Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, in a way, the answer is in the question. I would like Quebeckers to hear someone stand up in Parliament and tell them, in English, to look at what the rest of Canada is doing better than they are, and to tell them that they are so bad that the federal government needs to develop programs that will be imposed on them with their own money.

Business of Supply  moved: That the House: (a) condemn the federal government’s repeated intrusion into the exclusive jurisdictions of Quebec, the provinces and the territories; (b) remind the Prime Minister that, despite his claims, it is not true that “people do not care which level of government is responsible for what”; and (c) demand that the government systematically offer Quebec, the provinces and territories the right to opt out unconditionally with full compensation whenever the federal government interferes in their jurisdictions.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, over the past few years, the Government of Canada has developed a way of doing politics that follows a clear and heavy-handed approach, including an egregious abuse of the so-called fiscal imbalance. This means that the federal government is receiving more revenue than it needs to fulfill its roles and responsibilities, whereas Quebec and the provinces are collecting and receiving less than they need to fulfill their respective roles and responsibilities.

Fisheries and Oceans  Mr. Speaker, we are going to give him a chance. The fishing areas were closed because of right whales. Everyone wants to protect the right whale. The government is actually endangering it more by opening up areas to offshore oil drilling. Fishers have suggested ways to protect whales, and so have scientists and the Bloc Québécois.

Fisheries and Oceans  Mr. Speaker, only one fishery is still operating fully in the western Gulf of St. Lawrence, specifically, shellfish, in other words, crab and lobster. All the others are in serious jeopardy, and now even that fishery is in crisis too. The industry is in distress, but the member for Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine and Minister of Fisheries is closing vast fishing areas off Chaleur Bay, the Gaspé Peninsula and Acadia.

Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, a brand new study by the Office québécois de la langue française shows that the proportion of young Quebeckers who use French as their language of work 90% of the time has dropped from 64% to 58%. Will the Prime Minister admit that his language policies are not slowing the decline of French one bit, and that his opposition to Bill 96 is weakening the French language, or will he in turn start hurling vicious and vulgar insults at Quebec scientists?

Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, one day we will have our own country and our own future. The Liberals have admitted responsibility but their actions go against that responsibility. They sent money to the anglophone community in Quebec so it could protect itself, of course, from being assimilated by francophones.

Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, the Liberals claim to be interested in French in Quebec and Canada. The fact is that they are subsidizing the quiet disappearance of francophones in western Canada and outside Quebec, much like the proverbial frog in a pot of boiling water. What is more, the Liberals are mobilizing dozens of unilingual anglophone members to protect their offensive member, whose comments were as underhanded as they were inappropriate.

Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, he is right, and I appreciate this stroke of brilliance: the best thing that could happen to French in Quebec, in Canada and partly around the world, is an independent Quebec. Meanwhile, what did the Prime Minister of Canada say during the English debate in 2021? When I was the only one who wanted to talk about francophones outside Quebec, in English, I was told that I did not have the right to talk about French in English during his country's English debate.

Claude Villeneuve  Mr. Speaker, I cannot count how many times I have told my colleagues from Jonquière and Lac-Saint-Jean that we should ask Claude. I am of course talking about biologist Claude Villeneuve, a giant in the field of science and a giant of a human being, who left us Sunday evening. He was a scientist and an academic for whom ideology was no substitute for science and universities should teach facts, not fairy tales.

Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, let us touch briefly on extremism. Last week, a party leader was expelled from the House, partly for using the word “extremist” without apologizing. Today, the Prime Minister is congratulating his friend for saying exactly the same word to guests in committee. Is this a double standard or will he consider expelling his friend from the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie?

Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, I just heard that we need to protect both official languages. Where does English need protecting? This summer in Montreal there is going to be the equivalent of a global conference of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie that will be chaired by his friend, who, by his own actions, is embarrassing us on the world stage.

Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, as far as the Prime Minister is concerned researchers who use the same figures as Statistics Canada are just looking for a fight, but not his MP, who insults Quebec and has made all of the Francophonie question his choice today. What would not count as a fight for the Prime Minister?

Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, the word that I used and that you called me out on is not nearly as bad as the word that the member over there used and that nobody said anything about. The Prime Minister is trying to sow division between francophones in Quebec and francophones in Canada.

Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Prime Minister seemed to endorse the vulgar slurs used by his MP, who made what I will call the “M-word” famous in the French-speaking world. It is all a bit of a distraction, however, because the real issue is actually the issue of funding for francophone universities.