Mathieu Ravignat

[Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, March 12th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I very much liked my esteemed colleague's speech.

Over the past few weeks, months even, it seems that the government's rhetoric and what is acceptable in public discourse concerning the marginalization of communities, has no place in a country like Canada. We have the Prime Minister talking about a community as anti-women, and this bill that uses the term “barbaric”—a term first used be the Greeks to mean “strangers”.

Has my colleague heard from cultural communities in her riding and elsewhere that feel threatened and attacked by this government?

[Ethics, March 12th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the fact that proposals do not meet departmental officials' criteria is no obstacle to helping the Prime Minister's good friends. Such things can be overlooked, which is what happened in Markham after the Prime Minister's former chief of staff got involved.

However, when an opportunity arose to punish voters who turned their backs on the Conservatives, a project that Lawrence Cannon had promised suddenly failed to meet the criteria.

Seriously. Is there one set of rules for the Prime Minister's friends and another for his enemies? Is Nigel Wright in charge of enforcing those rules?

[Ethics, March 12th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, it is appalling that the Conservatives are using public money to reward their friends and punish their enemies.

Former Conservative senator Patrick Brazeau revealed that Nigel Wright and the Minister of Public Works politically interfered in the Jean Bosco Centre file. We do not know what happened, but we know the result: the funding promised disappeared into thin air when Lawrence Cannon was defeated. Unbelievable.

Can the Prime Minister explain why his chief of staff interfered in this file?

[Employment, March 11th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the Jean Bosco centre provides essential services to the people of Maniwaki.

According to former Conservative senator Patrick Brazeau, the Conservatives broke their promise to fund this centre because Minister Cannon was defeated in the last election. Again according to Mr. Brazeau, the former public works minister and even Nigel Wright were involved in this decision.

Does the Prime Minister find it acceptable that the people of Maniwaki are being punished?

[Employment, March 11th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the Prime Minister and the Conservatives are playing politics with public money. In my own riding in a tweet from former Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau, it is being alleged that the Minister of Public Works pulled funding from the Jean Bosco Centre in Maniwaki because “The NDP won the election”.

Let me repeat the question from my constituents. How can the Prime Minister endorse such unacceptable and unethical behaviour from the minister and the cabinet?

[Respect for Communities Act, February 27th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciated my hon. colleague's speech. Behind many of his words was compassion, and that is something this debate needs more of. When I spoke on this particular bill, I highlighted many of the points that he did.

Something the other side of the House needs to recognize is that these substances are not natural. They are highly addictive substances. They break the will of most human beings when they are taken several times, and that is what creates addiction; it creates a disease. There is much research that shows that a lot of these people come from difficult backgrounds and have turned to drugs because of various situations. The answer is more compassion, not less.

This is also a fundamental health issue. Does it make sense to take people who are already addicted and put them in an environment where they can catch even more deadly communicable diseases that can essentially kill them? I do not think so.

I would be interested to hear from my hon. colleague as to what he thinks the solution is.

[Taxation, February 6th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, in addition to having created zero day care spaces, the Conservatives have cut existing spaces located in workplaces. Some day cares within the federal public service, including those in Ottawa, are being forced to close because the Conservatives have stopped subsidizing rent and cleaning costs.

Why are the Conservatives bound and determined to complicate the lives of public servants who are parents and are trying to balance work and family life?

[Ethics, February 6th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, today we learned that the Prime Minister's current chief of staff will be forced to testify in a criminal case involving a payment made by Nigel Wright.

Conservative Ray Novak will be called to testify, and we may even see the Prime Minister called to the stand. Maybe we will finally hear from the Prime Minister abput what he meant when he told Nigel Wright that the Mike Duffy payments were “good to go”, why he claimed that no one in his office except Nigel Wright knew about the payments when emails clearly show that many more were involved, or why he said he did not know about illegal payments when records show that he did.

Last summer at the PMO it was “difficult to imagine” the Prime Minister testifying. I would say it does not take much imagination now to see the Prime Minister take the stand. Hopefully Canadians will then finally get truthful answers from the Conservatives about the PMO-orchestrated cover-up of the Senate scandal.

[Opposition Motion—Job Creation, February 5th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I was most interested to hear my hon. colleague’s remarks. She made an excellent point, namely that the Conservatives’ job creation plan is not working, particularly in my riding. Fewer and fewer people have jobs. The reason is this government’s complete lack of balance: some sectors are obviously friends of theirs, and others are not.

What is needed is a reasonable approach that looks at the economy and stimulates the sectors that are in difficulty. That is what our motion seeks to do and what it seeks to add to the debate.

Does my colleague have any comments on that score?

[Ethics, January 28th, 2015]

VIA Rail spent more than $100,000 on Montreal Canadiens hockey tickets.

While seniors are stuck in snow banks, Canada Post executives are enjoying themselves at the Bell Centre. More than $200,000 was spent on their hockey tickets. That is indecent.

Not much has changed in Ottawa since Chuck Guité and the Liberals handed out tickets left and right.

How do the Conservatives justify these practices, which are reminiscent of the sponsorship scandal?