Madam Speaker, I think I was a bit hasty in phrasing my question to the leader of the government. We misunderstood one another, but I will come back to this in my speech. I would like her to listen to what I am going to say, and I would like to receive information on Bill C‑234.
I would just add that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Saint-Jean.
Getting back to the motion before the House, I would like to start by saying that our Conservative colleagues are not being serious. They are mocking us today. I say that because, two days ago, they moved a non-confidence motion that said the House does not have confidence in the Prime Minister. That is all it said. Our response was that we found it interesting that they thought that. Let me reassure them. We do not trust anyone. We do not have confidence in the current government and we do not have confidence in any Conservative government. My job is to protect the interests of Quebec until we are independent. That is our job. We are trying to make progress every day. We will continue to do so, despite the Leader of the Opposition's ambitions and his propensity for stamping his feet. He really wants to be emperor, replacing the current emperor. We told them that it was not enough. We will vote on motions with some substance. Two days later, with more theatrics, they come up with the idea of including their slogan in the motion, thinking that we would definitely vote with them. How can anyone take them seriously?
I find it quite sad. I am not making personal attacks, I am talking about the content. As members know, I focus on content, and I want things to move forward. We tell them that it is not good enough and that we are going to vote for things that are important to Quebec. They come back with a motion saying it is time to “axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime”, which they repeat to us ad nauseam, approximately 72 times a day, without ever explaining it. That is what I find interesting. I want to hear them explain what they are going to do.
They tell us in the motion that food has been taxed. I just spoke on Bill C‑234, which deals with the carbon tax we keep hearing about. As we in the Bloc Québécois are reasonable people, we agreed to create an exemption for grain drying. The bill already went to the Senate and has come back to the House. All that remains is to vote on it. The first speech I made in the House last January dealt with this, but since then, people claiming to want to make life easier for farmers have been blocking the legislation. They are adding speakers to fill the time and they are not allowing us to vote on the bill. Once we vote on it, it will be settled, provided we accept the Senate amendments, of course. That is the reasonable, intelligent and rational choice that the Bloc team has made, because that is how we operate.
The Conservatives keep yelling at me that the government is taxing food, but I would like them to show me that they do not plan to do the same. Results do not matter to them. What they want is an election. They are scheming for power. Nothing else matters. All they want is to score political points, spout slogans, generate sound bites and rake in money. They are not working for the people.
They talk to us about housing. Many times I have heard government representatives say that the Leader of the Opposition, while serving as housing minister, created something like six affordable housing units. I must confess, I did not check this figure. We hear it often. There must be some truth to it, although we should exercise caution. Everything said in the House is not necessarily true. We have to be careful. There is no proof. We will be careful.
People talk to us about interference and a centralist government, but the opposition leader is directly threatening cities with funding cuts if he does not like the look of the mayor. That is quite something. We are hearing that if a mayor is incompetent, their funding will be cut. First of all, he has no right to do that in Quebec. That has to go through Quebec. There is more to it than that.
They might be angry because they received only 12% of the vote in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. They are hot and bothered about getting a more positive vote, maybe. Even yesterday, members began saying that the Bloc Québécois was no longer party of the regions because we captured a Montreal riding. That is interesting. We in the Bloc work for everyone.