Alain Therrien

[Passports, June 7th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers are furious about passport wait times. Even in the midst of a crisis, none of the passport offices are open on the weekend, even for people who are leaving within 48 hours.

The Liberals are forcing people who have been waiting for three months to miss a day of work in order to make an urgent application. Worse, they are charging $50 to $110 in extra fees. That is crazy. They are making citizens pay the price for their incompetence.

Will they open offices on the weekend and process urgent applications at no extra cost?

[Business of the House, June 7th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I want to echo the comments of my colleague, the leader of the official opposition, who was not consulted. I was not consulted either. I would like to know who agreed to it. There is no indication, so we have no idea.

I simply want to say that I was not consulted and that the government leader did not even broach the subject with me.

[Public Safety, June 6th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, here is what Detective-Sergeant André Gélinas had to say on Saturday about everything the minister just said, and I quote, “This bill will not change anything on the ground simply because it does not target the right people”.

Legal gun owners are not the ones doing all the shooting. It is organized crime and gangs. There are two things that the government needs to do to fix this problem: tighten up border controls to thwart gun trafficking and create an organized crime registry. Time is of the essence.

When will the federal government finally stop with the rhetoric and crack down on criminal groups?

[Public Safety, June 6th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, last year, Montreal and Laval smashed the record for false 911 calls reporting shootings. Citizens called 893 times because they thought they heard gunshots. That represents two and a half calls a day. Why?

It is because people are afraid. They might hear a jackhammer or a collision and, instinctively, they are afraid for their family's safety. It has become a scourge.

We do not want to know what is happening with legal weapons. We want to know when the government will do something about illegal weapons and criminal gangs.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1, June 6th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, this feels like a bad movie. It is déjà vu all over again. Quebeckers and Canadians elected a minority government in the hope it would have to negotiate each and every one of its bills, which would result in good, well-thought-out bills and allow democracy to function.

However, the smaller opposition party hitched its wagon to the government. That reminds me of the fable of the frog and the ox. The frog wanted to be as big as the ox, so it swelled and swelled. That is what the NDP has been doing for years. It has been puffing itself up and trying to be as big as the ox.

In the fable, though, the frog ends up bursting. Having decided it might be better not to burst like the frog, the NDP decided to be swallowed up by the ox. The New Democrats allowed themselves to be consumed by the ox. They sold their soul to the devil. Now what? They think they can win by constantly gagging the House of Commons, which is the only power available to them as the government's lap dog.

The frog will not burst at this point, but I hope that, come the next election, it will be squelched by Quebec and Canadian democracy.

My question is simple and is directed at the two parties that are constantly voting to invoke closure. Are you not embarrassed about what you are doing to democracy?

[Justice, June 2nd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, he should run in Quebec. I am sure Dominique Anglade would take him.

He and a handful of his colleagues are trying to overturn the democratic choice of the majority of Quebeckers. Ottawa is telling Quebeckers that they do not have the right to protect state secularism. Ottawa is saying no to Bill 21. Ottawa refuses to transfer immigration powers. Ottawa is going to say no to Bill 96.

If the federal government keeps saying “no”, will that not help convince Quebeckers to say “yes”?

[Justice, June 2nd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers democratically directed their elected representatives in the National Assembly of Quebec to protect state secularism. The National Assembly did just that by passing Bill 21. That is how democracy works.

Any federal Liberals who want to do politics in the National Assembly need only quit their job and run in the Quebec election on October 3.

That is not what they chose to do, though. They chose to run for a seat in another Parliament and to govern Canada. Why not focus on that instead of trying to subvert Quebec's democracy?

[Instruction to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs Regarding Bill C-14, June 2nd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague for his excellent French. We have reached the point where Alberta is a nation.

British Columbia is a nation, Alberta is a nation. We can settle this right now. Why do we not all separate and form a confederation of sovereign states?

We could share an economic space, keep the same currency and each have our own country. Rather than arguing about what divides us, we could meet to talk about what unites us.

I say yes to the sovereignty of Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec with a shared economic space. Vive le Québec libre.

[Instruction to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs Regarding Bill C-14, June 2nd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question and commend the quality of his French. He told me once that he learned some of that French in Quebec, and that comes through in his strength and passion. We are very pleased to hear it.

If he thinks British Columbia should have more seats, then let him go through all the same steps we did. He needs to start by saying that British Columbia is a nation. Then we will discuss why it may or may not be a nation. That is what I am wondering. Is British Columbia a nation? We can discuss that at length, but I do know one thing: Quebec is a nation.

When Félix Leclerc died, the member did not know who he was, while Quebec was mourning his loss. I could come up with a whole list of reasons for why Quebec is a nation. I could talk about it all day.

If my colleague can do that with British Columbia, then let him put it to a vote in the House and we can talk about it again later.

[Instruction to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs Regarding Bill C-14, June 2nd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, when I got up this morning, I do not know why, but I had a feeling that it was going to be a big day. Now I know why. I just got a second question from my colleague from Winnipeg North. It is enough to wear a body out, but I thank him anyway.

The ability of parliamentary committees to amend bills is a basic rule of the parliamentary system. I did not make it up. We are all here to work on amendments and improve bills so they better reflect what the people of Canada and Quebec want.

In this particular case, it is all about Quebec. Everybody knows that the point of Bill C‑14 is to make sure Quebec does not lose any seats, so it makes sense to listen to what Quebec wants. Since the purpose of this bill is for Quebec to improve its political prospects within the House of Commons, for as long as we are here, we might as well go all in and get the job done properly.

I listened to my hon. colleague from Winnipeg North, which I always enjoy doing, but let me read part of the motion he voted for: “any scenario for redrawing the federal electoral map that would result in Quebec losing one or more electoral districts or that would reduce Quebec's political weight in the House of Commons must be rejected”.

He voted in favour of that.

He needs to explain why he does seem to comprehend that Bill C‑14 includes a section to satisfy Quebeckers.