- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Bloc Québécois
- Trois-Rivières
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 63%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $100,349.98
- Government Page
- May/7/24 2:03:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is a sad day for all lovers of the French language, because celebrated author and television host Bernard Pivot passed away yesterday.
As host of the TV show Apostrophes and its later iteration Bouillon de culture, he was a enlivening force in French cultural life for decades and helped cement French as the literary language of choice.
His all-encompassing curiosity made him the ultimate embodiment of a cultural, global and pluralistic francophonie. At home, his enthusiastic support for Quebec authors did not go unnoticed.
Bernard Pivot also succeeded in taking dictation exercises, often considered as popular as a trip to the dentist, and turning them into a social phenomenon. He taught us to love French in all its complexity and complications. Year after year, he would seek out hard-to-spell words like “sot-l'y-laisse” and “anacoluthe” to create an obstacle course that was as fun and playful as Bernard Pivot himself.
Mr. Pivot, on behalf of the French language, thank you. What a tragic loss for us.
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- Mar/20/24 2:09:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Jean Ferrat said in his song, “It is so beautiful, life is beautiful”, so today I say, “It is so beautiful, La Francophonie is beautiful”.
Every year, we celebrate La Francophonie in March. All around the world, La Francophonie is a dynamic force that makes cultures soar and opens the lines of communication between them. La Francophonie is poetry. It is literature, it is a slam, it is values, it is living together and quite simply living.
From Morocco to Louisiana, from Quebec to Belgium, from the Ivory Coast to Tahiti, from Vietnam to Mauritius, La Francophonie is always with us. From David Cheramie in Louisiana to Patrice Desbiens in Sudbury, both poeticize La Francophonie in their own way. Aimé Césaire, elected politician, poet, playwright and essayist, made it his own too. We must not forget one of our finest, the great Dany Laferrière, who weaves an ineffable warmth into every one of his stories.
Through all of them, La Francophonie tells us its stories, as it charms us and speaks to us. It makes us a promise as well. It promises a world full of youthful spirit, happiness and friendship. Finally, with all of its different accents, La Francophonie is a celebration, a festival of the heart, a festival of the soul, a festival of life. On this International Day of La Francophonie, I wish everyone a happy Francophonie that will live on forever.
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- Feb/14/24 5:52:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier for his passionate speech.
I know that he is on a mission for the Francophonie. I am delighted to serve with him on the Assemblée des parlementaires de la Francophonie. I know he cares about this.
His speech earlier sounded more partisan than pro-francophone to me. I know that in the past, his party, which he loves to talk about, actually appointed an anglophone judge to the Supreme Court, which was a bit of a black mark against it.
I would like him to tell me if there is anything good in this bill, apart from the fact that the inspiration came from Quebec's brilliant example.
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- Mar/20/23 2:03:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the International Day of La Francophonie was created in 1988 by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie to give the 88 member states an opportunity to celebrate their common bond: the French language.
At home in Trois-Rivières, we celebrate La Francophonie all year long. We have the International Poetry Festival, a book fair and the Association des écoles festives de théâtre. In addition, this year, two well-known people from my riding will be awarded the Ordre de la Pléiade. This honour recognizes the work of Robert Aubin, former member of Parliament for Trois-Rivières, as well as Louise Lacoursière, a best-selling author from Trois-Rivières. They have both made their mark by supporting and promoting the ideals of the francophone community.
La Francophonie is not France. La Francophonie is all those who speak, think, live and study in French, wherever and whoever they are. La Francophonie is a shared language, culture, identity and set of values.
I want to personally invite everyone in Trois-Rivières to participate in the activities celebrating International Francophonie Day. Together we speak French and together we are stronger. Long live La Francophonie.
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Madam Speaker, if we allow Quebec's political weight to decline, there will be heightened vigilance. What is vigilance? Vigilance is keeping a close eye out to attenuate or avoid harm. We will have to be vigilant, especially with respect to the French language, culture and the economic Francophonie.
Last weekend, I participated in a meeting to evaluate the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie's statutes. We had a chance to put some questions to a representative of the OECD, which is headquartered in Paris, and she told us about a set of principles on artificial intelligence. When we read the principles, I asked her who had done the work. She said that people from Egypt, Barcelona, anglophones and some people from Montreal, such as Mr. Bengio, had gone to Paris. I asked her what language people used to talk about the principles in Paris, and she said that the discussion took place in English. Imagine. All those people gathered in Paris, speaking English.
What was interesting was that you could see from reading the principles that the work was bilingual. I have nothing against the English language, but there is a thought process at work in the English language, just as there is a thought process at work in the French language. What I object to is the single mindset. If we are forced to operate more and more in English, we lose some of the thinking involved. Researchers who write and create in French and who translate their own thoughts lose out a little, but it is society as a whole that really loses out.
When I talk about being vigilant and maintaining our political weight, I am also talking about preserving a way of thinking, a capacity to create, a capacity to be different for the common good of all. The appointment of a Governor General who speaks only English and a similar situation in New Brunswick have been denounced in the House.
This also brings to mind the whole Julie Payette scandal from two years ago, when she was Governor General. I asked the Privy Council Office for a copy of the investigation report, but I was told, and I quote:
It is available only in English because that is the language it was written in.
That makes no sense. The report was later translated at my insistence, since it was only available in English. I am not saying that it was conceived in English, but that it was not available in French. I can read English, but this was unacceptable.
It is because of things like this that I talk about vigilance, about monitoring, in order to avoid or mitigate harm. Bill C‑14 does not meet Quebec's demands. With this bill, we do not lose seats, but we begin to disintegrate. At some point, we will assimilate and disappear. What will we be able to say once we have lost our voice? The answer is nothing.
Before we reach the point where we are able to do nothing more than wave in the hope that some benevolent soul offers help, we must act and we must resist. For Quebec, Bill C‑14 is a call to resistance, a call to not give in to uniformity of thought in terms of tastes, ideas, and existence. Fernando Pessoa once said that to die is to slip out of view. With Bill C‑14, Quebec slips out of view.
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- Mar/21/22 2:03:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, established in 1988 by the OIF, the International Day of La Francophonie provides an opportunity for the 88 member states to celebrate their common bond, the French language.
Trois-Rivières has been celebrating the Francophonie for 10 years thanks to the involvement and dedication of members of the Journées internationales de la Francophonie committee. This committee includes a dozen or so stakeholders and organizations from various sectors, including the educational, teaching, cultural and community sectors.
Every year, about twenty activities are organized, including a texted dictation, presentations, a gala, an evening of poetry, author visits to schools and an international French theatre festival. This year's activities will be held from March 17 to 27, and the theme centres on showing pride where the Francophonie's roots run deep. I extend a personal invitation to everyone in Trois-Rivières to participate in the activities.
I will conclude by congratulating committee chair Sylvain Benoît from UQTR and all of the committee members for their unwavering commitment to the Francophonie. I wish everyone a good National Francophonie Week.
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- Mar/1/22 5:03:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are facing this concept of institutional completeness. We must recognize that the bills that have passed over the years have favoured bilingualism. Bilingualism treats both languages the same. The fact is, French is in an asymmetrical situation, and it is not true that the two languages are equal or will be considered equal.
Not enough resources are being dedicated to French across Canada. Schools and services are lacking. If I went to Winnipeg North, for example, I am not sure I would be served in French. I would be sad, but that might be the case. In Quebec, however, promoting bilingualism means killing the francophonie.
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Mr. Speaker, Trois-Rivières is a riding full of events, culture and sports. Recently, I informed members of the House that I had applied for Trois-Rivières to host the Jeux de La Francophonie.
It is truly a place where people have suffered. Those who were already rich and have unfairly become richer during this time should be able to give back. The businesses that profited most from the lockdown are the web giants. I completely agree with my colleague. Compensation is something we might think about.
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