Alexandre Boulerice

[Human Rights, February 18th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, after consultation among the parties, I believe you would find consent in the House for the following motion: That the House condemn the Facebook decision to ban content from Australian media on its social network and affirm that intimidation by Facebook has no place in democracy—

[Official Languages, February 18th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, it is a well-known fact that when it comes time to support French education, the Liberals have a habit of dragging their feet.

The official languages in education program has been frozen for years, even though student enrolment is on the rise. In Alberta, Campus Saint-Jean is under attack from the Kenney government. In Ontario, Laurentian University is fighting to survive.

What will it take for the Liberals to realize how urgent this is and step up to defend the rights of francophones when it comes to education?

[Points of Order, February 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, following consultation with the parties, I believe you will find unanimous consent of the House for the following motion:

That, given that working conditions of interpreters have deteriorated since the beginning of the pandemic affecting their ability to provide quality service in both official languages, a service that is essential to the work of parliamentarians, the House express its concern for the health and safety of all its interpreters and urges Public Services and Procurement Canada and the House Administration to take a precautionary approach to setting levels of exposure to the potentially harmful audio delivered by video conferencing platforms like ZOOM.

[Health, February 5th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, our seniors built our society, and we are lucky to reap the benefits. Unfortunately, the pandemic has demonstrated that the Conservative and Liberal cuts have undermined our health care system.

Seniors have been left to fend for themselves and sometimes abandoned. The staff are exhausted from working in deplorable conditions. It is a national disgrace. Our seniors deserve better. They deserve to grow old safely and with dignity.

Will the Liberals respond to our request to work with the provinces in order to guarantee the quality of care and quality of life of our seniors?

[Natural Resources, February 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals believe they are handling the climate crisis better than the United States, but the opposite is true. The Biden administration has halted the Keystone XL pipeline project, whereas the Liberal government is promoting it and spending billions of dollars buying TransMountain.

President Biden is showing leadership by eliminating subsidies for fossil fuel companies, whereas the Liberals are putting hundreds of millions of dollars in oil companies' pockets. They still dare to call themselves champions of the environment. That is Liberal hypocrisy, and it has gone on long enough.

Will the Prime Minister promise to end subsidies for oil companies, yes or no?

[Business of Supply, February 4th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague.

When we talk about trade agreements, we are obviously talking about trade or industry partners, but also sometimes competitors, as he pointed out. I want to focus on the aerospace sector, which has been seriously neglected by the Liberal government.

The United States has a national aerospace strategy. Canada does not. The United States uses the defence sector to support good American aerospace jobs. Canada does not do that. The United States signs agreements guaranteeing that a certain percentage of parts will be made in the United States by American workers. Canada does not do that.

When will the Liberal government support the tens of thousands of good aerospace jobs in Canada, and especially in Quebec, with a real strategy for this sector?

[Business of Supply, February 4th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.

He mentioned the United States' Buy American Act. What does he think about the possibility of a “Buy Canadian Act”? For public transportation and aerospace projects in particular, the percentage of the labour that is done here in Quebec or in Canada is much lower than what other countries require.

Why should we not have similar measures to protect and maintain jobs here at home?

[Petitions, February 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table a petition signed by approximately 1,000 people in support of a petition started by Stéphane Handfield.

We have learned from Mathieu Paiement's documentary, Les poussières de Daech, that there are children with a Canadian parent who are currently trapped in refugee camps in northeastern Syria. They are living in extremely poor and even inhumane conditions. These children could be brought back to Canada. There are families who are asking that it be done. In fact, a young girl was brought back to Canada last fall.

These children are innocent and have the right to a good life. Canada needs to meet its obligations under international conventions. These people are calling for the federal government to take action and bring Canadian children who are trapped in refugee camps in Syria back to Canada.

[Religious Freedom, January 29th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, on January 29, 2017, at 7:45 p.m., worshippers were gathering for prayers at the Quebec City mosque. In that moment, no one could have anticipated the horror that awaited them. A few minutes later, hatred and racism in their worst form took the lives of six people and injured eight others. Some will be scarred for life.

Today we mark the fourth anniversary of that tragedy. This sad chapter of our history should serve as a reminder that we all have a duty to never stop fighting racism in all its forms, including Islamophobia. It was a weapon that took lives at the Quebec City mosque, but often that weapon takes the form of words that can be loaded with hate or intolerance, fuelling tensions between communities and ultimately inciting violence. As parliamentarians, we must lead by example. Let us be more attentive to the potential repercussions of our words. This sad anniversary of the Quebec City mosque shooting should remind us that racism and hate do exist in this country and that sometimes, they can kill.

Let us work together so that these six people did not die in vain.

[Canada-United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement Implementation Act, January 28th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I would like to say that his last comment made me laugh.

In my opinion, the free trade agreement with the United Kingdom demonstrates that instead of learning from their mistakes, the Liberals are repeating them. The NDP shares the concerns about protecting supply management, which we defended tooth and nail. Former MPs Brigitte Sansoucy and Ruth Ellen Brosseau, in particular, vigorously defended it.

I would like to talk about two other things.

Our dispute resolution mechanism allows investors and large corporations to take advantage of us. It undermines our democracy and the representation of our citizens. Under the free trade agreement with the European Union, Quebeckers and Canadians will pay more for prescription drugs. In my opinion, in a health crisis, it is truly ridiculous to make the same mistake and accept an agreement that will increase the cost of drugs that sick people need.

I would like to hear what he has to say about that.