Ruth Ellen Brosseau

[Agriculture and Agri-food, February 6th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, our dairy farmers believed the Liberal government's lofty promises and nice words, but they have been betrayed. Once again, trade agreements have been signed at the expense of our farmers.

The Liberals have put our food sovereignty at risk. They have once again proven their incompetence, with the diafiltered milk file and the reciprocity of standards.

On January 18, the Prime Minister promised that he would make sure farmers, and not the government, would determine the amount of compensation.

Will the government keep its promise? When will our dairy farmers be compensated?

[Telecommunications, February 5th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, access to high-speed Internet in the regions is vital, especially for families, SMEs, self-employed workers and farm operations. Nonetheless, 240,000 households in Quebec do not have an affordable and reliable Internet connection. There is a desperate need, but the Liberals have no plan to bridge the digital divide. The Liberals have failed the rural regions, as did the previous Conservative government.

My question is very simple. When will the government introduce a strategy to get rural regions connected to the Internet?

[Marine Transportation, January 30th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, last week, ice jams in the St. Lawrence Seaway forced a shutdown of the ferry between Saint-Ignace and Sorel for three days. Just like the Conservatives, the Liberals have completely neglected the icebreaker file.

Steve Piché, the chair of the Berthier-D'Autray chamber of commerce and industry, is calling for immediate federal government assistance. Without an icebreaker and a ferry, residents have to detour to Trois-Rivières or Montreal to get to Sorel. That is ridiculous.

Will the government make the St. Lawrence Seaway a priority and invest—

[Telecommunications, December 13th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, access to high-speed Internet is a priority issue for the people of Berthier—Maskinongé, especially for residents living on the Point-du-Jour Nord concession in Lavaltrie.

Like the 2 million Canadians who do not have affordable, reliable Internet access, residents like Gilles Auclair and Sylvie Legault do not even have Internet service that meets the CRTC's minimum standards. The Liberals need to do more for our rural regions.

When is the government finally going to bridge the digital divide in the regions and take meaningful action to ensure that they get affordable high-speed Internet service?

[The Member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, December 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, every Liberal seems to have a different version of what is going on with the member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel.

The member claims that the Prime Minister assigned him a secret mission. The Prime Minister has clarified nothing. In September, the Liberal whip assured everyone that the member would resign.

Being here on behalf of our constituents is central to our work. Until this morning, the member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel had been absent since June.

My question is simple: Can someone, anyone, on the other side of the House tell us the truth about what tasks have been assigned to the member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel?

[Agriculture and Agri-food, December 6th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, at the UPA conference yesterday, farmers were very clear about the frustrations they are feeling. Farmers believed the fine words they heard from the Liberal government. It was going to solve the diafiltered milk problem, not give in on class 7, not allow any breaches in the new NAFTA and not sacrifice our food sovereignty.

All of those promises have been broken. Today Quebec farmers feel betrayed by the Liberal government.

How can Quebec farmers still trust the Liberal government to defend their interests?

[International Trade, November 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government needs to stand up and fight for workers.

Yesterday, Dairy Farmers of Canada called on the Prime Minister not to sign the USMCA until the U.S. oversight of our dairy system has been removed. This is about our food sovereignty.

This clause will have devastating and crippling consequences on our industry here in Canada.

I have a simple question. Will the Prime Minister listen to Canadians and make sure that the oversight clause is removed quickly?

[Automotive Industry, November 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the news out of Oshawa is devastating. GM has shown contempt for workers. What is worse is that the Liberal government should have known that GM would soon be closing its doors. Rather than supporting Canadian families, the Liberals threw billions of dollars at rich corporations, like GM, without any guarantee that those corporations would maintain jobs.

Why do the Liberals continue to put the interests of rich corporations ahead of the well-being of Canadian workers?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his comments on pay equity.

This situation is inconceivable in 2018, especially since our Prime Minister professes to be such a champion of women and equality. As my colleague aptly pointed out, this was a Liberal campaign promise. They are holding yet more consultations. They are going to create a department.

During the committee's study of Bill C-86, we heard from experts. The committee held three meetings on this bill and heard testimony from experts. The Liberals rejected all of the NDP's amendments, which had been drafted with the help of experts. That is really frustrating because we had something like 30 amendments on pay equity. The Liberals said they knew more than people in the field who have taken cases to court.

What the Liberals are proposing means that groups will have to go back to court to achieve pay equity. That is sad, disappointing and frustrating. The Liberal government needs to take action right now, not hold more consultations. The time to take action is now.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I could have talked more than 10 minutes, because there are a lot of issues I would have liked to have brought forward on the floor of the House.

I mentioned the importance to act on ensuring we equalized and had better transfer payments to first nations schools. We hear stories, quite often brought up in caucus and in question period, of devastating circumstances, such as how the schools are filled with mould and people are getting sick. The government is not investing enough in building schools so kids feel safe and comfortable. It is completely ridiculous to think that in the 2018 there is such as injustice in the way kids are treated across Canada.

For the boiled water advisories, some people do not have running water. Parents are afraid to wash their kids because they might get sick. We have not seen a concrete plan and obviously the government has not invested enough.

These are human rights violations. These are important issues that the government talks a lot about, but when it comes to concrete action and money to back it up, it is far too little.