Denis Lebel

[Ethics, October 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, she wants to change the health systems of the provinces. That is what she said. She wants to change the health system. That is a provincial jurisdiction.

What is even more important, when one has the honour of serving as a minister in Canada, is to be completely above reproach. Ministers, particularly the finance minister, must never put themselves in a position of conflict of interest.

However, for $1,500, people had access to Canada's Minister of Finance to lobby him and ask him for favours.

Who was at that meeting? Can we have the names and titles of those people?

[Health, October 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, that is totally false.

When we were in government, we had record levels of transfers to the provinces, but we did more than that. We respected provincial jurisdiction, which the Liberals are not doing now.

Health care is under provincial authority, and the Prime Minister and Minister of Health want to tell the provinces what to do from Ottawa. They do not just disrespect the provinces, they do not respect the country's Constitution.

Why is the Prime Minister putting other conditions on health transfers to provinces?

[Health, October 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the relationship between the federal and provincial health ministers has gone from bad to worse.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister wants to impose new conditions on the provincial health transfers. Respecting the provinces' jurisdiction means respecting the Canadian Constitution.

Why do the Prime Minister and his minister not respect the Canadian Constitution? Why do they want to impose more conditions on the provincial health transfers?

[Health, October 19th, 2016]

That may very well be, Mr. Speaker, but I would still like to talk about they are doing today.

If the minister wanted to keep practising medicine, then that is what she should have done. Today, she is trying to tell the provinces how to manage health care, but that is their responsibility. The provinces were told that they were mismanaging the money that is transferred to them.

Which provinces are mismanaging the money, Madam Minister? Please name the provinces that are mismanaging the money.

[Health, October 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the relationship between this government and the provincial health ministers continues to deteriorate. After the Prime Minister said that the provinces were misusing their money, the minister added insult to injury by commenting on how the provinces manage the transfers. Now she is saying that she was misquoted.

Why did the minister have to apologize? What did she have to apologize for?

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

[Health, October 18th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, people are now realizing that this government is falling into the old habits of previous Liberal governments. The government is centralizing everything. It is eliminating the role of regional ministers and that of economic development agency ministers across the country, and it is telling the provinces that they are not managing the money for health care properly and that it knows what do do with that money. Yesterday, the government indicated that the provinces were not using that money properly.

According to the current government, what provinces are not using the money from the health transfers properly?

[Health, October 18th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we will have a deficit of over $40 billion if we do that—in fact, more than that.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister told the House that the provinces were not doing what needed to be done in the area of health and that the money was not being used properly.

It is a return to an interfering, centralizing government that makes all the decisions here in Ottawa. The simple way of dealing with this problem and preventing any arguments would be to respect the provinces' jurisdictions. It is as simple as that. Health care falls under provincial jurisdiction.

The Prime Minister said yesterday that the provinces were not using the health transfers properly—

[Softwood Lumber, October 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, my question was about 400,000 forestry workers. I do not know if they are millionaires, as the Prime Minister just said, but I do know they are very worried about their jobs.

The Liberals wanted to be in power, and now they are. The previous Liberal government sat on this issue for 10 years, and in 2006, we dealt with it. It took us four months. We ushered in 10 years of stability and predictability for forestry workers. Now it is their turn.

Will the Liberals take care of this matter for all these Canadian jobs?

[Softwood Lumber, October 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we gave 10 out of 10 families money, so it is interesting to hear that it is better to give nine out of ten families money. Only a Liberal would say something like that.

This morning, many of my colleagues and I gathered to announce the creation of a strategic softwood lumber task force. This is a very important issue. Why did we have to create this task force? Because the government has not signed a deal. We think it is very important for the government to do so.

Will the Prime Minister commit today to work to maintain the 400,000 jobs that depend on this industry and will he promise forestry workers that an agreement will be reached? It is all well and good to create other jobs, but we want to keep the ones we already have.

[Business of Supply, October 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, as I said at the beginning of my speech, I am very concerned about decisions this government is making that affect regional economic development and the link between central and remote regions.

The government did away with regional ministers and is getting rid of the minister for economic development agencies of Canada for the regions. There will be nobody left to speak on behalf of the regions. I know that other members will pick up the slack, but those roles were part of the structure of government.

Considering that nearly 50% of Quebec's softwood lumber output is exported to the United States, it is vital that we get to an agreement and make sure it is watertight.