Alain Therrien

[Business of Supply, September 27th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, usually in economics and the humanities, and even in the pure sciences, if you want to solve a problem, you have to define it first. Then, you need to find the sources of the problem. Lastly, you need to address those sources.

The problem is inflation. Is inflation purely a Quebec or Canadian problem? No, every country in the G7 and the OECD is dealing with inflation. That is the first element. Is it the fault solely of the federal government, then? I do not think so. Did it act appropriately on every aspect of the inflation issue? I am not sure, but it does not bear sole responsibility. That is what I want to say.

Then, we see that inflation was at 7% in August and that it dropped a bit because of the price of oil. That means that it is relatively high. Everyone is affected by inflation. No one is immune, but the most hard hit are people on a fixed income: seniors and people with low incomes. We need to focus on these people and try to find solutions to lessen the impact of inflation on their lives. That is the intelligent approach.

That is what the Bloc Québécois is doing. We asked ourselves how we could help these people. Once we have determined what the problem is and who is affected by it, we must determine why we have inflation. There are two factors. One, the demand for goods and services has risen sharply. Interest rates have gone down and federal assistance has been astronomical, which has greatly increased the demand for goods and services. That, in turn, has created inflation. Two, the supply side of the equation has shrunk.

Madam Speaker, I listened respectfully to members of the Liberal Party and I would like them to show some mutual respect, if at all possible.

[Business of Supply, September 27th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia.

I do not quite know how to start my speech because I am a little discouraged. We are used to the Conservatives saying things that border on populism, and they have a tendency to oversimplify things. They do not seem to have faith in the intelligence of Quebeckers and Canadians. Sometimes, we think they must be joking. At one point, the new leader came in and we thought he might put the party in order, but things are even worse now.

Since he came in, the Conservatives appear to be revelling in populism. It feels like they absolutely want Maxime Bernier back. I do not know what is going on.

I taught for 20 years and when I talked about inflation I usually devoted four to six hours to the topic, which is extremely complex and must be approached with a modicum of intelligence. No one can claim to have a magic formula to deal with inflation. That would be too easy, and yet that is what the Conservatives are suggesting. They say that they will solve everything by lowering the tax on petroleum products. That is what they want to do, but it does not work that way.

Usually, in economics—

[Health, September 26th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot make these things up: There is one place in Quebec where the pandemic is still raging, and it is the only place where the federal government still refuses to invest money. I am talking about our health care centres.

This morning, I was listening to the Minister of Health talk about exhausted health care professionals. He said we need to take care of our health care workers if we want them to take care of us. Those are fine words. That is exactly what Quebec and the provinces are asking for, and it is exactly what the federal government still refuses to do.

If the Prime Minister wants to take care of health care workers, then there needs to be a summit on health transfers as soon as possible. There is no time to wait and no more excuses. He has to keep his word.

When will he organize the summit?

[Health, September 26th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, Ottawa is ending health measures at the border. No more tests, no more masks, no more quarantine. It is over.

That brings me to the issue of health transfers. In 2021, the Prime Minister said that he was considering increasing them, but only after the crisis. He said, “We will sit down and talk with the provinces and territories about how to increase health transfers.... But those conversations need to take place after we have weathered this current crisis.”

If the Prime Minister believes the crisis is far enough behind us to suspend health measures, when will he call a summit on health transfers?

[Public Safety, September 20th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, based on what Mayor Plante has said, I am not so sure they have such a great working relationship.

The minister is talking about legal guns, but we need to take action against illegal guns. What we are seeing in our streets are illegal guns, and the federal government is responsible for letting them in. It is all well and good to engage in prevention and mobilize the police, but we cannot perform miracles when guns are streaming across our borders. That is the government's responsibility.

Guns are being fired right on Saint-Denis Street. Guns are being fired in schoolyards. When is the government going to take responsibility?

[Public Safety, September 20th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, we are glad that the House has resumed because it is absolutely vital that we talk about guns. That was the big news story this summer in Montreal. There was one shooting after another happening almost every day. Just last Tuesday, there were four shootings in a single evening. Here is what Mayor Plante had to say: “I have no control over the most important element, and that is the guns on our territory”.

I want to ask the federal government the same question she did, word for word: “What is it doing to protect us and prevent these weapons from ending up in the hands of our young people?”

[Passports, June 23rd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, the minister should go and ask the people who are waiting in line in Quebec if they are happy with the answer that this is unacceptable, that the government needs to do better and that it is working hard.

The government needs to open the offices seven days a week with extended hours until there is no one left in line. People are waiting day and night in the rain. They have been completely abandoned. Tensions are rising. People are getting angry. People are breaking down in tears. They are the victims of federal incompetence.

Seriously. Is the government finally going to start governing or do we need to call in the army?

[Passports, June 23rd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, the federal government's management of passports is so incompetent.

The solution is not appointment tickets, as the minister is proposing, it is not fifty-fifty draws, and it is not a Hunger Games. The only solution is to open offices seven days a week. The people in line are there seven days a week.

Tomorrow is Quebec's national holiday. The minister has no right to let Canadians who do not get an appointment today sleep outside for another four nights until Monday. That is inhumane.

When will she understand that the offices must be open seven days a week and have longer hours?

[Order Respecting the Business of the House and its Committees, June 23rd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague wants to know whether it is reasonable to make this decision today. How would waiting until September to make this decision change any of his rhetoric? It would not change a thing.

On the contrary, let us wait and see whether COVID‑19 continues. If it does, we could extend hybrid Parliament for another year. However, if we see that the pandemic is fading away, we could extend the hybrid mode for just six months. We will have some decisions to make, but we have all summer to gather the necessary information to make the best possible decision in September.

[Order Respecting the Business of the House and its Committees, June 23rd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, that is somewhat related to what I was saying. Of course, during a pandemic, people might get COVID-19 and be contagious. In such cases, it is appropriate for them to be able to continue working virtually.

That being said, when the pandemic is over or becomes much less severe, will we still need a hybrid model, or will we be able to just go back to the approach my colleague mentioned?

There needs to be a discussion among the leaders, across party lines, to determine the best way to proceed. We need to have healthy discussions that will keep the parliamentary spirit alive in Parliament. That is what Quebeckers and Canadians expect of us.