SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mr. Denis Trudel (Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, BQ)

Sep/21/23 10:35:16 a.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-33

Madam Speaker, I am trying to understand what we are doing here this morning. I am sincerely interested in having the government's agenda explained to me because I am having a hard time following. There is currently a global climate crisis and this summer there were forest fires everywhere. There is a housing crisis and 3.5 million housing units need to be built. There are homeless seniors in Quebec. There is also an acute inflation crisis. I was just talking about the climate crisis. Canada had its knuckles rapped at the UN just last evening. This morning, they show up with a sort of omnibus bill with safety measures for the railway system and half measures for the ports. I am trying to understand where the government is going with this. I would like my colleague to give me an indication.

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mr. Xavier Barsalou-Duval

Sep/21/23 11:34:57 a.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-33

Madam Speaker, my colleague raises a relevant issue, namely the pattern of deregulation that we have seen in the railway industry and that has continued under the Liberals. It could be said that they are adding some small fixes, but nothing substantial. The Liberals and Conservatives both eat from the same trough. They are both beholden to big business, particularly Canadian National and Canadian Pacific. CN and CP are so big that they are like a state within a state. The Canadian government is anxious to give CN and CP whatever they want. If they were ever to form government, I would like to see the NDP adopt a stricter policy toward them. That would make me happy. However, I would need to see it to believe it. I think Quebec has a different vision. We know that the great railway lines running from one coast to the other are part of the Canadian identity. They are sacrosanct. Going after them would be unthinkable, from a Canadian perspective.

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mr. Marc Dalton (Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, CPC)

Sep/21/23 11:36:01 a.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-33

Madam Speaker, our ports are in crisis. Canada, including Quebec, is dependent on trade in goods. The Port of Vancouver currently ranks 347th out of 348 ports worldwide. Does the member for the Bloc Québécois believe that adding more red tape and regulations will help us be more productive and efficient with respect to trading goods?

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mr. Xavier Barsalou-Duval

Sep/21/23 11:36:45 a.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-33

Madam Speaker, the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities toured Canada's ports in the spring. Most of the port officials told us that they were planning to expand and that they expect international traffic to increase over the coming years due to our trade. As I said earlier, about 50% of Quebec's GDP goes through the ports, so they are absolutely vital. Is there anything in the bill that will allow the ports to manage their operations more efficiently? The answer is no. What the bill provides is greater accountability from the ports toward the government and the public, more data sharing. That is not a bad thing, but it is not going to fix the problems that ports are currently facing. It mainly gives the government more control over the ports. In a crisis, as I mentioned, these are things that may be useful. However, I do not see how the minister could get involved in managing the ports himself on a regular day-to-day basis. It makes no sense.

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mr. Xavier Barsalou-Duval

Sep/21/23 11:39:05 a.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-33

Madam Speaker, I think that it is essential. Anyone whose car was stolen would be anxious to know whether it went to another country in the days that followed. We are seeing more and more news reports about this issue. There was one on a country in Africa where, if I am not mistaken, there were cars with the Quebec licence plates still on them. That is crazy. These people did not even make the effort to remove the plates. The cars were brought to the port, loaded onto the ship and then unloaded over there. They kept their licence plates on even after they got there. That is insane. The members on the other side need to wake up. Unfortunately, there is nothing about this in Bill C-33. If it is possible to improve the situation or at least combat this phenomenon by amending this bill, we are very willing to do so. Since there is very little text in this bill for us to amend, we will have to use our imaginations and get creative. Sometimes, however, if we are too imaginative or creative, procedure will get in the way of our amendments being adopted.

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mr. Denis Trudel (Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, BQ)

Sep/21/23 12:34:42 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-33

Mr. Speaker, since we are discussing railways, ports, and so on, I would like to bring up the fact that last year we learned that CN, the largest railway company in Canada, had no francophones on its board of directors, a flagrant contravention of the Official Languages Act. The same happened with Air Canada. English-speaking Canada may be less aware of this, but, in Quebec, people are unable to receive services in French, and pilots and flight attendants who do not speak French are often in the news. There are thousands of complaints every day. We do, however, have an official languages act. Technically, these companies are subject to that legislation. Does my colleague not think that this is a bit of a scandal? Should we not work harder to ensure that these companies comply with the Official Languages Act?

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mr. Denis Trudel (Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, BQ)

Sep/21/23 1:20:33 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-33

Mr. Speaker, I want to repeat the question I asked this morning because I did not get an answer. I have been listening to the debate since this morning, and I am not sure what to make of it. We are dealing with a bit of a catch-all bill on ports and railway companies. However, the earth is burning right now, with forest fires raging everywhere. We have never been so ineffectual in the fight against climate change. We also have a housing crisis, and 3.5 million housing units need to be built in Canada. It is absolutely ridiculous. In 2022, Canada spent $50 billion on the oil industry. Meanwhile, there are 10,000 homeless people in Quebec. Is Bill C-33 the only thing the Liberal government has to offer in response to all the crises erupting across the country?

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mr. Xavier Barsalou-Duval (Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, BQ)

Sep/21/23 1:36:23 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-33

Mr. Speaker, there is one thing I did not get a chance to bring up in my speech, but my colleague from Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques mentioned it. The Conservatives are criticizing the fact that the ports will have additional red tape imposed on them. That is a concern we share. We agree with the Conservatives that the bill does not meet the expectations of port representatives. The representatives made certain requests, but none of them are included in the bill. That said, we do see value in some of the additional accountability measures, such as the idea of setting up advisory committees to forge links with cities, local residents and indigenous communities and to help develop climate change adaptation plans. We have a question, however. The legislation imposes a one-size-fits-all approach. The same rule applies to everyone. The problem is that some ports, like the ones in Vancouver and Montreal, are bigger, while others, like the one in Saguenay, are quite a bit smaller. I am more familiar with Quebec than I am with Canada, but it seems to me that there must be small ports in other areas of Canada that might have more trouble than the others in dealing with these rules. We would like to propose an asymmetrical approach so that the smaller ports are not forced to meet certain requirements, such as filing quarterly financial statements. Preparing those statements takes a lot of time, energy, financial resources and accounting work that could be put to better use in these smaller ports. The federal government does not need quarterly financial statements for small ports.

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mr. Yves-François Blanchet (Beloeil—Chambly, BQ)

Sep/21/23 2:26:07 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the minister responsible for housing admitted that there are strings attached to the $900 million Quebec is supposed to get to build social housing. The thing is, social housing is not his responsibility. Is he telling people in distress, who may soon be unable to pay their rent or who are at risk of ending up homeless, that they are being held hostage by the Liberals' desire to centralize?

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Hon. Sean Fraser (Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Lib.)

Sep/21/23 2:26:41 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. Yesterday evening, I had a productive and positive conversation with my Quebec counterpart, Minister Duranceau. We are working in partnership with Quebec to establish programs to support people who need more affordable housing. We are going to continue to work with provinces and our partners at different levels of government to establish programs that support vulnerable people, including in Quebec.

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Hon. Soraya Martinez Ferrada (Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, Lib.)

Sep/21/23 2:29:04 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I would like to remind him that, for the first time, the federal government has not only adopted a national housing strategy but has also appointed a federal housing advocate. On this side of the House, we believe that all Quebeckers have the right to housing. That is why we have made historic investments with Quebec, to ensure that all Quebeckers have a roof over their heads.

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Ms. Rachel Bendayan (Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Lib.)

Sep/21/23 2:38:29 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I know why the Conservatives are having a hard time connecting with Quebeckers. Quebeckers simply do not buy their policy of fiscal restraint. The Conservatives want to cut employment insurance, cut seniors' pensions and cut child care subsidies. We sent $6 billion to the Quebec government for child care, and the Conservatives want to cut that too.

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Hon. François-Philippe Champagne (Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Lib.)

Sep/21/23 2:39:37 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I have a great deal of respect for my colleague from Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles. He was talking about today's news. I am sure that he saw the news that we introduced the act to amend the Excise Tax Act and the Competition Act, which will do three things for people in his riding. First, we will deal with the issue of competition in Canada, the first reform in decades, which will bring about less consolidation and more competition at lower prices. Second, we will reduce the GST on housing. Third, we will extend loans for small businesses. When my colleague reads the news, he should read all of it because that will help the people of Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles and Quebec.

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Ms. Kristina Michaud (Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, BQ)

Sep/21/23 2:40:15 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister would no doubt have gotten a better reception at the World Petroleum Congress in Alberta than he did at the Climate Ambition Summit in New York. The United Nations Under-Secretary-General introduced him for who he is: the leader of one of the largest expanders of fossil fuels in the world. Quebec comes across as a hero in the fight against climate change, while Canada comes across as a zero, a climate hypocrite. When will this government start taking the climate crisis seriously?

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Ms. Kristina Michaud (Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, BQ)

Sep/21/23 2:41:26 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Environment, Mr. Bay du Nord himself, found a way to be the only person in New York putting Quebec's environmental policies down. Seriously. If the government had invested as much money in the fight against climate change as it did in Trans Mountain, we might believe it is serious about this. Frankly, it should start throwing more tree seedlings in the ground before it throws Quebec under the bus because Quebec is serious about climate change. When will this government start being part of the solution, instead of the problem, in the fight against climate change?

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Hon. Pascale St-Onge (Minister of Canadian Heritage, Lib.)

Sep/21/23 2:42:03 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the truth is that the Government of Canada has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 62 megatonnes since 2019. That is one-quarter of the target we set for 2030. Yes, we still have a long way to go. We still have work to do. We will do that work in partnership with Quebec, with the provinces, and with the territories. We will achieve our objectives because we are determined to secure a better future for our children.

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mrs. Julie Vignola (Beauport—Limoilou, BQ)

Sep/21/23 2:57:41 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, some pictures went viral on social media in Quebec this summer. They were not pictures of vacations or family get-togethers. They were pictures of the pathetic state of the Quebec bridge. The Liberals have been promising to restore it since 2015. Three elections and three ministers of transport later, the only development we are seeing is that there is more rust. A year ago, mayor Bruno Marchand said at a press conference, “It is time to stop messing around”. Can the minister tell us when the government will stop messing around?

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Hon. Pablo Rodriguez (Minister of Transport, Lib.)

Sep/21/23 2:58:17 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the Quebec bridge is an absolutely essential link for the city. It plays an extremely important role. We said that we would move forward with the project. We are in talks with CN and it is going very well. At the same time, we are talking to the Government of Quebec. We made a promise and we will keep it.

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mrs. Julie Vignola (Beauport—Limoilou, BQ)

Sep/21/23 2:58:43 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, let me again quote the mayor of Quebec City, who said, “we are still in the process of negotiating who will own the structure and who will maintain it. It saddens me and discourages me.” The entire region is discouraged after eight years of broken Liberal promises. The new Minister of Transport is also the Quebec lieutenant. He speaks on behalf of all federal Liberals in Quebec. It must not turn his back on Quebec as his predecessors did. When will he announce results?

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Hon. Pablo Rodriguez (Minister of Transport, Lib.)

Sep/21/23 2:59:19 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, just because the Bloc Québécois is discouraged does not mean that the people of Quebec City are discouraged. The people of Quebec City are much more resilient than the Bloc Québécois. They also trust the government, which is in talks with CN and the Quebec government. I myself attended a meeting last week. It was a private meeting with Mayor Bruno Marchand, who is pleased with the project's progress. He knows full well that we will deliver results, and that is exactly what we plan to do.

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