Pablo Rodriguez

[Health, April 12th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois is going to have to make up its mind.

Two weeks ago, just before the break, the Bloc wanted to exempt all snowbirds, all of them, even those who had been vaccinated, from quarantines. Now, all of a sudden, it is saying that we must have more stringent border controls. We cannot do both. Which one is the Bloc supporting?

The Bloc must at least be clear about that. We have been clear from the outset. We established strict rules at the border, among the strictest in the world. Why? It is because our priority is the health and safety of all Quebeckers and all Canadians.

[Intergovernmental Relations, April 12th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague knows very well, because I know him to be very well informed, that we have transferred roughly $7 billion in additional funding to Quebec, without any conditions or anything else, purely in the spirit of goodwill and collaboration.

That is what we have been doing from the beginning. We have taken a very pragmatic approach, like Quebec, to emerge from this crisis as strong as possible, to protect the health of all Quebeckers, to solve the issue of Internet access in the regions, to invest in aerospace and to invest in Quebec society as a whole.

The Bloc Québécois does not like this, because they become weaker when Canada is doing well, and that makes them unhappy.

[Intergovernmental Relations, April 12th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I am a bit surprised to hear the Bloc member talk about working together, because what he is trying to do with that question is pick a fight. That is the opposite of working together.

What my colleague is saying is that one of the things Ottawa wants to do is impose its vision on Quebec, but the facts show that we work very well together. We are getting through the pandemic together. We are supplying vaccines, and Quebec is distributing them. We are doing all this together. We just addressed the issue of Internet access in the regions. We did that together. My colleague should at least have the decency to acknowledge that Ottawa and Quebec work very well together.

[Ethics, April 12th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague knows the answers. There is nothing new there. He read from a document where the answers were already there. The problem for the Conservatives is that they are trying to say, “Aha, there's something new here”, when there is absolutely nothing. All the questions have been answered.

We are defending ministerial responsibility, just as the member who just spoke defended it for a very long time until he changed his mind. I wonder why.

[Ethics, April 12th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that I was at the committee for three hours and I answered many of the questions, and all of this was to talk about a staff member who was barely involved in the issue. There was one phone call, and the opposition decided to have a three-hour meeting about one phone call, instead of concentrating on the priority of today. Our ministers appear at committee. It was a pleasure for me to appear at that committee. We do it all the time, but they should use the time that is allowed to the members to discuss the priorities of today.

[Ethics, April 12th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, we believe in ministerial accountability. This is why our ministers appear at committees all the time. They love to answer those questions for the opposition, but the Conservatives want to ignore that tradition. That was their position at the time. What is it today? If I read what their House leader used to say at the time, it was a bit different. I will quote him: “When ministers choose to appear before committees to account for their administration, they are the best source of accountability and they must be heard. Public servants and ministerial staff support the responsibility of their ministers. They do not supplant it.”

[Ethics, April 12th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, we believe in the principle of ministerial responsibility. It has been a long tradition in our country. We are accountable to Parliament, and our staff is accountable to us. I appeared at the ethics committee for three hours to answer many questions. My colleague, the associate minister of finance, was ready to do the same. She showed up twice, but the opposition refused to let her testify on both occasions. They say they want to ask questions, but at the same time they refuse for the minister to appear. They have to make up their mind.

[Health, April 12th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, we are not waiting for anything.

We are working with all of the provinces, as we have been doing all along for PPE. Let us not forget that the Canadian Armed Forced and the Red Cross provided key support for our seniors. Our government has been working with the provinces to procure supplies and roll out the vaccines.

This is an ongoing process. Every day we are in talks to look at how we can improve the health, safety and lives of all Canadians.

[Intergovernmental Relations, April 12th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague and friend spoke about rumours. I am going to talk about facts.

The fact is that we have been working with Quebec since the very beginning of the pandemic, first with regard to equipment and now with regard to vaccines. Aside from the pandemic, there is the joint announcement at Lion Electric and our ability to work together to solve the problem of Internet access in the regions. This proves one thing: If we ignore the rumours raised by my colleague and talk about facts, we see that the two governments work very well together.

[Ethics, March 26th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I have said many times that we believe in the work of committees. They do extremely important work, which is done by all members, but they decide on their own agendas. My colleague from the Conservative Party knows that. We are always going to be there to participate and help with the work of the committees because, as I said, it is extremely important. I would like the Conservatives to stop playing these games.