SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24

May/23/24 11:06:49 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for making the notable effort of asking his question in French. When we talk about the global economy, we are talking about having been through a pandemic, about war, about a difficult economy in terms of food, about many side effects, and about interest rates that have gone up. The current government was there to help people during the pandemic. It is there for the middle class, for everyone in every riding. We helped hundreds of businesses and individuals get through the pandemic. We made the choice to invest in people and businesses to save the economy of the future for generations to come.

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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24

Mrs. Caroline Desbiens (Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans—Charlevoix, BQ)

May/23/24 11:34:56 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech. I would just like to correct him and point out that we do not say “supporter” in French for “support”. We say “appuyer” or “soutenir”. “Supporter” is an anglicism in this context. The Bloc Québécois was not deluded when it came here to defend Quebec's interests. The reason there are 32 of us in the House is that Quebeckers understood that they needed us to defend their interests in the House because nobody else was doing it. This being said, I would like to tell my colleague something. If we had voted against the appropriations, many employees of the federal government in Quebec would not have been paid. Many seniors would not have received their benefits, which are paid out by the federal government for now, until Quebec becomes independent. Our goal here is not to sabotage the government just for the sake of sabotaging the government politically, for populist reasons. Our goal is to take concrete action to ensure that Quebec is always as high a priority as possible in the federal context until things change, and I think that change is coming fast.

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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24

Mr. René Villemure (Trois-Rivières, BQ)

May/23/24 2:40:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us get back to the case of the member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell. To prevent him from being sacked as chair of the association des parlementaires de la francophonie, the Liberals infiltrated the organization. They signed up in droves, swelling the number of Liberals from 25 to 112, including a whole bunch of unilingual anglophones. For the first time, the APF had to send out an agenda in English. It even had to bring in interpreters for the unilingual English-speaking Liberals suddenly enamoured with the French language. Do the Liberals realize that, in order to protect their colleagues in the APF, they are literally anglicizing it?

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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24

Hon. Mélanie Joly (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lib.)

May/23/24 2:41:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada will always be there to support the international Francophonie. In fact, Canada is one of the co-founders of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. I would like to remind my colleague that we are not talking about the association des parlementaires, but about the Assemblée des parlementaires de la Francophonie. Under the circumstances, we will not only continue to support the assemblée, but we should also be proud of the fact that it is a Canadian, a truly great Canadian, a Franco-Ontarian, who chairs this organization. We will always be there to protect French in Quebec, across the country and around the world.

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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24

Mr. René Villemure (Trois-Rivières, BQ)

May/23/24 2:41:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the minister's correction. To protect a Liberal who denies the decline of French in Quebec, the Liberals are taking responsibility for the decline of the APF. I could not make this stuff up. That is not all they are responsible for, though. All those new French language enthusiasts at the APF must have read the report released by the Office québécois de la langue française yesterday. Guess which sector has the lowest proportion of workers using French most often in Quebec workplaces? The federal public service. The Liberals are the primary drivers of workplace anglicization in Quebec. When will they stop driving the decline of French?

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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24

Mr. René Villemure (Trois-Rivières, BQ)

May/23/24 2:43:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is laughable. The federal government is the worst employer in Quebec when it comes to protecting French. Coincidentally, it is the main employer in the Gatineau region. Between 2016 and 2021, the proportion of Gatineau residents working mainly in French went from 77% to 62%. That is a 17% drop in just four years. We are talking about the ridings of Gatineau , Hull—Aylmer , Pontiac, Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, all four represented by Liberal members. Their public service is the worst workplace for French in Quebec. Coincidentally, French is declining everywhere, and more so in Gatineau than elsewhere. Instead of protecting their colleagues at the APF, will they protect francophones in Gatineau?

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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24

Hon. Arif Virani

May/23/24 8:55:33 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I work in close collaboration with the Ombudsperson for victims and with victims groups around the country. I would say to the victims, including the French family, that my heart feels for them and for the loss they have experienced at the hands of a very heinous killer. That crime affected the entire nation and continues to affect the entire nation. I would also reiterate for the member opposite that decisions about parole and corrections and release are obviously governed at arm's length by the Parole Board of Canada and are also under the domain of the Minister of Public Safety.

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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24

Hon. Arif Virani

May/23/24 10:05:33 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-63

Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to point out that Meta's response was also surprising, because there are a lot of penalties set out in Bill C-63, but Meta is still comfortable working with us. With regard to the second question, I want to say that we stand up for the protection of both official languages across Canada under the Official Languages Act. If that means giving the courts and the federal court administration across Canada more funding, then we are there to listen to those concerns and provide the resources necessary to improve access to justice in both official languages, including French, for all Canadians.

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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24

Mr. Martin Champoux

May/23/24 10:06:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to hear that and I am taking note of it because we are talking about more than 6,000 rulings, many of which are important references for numerous lawyers in Quebec and Canada. This mainly affects French-speaking lawyers, obviously, because the translation that was not done was into French. The documents are available only in English. If I understand correctly, the minister is committing to providing resources so that this recommendation from 2021 can finally be implemented by the Supreme Court. Am I hearing a commitment from him on that this evening?

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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24

Mr. Martin Champoux

May/23/24 10:09:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, will the minister reconsider the decision not to require French-English bilingualism for the commissioners of the future miscarriage of justice review commission, or will French once again be optional in Canada?

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