CPAC - Thursday, May 23, 2024 - 10:00 a.m. (ET) - Segment #15

before I got to my turn, and I would like to reread the motion. So that the house condemn the federal government's repeated intrusion in to the exclusive jurisdictions of Quebec, the provinces and the territories and remind the Prime Minister that despite his claims, it is not true that people do not care what level of government is responsible for what, and(c), demand the government systematically offer Quebec, the provinces and territories the right to opt out unconditionally with full compensation whenever the federal government interferes in to their jurisdictions. And this very last sentence, Madam Speaker, shows contradiction in itself because the federal government should never interfere in to Quebec's jurisdiction or that of the provinces and territories. And I'd like to go back to the "B" section of our motion today because earlier, the member referred that people don't care what level of government is responsible for what, they say. Didn't come out of nowhere. It's a quote from the mouth of the Prime Minister himself, and we would like to call this in to question, Madam Speaker. Yet 82% of Quebecers were polled in March and they stated that they are concerned by respect for provincial jurisdiction, that of Quebec in particular and that of the municipalities. This is important, it means that citizens do care, Madam Speaker, and there's nothing that bothers me more than someone who doesn't mind their own business. You know, someone who comes to do something that is your responsibility and just does it to take credit for it. Madam Speaker, imagine today you decide to recognize a member on a point of order and you tell me to sit down, wouldn't it take too long? And that's how Quebecers feel when the federal government barges in to our provincial jurisdiction jurisdiction, and this creates tension between the federal government and Quebec over jurisdiction, and it's nothing new. It's not a sovereigntist issue that sovereigntists are trying to squabble over. Even Robert Bourassa complained about it, and you can't get any more liberal federalist than that. Some people might suggest otherwise, but anyway, federal interference is not only seen as a violation of Quebec's autonomy and that of the provinces, but also as an obstacle to the development and growth of the Quebec nation, and this was the opinion of just about almost every successive government in the National Assembly in Quebec, not just elective representatives. In fact, 82% of Quebecers think that the federal government should mind its own business. Minding its own business would mean starting to properly manage the things that fall under its jurisdiction. For example, learning where taxpayers' money is going before we realize that we wasted $1 billion on consultants or small businesses that aren't always competent and who are given mandates like creating an application to manage border arrivals during a pandemic. We're still having to help out constituents in our ridings that the government owes money to often tens of thousands of dollars, and these people are living in poverty, not because of their efforts, but because of their retirements. They still are owed 30, 40, or $50,000 because of the Phoenix system that this government isn't able to fix. Minding their own business also means trying not to impose conditions on health transfers to Quebec because the federal government knows nothing about the health system in Quebec and the provinces because it was absent to the Quebec health system -- they're responsible for the disaster right now that we're seeing, and the Liberals may raise and say Quebecers are happy to have a dental care system. Yes, but if we had adequate funding over the years for health care transfers, if Quebecers wanted dental care that was large in scope to cover everyone, we would have had the means to pay for it. We would have had pharmacare, we would have had better child care system. We are able to create our own social systems in Quebec based on the desires and needs of the Quebec nation. So minding your own business also means stop pretending to

care about seniors when 65 to 74-year-olds as my colleague was saying, they're in dire straits because the government has forgotten them whether it comes to increasing old age pensions. It's absolutely ridiculous and it's inexcusable. Not one week goes by when I don't receive emails or calls from people in my riding, from people who are 65 to 74 years of age who are not getting the OAS they need, and we continue to push to improve it. We want to help these seniors, also those who are over 75 years of age, there's an inequity there. But if only the federal government would mind its own business, we wouldn't have this situation to deal with. Also, minding its own business means to stop pretending that they want to defend French when on the other hand, they want to challenge Bill 96 passed by the national assembly of Quebec and which knows better than Ottawa how to counter the decline of French in Quebec, Canada and even in North America. It's the last French bastion in North America, the last bastion of French culture, and no one knows better than Quebec how to defend it and how to fight the decline in French. Madam Speaker, as you know, the notion of respect for jurisdiction jurisdiction, the actual idea of jurisdiction between federal and provincial governments is taught in Quebec in grade 10, roughly. It means that 14 or 15-year-olds, whether they're federal, provincial, municipal jurisdictions, they know who does what and at 14 or 15 years of age, they learn this at school, and these young people when they learn this, they get interested in politics and they look at what's happening. They say that we're really off track and they wonder what's going on. They say they're learning this at school but it doesn't seem to be the case in reality. There's something that is behind this, Madam Speaker. For some time now, we've been witnessing an exploitation of people's ignorance. We're bombarding the world with insipid, meaningless slogans, spreading filthy disinformation left and right, especially on the right, and we realize that it works. People swallow it without asking questions. It's sad and dangerous for democracy, and one of the teachings of Socrates is that a democracy can only work if the people are educated. We are living in worrying times, Madam Speaker. If politicians exploit ignorance rather than helping to build a better informed society and people who are able of critical thinking thinking. As a parliamentarian, we have to do things correctly. We have to respect our institutions, respect our duty to our citizens, and this means respecting every level of government and that every level of government do its job. >> The Speaker: (Voice of Interpreter): Questions and comments. The Honourable Member for Chateauguay-Lacolle. >> (Voice of Interpreter): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to thank my colleague for his speech and I would like to ask him a question that I've already asked but I'd like to hear his thoughts about this. Does he think that the Bloc and the members of the Bloc that represent their constituents, does he think he represents the Quebec government? >> The Speaker: (Voice of Interpreter): The Honourable Member for Drummond. >> Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague from Chateauguay-Lacolle, if she follows the work of the house and I think she does closely, she knows full well that the Bloc does represent the national assembly of Quebec, the elected officials of the population of Quebec and there's also a consensus at the national assembly and we do, of course, respect first and foremost the decisions that are made at the national assembly of Quebec, because that is what represents best the interests of Quebecers. >> The Speaker: (Voice of Interpreter): The Honourable Member for Terrebonne. >> (Voice of Interpreter): I'd like to thank my colleague from Drummond for warming up the room. We feel there's a great deal of respect for jurisdiction now. With respect to the legitimacy of the government and getting involved in Quebec's jurisdiction, even though it had

a minority government, I would like to hear what he has to say about that. >> (Voice of Interpreter): Madam Speaker, I hope I have 15 minutes to answer that question from my colleague because it's a never-ending answer, but there is something that is concerning to see people who give a government a minority government and rather than respecting the desire of people, they team up with another opposition party to govern like a majority government, and with policies and bills that may have been well intended but go against some principles including the respect of provincial jurisdictions. So, no, Madam Speaker, I don't think the government has legitimacy to govern right now, thank you. >> The Speaker: Questions and comments. (Voice of Interpreter): Resumeing debate. The Honourable Member for Terrebonne. >> (Voice of Interpreter): Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. On Monday, we celebrated the patriots day, patriots that had fought and sometimes hung for defending the rights of Quebecers. In '38 after the rebellion, Quebec was in bad shape and they're wondering how to get rid of these francophones who refused to submit themselves to queen Victoria and remain a colony. They didn't want to remain loyal to the British government, and they found that they would create a federation -- in a confederation, rather, provinces would have most of the power and Quebecers could govern in peace without too much interference, and then they were imposed with a federation without asking their opinion. And then the Canadian federation was created. It was a big lie in the beginning that Quebecers didn't want to support. In English Canada, it wasn't unanimous, but they had to make concessions and the constitution of 1867 was based on a lie. On the one hand, they had the desire for self-determination of the Quebec people and on the other side, there was the desire of the British population, there was a tug of war between those who believed the real power was in Quebec and those who believed the real power was in Ottawa. So they were independent members who need to remind this house how the Canadian constitution works. While the government doesn't miss one opportunity to remind everyone that it's not going to touch the constitution and that all the issues related to it were not important for all the Canadians or Quebecers or that Quebecers were not concerned about the provincial jurisdiction, and it's somewhat ironic that the constitution I'm talking about was imposed in secret by the father of the current Prime Minister in 1982 during the night of the long knives. And since the liberal party has strengthened this, English Canada wants to make Ottawa its real government. It manages most of the public services and Quebec has made another choice. All of the surveys have showed us this. When you ask Quebecers if it's Quebec or Ottawa that should be managing all of the jurisdiction, they answer every time with a strong majority: Quebec should be. Many measures presented in the last budget have noble objectives. They want to take care of people who are affected by tough economic times, and the problem is that these measures are poorly adapted to the diverse reality, and I don't think I'm teaching -- surprising you if I tell you that Canada's very diverse. Quebec example is very different from Alberta. But with all the good faith in the world, this is inevitable. Without previous consultation with provinces, programs are poorly adapted both for housing and health, which is not federal jurisdiction. They have no business interfering in this. Why? Because Quebecers feel the real government is in Quebec and while that is still the case, the fiscal imbalance will remain in place. When I talk about this, provinces don't have enough money to deal with their own jurisdiction, whereas the federal government could if it wanted to, which is not the case, give the surpluses back. We don't know how they manage to have a deficit and to fulfill its responsibilities for its jurisdiction jurisdiction, well, the fact is that the needs are in the provinces, but Ottawa has the means. So even though, well, we know that this fiscal imbalance is a major issue and has been recognized for quite some time since the 1990s, and as the population is growing older, the cost of the Quebec population is growing and it's up to the Quebec government and the Quebec government alone to decide where the funding for this program should go, but Quebec is

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