Alain Therrien

[Democratic Institutions, May 18th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, his answer proves that we need an independent public commission of inquiry, a commission whose chair will be selected by the House, a commission whose mandate will be as broad as possible to get to the bottom of this matter, a commission with a clear timeline, a commission that will begin its work quickly, not in the fall, not when pigs fly, but now.

That is the only acceptable recommendation that can come from the rapporteur, who is actually not that special and certainly not independent. It is time the Liberals stopped muddying the waters.

Right here, right now, will they commit to launching this investigation?

[Democratic Institutions, May 18th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois has been calling for an independent public inquiry into Chinese interference every day since February. Every day, the Liberals hid the truth. They knew that China was interfering in the elections, but they hid it. They knew that China had suspicious ties to one of their MPs, but they hid it. They knew that China was hobnobbing with the Trudeau foundation, but they hid it. More importantly, they knew that China was threatening elected officials and their families, but they hid it. Most importantly, they did nothing. That is unforgivable.

When will there be an independent public inquiry?

[Democratic Institutions, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, by choosing to call a byelection now when it very well could have been held in the fall, the Prime Minister is showing that the priority, for him, is not countering Chinese interference in our democracy, investigating the recent election, protecting the upcoming election or ensuring public confidence in our democracy. For him, the priority is measuring the political fallout from his much-publicized inaction on the issue of Chinese interference.

Why is the Prime Minister once again unable to place the interests of democracy above those of the Liberal Party?

[Democratic Institutions, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister keeps sinking further and further into the quagmire of Chinese interference.

What concrete action has he taken? Did he launch the independent public commission of inquiry that everyone is calling for? No, he did not. Did he implement the Bloc Québécois's proposals, including a permanent investigative body? He did not do that either. What did he do? He announced byelections.

Every day for months now, we have been talking about China interfering in our elections. Instead of taking concrete action to combat interference, he calls byelections. Is that a joke?

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, May 11th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, all parties in the House have recognized the Quebec nation, yet today they are unable to respect the Quebec nation.

The Liberals are adopting immigration targets that are unanimously opposed by the Quebec National Assembly. The Conservatives, meanwhile, say they will determine their targets based on business demands, not the will of Quebeckers. The NDP says, “Quebec? Who cares?”

Will Quebeckers from the other parties stand with their nation and say no to these targets of 500,000-plus people a year?

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, May 11th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, they want to bring in 100 million people by 2100. Everyone in Quebec can see that the so-called Century Initiative is nothing of the kind.

Quebec's premier even declared it a threat to our nation. Quebec's National Assembly adopted not one, not two, but three unanimous motions against these targets. Every elected representative in Quebec is against them. These people are not big bad nationalists. They simply are not willing to see Quebec transformed in such a radical way without debate and without their input.

Will the government commit to not increasing immigration to reach 100 million citizens by 2100?

[Privilege, May 9th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, it would take me longer than 40 seconds to say how much I appreciate my colleague. He is amazing.

To answer his question, yes, an independent public inquiry is essential. One thing we know for sure about the Prime Minister is that he is in no way competent enough to find out what happened and disclose it publicly. He has to hand over the reins to someone else, and an independent, public inquiry is what it will take.

[Privilege, May 9th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I recognize all the work done by my colleague. Our caucus truly appreciates him and so do his constituents.

The question is whether CSIS has discovered anything. I have never been there, but I imagine that those people must work hard. They are not sitting on their couches eating chocolates and waiting for people to come to them with information. They have to go look for the information and work hard.

They go look for information some place, somewhere, and that is extremely important. They want to protect Canada's democracy and parliamentarians. After making all these efforts, they come up against a government, and especially a prime minister, that completely ignores the hard work they do. There is reason for concern. We are in the dark.

[Privilege, May 9th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, my colleague is right. Speaking of coalitions, I think it is pretty clear. The Conservatives, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP all agree. Is that partisanship? No, it is not.

I completely agree with my colleague that we need an independent public inquiry. We have been asking for one for a long time. The NDP has been asking for one. The Conservatives are also asking for one. The government got the brilliant idea to procrastinate once again, hoping things would get better on their own, only to discover that it had wasted two months and that the revelations keep on coming. It is not over yet, I am sure.

I therefore agree with the hon. member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie. We need an independent public inquiry.

[Privilege, May 9th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, there is an obvious kernel of truth in my colleague's question. It is very troubling. Did the Prime Minister know the truth but fail to say anything when he should have, or did he not know because he was too naive? Which of these alternatives is preferable? Neither of them.

The government obfuscates and remains silent every time we say something about Chinese interference. Their attitude is deny, deny, deny. Lives may be at stake, but the Liberals continue to deny. That is the problem.