- Member of Parliament
- Deputy House leader of the official opposition
- Conservative
- Mégantic—L'Érable
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 68%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $94,201.00
- Government Page
- Oct/20/23 11:23:05 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this Prime Minister, he is not worth the cost. The wasteful spending has spiralled out of control. Members will recall the $116 million spent on consultants at McKinsey, the $54 million on ArriveCAN and the $6,000 per night for a hotel room. Today we learned that the government wasted $8 million on a barn.
How can the government spend $8 million on a barn on the Governor General's property when food banks are in such desperate need? Is spending $8 million on a barn on the grounds of the Governor General's residence really the Liberals' priority?
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- Mar/28/23 4:28:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the budget we are being presented with today raises many questions.
First, it bears repeating that, in 2015, this government promised to run only modest deficits before returning to a balanced budget in just four years' time. This is the same Prime Minister who said that, one day, the budgets would balance themselves. This is the same Prime Minister who said that it was time to invest in Canada because interest rates were low and would stay that way.
Today, the Minister of Finance is tabling a budget that follows last year's budget, when she said the following:
On this next point, let me be very clear. We are absolutely determined that our debt-to-GDP ratio must continue to decline and our deficits must continue to be reduced. The pandemic debt we incurred to keep Canadians safe and solvent must [and will] be paid down.... This is our fiscal anchor.
Here is what the minister said in English:
This is our fiscal anchor.
Last year's figure was 42.4. The minister went on to say:
Canada has a proud tradition of fiscal responsibility. It is my duty to maintain it and I will...
This year's projected ratio is 43.5. The projection for next year is 43.2. In its first budget after announcing its fiscal anchor, the government is exceeding its fiscal anchor. It should never be exceeded.
Given everything I have just said, can the Minister of Inflation tell us why Canadians should believe a word of these budget forecasts or trust them?
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- Feb/9/23 2:56:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this government, the Liberals do not even know what is going on in their own government. The commissioner of the Canada Revenue Agency said that it was not worth trying to recover the $15 billion that was overpaid in corporate wage subsidies. It is not me saying that, it is the commissioner of the CRA. These people have been following the Prime Minister's lead for eight years.
Is the Prime Minister going to ask his Minister of National Revenue to do her job and get this money back, or is he going to ask her to step aside so we can fix his mistakes?
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- Feb/9/23 2:55:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years under this Prime Minister, nothing is too good for the Liberals' friends. While the middle class is struggling to make ends meet, big corporations are laughing all the way to the bank. Thirty-seven major corporations did not hesitate to claim billions of dollars in wage subsidies.
Do members know how they rewarded themselves? They gave themselves bonuses and dividends with Canadians' money.
Meanwhile, in our riding offices, we are getting calls from constituents who say that the CRA is breathing down their neck, when it has decided not to try to recoup the money from big corporations.
Will the Prime Minister take responsibility and reimburse Canadians?
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- Feb/2/23 4:34:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Haldimand—Norfolk.
I want to talk about a word that seems to have escaped the Liberal government since it took office eight years ago and that is “consequence” or being accountable for one's actions. The Liberals seem to have a really hard time being accountable for their actions. Even though it has been eight years, they seem to have a really hard time taking responsibility for being in power. They seem to have a really hard time owning up to the mistakes they have been making for the eight years that they have been in office. Perhaps that explains why they have hard time asking others to be accountable for their own actions, which is even more serious when it comes to crime.
Let us look at this government's track record when it comes to failing to be accountable. It will likely explain the Liberals' position on today's opposition motion.
In 2016, the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner found the Prime Minister guilty of breaking ethics laws. The Prime Minister apologized, but suffered no consequences. In 2018, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard was found guilty of violating the Conflict of Interest Act. He apologized, but suffered no consequences. Just apologize and move on.
In 2019, the Prime Minister once again violated the Conflict of Interest Act, this time in the SNC‑Lavalin case. The Prime Minister says he took responsibility for his actions. However, he suffered no consequences. In 2021, again, the Prime Minister and, this time, the then Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau, were charged under the Conflict of Interest Act and Mr. Morneau was found guilty of violating the Conflict of Interest Act. Mr. Morneau suffered no consequences.
In 2022, in a file currently before us, the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development was found guilty of violating the Conflict of Interest Act for giving a lucrative contract to her best friend. The minister suffered no consequences. She rose in the House, said that she apologized and that she would take responsibility for her actions. What does taking responsibility for one's actions mean to this government? What does ministerial responsibility mean? It means absolutely nothing.
This week, I asked the Prime Minister a question about the case of a rapist who received a 20-month sentence to be served at home. The Prime Minister stated that it was none of our business and that it was not the responsibility of we, the politicians, to manage the law. The Prime Minister has forgotten one thing: He and his government created the law that resulted in this individual receiving a 20-month sentence to be served at home. That is the reality. Those are the facts, and I want to present them to my Liberal colleagues and even my colleagues who belong to other parties. I encourage them to listen carefully to the meaning and the words of the motion that we moved today. I will read the motion, which is important.
(i) violent crime has increased by 32%, (ii) gang-related homicides have increased by 92%, (iii) violent, repeat offenders are obtaining bail much more easily, (iv) increasing daily acts of crime and violence are putting Canadians at risk, (v) five Canadian police officers were killed in the line of duty in just one year
We are not asking for anything major. We are asking that something be done to help victims and to help Canadians feel safer. Here is our first request:
(a) fix Canada's broken bail system by immediately repealing the elements enacted by Bill C‑75, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and other Acts and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, which force judges to release violent, repeat offenders onto the streets, allowing them to reoffend;
I want to repeat those last few words: “which force judges to release violent, repeat offenders onto the streets, allowing them to reoffend”. That is one of the effects of the legislation from Bill C‑75 that we are talking about today. Our second request is this:
(b) strengthen Canada's bail laws so that those who are prohibited from possessing firearms and who are then accused of serious firearms offences do not easily get bail;
In all honesty, how can anyone oppose this? Someone explain to me how the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc Québécois could disagree with that. Our last request is as follows:
(c) ensure that Canada's justice system puts the rights of law-abiding Canadians ahead of the rights of violent, repeat offenders.
It is just common sense. We know that the Liberals will vote against it, but I do not understand why the NDP and the Bloc will vote against it. There is absolutely nothing partisan about this motion, absolutely nothing negative for Canadians in general. It is meant only for violent criminals, who unfortunately are too often released and commit crime after crime. This is a direct consequence of Bill C‑75 and Bill C‑5.
I know the parties supported Bill C‑5 and Bill C‑75. Unfortunately, it is now time to make amends. Past mistakes can be corrected. Why are the NDP and the Bloc Québécois not voting for this motion in order to correct this situation?
We are not the only ones saying this. The premiers of all the provinces, including Quebec, have signed a letter calling on the federal government to do better on bail to prevent tragedies from occurring, dangerous criminals from being put back on the streets, and women, children, men and families from being sadly affected by violent crimes committed by individuals who should be behind bars and not on the streets.
That is exactly the point of the motion we moved. It is entirely consistent with the letter that Canadian provincial and territorial premiers sent to the federal government. Unfortunately, the government seems to have chosen to turn a deaf ear.
I get that the Liberal government does not want to admit the Conservatives are right, so let us listen to someone else. I am talking about the famous case I mentioned earlier, the individual who sexually assaulted a woman and was sentenced to 20 months to be served at home with his cellphone and Netflix. That kind of sentence for that kind of crime is totally unacceptable.
Here are some quotes from the article in La Presse:
A Crown prosecutor chastised the [Liberal] government for its recent law opening the door to house arrest for sex offenders.
Right now, [the Prime Minister] and [the Minister of Justice] probably have some explaining to do to victims of sexual assault, said Crown prosecutor Alexis Dinelle after the hearing.
This is a direct consequence of Bill C‑5 becoming law, and I am asking the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to make amends for that today.
The article goes on to say the following:
Until last November, a judge could not impose a sentence to be served at home for sexual assault. Hard time in prison was the norm for such crimes, and sentences ranged from 12 to 20 months for assaults similar to this one.
Without any fanfare, the Liberal government's Bill C‑5 made it possible for offenders to serve a sentence in the community for sexual assault.
It is not me or the Conservatives who said that. It is a Crown prosecutor who has to live with the consequences of the passage of Bill C‑5.
For these reasons, because I hope that my colleagues from all parties want to protect Canadians who have been the victims of violent crime and prevent new crimes from being committed, I encourage them to help us make the necessary changes to ensure that violent repeat offenders stay behind bars and not in our communities.
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- Jan/31/23 2:38:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are against the millions of dollars being given to Liberal firms.
After eight years in power, this Prime Minister is admitting that he will never be competent. The proof is that he awarded an 80-year contract for consulting services to the Liberal firm McKinsey. Imagine if a government had granted a contract like that in 1943, in the middle of the Second World War. There were no personal computers or cell phones back then, and no Internet either.
How can this government predict that McKinsey will still be relevant in 2100? Could this be the Prime Minister's plan to ensure he gets a golden retirement?
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- Jan/31/23 2:37:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Metro's president confirmed that food prices will continue to rise in 2023. Even more families and seniors will be forced to rely on food banks to feed themselves.
After eight years under this Prime Minister, people are so desperate that some have even resorted to shoplifting. News outlet 24 heures asked people why they stole. Marlène said, “After I pay rent and bills, all I have left is $80 to make it through two weeks”.
How can the Prime Minister pay firms $1,000 an hour when Marlène has to break the law to feed herself?
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- Dec/6/22 2:54:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it was this Parliament that asked the Auditor General to investigate pandemic spending and the way the government managed the pandemic. It was this Parliament that asked her to get to the bottom of this. It was not the opposition.
However, today in the House, the Minister of National Revenue had the nerve to hide her incompetence at managing the crisis by throwing accusations at the Auditor General of Canada and questioning her integrity.
There is just one thing left for the minister to do, and that is to stand up and apologize to the House.
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- Dec/6/22 2:53:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, nowhere in the Auditor General's report does she question the time she needed to take to produce this report. Nowhere in the report does she accuse the opposition of pressuring her to produce this report.
However, to hide her incompetence, today the Minister of National Revenue questioned the integrity of the Auditor General of Canada in her report on pandemic spending.
Will she apologize immediately, yes or no?
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Madam Speaker, for several weeks now, day after day, we have been illustrating how rising taxes and inflation are affecting Canadian families. Every time, all the government ministers duck the issue, pointing fingers at everyone else in the world and refusing to talk about their own culpability.
In his speech, the Leader of the Opposition said that the Prime Minister was responsible for inflation. Can he confirm that the Prime Minister is indeed responsible for the inflation we are experiencing here in Canada?
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- Oct/26/22 3:15:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I wonder how he can say that and also justify staying in a $6,000 room. Not many Canadians can afford to stay in a room that costs $6,000.
I misspoke earlier. It was not $200 million more that was spent during the pandemic but that had nothing to do with the pandemic. It was $200 billion. That is the reality. When will the Prime Minister stop blaming everyone else and start taking responsibility for his incompetence?
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- Oct/26/22 3:13:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the problem is that the Prime Minister spent $200 million more than Canadians needed to get through the pandemic. He did not mention that.
We are getting used to the Prime Minister not answering questions. He hedges, deflects questions, and gives answers that are not related to the questions he is being asked. Citizens keep asking me whether the Prime Minister will answer a question one day.
I have a simple one for him today. Can he tell us who slept in that infamous $6,000 room in London?
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- Oct/24/22 2:51:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, he is CBSA. He is the minister, so he is the one responsible for the ArriveCAN chaos.
The Liberals are putting the lucrative contracts awarded to companies into quarantine. We want to know the details.
The government paid $54 million to develop that app, which should have cost $250,000. Some 70 updates were needed for an app that never worked.
The question is simple. Who are the other winners of the Liberal ArriveCAN lottery?
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- Oct/7/22 11:46:41 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the app must have been created in order to line someone's pockets. Let us break it down: $54 million works out to one million hours for an engineer, a professional, at $50 an hour. That means 31,000 weeks of work, which is 596 years of work for one person, or 596 people working for one year to create the app.
The facts speak for themselves. Someone pocketed a bunch of cash in this deal, but the Liberals refuse to say who that was. Was it friends of the Liberalist?
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- Jun/16/22 2:19:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the problem is the government's chaotic management.
Regarding COVID‑19, the Minister of Health was slow at every step. Regarding passports, the minister did not know that Canadians would want to travel after COVID‑19. Regarding immigration, the minister asked Ukrainians to make an appointment online. Regarding international affairs, the minister has no problem with people attending a party at the Russian embassy. Regarding the military, the previous minister was unable to protect women. Regarding the government, it is total chaos.
Why is the Prime Minister abandoning Canadians?
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- Jun/16/22 2:18:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, never in the history of this country have the people been so poorly served by a government.
Everything the Liberals touch goes wrong, and Canadians are paying the price. If they want a passport, they have to stand in line. If they want to travel by plane, they have to stand in line. If they travel to the United States without a smart phone, they still have to have ArriveCAN. If they have a problem with employment insurance, they have to wait months to get a cheque. Now it is their turn to stand in line.
Which minister will stand up and take responsibility for this chaos?
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- Jun/13/22 2:18:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, ministerial responsibility is a cornerstone of our political system. It means that ministers are accountable for their departments' actions. With the job comes huge responsibility.
Does this principle, which is what gives people confidence in their government, mean anything to the Prime Minister and his cabinet?
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- Jun/2/22 2:22:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, do you want me to list more Liberal secrets?
There was SNC-Lavalin, the paid vacations, the WE Charity scandal, the Winnipeg lab documents. The Information Commissioner of Canada is receiving more complaints than ever before, and now the Prime Minister and his cabinet are keeping 72 decisions secret.
“[I]t is time to shine more light on government to make sure it remains focused on the people it was created to serve—you.” Those were the Prime Minister's words in 2015.
When did Canadians stop being his priority?
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- Jun/2/22 2:20:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, “[g]overnment and its information must be open by default”.
That was the big promise that the Prime Minister made to Canadians in 2015. Seven years later, that promise has melted away like snow on a sunny day. We have never seen a government as closed off, as opaque or as quick to redact as the one led by this Prime Minister. We recently learned that the government has adopted 72 secret orders-in-council.
Why are the Liberals so afraid to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
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- May/19/22 10:41:19 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I salute my colleague, who does incredible work on her transport file. She speaks on behalf of thousands of Canadian travellers who are asking themselves a lot of questions about why the federal government truly wants to maintain the health measures in airports and at land borders. We have a lot of questions.
We have been asking for evidence and documentation from the beginning and have been calling on the Minister of Health to table any advice in the House that he has received telling him to maintain the restrictions. We are unfortunately not hearing anything from the government, which has no justification for maintaining the many health measures that are no longer required here in Canada. The government is not listening to experts, who are saying that we must now start thinking about transitioning back to prepandemic times.
Like always, the Prime Minister and his government are doing nothing, which is the main reason our airports have been plunged into chaos—not to mention the chaos with immigration services at Service Canada and with every single public service that the Liberal government has its hand in. The government cannot deliver.
What we have seen at airports in recent days and weeks is particularly concerning: long delays, endless lineups, never-ending processing delays, bottlenecks and missed flights. People are missing their flights while others have to wait for hours on an aircraft before being able to disembark. That is the new reality. If we let the Liberals continue, this will unfortunately be the new Liberal standard at Canadian airports.
This spring, Toronto's Pearson Airport even advised passengers departing for other countries to arrive a minimum of three hours before their flight to make sure they do not miss it. For some travellers, that is longer than the duration of the flight itself. That is completely unacceptable, but that is what the government has unfortunately brought us to.
I remind members, as did my colleague, that for months, the United States and the main allies of the European Union have been gradually eliminating the restrictive health measures imposed on passengers. They are even talking about eliminating the requirement to wear a mask during flights and in airports, among other things. The situation is evolving everywhere else, but, here, in Canada, we remain attached to measures that the government was late in implementing at the start, and we should remember that. In fact, when the time came to protect people, the government was slow to act.
Now, however, the time has come to realize that the measures adopted, such as vaccination—which had a lot of uptake—and mask wearing have had the desired effect and we have begun another stage. However, the government is not moving forward. It is sitting back, to put it mildly, and prefers to wait for everything to sort itself out, just like the budgets. The Prime Minister has previously stated that the budgets would balance themselves.
However, the pandemic is not going to resolve itself, and people's freedom to resume their activities and the life they lived before the pandemic will not return by itself either.
Tourists arriving in Canada, foreigners and business people are extremely disappointed when they arrive in our country and have to face extreme delays at the airports because of the government's inaction. Then there is the infamous ArriveCAN application, which asks them to answer personal public health questions and complicates their arrival.
On that topic, let me tell you about something that happened in my riding, not at an airport. These situations happen to real people who want to travel. My riding, Mégantic—L'Érable, borders the United States and includes a border crossing.
A man from Lac‑Mégantic came to our office to get the infamous ArriveCAN receipt that border officers at the Woburn crossing asked him to obtain. However, he did not have his passport with him and was forced to come back to the office, the first unnecessary step.
Mr. Paré, who is 85 and does not have a smart phone or a computer at home, also had to come to our office. We had to open an account for him and fill out the ArriveCAN papers so that he could travel from one side of the border to the other. If we had not helped him out, he would not have been able to go see his relative, who lives 15 or 20 minutes away on the other side of the border. That is the reality. At 85, will he have to buy a computer and a smart phone? No, he will not. He came back to our office to get his paperwork filled out to be able to cross the border again. That is the reality.
The government is not considering that reality, what Canadians have to go through. It is unacceptable how disconnected this government is from reality. Their many measures, now unnecessary, are causing delays and inconvenience to Canadians, particularly at airports. Who is affected by them and who is suffering? Travellers, tourists, business people, that is who. Plus, it is easy to forget, but the people working at airports have to endure the wrath and anger of the public, of everyone who is kept waiting. They have to enforce the rules that this government is imposing, even though they know full well this should not be the case. That is the reality.
As we know, the last two years have been very hard on the airline and tourism industries. Both have suffered greatly from the pandemic as they were among the hardest hit. For the past two years, my Conservative colleagues and I have been staunch defenders of these two sectors that are vital to our economy, especially because they are also vital to Canada's economic recovery.
Unfortunately, once again, the Liberals seem to be completely blind to this reality and to all the damage they are doing now, which will have long-term consequences. The Liberals, with their harmful policies and their usual who-cares attitude, are a real threat to the Canadian tourism industry. Something has to be done before this Liberal government completely destroys Canada's reputation as an international tourism destination of choice and as an investment destination for business people.
In 2019 and 2020, before the pandemic, it took about 15 to 30 seconds for a Canada border services officer to process an international passenger on arrival. Now, health questions and COVID‑19 measures have increased to the point that processing takes two to four times longer. Sometimes it can take as long as two minutes. If we multiply two minutes by thousands of people, that makes for endless wait times and people complaining and dreading having to travel by plane.
Instead of accepting full responsibility for this, the Minister of Transport chose to blame delays at various entry points on out-of-practice travellers. That is how the Liberals always operate. When they do not have an answer or a solution, they find someone else to blame. This time, they are pointing the finger at travellers, the people receiving services from this government.
I hope members of the House will send a clear message to the Liberal government that enough is enough. We have to do what other countries around the world are doing. Those countries have experts and scientists too, and they understand that we need to get back to a more normal prepandemic period for everyone. I encourage all my colleagues to vote in favour of this motion. In particular, I encourage the Liberal government to show us why this motion should not be adopted. The Liberals will not be able to do that because they like chaos and they like not being able to deliver services.
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