House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2006, with 45% of the vote.
Highway Infrastructures February 25th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, during the election campaign, the Liberals made a formal promise to Quebec of $3.5 billion for roads.
Today, the Deputy Prime Minister is refusing to respond in any way to our questions. The people of Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, Montérégie, Bas-du-Fleuve and the Outaouais have had it up to here with the Liberal government's unkept promises.
How much money are they going to put on the table to make good their promises? That is what we want to know .
The Environment February 20th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, once a province, such as Quebec, has introduced two plans to limit greenhouse gases, reducing its rate of emission of CO
2
into the atmosphere, while other provinces, including the one from which the minister hails, have increased their emissions by 20%, is one not entitled to wonder whether the minister has not deliberately chosen parameters that are not in Quebec's interests in order to protect his own region?
The Environment February 20th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, in connection with implementing the Kyoto protocol, the Minister of the Environment said in the House at the beginning of the week that he would not take the past into account, that he clearly favoured a sectoral, rather than a territorial approach. He has just said that he wants to see costs shared so that no one region has to pay more than another.
How can he tell the House today that everything is open, that he is going to talk with the provincial ministers, when he himself has very clearly set the parameters for those talks, none of which are to Quebec's advantage?
Golden Jubilee February 6th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, we respectfully acknowledge the comments made by the government House leader regarding the Queen, and it is our opinion that members from the other provinces of Canada have the right to feel such respect towards Her Majesty the Queen of England.
However, we in no way recognize the authority she claims to exercise over Canada, and particularly over Quebec, and more importantly over our institutions.
The representatives of the Queen in Canada are the Governor General and the Lieutenants Governor in the provinces, and this institution, for which we have no admiration whatsoever and which we believe is greatly outdated, needs to be subject to an indepth reform as soon as possible.
Our political party sincerely believes that if members from the other provinces, and Liberal members from Quebec, want a monarch who hails from another country to be the head of their country, they are free to do so.
The Bloc Quebecois members elected to the House represent citizens who want a sovereign country that is not led by any foreign monarch, but one that is elected by the people that he or she will lead.
Points of Order February 6th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, as House leader of the Bloc Quebecois, I am deeply distressed that my colleagues are feeling confused.
In order to avoid any ambiguity, it is the Bloc Quebecois that refused that the motion on the Queen's birthday be moved. We were the ones who did it.
Foreign Affairs February 4th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I would like to know what kind of contact this was.
Very seriously, how can the Minister of Foreign Affairs claim in the House that he was in frequent, regular, daily contact with DND when Afghan prisoners were taken which is not an everyday occurrence? The Minister of National Defence has known this ever since the 21st, and yet the Minister of Foreign Affairs has just told us today that he learned of it eight days later? What sort of contact was there?
Foreign Affairs February 4th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I am delighted that the Minister of Foreign Affairs is in frequent, regular contact, daily even, with the Department of National Defence.
What I am asking him is merely this. On January 21, when the Minister of National Defence learned that the Canadian Forces had taken prisoners, was the Minister of Foreign Affairs still in regular contact with DND, either he or his deputy minister?
Privilege February 4th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, allow me to draw some considerations to your attention.
If I am not mistaken, when a question of privilege is debated before the House of Commons, this debate has priority over any other activity that may be occurring and is the subject of routine proceedings.
I do not know whether there is a precedent, but before you rule on the matter, I would like to ask what precedent the Chair may use to suspend the debate on a question of privilege to go on to routine proceedings, as though nothing has happened. Personally, I am not satisfied with the government leader's commitments.
I would like to know why, suddenly, this debate should be suspended and we should revert to it at the earliest opportunity. Is there an urgent matter, a state matter, that does not allow us to discuss here in the House the fact that a minister of parliament has allegedly misled members? I think this is the most serious misdeed that can be committed in this parliament.
The question of privilege is in order and it seems to me that this debate has priority over any other situation, including, of course, discussions about a Senate amendment.
Foreign Affairs February 1st, 2002
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Deputy Prime Minister. Earlier, he answered my question by saying that the clerk had not passed on the information to the Prime Minister and himself before Tuesday morning.
Can the Deputy Prime Minister tell us whether or not the Clerk of the Privy Council had the information to the effect that we had captured soldiers in Afghanistan before Tuesday morning, the time at which he himself says he was informed? Did the clerk have the information, yes or no? That is what we wish to know.
Foreign Affairs February 1st, 2002
Mr. Speaker, in order to be sure that we have clearly understood the Deputy Prime Minister, I would simply ask him the following specific question: can the Deputy Prime Minister rise in his place and tell us that the Clerk of the Privy Council, who is a deputy minister of the Prime Minister, did not know that Canada had taken prisoners in Afghanistan before Tuesday morning, which is when the Prime Minister says he learned of the situation?