reduce the labour shortage than expensive child care that encourages women to stay at home with their children? When a parent stays at home and does not work, there may be other benefits, but not economic benefits. Does subsidized child care not ultimately reduce the labour shortage?

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Member of Parliament

Gabriel Ste-Marie