- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Bloc Québécois
- Montcalm
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $126,025.95
- Government Page
- Apr/30/24 12:48:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Bloc Québécois has never voted in favour of a Liberal budget or its updates since 2019, or even since 2015.
We intend to carry on as usual and vote against this budget. One reason why we are doing that concerns the ongoing subsidies paid to the oil and gas industries, which rake in record profits. Does my colleague not consider it indecent to fund the oil and gas sector, which is making record profits at the expense of Canadians, the same Canadians he claims to care about?
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- Apr/30/24 10:42:00 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, since 2019 the Bloc Québécois has always voted against Liberal budgets, and the same will be true for this budget, since it contains no plan to reduce subsidies for an industry that is making massive, record profits. I am speaking about the oil industry.
Will my colleague vote against the budget, since, like us, he opposes funding oil companies with taxpayer money?
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- Mar/19/24 2:41:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in 12 days, Ottawa will cut $1 billion in health care funding, if Quebec does not agree to conditions in an area under its own jurisdiction. Quebec has been given 12 days when we are talking about amounts that Quebec and Ottawa agreed on over a year ago.
If the federal government's priority was patients, then this money would have been transferred a long time ago, but instead, in 12 days, Quebec will either have to deal with cuts or conditions. The federal government is taking sick people hostage with the money they pay in taxes.
Why not simply give priority to patients by transferring the money right now with no strings attached?
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- Jun/21/23 7:36:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in 2022, environmental disasters caused by climate change cost $275 billion. The five biggest oil companies made $220 billion in profits in 2022. Oil companies received $20 billion in funding from the government. I rounded these figures.
As my colleague claims, we know that the government spends unwisely. Does he believe that the $20 billion the government spent on an industry that made $220 billion in profits that year was a bad investment? He seems to be concerned about climate change and the environment, so does he not think that this money could have been better spent on the energy transition?
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- Apr/27/23 4:01:40 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think that my colleague and I see history differently.
The Quebec government was hoping for $6 billion in recurring funding every year to rebuild its network. It got barely $1 billion. Then the Minister of Health had the nerve to claw back $42 million.
Given that, the correct answer is not complicated. The Quebec government had no choice. It had to either accept the $1 billion, one-sixth of what it needed, or it would get nothing at all.
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Madam Speaker, I do not know whether the government is investing based on events, but the passage of Bill C-47 will not be an event. To clarify, I would say this.
The government boasts about having invested a lot of money during the pandemic. However, had it taken the necessary precautions, it probably could have spent a lot less money.
We likely would have been able to save the lives of more people in long-term care if the national PPE stockpile had not been completely depleted and if we had had masks to protect the personal support workers who had to work in two or three different facilities to be able to make ends meet at the end of the year, because the federal government has been making cuts to health care transfers for 30 years. The chronic underfunding of health care weakened the system, which led to anomalies during the pandemic.
Yes, there is an obligation to make one-time investments, but if we want to make our health care systems strong again, then we need to make long-term structural investments to get results.
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- Feb/9/23 2:42:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, everyone except the minister knows that the health crisis has been caused by the federal government's chronic underfunding. Quebec and the provinces have calculated that they need an additional $28 billion a year; the government is putting $4.6 billion on the table. His offer guarantees that there will continue to be problems with health care for at least 10 more years. His offer will ensure that health care is chronically underfunded, and he has the gall to say that he expects results.
Does the minister realize that offering so little deprives sick people of basic care?
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- Feb/1/23 3:02:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what the Prime Minister cannot seem to understand is that health transfers are not a strictly political issue, but rather a human issue.
Burned-out nurses thinking about quitting their jobs, people on waiting lists who are worried about their health, people who are unable to see a doctor for treatment: these people are waiting for a concrete solution that includes a substantial and recurring increase in federal funding, not a PR stunt or political ploy.
After Tuesday's meeting, will the Prime Minister put an end to his chronic underfunding of health care?
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- Jan/31/23 3:00:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the federal government has been aware of health care funding needs for 28 months now but has not yet done anything about it. We do not need a working meeting on February 7. We need an agreement.
As of right now, 20,000 Quebeckers have been waiting for surgery for a year. We know that each three- to four-week delay in cancer surgery increases the rate of mortality by 6% to 8%.
When will this government understand that increasing health transfers is a vital matter of urgent importance?
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- Dec/13/22 2:43:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, ongoing transfers are what is needed. Everyone knows that.
As the Prime Minister digs in his heels and refuses to engage with his counterparts on the subject of health care funding, 784,000 people are on waiting lists to see a medical specialist and 160,000 people are awaiting surgery. Nearly a million Quebeckers need care but cannot get it because there are not enough resources.
Can the Prime Minister explain to those one million Quebeckers why just meeting with his counterparts to talk about health transfers is too much to ask of him?
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- Nov/15/22 2:41:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, pediatric emergency rooms in Quebec are overflowing as we speak. Children are being sent 150 kilometres from home because there is no room for them at the hospital. It is time the minister stopped saying that it is futile to ask for health care funding. Let us ask the parents of these children if it is futile. It is time for the federal government to stop it with its bureaucratic power trip, its arrogance and its bickering and to hand over the additional $28 billion in health care transfers that Quebec and all the provinces are calling for. What will it take for the government to understand that this is urgent?
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- Oct/20/22 7:57:36 p.m.
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Madam Chair, in his speech, my colleague across the way talked about the fact that the longer we wait to fund the services, the worse the situation will become. In the middle of the third wave, experts came to the Standing Committee on Health to tell us that we absolutely needed to quickly shift from one-time funding to ongoing, stable and predictable funding to reinforce our health networks. There is consensus not just in Quebec, but in every province. Quebec is certainly advocating to have health transfers increased to 35% with 6% indexing.
Will my colleague pressure his government to get that money on the ground as soon as possible? As he said, the situation is deteriorating day by day.
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- Jun/9/22 1:12:27 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-5
Madam Speaker, my colleague mentioned Portugal. He raised the issue of the financial resources that must support such a process. João Goulão was the author of this reform in Portugal. In response to someone who asked if they should go ahead with this diversion, or decriminalization, as he called it, he replied that, if the means were not there, and if the necessary funding was not provided for frontline resources, it would be better to leave the problem to the justice system.
I would like to ask my colleague if he feels the government is willing to inject the necessary funds to support a reform seeking to resolve such fundamental problems as the opioid crisis.
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- Apr/7/22 2:18:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today is World Health Day and the theme this year is “Our planet, our health”.
Since the environment is one of the primary determinants of health and, unfortunately, of disease, it is more important than ever to rethink the world and our society so our children and grandchildren will have the opportunity to grow up in a healthy environment with the best possible living conditions. Talking will not get us there, only action will.
The government must decide, once and for all, to be consistent, take action, and assume its responsibilities by protecting the environment and funding health care.
I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to all those in the health sector who are doing all the heavy lifting and who can no longer wait for ongoing, significant and unconditional funding.
Health is a collective responsibility. We must decide to make it a priority.
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- Apr/6/22 3:02:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister cannot dismiss out of hand the expertise of those responsible for health care. They are the backbone of the health care system.
Today, these men and women are calling for a substantial, recurrent, no-strings-attached increase in federal funding. They want to plan the future of health care. They want predictability.
Why will the Prime Minister not immediately commit to participating in a summit with them?
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- Apr/4/22 2:40:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the people speaking out today are the women and men who care for others every day around the clock.
They want their voices to be heard. They know what they need, because that is their job. They are not here today to play partisan politics. They are here to be invited to share their experience at a public summit on health care funding.
The real experts want to tell us how to care for our people properly, today and tomorrow. Why not accept their offer?
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