Mr. Speaker, there are none so blind as those who will not see, and none more unconscious than those who renounce their conscience.
The mayor of Montreal, Jean Drapeau, and the Quebec premier at the time, Robert Bourassa, are indeed among those the Bloc Québécois and I vehemently denounce. Neither of those two would have a statue erected in their name in the great hall of historical bravery, and I certainly do not mind saying so.
Of course, we have heard it loud and clear: The government is busy with COVID-19. How convenient. As one of my colleagues has often said, COVID-19 is a good excuse. Everything else has to stop. There will be no snow removal this winter because of COVID-19. We can only deal with COVID-19. That is it. It is a pretext, a smoke screen, something to hide behind, to the point of being hypocritical.
I have an idea. If the government wants to focus on COVID-19, we can finish today's proceedings in 35 minutes. The Prime Minister just has to come to the House, apologize and be done with it. Then he can deal with COVID-19.
That would be so much easier. Unfortunately, while pride may be a virtue, hubris is decidedly not.