SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 314 - May/21/24

Mr. Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe (Lac-Saint-Jean, BQ)

May/21/24 2:47:29 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Immigration has finally met with his counterparts from Quebec, the provinces and the territories. They have finally started talking about integration capacity. What solution did they come up with? They are going to put a working group together to examine the distribution of asylum seekers. I thought this was not a problem for the minister. I thought that, when we asked him for fairer distribution, he said that asylum seekers were not cattle. Is it safe to assume that, until this all-important committee issues its recommendations, absolutely nothing will change on the ground?

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Context: House Hansard - 314 - May/21/24

Mr. Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe (Lac-Saint-Jean, BQ)

May/21/24 2:48:40 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, he should have invited me. Next time, I will go. Quebec is asking to be reimbursed $1 billion for the cost of welcoming refugee claimants. Quebec is asking that the cost of welcoming refugee claimants be shared with provinces that are not carrying their fair share of the load. Quebec is asking for a temporary reduction in immigration as well as the power to approve all applicants. Quebec is asking that federal programs have French language requirements. What did the immigration minister offer Quebeckers, after months of shirking his responsibilities? He offered a committee. Does his committee at least have a deadline to start delivering results?

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Context: House Hansard - 314 - May/21/24

Mr. Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe (Lac-Saint-Jean, BQ)

May/21/24 2:49:47 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, after the meeting, the Minister of Immigration stated that the status quo was no longer acceptable. However, as we speak, it is still the status quo. Nothing has changed on the ground. As of now, the federal government has not paid back a penny, and Quebec is still taking in more than half of all of Canada's asylum seekers. His committee must not become a gimmick that will sit around being useless until the election. We needed results yesterday. Today, it is a matter of urgency. When are we going to see results?

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Context: House Hansard - 314 - May/21/24

Mr. Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe (Lac-Saint-Jean, BQ)

May/21/24 9:00:46 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals tell us that they are very green and very environmentally minded. We have looked at the budget and analyzed it carefully because we are thorough. If something is good for Quebec, then we will vote for it. If it is bad for Quebec, then we will vote against it, of course. There is no partisanship in that. It is based purely on facts. The Liberals tell us that there are no more subsidies for the oil industry. However, in the budget, we see $30.3 billion in subsidies for oil companies in the form of tax credits. I hear my Liberal colleagues talk about future generations. Not only is the government using taxpayer dollars to fund the most polluting industry in the world, but it is taking that money away from those same young people, that same young generation and that next generation, who will have to deal with climate change. What explanation could there be for such a measure to appear in this budget? The government is giving $30.3 billion to an industry that is likely the wealthiest and most profitable industry in the world, and it is getting that money from taxpayers. How can it justify such a measure?

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Context: House Hansard - 314 - May/21/24

Mr. Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe (Lac-Saint-Jean, BQ)

May/21/24 10:08:03 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech. We work very well together at the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. I really enjoy working with him. He is very thorough. The Conservatives say they are going to form the next government. We, as well as the Conservatives, are going to vote against this budget; there is no doubt about that. Now, what would the Conservatives do if they were sitting where the Liberals are? That is never quite as clear. Since my colleague sits on the immigration committee with me, I will ask him a question. There is one item that is missing from the budget, and I would like to know whether the Conservatives would proceed differently from the Liberals when it comes to the billion dollars that the Quebec government is requesting for taking in asylum seekers. The Liberals refuse to pay that money to the Quebec government. Quebec's National Assembly is calling on the federal government to reimburse the $1‑billion cost of taking in asylum seekers. If my colleague's party were in power, would Quebec be reimbursed that $1 billion?

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Context: House Hansard - 314 - May/21/24

Mr. Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe (Lac-Saint-Jean, BQ)

May/21/24 10:23:47 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, my colleague said something interesting. He said that, ever since the Harper government lost power nine years ago, the Liberals have not stood up to do what is right and fair. In other words, he just admitted that the Liberals have not been getting the job done for the past nine years and that they are not doing things fairly. If there is one thing the NDP and the Bloc Québécois are fighting, one thing we agree on, it is injustice. We want to fight injustice. We know for a fact that most of the money allocated to programs the NDP lobbied for will not flow until after the next election. With things going the way they are going, the Conservatives might well take power and never implement those programs, so I have to ask myself why the NDP is not positioning itself as the progressive party in the rest of Canada. It could position itself as the party that is not corrupt. It could campaign on that to make sure these programs will actually be set up. Apparently the NDP does not have the courage to do that and is supporting the Trudeau government. Polls say they are going down with him. My question, therefore, is this: Why not trigger an election right now?

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Context: House Hansard - 314 - May/21/24

Mr. Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe (Lac-Saint-Jean, BQ)

May/21/24 11:52:52 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I really enjoyed my colleague's speech. There were a lot of numbers in his speech, which is great. He shared one number that I liked. He talked about the polls and said that the Liberal Party was 20 points behind the Conservative Party in the polls. What he may have forgotten to mention is that there is a place in Canada called Quebec, where the Conservative Party is not first or second, but third in the polls. My question is quite simple. Is that because the Conservatives see Quebec as a province like the others, or do the Conservatives see Quebec as a distinct society, a nation? Do the Conservatives have anything to offer Quebec that is different from what they have to offer the other provinces?

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Quebec
Polls