Denis Paradis

[Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1., May 10th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, if there ever was a time to invest in the economy, that time is now, because interest rates are low and there are exceptional opportunities for stimulating the economy in all our ridings and across the country. It is crucial. As mentioned in the budget, we are going to invest in the Canadian economy because interest rates are low.

I quickly spoke about agriculture in my presentation. It is important for the agricultural sector across the country to be healthy. We recently discussed diafiltered milk at length. All Quebec members, rural Ontario members, and members from all corners of the country are standing up for farmers. It is important that we continue to stand up for them.

We also talked about the social and economic climate. I spoke about Bromont, where Fabritec will increase its workforce from 500 to 1,500 employees within two years. It is important to create an economic climate and that is what we are doing with our budget.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1., May 10th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I have a few comments about the budget.

First of all, a budget must reflect the needs and concerns of our fellow citizens. The budget before us reflects those needs and concerns. As MPs, we are all conduits of the needs and concerns of our fellow citizens.

I would like to say a few words about my riding. There are three regions in my riding: Magog and Sherbrooke; Cowansville, Bromont, and Sutton in the centre; and Bedford, Farnham, and Lake Champlain heading toward Montreal. Of course, each region has its own unique characteristics. Around Magog, it is all about landscapes, seniors, tourism, and culture. In the centre, we have industrial parks, innovation, and new technology. Around Bedford, Farnham, and Lake Champlain, we have agri-tourism, agriculture, and the rural sector.

Before getting into why the measures in this budget matter to the three regions in my riding, I would like to talk about the main reason I came back to politics. I have been away for the past 10 years. I was here before that. As I said many times during the election campaign, I decided to come back because of two lakes. We want the water in those lakes to be as clean as possible for future generations. I am talking about Lake Champlain and Lake Memphremagog. As you may know, when it gets hot in the summer, the water in Lake Champlain is less like water and more like pea soup. The people of my region, particularly those living in Bedford, draw their drinking water from Lake Champlain. I am fed up with this situation.

Together with mayors from the Lake Champlain region, including Jacques Landry of Venise-en-Québec, Réal Pelletier of Saint-Armand, Renée Rouleau of Saint-Georges-de-Clarenceville, Réal Ryan of Noyan, and Yves Lévesque of Bedford, I will meet with the International Joint Commission to see what kind of solutions can be implemented to fix the problem with the water in Lake Champlain.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank my colleague, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who has visited Lake Champlain. Perhaps that contributed to the decision to invest $19.5 million over five years in four transboundary basins. This is water that we share with our American neighbours.

Here is what must be done. We need to stop conducting studies that only serve to find other problems. Let us come up with solutions and implement them so that future generations can have clean water.

The first region is Magog. It is so beautiful, with its incredible scenery and Lake Memphrémagog. I do not need to remind everyone how beautiful it is. That area of my riding has a lot of seniors. I must say, I am extremely proud of the measures in the budget that will help seniors. They include a 10% increase in the guaranteed income supplement for single seniors. That is the increase to the guaranteed income supplement top-up benefit that I mentioned earlier. There is also the elimination of the provision in the Old Age Security Act that raises the eligibility age to 67. These measures regarding the guaranteed income supplement top-up will benefit 900,000 people in Canada. This is an extremely important measure.

Tourism is also extremely important, not only for the eastern part of my riding, which includes the Magog area, but also for the two other regions in my riding. The budget allocates $50 million over two years to Destination Canada to strengthen marketing initiatives in important international markets, such as the United States, our neighbours.

Tourism and culture go hand in hand. My riding is home to one of the counties with the most artists and people working in culture per square kilometre. I almost said “per square inch”, but of course I meant “per square kilometre”.

The budget also allocates $105.9 million over five years to our national museums.

I am very proud, because there are two important museums in Brome—Missisquoi: the Missisquoi Historical Society and the Brome County Historical Society. These two museums will benefit from the additional money allocated in the budget.

In the middle, there is Bromont and Cowansville. This is a bit more of an industrial area. Bromont has a high-tech park, with General Electric and IBM. There is also a young company, Fabritec Group, which now has almost 500 employees and will soon have 1,500. It exports quite a bit to the United States. This is what the budget also does: it restores confidence in innovation and helps set us apart on the world stage through the use of new technologies.

As we have said many times, it is important to remove the gag order on researchers. The previous government muzzled researchers, so it is important to give them their voice back. It is important to strengthen innovation networks and clusters, and to strengthen Canada's network of incubators.

For the middle class, there is the Canada child benefit. We have heard a lot about this in the House. We are making post-secondary education more affordable by enhancing grants. We are increasing investments in green jobs and summer jobs. In the budget, we doubled the funding for student summer jobs.

I will quickly talk about the other region, which includes Bedford, Farnham, and Lac Champlain. I have talked about it a lot. It is a more rural area with all the vitality of rural life. I want to take this opportunity to say hello to the people in my riding who think that our budget in the House today restores confidence in Quebec's economy and restores people's confidence in investing.

Speaking of agriculture, I want to say a few words about the experimental farm in Frelighsburg. I will take the opportunity to congratulate Jean Lévesque, who was just elected mayor of Frelighsburg. The experimental farm was closed down by the Conservatives two or three years ago. The agricultural research we do in Quebec and Canada is important. In the budget, we invested in agricultural research. I told people back home that I would work hard, again, to ensure that the Frelighsburg experimental farm is reopened as soon as possible.

In closing, I want to say that a connected Canada is important to a riding like mine. It is important to have high-speed Internet. I have said it before and I will say it again, it is hard to believe that high-speed Internet is not available to all our small communities from coast to coast to coast. I was here in the House when Brian Tobin was industry minister. At the time, he promised to connect Canada from coast to coast to coast. We are far from it. Canada needs Internet connection.

A week ago, I was in Noyan, a small community in my riding where, together with Développement innovations Haut-Richelieu I was pleased to announce that the entire village of Noyan, the entire population and every house, was connected. The budget promises $500 million over five years to ensure that broadband service is provided to rural communities across the country.

In closing, I want to say again how proud I am to be the member for Brome—Missisquoi and how proud I am to be a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.

[Agriculture and Agri-food, May 3rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the chair of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-food and has to do with the committee's agenda. All members of the House know that the dairy industry is an important economic driver in Canada.

Can the chair of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-food talk to the House about the committee's agenda, specifically with respect to diafiltered milk?

[Farnham Ale & Lager Microbrewery, April 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, Brome—Missisquoi is well known for the quality of its wine products, its hotels, and its locally made and locally grown products.

Today I am pleased to recognize the talent and creativity of some of our brewers, specifically at the Farnham Ale & Lager microbrewery, which recently distinguished itself at the fifth edition of the Barcelona Beer Festival after winning three prestigious awards.

I think it is important to acknowledge the efforts being made by all the brewers in my riding. While promoting our region, they are also making a huge contribution to its economic growth. I want to raise a glass to them here today.

Once again, bravo, Farnham Ale & Lager, and bravo to all our brewers. Keep up the good work and keep making Brome—Missisquoi the best riding in Canada.

[Foreign Affairs, March 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, there are two international lakes in my riding: Lake Memphremagog and Lake Champlain. They are governed by the International Boundary Waters Treaty. These two lakes are extremely important to my constituents, because they provide their drinking water. Almost 250,000 people drink this water.

How does the government plan to improve the water quality of these lakes? Will it bring this issue to the International Joint Commission and engage in dialogue with our U.S. counterparts?

[Committees of the House, March 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, entitled “Tribute to the Honourable Mauril Bélanger”. The committee adopted this report at the suggestion of the hon. member for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup. The committee would like to acknowledge the significant contribution that the Honourable Mauril Bélanger has made to official languages in Canada. During his career as a member of Parliament, as the former minister responsible for official languages, and as the past chair of this committee, Mr. Bélanger not only served and represented the residents of the riding of Ottawa–Vanier with dedication, but he also worked tirelessly and vigorously on behalf of official language minority communities across Canada. The members of the committee would like to pay tribute to the determination, perseverance, and courage that Mr. Bélanger has shown as he continues to champion our official languages with passion and dedication, despite the adversity he now faces on a daily basis. With his strong sense of commitment and enthusiasm, Mr. Bélanger has made, and continues to make, an unforgettable difference for official language minority communities from coast to coast to coast. Therefore, the members of the committee would like to invite organizations representing English and French speaking minority communities in Canada to join them in recognizing Mr. Bélanger’s commitment and in thanking him for his exceptional contribution.

[Marguerite Charlebois, February 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, here in Parliament we are one big family.

However, in addition to the elected members of this place and the members of the other place, there are also the people who work hard to ensure that we enjoy our time in Ottawa.

I have the immense pleasure of recognizing the work, dedication and congeniality of Marguerite Charlebois, who is celebrating 35 years of service in the parliamentary restaurant, where she is the hostess.

Marguerite has always taken care of all members of Parliament. She first served while our Prime Minister was running and playing around these walls.

Marguerite is a remarkable example of dedication, always has a smile on her face and, above all, always makes us feel at home.

We would like to say thank you and congratulations, Marguerite.

[Innovation, Science, and Economic Development, February 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to thank the people of Brome—Missisquoi for electing me to represent them in the House.

Many rural areas like mine, which is located about an hour from Montreal, do not always have access to high-speed Internet. It is therefore difficult for us to compete with the major centres, attract young entrepreneurs, and help off-site workers.

What does the government intend to do to get the regions connected faster? It is urgent.

[Election of Speaker, December 3rd, 2015]

My dear colleagues, first of all I would like to congratulate all new and returning MPs. I would also like to thank the House of Commons staff for the helpful orientation sessions.

I applaud the diversity of Canada's House of Commons. All of us are here to voice our constituents' needs and concerns in this place. We must now continue to be passionate in our debates while being very respectful.

The position of speaker is based on three pillars. I will call the first pillar procedure and decorum. Canadians have entrusted each person in this chamber, opposition and government, with the responsibility to work together to find the best way for our nation to meet the challenges we face. However, we can only do this effectively if we conduct our work with fundamental respect for one another.

Maintaining essential decorum will be a critical role for the next speaker. Canadians have been disappointed that question period remains just that, question period. They expect a question and answer period.

The second pillar is the administration of the House and its services. The House has an annual budget of over $400 million. It is important to have someone with skills and experience to administer the House.

We also face increased security concerns in the House. Our mission is to protect the security of Parliament while at the same time allowing Canadians to continue to have access to Parliament. It is their House.

We also face another very important challenge, the family challenge. MPs are younger, and so are their families. After all, we are in 2015. This must be addressed.

The third pillar is parliamentary diplomacy. Canada wants to have a stronger voice on the international stage. We need to do more, both within Canada and abroad. We, as parliamentarians, need to become true ambassadors throughout the world.

Here at home, we also need to think about making our work more accessible to Canadians. For example, perhaps our committees might consider holding meetings in various parts of the country, whether it be in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal or Moncton. That would allow us to better connect with Canadians.

Who am I to request the honour of becoming your Speaker? I have been the member of Parliament for Brome-Missisquoi for 11 years. I was the minister for financial institutions and La Francophonie and the minister of state for Latin America and Africa.

It was as a member of Parliament that I created an MP-to-MP student exchange summer work program. This co-operation among parliamentarians provided thousands of students with the opportunity to live and work in a different region of the country while learning the other official language.

Why not once again see an MP from Gaspésie, for example, exchange 10 students with an MP from Calgary?

I am also a lawyer, and I was a president of the Quebec Bar association. I have always worked in Canada, and abroad, to uphold the values of democracy, human rights, and good governance.

I also co-wrote the rules of procedure for Quebec's administrative tribunals.

I have always been in business. I also co-founded a law firm specializing in agricultural law, and I started a vineyard, which is now the second largest in Quebec.

In closing, the speaker is many things: our referee, our ambassador to other parliaments, and the protector of our rights and privileges. My door will always be open to all members. Inside, they will find a speaker with an open mind and an open heart.

We are a big family. I want to forge the necessary ties of friendship among us. I said friendship, not necessarily love. Do not worry. I will still continue to refer to all of you as “honourable members”. I would like to preside over a Parliament in which all members work together in harmony.

I want to tell you how proud I am to sit here in the House with all of you. I ask you to support my bid.

[The Environment, November 24th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, my question is not for the Minister of Heritage, whom I commend highly for her announcements on culture yesterday in Montreal.

My question is instead for the Minister of the Environment, who has just announced several important aspects of the Green Plan to combat climate change on the eve of the Montreal conference.

Can the Minister of the Environment explain these new initiatives?