Alain Therrien

[Canada Elections Act, May 10th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I will read a quote from the member for Winnipeg North. In 2014, after closure was imposed on debate of the Canada Elections Act, he stated:

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the member could provide comment on the fact that the Elections Act and the Parliament of Canada Act are fundamental to our democracy, and changes to them must be achieved by a broad consensus and backed by solid evidence.

Could the member comment on that?

[Elections Canada, May 10th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the best way to manage an election during a pandemic is to not hold an election.

By imposing a gag order on Bill C-19, the government is announcing that it not only wants an election but that it wants one as soon as possible. No one, except the government, thinks it is a good idea to have an election during a pandemic. More importantly, no one wants the rules of a pandemic election to be imposed by a government without any discussion. The Liberals are attacking the very heart of our democracy.

Does the government realize that voters' health is at risk?

[Elections Canada, May 10th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, it is very worrisome to see the government impose closure to change election rules in the middle of a pandemic.

The government introduced Bill C-19 four months ago. We could have been debating it these past four months. It was only today that it became important to the government. Suddenly, the government has no more time to debate or, frankly, to even think about it. It wants to use closure, of all things, to impose its election rules.

If it was not an urgent matter for four months, why are they suddenly imposing closure? Do the Liberals want to call an election in the midst of the pandemic?

[Elections Canada, May 10th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I am very concerned that the government is imposing a gag order to amend election rules in the middle of a pandemic.

The government introduced Bill C-19 four months ago. We have had four months to debate it, but the bill has suddenly become important today. The government is waking up. All of a sudden, there is no time to debate or even reflect. The government quite simply wants to use a gag order so that it can impose its election rules.

This bill sat around for four months, so why is it suddenly so urgent to use a gag order now? Is it because the government wants to call an election in the middle of a pandemic?

[Canada Elections Act, May 10th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, my colleague must be joking when he says it is time to send the bill to committee.

This act demands consensus. This is about the Canada Elections Act and the right to vote, as my colleague astutely pointed out earlier. There has to be consensus. Over four months of debate, only one Bloc Québécois member has spoken to this bill.

The Liberals introduced Bill C-19 on December 10, 2020, while the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs was already looking into the issue. Instead of waiting for the committee to finish its work, the Liberals decided to introduce a bill, utterly disregarding democratic institutions, such as the committee. Now they are forcing closure with help from the NDP, their usual accomplice for this kind of tactic. They say there has been enough debate and this bill must go to committee. I am not making this up.

The Liberals have trouble managing a legislative calendar. They are a bunch of amateurs. Here is my question. Are they not ashamed to invoke closure on a bill that requires consensus?

[Message from the Senate, May 5th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order arising from the comments made by the hon. member for Kingston and the Islands after the motion moved by the NDP. The member said that every digital company is subject to the new legislation. That is wrong. It is false.

Subscription-based companies like Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube Premium are not considered to be covered by this tax. The member made a mistake. I would like the record to show that he told a lie—

[National Defence, May 3rd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, there are none so deaf as those who will not hear.

The minister has appointed Louise Arbour to tackle the culture of silence that he himself embodies. He deliberately turned a blind eye to the subject of the sexual misconduct complaint against the former chief of the defence staff. The allegations were presented to him, but he refused to look at them.

How does he think Ms. Arbour will judge those who acted as he did, who upheld that culture of silence in cabinet?

Does he really think Ms. Arbour will see him as part of the solution?

[National Defence, May 3rd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the culture of silence in the military is alarming.

Yesterday, former ombudsman Gary Walbourne again reiterated that he made it clear to the Minister of National Defence that he had received a complaint of “inappropriate sexual behaviour” against the former chief of the defence staff. He reiterated that the minister refused to review the complaint. The minister said that the nature of the complaint did not matter, and he just said he did not know what it was. I am not making this up.

Does the minister, himself a former member of the military, realize that he contributed to that culture of silence?

[Health, April 29th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, constantly repeating a lie does not make it true.

Between April 7 and 24, public health identified no fewer than 165 flights from 19 countries with at least one passenger testing positive for COVID-19. Radio-Canada reported that Health Canada cannot even say how many passengers tested positive after leaving hotel quarantine. There is no follow-up. They spend three days in a hotel and then it is thank you, good evening, and they are on their way. This is the federal variant that is undermining the work of Quebec and the provinces.

When will Ottawa finally get serious about managing quarantines?

[Health, April 29th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, we still have thousands of COVID-19 cases in Quebec and in Canada, and let me say that it is because of the federal variant. Since the beginning of the third wave alone, the federal variant has allowed more than 2,000 new positive cases into the country, including hundreds of variants of concern, without appropriate quarantines for land travellers or monitoring of travellers after their three-day quarantine.

When will the government tighten up quarantines and properly monitor travellers arriving from abroad?