- 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
- May/30/24 2:24:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years, this Prime Minister and his Bloc Québécois supporters are not worth the cost. Their $500 billion in inflationary spending is forcing parents to skip meals so they can feed their children. While the leader of the Bloc Québécois and several of his members are campaigning to radically increase gas taxes, Quebeckers in the regions are paying the price because they do not have access to public transit.
Talk about being completely out of touch. Will the Liberal Bloc set aside its ideological agenda to raise taxes on Quebeckers and vote in favour of our motion to suspend federal taxes for the summer?
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- May/23/24 3:54:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have been listening to the speeches by my colleagues from the Bloc Québécois from the start. I have a very simple question.
We agree with the motion as it is moved today. We think that the Liberal government interferes massively in provincial jurisdictions. When I listen to the speeches and when I see the actions of my Bloc Québécois colleagues, I tell myself that it is six of one and half a dozen of the other. Essentially, what the Bloc Québécois wants is to have full responsibility, but also the power to spend the same money and ability to tax Quebeckers more.
I would like my colleague to explain to me what difference today's motion will make in a Quebec that might be led by the leader of the Bloc Québécois.
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- May/7/24 4:50:05 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, hypocrisy abounds. It was the Bloc Québécois that voted for this government's $500 billion in additional spending. As a result, everything costs more now. It was the Bloc Québécois that voted for additional funding to build a pipeline. They are not about to shout it from the rooftops, but they voted in favour of additional funds to build the pipeline. The Bloc Québécois members are the ones telling Canadians and Quebeckers who use their cars to get around every day that they still do not pay enough taxes. The Bloc Québécois would like to see gasoline taxes radically increased in order to encourage people to use less gas, since it costs more. Once again, they are making citizens pay for ideologies.
That is what I call the hypocrisy of the Bloc Québécois.
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- Mar/21/24 4:13:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I really like my colleague, but sometimes he is hard to follow. I do not really understand what he was trying to get at with that question.
All I know is that, on the one hand, the Bloc Québécois claims to defend the interests of Quebeckers. The reality on the ground, however, is that Quebeckers are paying twice as much for housing, they are paying a lot more for groceries and they are left with less and less from each paycheque.
There is a quick and simple way to change the situation, which would be to change the government that is responsible for all this. The Bloc Québécois will probably support the Liberals in this evening's vote on the non-confidence motion.
However, that is the reality, those are the facts, and that is what people are experiencing every day. I hope my colleague will have a better grasp of what he is trying to ask next time, so we can understand what he is getting at.
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- Mar/21/24 2:24:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the thousands of Quebeckers who are watching at home would have liked to hear an answer to my question.
Here is the question that the members of the Bloc Québécois should be asking themselves today: Will they set their ideology aside for once and vote for the Quebeckers they represent, who cannot take any more of this government's arrogance? This Prime Minister broke our immigration system. He is raising taxes and allowing dangerous criminals to serve their sentences at home. This Prime Minister interferes in all of Quebec's jurisdictions.
I will ask my question again. What did the Prime Minister promise the Bloc Québécois to save his career and his government?
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- Mar/21/24 2:23:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, this Prime Minister is not worth the cost of the support he is getting from the Bloc Québécois. How can the Bloc Québécois support a Prime Minister who has doubled our national debt? How can the Bloc Québécois support a Prime Minister who is sending hundreds of thousands of Quebeckers to food banks?
My question is for the Prime Minister. What promise did the Prime Minister make to the Bloc Québécois to save his career and his government?
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- Feb/27/24 4:09:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the plank is in the eye of the person who just asked me if I could see the plank in mine.
We did indeed vote against that, but it was a vote of non-confidence in this government because even then we already had doubts about its ability to manage public money, Canadians' money.
My colleague's position is to defend the leader of the Bloc Québécois, who said, “We are not going to scrutinize everything the government spends. We just tell it to go ahead and hand out the money”.
If that is how the Bloc Québécois is going to run a country, I think it is going to have a hard time balancing its budget.
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- Feb/27/24 2:58:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime, that is the Conservative common sense plan.
Common sense is also knowing the extent of the Liberal arrive scam disaster. Even though the Liberals can count on the Bloc Québécois to close their eyes to millions of dollars in spending, the Conservatives want to shed light on the arrive scam scandal.
Will the Prime Minister co-operate with the RCMP in its investigation into arrive scam or will he once again refuse to fully co-operate with the police, as he did in the cases of the Aga Khan's island and SNC-Lavalin?
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- Feb/26/24 2:50:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, can the minister tell me why this Prime Minister, with the support of the leader of the Bloc Québécois, has put the country deeper into debt than all the other prime ministers before him combined?
The leader of the Bloc Québécois chose to vote in favour of spending $24 million on the Prime Minister's arrive scam. I am not the one saying so. It was the leader of the Bloc Québécois who said, “We are not going to scrutinize everything the government spends”. They told the government to go ahead and spend the money.
It is like listening to the Liberal Minister of Finance. Voting for the Bloc Québécois is very, very costly.
Does the Prime Minister realize that he and the Bloc Québécois are costing Quebeckers too much and that they are not worth the cost or the corruption?
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- Feb/26/24 2:49:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the common-sense Conservatives will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. After eight years, this Prime Minister is not worth the cost or the crime of corruption.
The leader of the Bloc Québécois has just shown his true colours. Not only does he want to keep this Prime Minister in office for a long time to come, but he voted eight times to send more money to corrupt arrive scam companies for an app that he knew should only have cost $80,000. Even so, he and the Bloc Québécois voted for $24 million in additional spending. Voting for the Bloc Québécois is costly.
Will the Prime Minister admit that he and the Bloc Québécois are just not worth the cost?
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part in this debate on Bill C‑354, which was introduced by the Bloc Québécois.
The Bloc Québécois's bill seems pretty straightforward. It states:
The Commission shall consult with the Government of Quebec about the cultural distinctiveness of Quebec and with the governments of the other provinces about the French-speaking markets in those provinces before furthering the objects and exercising the powers referred to in subsection (1) in respect of the aspects of the Canadian broadcasting system that concern those matters.
This seems like a fairly simple request for consultation, and it would require the CRTC to consult Quebec and the provinces.
Of course, I support the principle that the Government of Quebec should have the opportunity to express itself, especially when it comes to Quebec's cultural distinctiveness. The Government of Quebec and the National Assembly of Quebec are not shy about making their position known, especially when it comes to protecting the French language and Quebec culture.
As Conservatives, we on this side of the House recognize that French is the only official language that is in decline in Canada. As such, we have an essential role to play in protecting it.
To continue the debate, I would like to come back to Bill C-11, which amended the Broadcasting Act. The Government of Quebec had called for specific amendments to this bill so that Quebec's concerns would be heard.
In February 2023, Quebec's minister of culture and communications, Mathieu Lacombe, wrote to the then minister of Canadian heritage. I will read some excerpts from that letter to provide some context for the Bloc Québécois bill. At the time, the Bloc refused, for months, to convey this request from Quebec's elected officials to the House of Commons.
I will now quote Minister Mathieu Lacombe:
It is essential, both in Bill C‑11 and in its implementation by the CRTC, that Quebec's cultural distinctiveness and the unique reality of the French-language market be adequately considered. I would like to reiterate our demand that a formal, mandatory mechanism for consultation with the Government of Quebec be set out in the act to that effect....[Quebec] must always have its say before any instructions are given to the CRTC to direct its actions under this act when its actions are likely to affect companies providing services in Quebec or likely to have an impact on the Quebec market....
This letter that came from the Government of Quebec was sent to the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Unfortunately, as far as we can tell, it seems that no one in the Liberal government saw fit to respond to this request. There was complete radio silence after that letter.
However, on this side of the House, the Conservatives heard this plea. The member for Louis-Saint-Laurent and the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles rose in the House several times to urge the government to receive the Quebec minister in committee in order to hear what Quebec was asking for and determine how Bill C‑11 could contribute to ensuring that the act takes Quebec's cultural distinctiveness into account. That is something tangible. We had a tangible request from Quebec to be heard on a bill that would have considerable repercussions on Quebec's cultural distinctiveness and on Quebec's language. We felt it was important to grant this request and allow the Quebec minister to come testify in committee.
Allow me to quote an article from La Presse from February 14, 2023. That was a year ago almost to the day. The headline of the article read, “Broadcasting Act reform: Conservative Party supports Quebec's request for a say”. That about sums it up.
I think La Presse hit the nail pretty much on the head. I will read some of the article:
The Conservative Party is urging the [Prime Minister's] government to refer Bill C‑11, which seeks to modernize the Broadcasting Act, to a parliamentary committee in order to examine Quebec's request for the bill to include a mandatory mechanism requiring the province to be consulted to ensure that the CRTC protects Quebec's cultural distinctiveness.
That article was written by Joël‑Denis Bellavance, someone who reliably reports the facts.
A little further on in the article, it talks about what happened here in the House of Commons when we discussed this issue. It states, and I quote:
In the House of Commons on Tuesday, the Conservative member [for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles] and his colleague [from Louis-Saint-Laurent] both questioned [the heritage minister] on this subject and urged him to consider Quebec's “legitimate request”.
The article goes on to quote the question that was asked that day:
“[The] Quebec government is urging the Liberal government to include a mechanism for mandatory consultation in Bill C-11 to ensure the protection of Quebec culture....Do the Prime Minister and the Bloc agree with Minister Lacombe when it comes to Quebec culture and the fact that the government needs to send the bill to committee?” asked the member [for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles].
That is a very legitimate question that was asked in response to the letter published the day before by journalist Joël-Denis Bellavance.
The answer given by the then minister of heritage was rather cold. It was more of a diversionary tactic. The minister completely avoided my colleague's question. Instead, he chose to go on the attack and to completely avoid answering the simple question about the fact that the Quebec minister of culture and communications was asking to appear before the parliamentary committee.
During the same question period, my colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent raised the issue again. I would like to quote from the article and the question at the same time:
“[H]ow can a member from Quebec, a minister from Quebec, refuse to listen to the demands of the Government of Quebec? I understand that the purpose of Bill C-11 is to centralize power in Ottawa, with help from the Bloc Québécois, which I might have to start calling the ‘centralist bloc’”, fumed [my colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent].
Members will understand the reason for his anger, not only toward the governing party, the Liberal Party, but also toward the Bloc Québécois. The Liberal minister came out with a sledgehammer argument. Instead of answering the question and granting the Quebec minister of culture and communications' legitimate request to appear in committee, the then minister of heritage accused the Conservative Party of trying to stall the bill's passage again. It was as though asking to hear from the minister of a duly elected government was not a good enough reason to slightly delay a bill's passage in order to find out what Quebec had to say. That is unacceptable.
In his letter, Minister Lacombe argued that, as the “heartland of the French language and francophone culture in America”, Quebec considered it “vital to have a say in these instructions”. It seems to me that the committee should have listened to what Minister Lacombe had to say.
My colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent moved a motion in committee. Unsurprisingly, the Liberal Party voted against that motion, which was intended to allow a discussion of the amendments proposed by the Senate and Quebec's request. Again unsurprisingly, the NDP sided with the Liberals. How did the Bloc Québécois member vote in committee? Did he seize the opportunity to be the voice of reason, speaking on behalf of Quebec and Quebeckers? After a formal letter from the Government of Quebec and a unanimous motion from the National Assembly, which side did the Bloc Québécois take?
The answer will shock everyone, even our our viewers: The Bloc Québécois voted against the common-sense motion moved by my colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent, which would have allowed the voice of a Quebec minister to be heard in committee. At the time, not only did we agree in principle, but we took concrete action to ensure that the Government of Quebec would be heard.
Now let us see how negotiations unfold in committee, so we can find out whether everyone really meant what they said.
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- Feb/6/24 10:40:11 a.m.
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- Re: Bill C-5
Madam Speaker, the Bloc Québécois just has a tendency to support the Liberal Prime Minister.
The Bloc Québécois voted for the Liberal law arising from Bill C-75, which allows car thieves to be released on bail the same day they are arrested. The thieves are arrested, but the next day, they are free to start stealing again.
The Bloc Québécois also voted for Bill C-5, which allows car thieves to serve their sentence at home, watching Netflix in the comfort of their living room.
The Bloc Québécois does not want a solution that will stop criminals and stop auto theft. They proved it when they voted with the government for Bill C‑75 and Bill C‑5.
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- Nov/20/23 3:00:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in a post on social media, the leader of the Bloc Québécois said he wants to hold the balance of power, but he has yet to say how he will balance the Liberal budget.
As we know, the Bloc Québécois supports the Liberal government's inflationary spending, and now it wants to keep the Liberals in power for the next two years. The Bloc Québécois is okay with drastically increasing the carbon tax and maintaining inflationary deficits in order to keep the Liberals in power. Voting for the Bloc Québécois is costly.
Will the Prime Minister continue to send more and more Quebeckers to food banks just to ensure he receives support from the Bloc Québécois, which is constantly looking to drastically increase taxes on the backs of Canadians?
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- Nov/2/23 3:03:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on Monday, all members of the House will be asked to vote on our motion to eliminate the carbon tax on all forms of home heating in a bid to bring financial relief to all Canadians. After eight years, the Liberals are going in the opposite direction and are refusing to press pause on the suffering of Canadians as a whole. Worse yet, the Bloc Québécois wants to step on the gas and drastically increase carbon taxes. Voting for the Bloc Québécois is costly.
During their phone call, did the Prime Minister ask the Bloc Québécois leader to come to his rescue and vote against our motion on Monday?
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- Sep/29/23 11:11:56 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, Quebeckers have seen how acrimonious the leader of the Bloc Québécois has been over the past few days. He has been using words like “crook”, “cockroach” and “knock-off lobbyist” more and more regularly to describe those who do not think like him. The leader of the Bloc Québécois is clearly at war, but he is not at war against the Conservatives. He is at war against Quebeckers who do not want to pay more at the pump.
Yesterday, we moved a motion to do away with the carbon tax hikes in order to leave more money in the pockets of young Quebeckers who are living from paycheque to paycheque. Every dollar paid in tax at the pump is a dollar less to buy groceries, and yet all of the Bloc members agree with a tax hike on gas. What is worse, the Bloc member for Longueuil—Saint-Hubert is calling for a drastic hike.
I will close with a quote from a speech that the Conservative leader gave in Quebec City. He said, and I quote:
I have a message for you gentlemen [the Liberal Prime Minister and the leader of the Bloc Québécois]. People in the regions, particularly farmers, need their trucks and fuel every day.
You do not have the right to take money out of their pockets again.
I am going to abolish the [Bloc-Liberal] tax to bring prices down and put an end to the war on cars. That is common sense.
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Madam Speaker, the best way to have a brief answer is to quote the Bloc Québécois itself.
The Bloc MPs were so proud of the amendments proposed by the Liberals that they said, and I quote the member for Rivière-du-Nord, “the definition contained in amendment G4 almost feels like the Bloc Québécois wrote it. ...it meets our expectations.”
That is the reality.
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- Nov/1/22 4:28:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question, which I am honoured to answer.
I hope that one day, I or one of my colleagues will be lucky enough to answer the Bloc Québécois's questions every day. What we basically want is to put a stop to waste and spending associated with unnecessary programs and to replace the Liberal government, so that there will finally be responsible people on the other side to answer all of the Bloc's questions.
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- Sep/27/22 12:21:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I could also refer to some of the proposals put forward by the Bloc Québécois, my colleague's party, as a joke, but I will not go that far.
However, it is ironic to see how strongly the Bloc Québécois supports a federal initiative that will take more money out of the pockets of all Canadians, including Quebeckers, either directly or indirectly. At this time, I see that the Bloc Québécois is supporting the increase in federal taxes on the price of just about everything. That money will come from the pockets of all Canadians, including Quebeckers.
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