Denis Trudel

[Committees of the House, December 3rd, 2024]

Madam Speaker, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. We are drifting through some sort of surreal world. This is far from reality.

Earlier I heard my two Liberal Party colleagues boast about the Liberal record on the environment. To set the record straight, I have before me an article from La Presse, from November 7. In terms of greenhouse gas emissions reduction, Canada has the worst record in the G7.

Our Liberal friends boast about their record while the Conservatives propose to do even less when it comes to reducing greenhouse gases. None of this makes sense. We are truly in Christmas holiday mode. We are in some sort of fairy tale.

The International Monetary Fund led a study that found that, in 2022, Canada directly and indirectly gave $50 billion to the oil industry. It gave $50 billion of taxpayer money to an industry that earned $220 billion in profits in 2022.

Does my colleague not think that this money could have been better spent building social housing?

[Committees of the House, December 3rd, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

We have been enduring the debates on the Conservatives' motion for a month and a half now. Right now, we have an opportunity to talk about something else for five minutes, but my colleague is still talking about the Conservatives' motion. Can we talk about the topic at hand?

[Privilege, December 2nd, 2024]

Madam Speaker, the Conservatives have kept us from getting our work done for the past month and a half, so I am going to go ahead and do some work.

We saw some rather disturbing footage this morning. A homeless encampment was dismantled on Notre‑Dame Street in Montreal. The number of homeless people has doubled in Quebec in the past five years. Three times as many people die on the street in Quebec compared to five years ago. We definitely have a problem.

The current government cut funding by 3% for the only program that helps the homeless, the Reaching Home program. I want to know what the Conservatives plan to do to end homelessness in this country if they ever get into power, which we do not want them to do.

[Privilege, December 2nd, 2024]

I would be happy to do that, Mr. Speaker.

Since my Conservative friends have had no qualms about repeating the same speech over and over again for the past month and a half, I am sure that my colleague will have no problem with me asking him a question that has nothing to do with his speech.

There are two official languages in this country, English and French. We recently learned that French is the 11th most spoken language in Vancouver, the 12th most spoken language in Calgary and, believe it or not, the 17th most spoken language in Toronto, Canada's largest officially bilingual city. Clearly, the Liberal government has failed to fulfill its obligation to protect French in this country.

French is dying out. What are the Conservatives going to do to reverse this trend?

[Privilege, December 2nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, since my Conservative friends have had no qualms about monopolizing the House's resources for a month and a half now, I am sure that my colleague will not have a problem with the question that I am going to ask him, which has nothing to do with the speech that he gave.

We recently learned that French is the 11th most spoken language in Vancouver, the 12th most spoken language in Calgary and the 17th most spoken language in Toronto. What will a Conservative government do to reverse that trend, which shows that French is disappearing in Canada?

[Privilege, December 2nd, 2024]

That is outrageous, Mr. Speaker. My colleague is talking about spending and Liberal corruption, but Parliament has been paralyzed for a month and a half now. How many millions of dollars has it cost our constituents and taxpayers in Quebec and Canada for the Conservatives to do what they have doing for the past month and a half?

We are not talking about things that are important to Canadians right now. We are not talking about inflation or the fight against climate change. We are not talking about the housing crisis or the language crisis. The Conservatives have been wasting our time for the past month and a half. My colleague should be embarrassed about what he is saying.

[Privilege, November 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is Friday afternoon, and we are all a little tired.

I agree with my colleague on this. It would be nice to know how many trees have been planted. I remember the ad campaign about planting two billion trees. It was quite a big campaign. I do not know how many have been planted so far, but it is a fraction of that. It is ridiculous.

My Conservative friends talk a lot about common sense. They want to fix the budget and all that. I know of two areas where the government could make cuts. According to a study by the IMF, the International Monetary Fund—not Greenpeace, not Equiterre—Canada gave oil companies $50 billion directly and indirectly in 2022. I see that as an opportunity to cut spending. That money could be used to build social housing.

Does my colleague agree that the government should cut that $50 billion?

[Privilege, November 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, since the Conservatives have not been shy about preventing us from doing our job of asking serious questions for the past month, I will take the liberty of asking a question that has nothing to do with the current debate, but is important nonetheless.

If current trends hold, we know that, in the coming years, we could see a separatist government elected in Quebec. The party that would form that government has promised to hold a referendum during its term. There is also a possibility that a Conservative government will be elected during the next federal election. We know that an act on referendum clarity was passed here. Under that act, the government gave itself the right not to respect democracy in the event of a “yes” victory.

I want to know whether my colleague believes, deep down, that a “yes” victory in Quebec would be recognized by a potential Conservative government.

[Privilege, November 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke a lot about the housing crisis and about the people in her riding.

Yesterday, the NDP and the government announced measures that will cost $6 billion. The government is going to send a cheque for $250 to people who earn up to $150,000 a year, which seems completely unhinged to me. Combined with the GST measure, all this is going to cost $6 billion. The Bloc Québécois asked the government to increase old age security for seniors aged 65 to 74, which would have cost $3 billion. Now the government is throwing $6 billion around.

Does my colleague not think that that money would have been better spent on building social housing units, which are sorely needed in this country?

[Committees of the House, November 20th, 2024]

The hon. member for Kingston and the Islands.