44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 24, 2023 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, my question is quite simple. When it comes to international agreements, Quebec and the Canadian provinces are rarely consulted, if at all. I would like to know if my colleague knows whether this agreement has any impact on the constitutional jurisdictions of Quebec and the Canadian provinces.
If so, were Quebec and the provinces consulted on these provisions?
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Mr. Speaker, I represent a region that has been very negatively affected by a free trade agreement. As a result, my riding has lost good jobs, particularly in the natural resources sector.
The member was very enthusiastic about saying that he supports free trade agreements. Knowing that Quebeckers were also affected, is it not important to do a good job to ensure that jobs and key sectors here in Canada are protected and that we do not lose good jobs and the industries we have in Quebec and Canada?
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished colleague from Mirabel for his intelligent question.
I agree wholeheartedly. That is why I addressed the issue in my speech. It requires urgent action. It reflects a trend we are seeing not only in Canada and Quebec, but also around the world. Governments are increasingly off-loading their responsibilities onto private states. The gene editing regulations that I recently spoke about in the House are one example that comes to mind.
After realizing that the private sector provided the studies and wrote most of the documentation, or almost certainly suggested the wording, at the very least, we should be hearing alarm bells. I think that the state has to assume its responsibilities and, above all, limit the power of private corporations. We must never lose sight of the fact that the government represents the people.
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Mr. Speaker, I have faith in the negotiating skills of our professionals, in that they speak for Canada. That being said, sometimes there are some blind spots. I would point to what happened with aluminum during CUSMA. We had to fight for it in the House. We were told that it was protected just as much as steel was, only to realize later that it was not. A letter had to be added in a schedule. I would also mention supply management, which is essentially our farmers' income pool, and that gets dipped into a bit more time after time.
The negotiators are indeed skilled, but there are blind spots. That is what I am talking about. Those blind spots include the jurisdictions of Quebec and the Canadian provinces because “federal” seems to be the default mindset, and the details are not necessarily considered.
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Mr. Speaker, once again, I thank my colleague for an excellent speech.
This is a good agreement, but the federal government negotiated it without consulting the provinces. Parliament is somewhat superfluous in this matter. As everyone knows, these agreements are temporarily in effect while we vote on implementing them.
We are obviously sovereignists, and there are a lot of sovereignists in Quebec. These people are told that if Quebec became a country, it would have to negotiate everything. It would have to negotiate free trade agreements. However, today we have proof that agreements can be negotiated, modified and renegotiated.
Does my colleague think that an independent Quebec could have negotiated a free trade agreement with Ukraine on its own?
I would also like to know if she thinks that Ukraine would have turned its back on us or if it would have wanted to trade with Quebec.
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Mr. Speaker, that is an interesting question. In an independent Quebec, Quebec would negotiate for itself.
Some might say that Quebec is far too small to negotiate for itself, that it is not big enough or important enough. Quebec is never “enough”. It is always too small for someone.
Geographically speaking, Quebec is bigger than Ukraine. Demographically, it has roughly the same population. If Ukraine is capable of negotiating on its own, like a big country does, an independent Quebec would be very capable of doing so too.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague said that we need the political will and the infrastructure to export oil and gas. Even if the political will had been there, it would have taken 10 years to put the necessary infrastructure in place. In Quebec, building the necessary infrastructure would have meant running pipelines on, beside or under 800 waterways, including the St. Lawrence River, which supplies drinking water to the majority of Quebeckers.
Pipelines are relatively safe, but accidents happen. What would we do if an accident deprived a population of its water supply?
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Madam Speaker, I am glad to see that some government members are defending Bill C‑57. When one has negotiated something, it is important to stand behind it.
This brings me to my question. In Quebec yesterday, the Parti Québécois unveiled its year one budget, projecting that Quebec has the financial capacity to be an independent country. I wonder how my colleague, as a member of the governing party, would feel about negotiating a free trade agreement with Quebec once it becomes independent, so that our two nations can engage in mutually beneficial economic exchanges.
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Madam Speaker, I believe we will continue to negotiate on behalf of Canada. My Canada includes Quebec, now and forever.
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- Oct/24/23 2:09:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this government, the cost of living is only going up. Inflation is at a record level. People just cannot get by.
This government's inflationary spending has impoverished Quebeckers. Considering the fact that one in two Canadians lives paycheque to paycheque, it is clear that things are not going well. However, this government is clinging to power thanks to its agreement with the NDP and has just found a new ally, the Bloc Québécois. The Bloc wants to drastically increase Quebec's second carbon tax, which adds 17¢ per litre of gas. Contrary to what the Bloc members would have us believe, when the government taxes the prairie farmer who grows the food and taxes the trucker who transports it, it is also taxing everyone who buys it. The last time I checked, in Quebec we consume products from other Canadian provinces.
We can never say it enough: It will be costly to vote for the Bloc.
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- Oct/24/23 2:16:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on Thursday, once again, the Liberals refused to acknowledge the decline of French in Quebec and Canada. However, Canada's census provides the relevant figures.
From 2016 to 2021, the percentage of francophones in Canada, based on the first official language spoken, dropped from 22.2% to 21.4%. The percentage of Quebeckers who speak mainly French at home dropped from 79% to 77.5%. In the workplace, it slipped from 81.9% in 2011 to 79.7%. Those are the facts. Any denial of the facts by the government or by its Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship is a political denial.
Clearly, the only way to reverse the decline of French is for Quebec to have exclusive authority over its language policy. It is equally clear that the best way to achieve that is to make Quebec a country.
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- Oct/24/23 2:20:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has doubled the national debt, doubled the cost of housing, fuelled inflation faster than anyone in the past 40 years and raised interest rates faster than anyone in monetary history. This impacts not only Canadians' wallets, but also national unity.
The Parti Québécois has just released the first budget of an independent Quebec, justifying it by saying that this Prime Minister is putting the country and Quebec into debt.
Does the Prime Minister recognize that his policies are not worth the cost or worth dividing our country?
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- Oct/24/23 2:21:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we too extend our condolences to all those affected by this tragedy.
The Parti Québécois has once again stated it wants independence for economic reasons. That party would never have said such a thing during the Conservative years because taxes were low, debts were low, income taxes were low, inflation was low and growth was high. The Prime Minister turned all that around, and now some people in Quebec want to separate as a result.
Does he acknowledge that his policies are not worth the cost, nor are they worth dividing our country?
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- Oct/24/23 2:27:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my friend Paul in Quebec City will be happy to know that the year one budget has brought the debate on Quebec independence to the Parliament of Canada, and that even the Leader of the Opposition is talking about it.
In the meantime, the Prime Minister has put himself at odds with the United States, U.S. intelligence and the U.S. President on the issue of the hospital in Gaza. According to the information available to us, he has not spoken with the U.S. President in 17 days. What does he plan to do to convince the U.S. to rally to the consensus reached by the UN, the European Union and France for a humanitarian truce in Gaza?
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- Oct/24/23 2:32:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are very pleased to have been able to sign a new housing agreement with the Province of Quebec. The Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities will have more to say about that unprecedented agreement. We will continue to work in collaboration with the Quebec government to put forward a plan that works for Quebeckers and that will enable the construction of more housing, more quickly.
That remains our priority. That is why we are working not just in Quebec, but across the country with the housing accelerator. We are delivering for Canadians, and we are going to continue to do so by working together, not by bickering as others would have us do.
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- Oct/24/23 2:39:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is no federal carbon tax in Quebec. It is false to claim otherwise. Canadians are concerned about the cost of living, climate change and the impact of natural disasters on our health and our economy. That is why we have put in place a pollution pricing system that addresses those kinds of concerns.
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- Oct/24/23 2:40:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I really have to reiterate that there is no federal carbon tax in Quebec. The Conservatives' campaign platform included a clean fuel standard that was almost identical to the one our government put forward. Now they are against it. On top of being hypocritical, that attitude shows they cannot be trusted to keep their word on climate action.
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- Oct/24/23 2:42:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, no one is satisfied with that answer. The premiers of Quebec and the provinces and territories are all calling for a one-year extension. All parties in the Quebec National Assembly are calling for an extension. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is calling for an extension. The Bloc Québécois wrote to the Minister of Finance today calling for an extension. It is unanimous. Everyone understands that we cannot afford a wave of bankruptcies and job losses in this economy. It is so obvious.
When will the government finally understand?
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- Oct/24/23 2:43:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. As she is well aware, 99% of Quebec's economy is made up of small and medium-sized businesses. We know that the global inflationary environment is difficult. That is why we are offering additional flexibilities for small businesses to repay their CEBA loans.
We have been there, we are there, and we will be there. On Friday, I was in Bromont to give funding to Stûv America, a company that will create new jobs and promote growth. Canada Economic Development is helping many businesses in Quebec. We are talking about 1,300 projects since last year.
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- Oct/24/23 2:46:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec was the province most affected by inflation for the fourth month in a row, yet the Bloc Québécois continues to support a radical increase in the Liberal government's second carbon tax. It is costly to vote for the Bloc when we are at a point where people are sleeping in their cars.
After eight long years of disastrous Liberal mismanagement, backed by the NDP and now the Bloc, Quebeckers want the chance to choose a new Prime Minister.
When will we get to bring back common sense?
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