44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 16, 2024 11:00AM
- Sep/16/24 12:54:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking the Bloc Québécois members for their support. They are not necessarily the biggest advocates of Canadian citizenship, but they are supporting us in correcting an injustice related to Canadian citizenship. This is a fundamental matter of justice and rights, as they so clearly said, and I thank them for their support.
The first step will be to pass the bill and get royal assent. Then, we will have to implement an internal process, which, obviously, we have started doing, because we have to respond to several questions from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice regarding the process and the mechanism for ensuring that these individuals can obtain Canadian citizenship within a reasonable time frame. Obviously, several tests will be required, as set out in the bill. I would be happy to talk more about this in committee or in person.
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- Sep/16/24 1:49:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I was not in fact elected at the time. However, Meili Faille, who was the Bloc Québécois member for Vaudreuil—Soulanges, worked on the file and knew Mr. Chapman very well. This is important.
We in the Bloc Québécois have a lot of expertise when it comes to Canadian citizenship. As I said, that will be useful when it comes time to work with Quebec citizenship.
Right now, I do not want to talk about what happened in the past. My colleague will understand why. Anyone watching the debate might be surprised to note that the Bloc Québécois is probably the only adult in the room right now. I am not badmouthing anyone. I do not want to cause friction with the other parties over a bill that I feel would be easy to work on if everyone did their part. I am not going to badmouth anyone.
I think that we could quite easily send it to committee, since we know that three parties so far will vote for it in principle. Then we will study the Conservatives' amendments.
I am willing to work with everyone here, because we in the Bloc Québécois are responsible people. When we study a bill, we set electioneering aside. We simply want what is best for the people who elected us to represent them.
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- Sep/16/24 2:24:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers are seeing the biggest expansion of the federal government in the history of the country. This is a costly, centralizing government that has the full support of the Bloc Québécois, which has voted nearly 200 times for $500 billion in inflationary, centralizing, bureaucratic spending.
Quebeckers deserve a common-sense government that will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime now.
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- Sep/16/24 2:30:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as we have said before, seniors aged 75 and up have more expenses and often have less savings. That is why we are providing additional funding for them.
However, I am a bit confused about something. The Bloc Québécois claims to care about seniors aged 65 and up, but they voted against the dental care we are providing Canadians. A total of 650,000 Canadian seniors across the country have recently received dental care paid for by the federal government, but the Bloc voted against that. They do not give a damn about seniors.
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- Sep/16/24 2:32:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois claims to speak for the Government of Quebec but does not seem to acknowledge that the Government of Quebec admitted that it was going to issue an order to clarify and explain that it did not intend to attack anglophones. We are still awaiting that explanation. However, if the Government of Quebec could acknowledge it, maybe the Bloc Québécois could do likewise.
Seniors 65 and over who received dental care could not care less about their area of responsibility. They want the dental care that Quebec was not providing. The federal government is there to pay for seniors and help them get dental care. The Bloc Québécois voted against it.
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- Sep/16/24 2:44:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the next time the Bloc Québécois supports seniors, that will be the first time in the history of this Parliament.
Let us look at the facts. When we restored the age of retirement to 65, how did the Bloc Québécois vote? It voted against. When we increased the guaranteed income supplement, helping hundreds of thousands of seniors in Quebec, the Bloc Québécois voted against. When we brought in dental care for millions of seniors, the Bloc Québécois voted against.
It is high time that they stood up for our seniors.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois's demand is simple: We want the House to pass our Bill C-319, which would increase the old age security pension for seniors aged 64 to 74 by 10%. It is so simple and it makes so much sense that all of the parties supported our bill in committee. All that is missing is the will of the government.
Since all the parties agree that we should increase the old age security pension by 10% for seniors aged 65 to 74, will the government do the right thing and give royal recommendation to Bill C-319?
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- Sep/16/24 2:46:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome back the Bloc Québécois, which supports seniors, just as our government's actions do. Look at what we have done. We implemented the grocery rebate, increased the guaranteed income supplement and brought in many other measures, including dental care, which is being offered to people across Quebec this year, including those in my colleague's riding, even though she voted against it.
We are there for seniors.
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- Sep/16/24 2:47:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what the Bloc Québécois does not seem to understand is that actions do matter. Votes in the House matter. They voted against dental care, and Quebec seniors noticed. They voted against lowering the retirement age to 65. Quebeckers are paying attention.
The Liberal Party of Canada is always there to support the federal pensions of Quebeckers. The Bloc Québécois has never demonstrated that it is there to protect Canadians' pensions in Quebec or elsewhere.
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- Sep/16/24 2:48:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the “Liberal Bloc” voted for the largest expansion of the federal government in history. There is more spending than ever. There are more civil servants than ever. There are more financial scandals than ever. All this is being done with Quebeckers' money.
How did the Prime Minister manage to convince the Bloc Québécois to support the costliest and most centralizing government in Canadian history?
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- Sep/16/24 5:09:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, right now the Bloc Québécois members have a serious determination to make: Do they stand with the Liberals in centralizing more power in Ottawa and removing the powers of citizenship under Quebec's rules? I do not believe that the 1,095 cumulative days is a good test for determining citizenship.
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