Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the wonderful member for Shefford.
Before I begin my reply to the Speech from the Throne, I would like to warmly and sincerely thank the voters of Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon for their renewed trust. I am beginning my fifth term with the same enthusiasm, the same desire to serve my constituents and, I would say, the same strength to defend the interests of my riding, but also those of Quebec. I cannot conclude my acknowledgments without mentioning that, during an election, there is a big team of volunteers beavering away. I would therefore like to thank all of my volunteers, whose unwavering commitment made April 28 a victory for the Bloc Québécois. I myself received a fifth mandate, and I would like to thank my volunteers from the bottom of my heart.
The Speech from the Throne covers many topics in a rather vague and non-specific way, but I would like to talk about what is not in it. My background as a social worker may be evident as I discuss the people who were overlooked in the Speech from the Throne.
At the top of my list are seniors. The throne speech makes no mention of seniors and their purchasing power, which is getting worse and worse. There is no mention whatsoever of tax incentives to enable them to work and improve their living conditions. There is no mention of the discrimination against seniors aged 65 to 74 with regard to old age security. There is no mention of ending the discrimination and the two-tier system of seniors created by the previous government.
There is nothing at all for our seniors, not even for the most vulnerable seniors who did not have the privilege of contributing to a private pension plan, who did not have the opportunity to save, but who worked hard all their lives, until the age of 65. Today, they are struggling to make ends meet. As we speak, with the rising cost of groceries and housing, there are seniors living in very precarious situations. However, the throne speech makes no mention of seniors. There is nothing about them.
There is also no mention of employment insurance. Since 2015, the Liberals have been promising a major reform to EI, which is an outdated program that needs to be modernized because it does not fit the new realities of the labour market. The program discriminates against pregnant women. Women on maternity leave who lose their jobs during or after their maternity leave are not entitled to EI benefits because they have not accumulated enough hours of work. This baffling discrimination is well known and well documented, but there is nothing about it in the throne speech.
There is also nothing for sick workers. Workers with colorectal cancer, for example, know that it will take about 37 weeks to be treated for cancer and recover. There is nothing for them, since EI sickness benefits are being maintained at only 26 weeks. How many workers who have worked their entire lives and never cashed a single EI cheque, but who, unfortunately, have a serious illness and have to take time off to take care of themselves, will have to go into debt for the rest of their leave? They do not have RRSPs or savings, but they still have to pay their rent and buy groceries. These older workers who have worked their entire lives feel abandoned.
The throne speech clearly shows that the Liberal government has no intention of improving EI by implementing specific measures to help workers who are struggling or who could be adversely affected by the hostile economic policy of the United States. There is not a word about the workers whose lives will be affected by the tariff crisis we are experiencing with the United States. They were overlooked.
There is also very little about housing. I will share some information that is specific to Quebec. Quebec has the Société d'habitation du Québec, the SHQ. The SHQ is responsible for delivering housing programs and services to the public. The SHQ has developed expertise. It is a Crown corporation whose mission is to help pay the rent and support the renovation and adaptation of homes. It creates programs to help people access home ownership. The SHQ partners with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the CMHC.
The CMHC and the SHQ have a financial agreement that enables the SHQ to enhance its programs and partner with municipalities to develop a housing supply that suits Quebec's reality. For example, Quebec has a particular housing model called co-op housing. We have non-profit organizations that buy buildings, often to house clients with special needs. We have low-income housing, which includes social housing and affordable housing.
In my riding, for example, every regional county municipality, or RCM, has set up a non-profit organization to create affordable housing, either by purchasing apartment buildings, which takes them off the speculative market, or by building affordable housing. Simply put, it works. I want to congratulate Toit d'Abord Habitations abordable Vaudreuil-Soulanges, a recently created organization that is going to develop housing for 12 families. This is a new construction project containing nine two-bedroom units, which are intended for low-income families that are spending over 30% of their income on housing.
I mention these details because the throne speech seems to suggest that the government is unaware that Quebec has its own model. We have our own approach. We have solutions, and we are already taking action to make housing more affordable. The last thing we want is for the government to start acting like a developer and encroaching on jurisdictions that rightly belong to Quebec and the municipalities by insinuating itself into areas like land-use planning or urban development.
We think that the federal government's job is to figure out a way to transfer the necessary funds to Quebec so that Quebec can administer programs that meet its needs and the needs of Quebeckers. We do not think the “build Canada homes” organization mentioned in the throne speech is a good idea. We believe the time has come to improve and optimize existing programs, drop the bureaucracy and trust the provinces and municipalities to develop housing stock that meets their needs.
Obviously, there is a lot more to say. As the critic for public safety and emergency preparedness, I want to say that I was deeply disappointed when I read that there was no money promised for hiring border services officers. We know that border security is important. The former government promised that it would allocate enough money to hire 1,000 border services officers, though it knew we needed 3,000. Now the promise has suddenly evaporated. If resources are limited, if we do not hire enough border services officers, can we at least give them the power to intercept migrants crossing the border illegally, to arrest them and to call the RCMP? That is currently not possible. The Bloc Québécois wants to make it possible, given the limited resources and the importance of border security.
In closing, I want to say that a Speech from the Throne sets out broad principles and broad ideas, but the devil is in the details. We really look forward to seeing those details.