44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 19, 2024 10:00AM
- Sep/19/24 2:20:19 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, like you, I was a page in the House of Commons a few years back, and I would like to congratulate and thank the new cohort of pages we are fortunate to have with us this year. We know how important their responsibilities are. Members of the House appreciate their service. I thank them for being with us in the coming months.
As for the Leader of the Opposition, what he is saying is laughable. He is saying that we should just keep cutting back on programs to help Quebeckers and the Government of Quebec, including health care, child care and day care.
106 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:20:52 p.m.
- Watch
Before we continue, I would like to remind all members that it is important for questions to be about the administration of government and its accountability to the House of Commons if they want to get answers.
37 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:21:16 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, it is not just the Premier of the Quebec nation. The Bloc Québécois's political cousin, Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, is also condemning this costly, centralizing government.
He said, quote, “Quebec was deliberately destabilized. This is an abuse of federal power.” According to the PQ, the governing party is hurting Quebec, and the Bloc Québécois is keeping that party in power.
Why did the leader of the Bloc Québécois turn his back on the Parti Québécois and all Quebeckers to keep the most centralizing and costly prime minister in Canada's history in power?
121 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:21:59 p.m.
- Watch
Again, I am very sorry, but that question is not for the government. Even so, I see the Minister of Canadian Heritage rising to answer.
25 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:22:20 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the last time Mr. Legault got in bed with the Conservatives, Quebeckers put him in his place. It will be the same thing this time.
I find it rather strange that Mr. Legault and Paul St-Pierre Plamondon are supporting a party that is bent on destroying our most important institution in Quebec, an institution that defends the French language, Quebec culture and Quebec's cultural creators, namely CBC/Radio-Canada. It is shameful.
Those of us on this side of the House will always fight for Quebeckers, for the right to our language and for the right to our culture.
103 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:22:59 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the Prime Minister has lost his Quebec lieutenant, who has now become a provincial candidate.
Fortunately for him, he found another Quebec lieutenant, and it is the leader of the Bloc Québécois.
The Bloc voted to increase inflationary bureaucratic spending by $500 billion. It voted to hire an extra 100,000 public servants. It voted to keep a government that broke the immigration system in office.
Is it not true that the Conservatives are the real defenders of Quebec?
87 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:23:44 p.m.
- Watch
I give the floor to the hon. Leader of the Opposition.
11 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:23:54 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, we all knew that the NDP leader had sold out the people and signed on to a costly coalition with the carbon tax Prime Minister to tax people's food, punish their work, double their housing costs and unleash crime in their communities.
However, he claimed that he had torn up the carbon tax coalition so that Winnipeggers would not fire him in a by-election, but as soon as the votes were counted, he betrayed them too and taped back together the carbon tax coalition.
How can anyone ever believe what he says again?
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
102 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:24:35 p.m.
- Watch
The Chair is in a very uncomfortable situation here.
The hon. Leader of the Opposition has the floor.
18 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:24:45 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the NDP leader was terrified he was going to lose a by-election in Winnipeg, an NDP stronghold, so he put out a Hollywood production where he claimed he had torn up the carbon tax coalition to which he had signed up, and that he was going to stop fighting for his pension and start fighting for the people. However, once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He is a fake, a phony and a fraud.
How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?
94 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:27:23 p.m.
- Watch
Order.
Colleagues, there are some long-standing traditions of the House that we should endeavour to respect. It is important that we ask questions in question period to make government accountable to the people of Canada. The questions by their very nature should be pointed, should be tough and should be specific, and the answers should also be clear.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
The Speaker: However, colleagues, for this to work, we also have to make sure that we work within the rules we have. There were some important questions that were asked but that were not related to the administration of the government, and therefore there were no responses to those. We have so many other tools available to us as members to make the comments we need to make outside question period.
While the microphone was off, although the Chair did not hear this, there might have been some strong words exchanged between members. I ask members to please remember that Canadians are looking at us. Let us conduct ourselves in a way really befitting of each of our constituencies and the country as a whole.
With that, we will move on to the next question.
The hon. member for La Prairie.
205 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:29:43 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the citizens of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun for putting their trust in the Bloc Québécois.
The truth is the Bloc Québécois is in the best position it has been in over 15 years. If increasing the number of Bloc members was our priority, an election would have already been called. However, our priority is Quebeckers. Quebeckers are concerned about the living conditions of seniors, among other things. That is why we are asking the Liberals to stop financially discriminating against seniors aged 65 to 74.
Are they finally going to increase old age security by 10% for that age group?
117 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:30:23 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from the Bloc Québécois for asking a real question here in the House.
It is important to make sure that questions refer to the work of government. The government is here to work for Canadians and to demonstrate what we do every day to serve Canadians.
It would be nice if all members of the House could keep that in mind.
71 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:30:50 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals need to understand something. It is very simple.
They have two choices, and both choices come at a cost. Either they increase old age security by 10% for seniors aged 65 to 74, or they will pay for it, politically speaking. The Liberals will have to make a choice, and so will the other parties. If they think that seniors' pensions are not important, then they better have the nerve to tell seniors to their faces. The Liberals are going to pay for it one way or another.
Will they increase old age security by 10%, yes or no?
103 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:31:25 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I applaud the member for La Prairie for wanting to help seniors in Quebec because, clearly, he has not been very supportive of Quebec or Canadian seniors to date.
Some may be surprised to learn that he voted against lowering the retirement age to 65, that he voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplement for the poorest seniors in Quebec and that, when we brought in a plan for dental care, the member for La Prairie voted against it.
81 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:32:09 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Medical Association is deeply concerned about privatization. Thanks to years of cuts, Canadians are worried that there is a—
24 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:32:25 p.m.
- Watch
Colleagues, I am having some difficulty hearing due to some shouting coming from the latter third of the House. Can I ask all members, please, who do not have the floor to not speak.
I am going to invite the hon. member for Burnaby South to start from the top, please.
51 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:32:45 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Medical Association is worried about privatization in our health care system. It is worried about the real impacts of a dangerous shortage of frontline health care workers, family medicine and family health care workers. It is worried about specialist shortages and nurse shortages.
The Conservatives want to make people pay to receive health care, and the Liberals are too weak to stop them. Why are the Liberals letting the Conservatives force people to pay out of pocket to receive health care?
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
90 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:33:19 p.m.
- Watch
I know some members would like me to make a more specific intervention. Unfortunately, from the chair, I cannot see who is making the intervention, but I will ask members to please not speak when they have not been recognized.
The hon. Minister of Health has the floor.
48 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/19/24 2:33:52 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, working together, we have been able to make incredible progress in our health system. Bilateral agreements have been signed with every province and every territory, based on co-operation, of $200 billion. With the NDP, when it was interested in working with us, we were able to do things like provide dental care, with 650,000 people already getting care. We were able to do things like pharmacare.
Unfortunately the NDP has made a choice. The New Democrats have decided to give in to a bully who is using a playbook that comes from a movie like Mean Girls, rather than standing up and fighting for our health care system and working collaboratively.
115 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
