SoVote

René Villemure

Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
Bloc Québécois

Trois-Rivières
Quebec
Voting Attendance: 62%
Expenses Last Quarter: $100,349.98

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 320 - May/29/24

May/29/24 5:56:20 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his extremely relevant question. There can be no trust without transparency, and nothing is possible without trust. Let that be our starting point. In the past, whether it was Mr. Johnston, the special rapporteur, or the Hogue commission, it certainly took a lot of effort to get the government to co-operate. It really took a lot of force and a lot of energy, and the government fought the process tooth and nail. That was unfortunate. It did not inspire trust. As my colleague from New Westminster—Burnaby said, these matters require co-operation. There can be no hypocrisy. We have to pull in the same direction, because interference is oblivious to party colours and partisanship. Interference works against all of us here, regardless of our political stripe. This time, I hope and believe that the government will be a little less naive and more proactive, and that it will show the transparency we need to make fair decisions amid uncertainty.

169 words

Context: House Hansard - 202 - May/30/23

Mr. René Villemure (Trois-Rivières, BQ)

May/30/23 2:38:58 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' answer to getting to the bottom of foreign interference is to ask the leaders of the opposition parties to read confidential information that they will never be able to discuss publicly. We already had a Prime Minister who refused to keep the public informed. Now, on top of that, we have opposition party leaders who would not be allowed to do so. We need more transparency, not less. We need more transparency and less secrecy. What we need is an independent public commission of inquiry that guarantees greater transparency than a rapporteur who is neither public nor independent. Seriously, what are they waiting for?

108 words

Context: House Hansard - 165 - Mar/7/23

Mr. René Villemure (Trois-Rivières, BQ)

Mar/7/23 2:47:09 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, foreign interference in our elections demands a transparent investigation. Let me say a little bit about what the Prime Minister's definition of transparency is. Transparency for him means turning the investigation over to a national security committee, a committee whose members will not only be bound to secrecy, but to secrecy in perpetuity, a committee that will hold its meetings behind closed doors and whose proceedings neither the public nor parliamentarians will be allowed to follow, a committee that will not be able to say which witnesses it will meet or report their exact words, a committee whose report will inevitably be redacted. Where is the transparency in that?

112 words

Context: House Hansard - 116 - Oct/24/22

Mr. René Villemure (Trois-Rivières, BQ)

Oct/24/22 2:52:52 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, in the summer of 2021, Health Canada was planning to authorize an increase in the amount of pesticides on our food. However, at the request of the multinational pesticide companies themselves, the government had to postpone its decision under pressure during the election campaign. Today, Radio‑Canada reported that the organization Vigilance OGM had filed an access to information request to see the study that inspired this decision. The organization received 229 blank pages. That is what transparency means to this government. It is so transparent that we can see right through the pages. What does the government have to hide?

104 words

Context: House Hansard - 107 - Oct/4/22

Mr. René Villemure (Trois-Rivières, BQ)

Oct/4/22 2:44:46 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, every time we ask the government for the Roxham Road contracts that it refuses to disclose, it responds that to the government, and I quote: transparency is critically important. That is a rather Orwellian response. Refusing to disclose contracts out of concern for transparency is not that far removed from being told that war is peace. I am blinded by all that transparency. Seriously, hiding public contracts is not transparency, it is secrecy. Can the government actually be transparent and simply disclose who it gave taxpayers' money to for Roxham Road? People have the right to know.

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Member of Parliament

René Villemure