So V ote

May/30/24 4:25:27 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-234

Madam Speaker, I would like to start by saying that two people from my riding are here in Ottawa. These two young people are just embarking on their political careers. Audrey-Anne and Annabelle have been learning a lot during their time in Ottawa. I hope they will enjoy the debate. I am very pleased to have them here in Ottawa with us. I would also like to thank my colleague from Calgary Midnapore for her excellent speech. After nine years, this Prime Minister and his Bloc Québécois supporters are just not worth the cost of $500 billion in Bloc-endorsed inflationary spending that is forcing parents to skip meals to save their families. Today's motion is about suspending the gas tax for the summer. While the Bloc Québécois leader and a number of the MPs on his team are campaigning to radically increase gas taxes, Quebeckers in the regions who do not have access to public transit are paying a hefty price. Talk about being completely out of touch with Quebec. I will say more about that later in my speech. I have a few statistics about the impact that nine years of this Prime Minister's government has had on Quebeckers. This year, food banks are helping 872,000 people every month. That is a 30% increase over 2022 and 73% over 2019. In 2019, 500,000 people were helped by food banks every month. Now there are 872,000. Behind those statistics shared by the press are human beings, vulnerable people, families, children, single people who are experiencing food insecurity and do not know whether they will have enough to eat each day. More and more working families are seeking help because people just do not have the means to cope with all the increases imposed by nine years of this Liberal government. I want to quote from an article entitled “Housing has become a privilege”: Soon, there will be nowhere for us to go, those of us who do not make a lot of money and who live in vulnerable situations. Housing prices are so high! Among them, there are people who will end up in the encampments that are popping up everywhere. In another article entitled “Housing crisis and mental health: Quebec organizations call out for help”, a spokesperson for the Regroupement des comités logements et associations de locataires du Québec states the following: We hear from tenants who intend to commit suicide. This is more than just despair. They do not see a way out, and they want it to be over. That is what it has come to. I have one last article from the Journal de Montréal entitled “Proof of of the housing crisis, she will soon be forced to live in her van”. Here is a quote: This is what's become of me. I feel ashamed. I'm mad at myself, but also at the government, which treats it like a political issue. It's not a political issue, it's a crisis! Nine years of Liberal governance has led us to this crisis, and we need to find solutions. We need to take action to help Quebeckers and Canadians get through this. The Bloc Québécois is certainly not helping Quebeckers by supporting $500 billion in inflationary spending by this government. What is $500 billion in inflationary spending? It is the government's budgetary appropriations. These appropriations represent the money we voted on in Parliament. What are they funding? They are funding the bureaucracy, the consultants, the agencies, and the contributions to corporations and lobbies. In short, it is the money being used to fuel the big federal monster from which the separatists want to separate. It is rather surprising. We would think that a separatist party would vote against this budget that helps fuel this big federal monster. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The leader of the Conservative Party raised a very important point in the House. He said that he found it fascinating that a so-called separatist party from Quebec literally never supported reducing the tax burden on Quebeckers. That party never supports tax cuts. One would think that a separatist party would never support forcing Quebeckers to send their money to Ottawa, but no. In their own words, Bloc members want to drastically increase taxes. When we think about it, it is true. Today, the Bloc Québécois claims to vote in the interest of Quebeckers, but we see that it is not true. We see that it is just a slogan. What the Bloc Québécois is really saying is that it will always vote in the interest of its party and its little brother in Quebec City, the Parti Québécois. The Parti Québécois does not represent all Quebeckers. If the Bloc Québécois really wanted to vote for all Quebeckers, it would not hesitate to vote for Bill C‑234 as it was written. It was designed to abolish the carbon tax imposed on farmers. As everyone knows, if we tax the people who make the food, the food will cost more. Who is going to pay for more expensive food? Everyone, obviously. If the Bloc Québécois were truly the party for Quebeckers, and not the federal branch of the Parti Québécois, it would think about people in the regions. I am talking about people in Matane, Joliette, Thetford Mines, Mirabel, Saint-Hyacinthe, the people who need their vehicles to get around, to go to work, for recreation. Yes, these people need their vehicles to get around. A study was published by Le Journal de Montréal in 2023. The article was entitled, “Cost of living: How much does it cost to live outside the big cities?” I would like to quote from it: Living outside the major centres of Montreal, Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, Saguenay, Sept-Îles, Gatineau and Sherbrooke can get expensive pretty quickly. The further away you live, the higher the cost of living. A family of two adults and two children can survive on a livable income of $71,161 a year in Montreal, but it increases to $76,918 in Sept-Îles. In Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, in the Gaspé Peninsula, that number rises to $78,621. Why? The answer is simple, “The big difference between the cost of living in town and in the regions is the need for a car. If you have a family, you have two cars.” A father of four in Cap-d'Espoir said, “They need gas and gas is more expensive than it is in Montreal. It all adds up, so yes, there are things that cost more.” Like the Liberals, the Bloc wants people in the regions to pay more for getting around. They would like the carbon tax to be drastically increased. I have a pile of statements here from Bloc Québécois members calling for the tax to be drastically increased, who say that the tax is not high enough and that we should immediately triple it to make people pay for pollution. For people living in the regions, pollution is the fuel they put in their car to get around, to go to work, to take part in leisure activities. Not wanting to budge from that sort of ideology has consequences. Unfortunately, the consequences are that Quebec families, workers in the regions are paying the price. I would like the Bloc Québécois to realize that. The Bloc Québécois members want to punish Quebeckers to appease their conscience by making them pay more for fuel. It is an essential commodity for those who live in the regions, who do not have access to structured public transit services like those in the big city. I am eager to see whether the Bloc Québécois will support our motion today to suspend federal taxes on fuel. Does the Bloc Québécois agree that Quebeckers should keep their money in their pockets instead of sending it to Ottawa? If we were to ask that question to anyone in Quebec, they would say that that is surely not what the Bloc Québécois wants. However, from what I have heard today from the representatives of the Bloc, it is apparently not that easy or straightforward. One would expect it to be a no-brainer for a party that wants to separate from the big federal machine. Unfortunately, I would be very surprised if the Bloc Québécois supported us, because, as I said earlier, they want to drastically increase gas taxes. To keep expanding the big federal Liberal machine, the Bloc Québécois will keep sending Quebeckers' money to Ottawa. Once again, I will quote the member from Carleton: The Bloc Québécois supports high taxes, massive federal debt and a bloated bureaucracy that meddles in everything but is good at nothing. We should also remember that the Bloc Québécois supports a justice system that frees repeat offenders and bans hunting rifles. In fact, an independent Quebec with the leader of the Bloc Québécois as premier would be almost identical to the federal state led by the current Prime Minister. When we look at the facts and at the action taken by the members of the Bloc Québécois in the House, we cannot help but agree with the words of the Leader of the Opposition. To really change things so that Quebeckers have more money in their pockets, members need to support this Conservative motion, which seeks to suspend the federal gas tax. I think that there is only one real option for Quebeckers who want more money in their pockets and that is the Conservative Party's common-sense plan.

1715 words

May/29/24 10:21:19 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, how is it then that the minister is unable to say no to the possible decriminalization of hard drugs in Montreal when, according to TVA Nouvelles, “around the [Cactus supervised injection site], psychosis, crack and crystal meth use, and the constant presence of drug dealers have become the norm”? Does the minister continue to claim—

60 words

May/29/24 10:21:00 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, has the minister, who calls herself the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, ever been to Montreal to see first-hand the scope of the disaster caused by the use of hard drugs?

35 words

May/29/24 10:20:44 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, does the minister know about “crack alley” in Montreal?

13 words

May/29/24 10:19:09 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, does the minister intend to say yes or no to a possible future request from the City of Montreal or the Province of Quebec? Does she intend to not authorize this type of pilot project in Quebec?

39 words

May/29/24 10:18:48 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, does the minister intend to grant the City of Montreal's request and bring the same misery to Quebec that her Prime Minister created in British Columbia, yes or no?

32 words

May/29/24 10:18:22 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, I have here the resolution adopted by Montreal's city council in which it makes this request. Is the minister aware that, in 2023, the mayor of Montreal personally reiterated her support for the legalization of hard drugs?

40 words

May/29/24 10:18:03 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, does the minister plan to say yes to the request made by Montreal's city council in 2021?

20 words

Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24

May/29/24 10:17:44 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, is the minister aware of the City of Montreal's plans to urge the federal government to legalize simple possession of hard drugs?

25 words

Context: House Hansard - 308 - May/3/24

May/23/24 8:22:54 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, can the minister tell us how many scanners could have been provided to the port of Montreal with the $60 million that was wasted by the Canada Border Services Agency on ArriveCAN?

35 words

Context: House Hansard - 307 - May/2/24

May/3/24 11:23:51 a.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's hesitation is worrisome. He just has to say the word to end this deadly experiment because, essentially, he is the one responsible for criminal law in Canada. That is where it ends. It is as simple as that. It is worrisome to see him insist on keeping this extreme policy in place with the support of the Bloc Québécois. This morning, the Journal de Montréal said, “Crack, heroin, feces: the early childhood centre in Montreal's Chinatown at the centre of escalating violence.” Yesterday, the Bloc Québécois critic for health reiterated his support for decriminalization. Will the Prime Minister say no today to the legalization of hard drugs in Montreal and across the country?

132 words

Context: House Hansard - 307 - May/2/24

May/2/24 2:27:37 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, it is not politicizing to talk about syringes on the ground, distressing situations and unacceptable behaviour a stone's throw from a school in Montreal. We now know that the Prime Minister's radical experiment to legalize hard drugs in British Columbia, which was supported by the Bloc Québécois, has been catastrophic and deadly. The Bloc member for Joliette had this to say in the House: “The hope is that this pilot project will set a course”. The member for Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques said that “the Bloc Québécois fully believes that it is a step in the right direction”. Quebec has no interest in going down that road. Can the Prime Minister assure the House that he will not follow the radical advice of the Bloc Québécois?

151 words

Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24

May/2/24 2:26:18 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, every day that this radical Prime Minister dithers on the deadly experiment of legalizing hard drugs is a day that more people die. Six people a day are dying in British Columbia. After nine years of this Prime Minister, Quebec is not immune to this crisis, which is affecting all regions of Canada. The Journal de Montréal reports that crack consumption is surging in Montreal and will increasingly start happening in public places. Will the Prime Minister put an end to his extremist experiment in legalizing hard drugs today and say no to any possibility of expanding it to Quebec?

105 words

Context: House Hansard - 232 - Oct/16/23

Mar/19/24 2:56:53 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the manager of a Montreal food bank gave the following explanation after police had to intervene when food bank clients began shoving one another in line because there was not enough food. She said, “They are starving, so they are acting out.” This is Canada after eight years of this Prime Minister. Food banks are overwhelmed and in dire straits because food is too expensive. The Liberal solution is to increase the carbon tax on April 1, with the support of the Bloc Québécois, which will drive up the price of food even further. It is costly to vote for the Bloc Québécois. When will the Prime Minister put an end to hunger and cancel the 23% tax hike planned for April 1?

137 words

Context: House Hansard - 198 - May/16/23

Oct/16/23 3:15:13 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the past eight years of Liberal management have been nothing but one scandal after another. We just found out that the RCMP has launched a criminal investigation into ArriveCAN, which cost Canadians $54 million for nothing. Botler, a Montreal company, was the one that blew the whistle. A senior Liberal government official strongly advised Botler to work closely on an IT contract with the same company that worked on the ArriveCAN app. That company was GC Strategies, a two-person concern with no office and no IT skills. What Botler uncovered is similar to something seen in Quebec before. After eight years of sticking their heads in the sand, are the Liberals going to tell us who exactly is getting richer every time they award a contract?

130 words

All Topics

Context: House Hansard - 198 - May/16/23

May/16/23 2:40:07 p.m.
Watch

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?

113 words

Context: House Hansard - 85 - Jun/9/22

May/16/23 2:38:49 p.m.
Watch

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?

109 words

Context: House Hansard - 67 - May/9/22

Jun/9/22 2:21:56 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-5

Mr. Speaker, all we ever hear from the minister is “if”. She never gives real answers. Let us talk about real-life things. Even as shootings are on the rise in Montreal, the Liberals are in such a hurry to release criminals that they are going to gag the opposition to pass Bill C‑5, which imposes mandatory minimum sentences. Here is what one Montrealer said on TVA: “My mother and I were sitting on the porch after supper, and we had to go inside and hide because there was shooting. There was gunshot after gunshot.” This is not a war zone we are talking about; it is Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Why are the Liberals more interested in helping criminals than in offering reassurance to this woman and all Montrealers?

136 words