Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I really do not want to interrupt my colleague, who had to start her question again, but I am having trouble hearing her. I should be able to hear her. I think the quorum call interrupted things. Some people are talking about their travel plans and rum tasting. Perhaps they should be asked to focus and promise not to break quorum, if it is going to prevent us from being able to hear the—

Electoral Participation Act  Madam Speaker, we received this proposal to push back the date of the next federal general election by a week, on the pretext that the current date coincides with a Hindu holiday. Unless someone can prove otherwise, the options to vote by advance polling or at the office of a returning officer are specifically intended for voters unavailable to vote on election day.

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, this morning, La Presse described the fiasco surrounding the app used by the Canada Border Services Agency, known as the assessment and revenue management system, or CARM. CARM is like ArriveCAN, an app with cost overruns amounting to $300 million and counting. Like ArriveCAN, the Canada Border Services Agency is behind its development too.

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, the CARM app is like ArriveCAN. It is a money pit. However, it is also like Phoenix in that it does not work. Enough is enough. This is serious, since the app is supposed to collect duties at the Canada-U.S. border. Some 3.5 billion dollars' worth of transactions take place every day at the border.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, the Bloc Québécois requests a recorded division.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I listened closely to my colleague, who is also a wise fellow member of the Standing Committee on International Trade. That is what I want to talk about, in fact. Unfortunately, I ran out of time at the end of my speech earlier, but my colleague from Mirabel asked me an interesting question that I would also like to put to my Standing Committee on International Trade colleague.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, it goes without saying that this commission must have the resources to do its job. It is as simple as that. That is fundamental. If a commission is set up, it must not be turned into a mere political show, a way of trying to shut down a debate that is starting to become a nuisance.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I would say we do not look very good. As a matter of fact, the United States even monitors investments because of concerns that foreign investments could jeopardize economic security. It goes without saying that, by failing to take this seriously, by being total slackers, we are making ourselves look bad.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, at least one can say that my colleague is consistent. He has asked the same question about 15 times. Sometimes he changes the wording. He is tenacious. I admire that in politics. I respect that. That being said, it is obviously not a bad thing to increase, enhance and expand the terms of references.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, Canada has a strange democracy. It is a monarchy, with an electoral system that is not proportional and a parliamentary system where the separation of powers is vague, to say the least, and difficult to define. It has a Senate, a chamber with decision-making capacity made up of unelected people who are appointed.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I listened to my colleague carefully. I know that he had a brilliant career as a Crown attorney in the past. We participated together in a mission last summer, and we had a good time discussing legal matters. I have often said that we agree with the intention of the motion, with the principle behind it.

Business of Supply  Madame Speaker, as my colleagues have said previously, we agree with the idea and the principle of the motion, but we do not agree with its wording. For example, we think there should be more time granted to allow translation services to do their work, as well as a less prescriptive tone to avoid directing the RCMP.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, there was a subsidy a few years ago to upgrade refrigerators to more energy-efficient models. I do not think that that is a scandal. The idea itself is a good one. Honestly, I am not an expert in the exact subsidy that was given, but I think that the idea is good.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I do not wish to repeat everything I already said, but in my remarks, I highlighted several completely unrealistic aspects concerning prices that have nothing to do with public will, but rather result from all sorts of factors, including wheat prices, which are determined in Chicago, or vegetable prices, which are going up because of climate change.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, it goes without saying that this act is important and needs to be updated. Clearly, Houston, we have a problem. If there are indeed only six large grocery companies, this strikes me as an indictment of the act in question. It goes without saying that this is part of the the issue.