44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 11, 2023 10:00AM
- May/11/23 4:41:42 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, we have witnessed a very ugly rise of xenophobia in Europe, which is the targeting of immigrants as though they were a threat to national identities. I heard my colleague talk about how Canada was going to be “swamped” with people coming in. I believe that was the term he used.
I think Canada has proven that we are different because, unlike Europe and the extremist fights happening there, we understand the importance of the different identities in this country. The fact that Quebec has the power to decide its own immigration policy is a reasonable thing. However, I would also say that in northern Ontario, we are more than willing to welcome the 450 million francophones out there who want to come and participate to build a just society. We are not going to say that they are outsiders, that they are a threat or that they are swamping our nation. Instead, we are going to say that our nation is built on the good will of people who come here with a desire to build a better country.
184 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:42:53 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, that just proves my point about what I would call arrogant and predatory federalism. My colleague did not make any effort to understand the explanations I gave about what multiculturalism is. He did not make any effort to understand the specificity of the Quebec nation.
Based on the preconceived ideas that he has about what it means to be a Quebecker and the type of nationalism that we assert in the House every day, he sees Quebec as a small, closed society. I have seen that before. We read about it in the 1960s. Members need only read some of Hubert Aquin's writings.
My colleague believes that Quebec would be fine in a very strong Canada that minimizes Quebec's identity. That is his objective, but we do not support it. We will continue to annoy him.
141 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:44:00 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I will be quick because I really want to hear my colleague's response to my question.
I think he knows that Quebec has an agreement with Canada and that a rather significant amount of financial compensation is transferred from Canada to Quebec, which is the only province to receive this type of compensation. There is also the idea that French integration in Quebec is tied to financial compensation.
I would like to know if my colleague is aware that Quebec does not spend all the money it is transferred. Could he say a few words about that?
100 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:44:48 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I think it is a mistake to reduce immigration to a monetary issue. It goes beyond that.
What I was trying to explain to my colleague earlier is that Quebec has a unique integration system. What the House is trying to do is put an end to that integration system.
It is going to challenge Bill 21 on secularism. A majority of parliamentarians here are against Bill 96. These are two pillars of Quebec's integration system. Quebec is a French-speaking state and a state where religion is relegated to private life; that is what secularism means.
That is what I wish my colleague had taken away from my speech. That is what I wish she had focused on in the presentation we made today, not on the matter of money and making a connection between migrants and money, between migrants and workers. There is another important dimension, which is the collective Quebec identity. Unfortunately, people here do not seem to fully understand it.
167 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:46:00 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, just to expand on what my colleague was saying earlier, we hear a lot of members talking nonsense. We heard the member for Winnipeg North say that there are more francophones than ever in Manitoba.
I have the numbers right here. In 1971, there were 60,500 Manitobans or 6.1%, whose mother tongue was French. In 2021, there were 39,600, which represented 4% of the population. These are the same numbers for the language spoken at home. The numbers are declining, as is knowledge of French.
In the words of Gérald Godin, the federal policy on French in Canada can generally be summarized as follows: strengthen French where it is on its last legs—
121 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:46:47 p.m.
- Watch
I am sorry to interrupt the hon. member, but he has taken more time than what he was allocated.
The hon. member for Jonquière for a brief response.
30 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:46:55 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, here is my brief response. For us, the solution is quite simple: independence.
15 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:47:05 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, my colleague from Jonquière may not yet have experienced how passive-aggressive the House can sometimes be—
22 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:47:22 p.m.
- Watch
I apologize for interrupting the hon. member, but I was about to forget an important part of my job, which is to announce the questions to be raised in Adjournment Proceedings.
It is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 38 to inform the House that the question to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment is as follows: the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, Indigenous Affairs.
The hon. member for Montcalm.
74 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:47:52 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I was saying that perhaps my colleague has not had that experience.
I introduced a bill on two separate occasions indicating that multiculturalism, a political ideology that undermines respect for differences and the integration model advocated by Quebec, should not apply in Quebec, and I have received a barrage of insults as a result. Some people have insinuated that I am racist or xenophobic.
I am a democrat, a separatist and a humanist. When a human community established within the same territory has a language, a culture, a history and a heritage, when it is driven by a will to survive, when it is aware of its uniqueness, when it is driven by a desire to live together, when it is articulated around a common interest, then a vision of society and a nation emerges.
Madam Speaker, could you please tell the member opposite—
147 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:49:25 p.m.
- Watch
I myself am beginning to hear things I should not hear in this place, without even having to consult Hansard.
The hon. member for Mirabel on a point of order.
30 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:49:35 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I recognize that the subject can be sensitive for some, but the “racist” epithet used by the member for Timmins—James Bay who is attacking us on the basis of our deepest values—
39 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:49:49 p.m.
- Watch
I heard name-calling from both sides of the House. Surely it was in response to something else, but I heard it from both sides.
I remind hon. members to try to be as civil as possible in the House and to please restrain themselves.
45 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:50:03 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, that is not a good look on a party that calls itself progressive.
As I was saying, these are the objective and subjective criteria for a nation to be born. The people of Quebec form a nation.
Unfortunately, this recognition here is only symbolic. Indeed, the rest of Canada has always refused to enshrine that in the Constitution, to give it a legal effect. That is why Bill 101 was necessary and was passed in 1977, although we were told it was a Hitlerian law. The Quebec nation continues to speak French today thanks to this law.
At the end of the 1990s, I was saying that the use of French was declining. I kept saying that there would be an accelerated decline of French in Montreal. I was called a language zealot.
Today, on both sides of the House, they are trying to change the Official Languages Act while still considering the Quebec English-speaking community as a minority. We are now paying the price for what happened in 1982. What happened in 1982? Why has no Quebec premier, whether sovereignist or federalist, ever signed the Canadian Constitution since 1982? That is because, in 1982, we were deprived of our nationhood and minority status, quite simply.
Who forms the minority? According to the anglophones in Quebec, they do. If, indeed, the Canadian Constitution is built on the idea that there are 10 equal territories and that minority rights are protected, where do the rights of francophone Quebeckers fit in? Francophones are the minority in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and the Maritimes. Although they are a minority on the continent and in Canada, francophones are the majority in Quebec, which means they have no rights. That is how it was presented to the UN.
What did the UN say to Howard Galganov? It said that the so-called English-speaking minority in Quebec was not a minority, but a community that was part of the Canadian and continental majority. These things need to be remembered because I feel that, from one election to the next, historical and sociological references get lost.
I would like to say to my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie that Quebec is asking to have its differences recognized and respected. As long as it is searching for recognition and respect of those differences, it cannot deny any other the same recognition and respect of its differences.
That is why, when people arrive in Quebec, we want to be able to welcome them in dignity. Dignity is not what multiculturalism has achieved over the years, by ghettoizing differences, turning these people into cheap labour, making them incapable of earning a decent living, even though some of them hold several degrees. Juxtaposing cultures is not what will allow us to live together in harmony.
I would like to highlight what Boucar Diouf, our national Boucar, has to say about this. On the subject of multiculturalism, he said, “It is impossible to live together without truly embodying the word ‘together’.”
Madam Speaker, I think members are talking a bit too loudly across the way.
527 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:54:47 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order.
I understand that the member for Timmins—James Bay feels the need to socialize, but I think he should do so quietly.
32 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:55:04 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I would like you to rule on whether we are allowed to walk over to talk with colleagues at any point. I do not mind staying in my seat, but I thought it was common practice that, if we have to speak to a minister about an issue and we do it respectfully, we are able to do that. Would you say that is the rule of the House?
71 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:55:20 p.m.
- Watch
That is the rule. I did not hear any particular noise, but I am not on that side of the House, so I cannot hear what my colleague may have heard. I do expect everybody to respect the rights of each member to speak and be heard.
An hon. member: It is like a rat.
55 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:55:42 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I want to quote Boucar Diouf, a Quebecker who considers himself a part of Quebec society and who says that our society is a close-knit one. He said, “It is impossible to live together without truly embodying the word ‘together’. Multiculturalism”—
50 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:56:09 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I understand people get heated in here and we have issues, but I thought I overheard a colleague from this side call a colleague on that side “a rat”.
If you look at the record and you listen to the Hansard, I hope you observe this and make a decision—
60 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/11/23 4:56:36 p.m.
- Watch
I have asked all to be very courteous with another. I will take it under advisement, and we will look at the Hansard.
23 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
