- Member of Parliament
- Deputy House leader of the official opposition
- Conservative
- Mégantic—L'Érable
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 69%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $94,201.00
- Government Page
- Dec/1/23 11:23:23 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, we all did it. We voted for this bill at second reading. I have absolutely no idea where the minister is going with this.
What I do know, however, is that the Journal de Montréal reported yesterday that children are now forced to ask Santa Claus for snowsuits. One child even asked him for a gift card to pay for a good Christmas dinner. That is the reality.
Does the minister have enough clout in this cabinet to persuade the Prime Minister to end the inflationary policies that have forced children to trim down their Christmas wish lists?
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- Dec/1/23 11:22:10 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, after eight years, Canadians can no longer afford the excessive costs of this Prime Minister. Next year, Canadians will pay more in interest on the debt than is put towards health care. The government is putting bankers ahead of nurses and orderlies. Some two million Canadians are using food banks every month, including more and more middle-class families. Children are asking Santa for boots and snowsuits to keep them warm, rather than toys to play with.
Will the Prime Minister finally understand that it is time to put an end to his inflationary policies that increase the price of everything?
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- Oct/31/23 2:43:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, even more shocking is that after eight years, one in 10 Quebeckers has used food banks every month in 2023. That is after eight years of this Liberal government.
The Bloc Québécois wants to keep punishing the middle class by radically increasing the carbon tax. As for the Liberals, they are choosing who gets relief on their bills based on which party they voted for. That is unacceptable, divisive and unfair to Quebec families.
Does the Prime Minister realize that he is not worth the cost? Will he announce today that he is fully and permanently scrapping the second carbon tax that unfairly punishes Quebeckers?
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- Oct/31/23 2:41:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week, the Liberal Prime Minister looked at the polls and panicked. After eight years, he has finally realized that the common-sense Conservatives were right in saying that the carbon tax created inflation and drove up the cost of everything.
Once again, however, the Prime Minister completely forgot Quebeckers, who are also overwhelmed with the stress of being unable to feed their families. We know that the Bloc Québécois wants to drastically increase the carbon tax, but that is certainly not what Quebeckers want. We know that it is costly to vote for the Bloc Québécois.
Does the Prime Minister realize that he is not worth the cost?
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- Oct/20/23 11:25:54 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if they really wanted to pass Bill C-56, they would put it on the agenda. Since October 5, the Liberals have not called Bill C-56 for debate in the House. They should make a decision and stick with it. One would think they would have a better sense of what they want.
Meanwhile, the middle class knows what is coming. They are lining up at food banks. This morning, the newspapers were saying that food banks are desperate. In the last three years, food prices have risen by 23%.
Meanwhile, the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois want to drastically increase carbon taxes. Voting for the Bloc Québécois is costly now, and it is going to get even more costly.
Will the Liberals abandon their plan to raise carbon taxes?
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- Oct/19/23 2:38:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when Quebeckers go to the grocery store and pay 23% more for their food than they did three years ago, they can see that the carbon tax has affected the transportation and production of that food. They get it.
When they pay their grocery bill, they see the effects of the Liberal-Bloc Québécois tax, which the Bloc Québécois wants to drastically increase. A growing number of Quebeckers are lining up at food banks. They are middle-class Quebeckers.
Do the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois agree? Do they feel ashamed about it, or are they just going to keep taxing them more?
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- Oct/19/23 2:37:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of Liberal inflationary deficits, the cost of living is going up everywhere, but it is worse in Quebec. At nearly 5%, Quebec's inflation rate is the highest in the country. Everything costs more. Interest rates are rising. Young people are giving up on the dream of owning a home.
The Bloc Québécois has a great idea for helping Quebeckers. It wants to drastically increase the carbon tax. A vote for the Bloc Québécois is costly.
Will the Liberal Bloc admit that it is time to stop piling more taxes on Canadians and Quebeckers?
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- Oct/18/23 3:13:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals could have put the bill on the agenda for yesterday or today so we could discuss it, but they did not. They are the ones holding up the bill.
After eight years, the consequences of the Liberals' policies have been disastrous. Quebec has the highest inflation rate in the country. It is close to 5% for the fourth month in a row. Like all parents in Quebec, I am worried about the future of my children, who are facing the highest interest rates in 40 years. Food is too expensive, rents are unaffordable and interest rates are skyrocketing.
When will the Prime Minister stop mortgaging our children's future?
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- Oct/5/23 2:44:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the people of Chambly do not know how they are going to pay for their Thanksgiving turkey. Meanwhile, the Bloc leader of the Bloc-Liberal coalition is playing diplomat. He is spending thousands of dollars on travel and emitting greenhouse gases to attend fancy cocktail parties, but to talk about what? Did he go there to talk about the cost of living, the housing shortage or repealing the carbon taxes? No, he went there to talk about independence. Voting for the Bloc Québécois is costly.
Will the Prime Minister recall his separatist Bloc ambassador and deal with his promise to lower prices in time for Thanksgiving?
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- Sep/21/23 3:02:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to alert Canadians and Quebeckers to another troubling revelation in today's paper: The cost of living is rising faster in Quebec's regions than anywhere else. Why is that? Because families in the regions need one car, sometimes two, to do their work and live their lives.
What is the biggest expense? Gas, obviously. Exactly what the Liberal-Bloc coalition is targeting for drastic tax hikes. In the regions, a vote for the Bloc Québécois will be even more costly. Will the Prime Minister and the leader of the Bloc Québécois walk back their irresponsible plan to drastically increase the cost of gas, yes or no?
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- Sep/21/23 3:02:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Journal de Montréal reported today that Quebeckers are struggling more with inflation than anyone else in Canada. They have the Liberal-Bloc coalition to thank for the drastic tax hikes. More and more bread is going unbuttered now that butter costs an extra 36%. Breakfast cereal costs 32% more, and a piece of red meat for supper costs an extra 30%.
After eight years, the Liberals have overtaxed everything. It comes as no surprise that Quebeckers' cupboards are becoming as bare as their pockets. Will the Liberal Prime Minister and his Bloc partners drop their plans to force a second carbon tax on Quebeckers?
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- Sep/18/23 2:43:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what we want is for groceries to be cheaper for everyone. Contrary to the Bloc Québécois's claims, the Liberals' carbon tax 2 applies not only to Canadians but to Quebec too.
On June 1, a motion was moved in the House:
That...the House recognize the failure of carbon tax one and call on the government to immediately cancel carbon tax two (the “Clean Fuel Regulations”).
The Bloc Québécois voted against that motion. Worse still, the Bloc members want to drastically increase the carbon tax.
Will the Prime Minister reject the Bloc's request to drastically increase the carbon tax at Quebeckers' expense?
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- Sep/18/23 2:42:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal-Bloc carbon tax has caused food prices to soar. The cost of carrots alone has risen by 74%.
My mother always told me to eat my carrots. She said they were good for my eyes. I encourage the Bloc leader to eat more carrots to help him see the cost of his support for the Liberal-Bloc carbon tax.
The Prime Minister and his Bloc coalition are not worth the cost. Is there any hope that the Prime Minister's big meeting with grocery CEOs will eliminate this 74% price hike on carrots by Thanksgiving, yes or no?
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- Jun/1/23 10:14:23 a.m.
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moved:
That, given that,
(i) the first carbon tax, including sales tax, will add 41 cents to a litre of gas,
(ii) the second carbon tax, including sales tax, will add 20 cents to a litre of gas,
(iii) the combination of carbon tax one and carbon tax two will mean that Canadians pay an extra 61 cents for each litre of gas,
(iv) making life more expensive for Canadians in a cost of living crisis by implementing a second carbon tax demonstrates how out of touch this Liberal prime minister is,
(v) the Parliamentary Budget Officer confirmed that both carbon taxes will have a net cost of up to $4,000, depending on the province in which they live,
the House recognize the failure of carbon tax one and call on the government to immediately cancel carbon tax two (the "Clean Fuel Regulations").
He said: Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the member for Louis-Saint-Laurent.
The Prime Minister lives in a parallel world, a world where fiction reigns supreme and reality is largely absent, a world where people just invent solutions to very real problems. In reality, these solutions sadly do nothing to solve those problems.
Imagine a meeting of the federal Liberal cabinet where each Liberal minister dreams of changing the world in their own way, but where each of those dreams unfortunately turns to a nightmare for the real world. That is exactly what we are experiencing in Canada with this Prime Minister. The Prime Minister’s good ideas are very costly for all hard-working Canadians.
Instead of adopting responsible fiscal behaviour that will reduce the cost of living, the Liberal government has passed an inflationary budget that increases the cost of everything for all Canadians. Instead of adopting a real plan to address climate change, what has the Prime Minister done? He went ahead with a tax plan that in no way changes emissions in Canada to actually address climate change. Instead of implementing common-sense policies that respect the situation of Canadians who are struggling to make ends meet each month, the Prime Minister chose to implement measures that make life even more difficult. Why? To satisfy his own conscience, by making those who are the very foundation of our country and our economy, our workers, pay for his “woke” policies.
Today’s motion is clear. Allow me to reread it because it is very important and this will have an impact and disastrous consequences for all Canadians and for Quebeckers, despite what those in the government and the NDP‑Liberal coalition will be claiming all day.
The motion states that the first carbon tax and the associated sales tax—because the carbon tax is taxable with the GST—“will add 41 cents to a litre of gas”. It also states that the second carbon tax, and the associated sales tax—the GST that will also be added to the second carbon tax—“will add 20 cents to a litre of gas”.
If we do the math, we see that, with those two taxes, Canadians will pay 61 cents more on a litre of gas because a tax will be added to a tax that will be added to a tax on another tax. That is a lot of taxes. When it comes time to pay at the pump, when Canadians use a debit card or, too often today unfortunately, a credit card to fill up, they realize it right away.
Above all, when Canadians have to make difficult choices like travelling less on their own or as a family for activities or leisure because they can no longer afford the fuel they need to get around, they are being deprived of their right to live. We never expected something like this to happen in Canada.
Let us return to the motion. It says that “making life more expensive for Canadians in a cost of living crisis”, like the one we are currently experiencing, “by implementing a second carbon tax demonstrates how out of touch this Liberal prime minister is”. It also mentions that the Parliamentary Budget Officer, and not the Conservatives, “confirmed that both carbon taxes will have a net cost of up to $4,000, depending on the province in which they live”. In Quebec, this new carbon tax will cost more than $400 per year, per family. What the motion is asking is that “the House recognize the failure of carbon tax one”. Why is it a failure?
According to a recent United Nations report, how did Canada rank among 63 countries, despite the carbon tax being imposed on Canadians?
If we listen to the Liberals, we would think that Canada's performance is very good and that this country is in the top 10. Looking at how deep the Liberal government will dig into Canadians' pockets, we might expect Canada to be among the best countries because it is costing everyone so much. However, Canada's actual ranking is 58th out of 63.
I will not go further on that topic, because my colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent has the study with him and he will talk about it in his speech, which is coming up next. I encourage everyone to listen carefully to his speech. Unfortunately, the Liberals want to make the middle class pay for their so-called fight against climate change that does absolutely nothing but deprive Canadians of the financial resources they need to make ends meet.
I will return to the motion, which proposes that “the House recognize the failure of carbon tax one and call on the government to immediately cancel carbon tax two”, the new tax that is about to be added.
It is not enough for the Liberals to cause so much suffering to so many families; they want to go even further with the clean fuel regulations. These regulations will be applied right across Canada, even in Quebec, and Quebeckers will have to pay more at the pump for the same tank of gas.
I think that that is enough. I had the opportunity to talk to many citizens in Mégantic—L'Érable who are at the end of their rope. I visited every food bank in my riding. They have all seen an increase in the number of people using their services. People no longer have enough money to live on, and the Liberal solution is to take even more from the pockets of Canadians. One in five Canadians goes without food because groceries are too expensive. In addition, nine out of 10 young Canadians no longer dream of becoming homeowners in this country because rents are too expensive and homes are unaffordable. The Liberal solution is to impose yet more taxes.
I already hear the Minister of Environment and Climate Change tell us, as he does regularly, that we should know that the carbon tax does not apply to Quebec, which has a provincial cap-and-trade system. In Quebec, this system is less visible than a carbon tax.
I will quote from the report of the CFIB, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. It says that the “cap-and-trade system is less visible than a carbon tax because it because it involves creating a market mechanism for allocating the right to emit a certain amount of carbon in the form of allowances....Therefore, there is little information on the pass-through cost of prices within the system that affects both SMEs and consumers.”
Does that mean that they are not affected by carbon pricing? No, not at all. Quebeckers are still affected by carbon pricing with this mechanism. Also, if we increase the carbon tax in Canada, the cost of absolutely everything will increase. Guy Parent, who has been a trucker for 30 years, said that the automatic reaction of companies that pay the carbon tax is to “pass it on to customers”.
In this CFIB study, it is said that any increase in taxes will certainly have an impact on consumers because small businesses do not have the resources to absorb these increases. Now, Quebeckers are being asked to pay even more through a second carbon tax that will deprive them of even more of the income they need to make ends meet. As a result, more and more Quebeckers will need to turn to food banks.
Who are the victims of this ideology? Is the coalition planning to reduce greenhouse gases by making all Quebeckers poor? That would reduce consumption and therefore production, resulting in lower emissions. If that is indeed the plan, it is not the right way to go. Depriving Quebeckers and Canadians of the money they need to make ends meet serves no purpose. That is why I am asking all parliamentarians to support this motion.
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- May/16/23 2:40:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister talks about her responsible budget, but not a single Montreal-area MP rose to answer this question.
Inflation is still on the rise, causing prices to go up across the board, including food and basic necessities. The system safeguards, interest rates, have slashed housing starts by almost 50%. The housing crisis will get worse. More and more people will have trouble making ends meet, yet the 20-odd Montreal-area MPs have not said a word about the Prime Minister's inflationary policies.
When will the Prime Minister, the Montreal-area member for Papineau, clue in to common sense and stop sending more and more Montrealers to food banks?
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- May/16/23 2:38:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance herself said that spending too much would fuel inflation. There are more than 20 Liberals, including ministers and the Prime Minister, who represent the Montreal area.
After eight years in government, their record is appalling. There are 360,000 families in the greater Montreal area, or one in five households, who do not have enough money to pay their rent and meet their basic needs. The situation is so serious that Marie Leblanc told Le Devoir that “suicide is around the corner”. Ms. Leblanc has almost nothing left for food and clothing.
Why are the members from Montreal abandoning her?
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- Mar/27/23 2:55:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the truckers who transport the food we eat here will pay more in carbon tax starting April 1. That is not an April Fool's joke; it is the truth.
On April 1, the carbon tax is going up. On April 1, the tax on wine, alcohol and spirits is going up. People are going to pay more for everything when they are already stretched to the limit.
My question is simple: Tomorrow, will the Prime Minister cancel all new taxes on Canadians?
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- Mar/27/23 2:54:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this inflationary Prime Minister, I would encourage him to listen to what Guy Parent, who has worked as a trucker for the past 30 years, had to say about the carbon tax. He said, “The automatic reaction of the companies that have to pay the tax is to pass it on to the customer. It is the customer who will have to pay. That is how the inflation game works.”
According to the truckers, all Quebeckers will be affected, and according to them, a large number of products, such as commodities, fruits, vegetables and even televisions, will now cost more.
My question is simple. Will the Prime Minister commit to scrapping this new tax tomorrow?
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- Feb/17/23 11:24:14 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this Liberal Prime Minister, his policies aimed at dividing Canadians to distract them from his failures have only managed to destroy everything he has touched.
The Prime Minister thinks that by pitting Canadians against each other, no one is going to realize that groceries are getting more expensive, that families cannot make ends meet, and that nine out of 10 young people no longer believe in their dream of building and owning a home.
The Liberal MP for Louis-Hébert made it clear that a decision has been made by his government to intentionally divide and stigmatize people.
Why did the Liberals embrace the Prime Minister's motto of divide and conquer?
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- Feb/15/23 2:29:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, does this Prime Minister understand, after eight years of not answering questions in the House, that blaming the Conservatives is not the way to help Canadians? Inflation is at an all-time high. Food is so expensive that some Canadians are going without meals. Middle-class workers are being forced to turn to food banks because they cannot afford to pay their bills. That is all to say nothing of the rising cost of gas and housing, including rent and mortgage rates.
Will the government assume its responsibilities rather than spending its time blaming everyone else?
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