Denis Trudel

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, I repeat my question: How many social housing units have been built in Quebec since the national housing strategy was launched?

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, I was in Montreal today for an event organized by the United Way of Greater Montreal. All the community housing organizations in the greater Montreal area were there, along with advocates for housing assistance and assistance for families, victims of domestic violence and people with disabilities.

Everyone was at the event, which revealed some really interesting things. Several speakers gave presentations throughout the morning. The two words that received the most applause all morning were “social housing”. All the organizations around Montreal are thinking right now that this is the solution.

As the minister pointed out, we have a supply problem in Canada. Everyone who spoke today emphasized this supply problem in Quebec and in Canada. They all said that one of the most important solutions to provide proper shelter for the most disadvantaged is social housing.

I would like the minister to tell us how many real social housing units have been built in Quebec since the national housing strategy was implemented.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, I must admit that I am a bit surprised by the rhythm of the conversation this evening, by this sort of rallying back and forth, and I am not sure we have really gotten any answers to our questions. Nevertheless, this is a very serious issue. We have an opportunity, this evening, to discuss with the minister, the person responsible for housing, something very serious that is happening in Quebec and Canada, namely, a severe housing crisis. This is very serious, and it is not a laughing matter. There must be a commitment.

I would like to use my time this evening to have meaningful exchanges with the minister so we can try to find solutions. I want to emphasize the word “solution” because right now solutions are lacking. The minister rightly said that housing is a right. I believe that. I do not know whether the Conservatives believe it, but I believe that housing is a right. It is a right, and I do not think that we are really dealing with that issue right now in Canada and Quebec. We are not able to house the most disadvantaged members of our society. That is a real problem.

Let us do something meaningful. I want our exchange to be constructive. After this 15-minute discussion, I would like us to have some solutions, because at this time, strategy or no strategy, there is a growing number of people in the streets. There are people whose lives were shattered by the pandemic or by something else, and we are not managing to house the poorest in our society.

I had a conversation with an economist at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or CMHC. I did not have this discussion with some radical left-wing group or something like that. This was an economist at the CMHC who said that in the next 10 years, in Quebec alone, to address both accessibility and affordability, we will need to build 1.1 million housing units. That is what we need to deal with the current crisis. The private sector alone will undertake the construction of 500,000 housing units. This means that in the next 10 years there will be a shortfall of 600,000 housing units that need to be built to give people a roof over their heads and ensure that it is a decent roof they can afford.

What is the plan? What solutions is the minister proposing this evening?

[Fatima-Zahra Hafdi, May 10th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to rise today to recognize a young artist from Quebec who is competing in the biggest song contest in the world, Eurovision. The final is this Saturday and will be watched by more than 200 million people.

Fatima-Zahra Hafdi, who goes by La Zarra, was born in Montreal and grew up in Longueuil. She was nominated as breakthrough artist of the year at the 2022 ADISQ Gala and was selected by France's Eurovision organizing committee to represent that country, while also showcasing Quebec on the international stage.

Her song, Évidemment, is rhythmic, inspiring and sung entirely in French. It is definitely a winning song, and it showcases her voice and her culture. I encourage everyone to have a listen.

I predict that on May 13, Quebec and France will be celebrating this incredible artist's victory. La Zarra is a source of pride for all Quebeckers. We are all cheering for her.

[Privilege, May 9th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I mentioned earlier that I think this is a really important debate. The situation is quite serious.

There was an article in the Journal de Montréal a few weeks ago about the election of a city councillor in Brossard who may have been assisted by individuals working for the Chinese state. Those individuals were sending messages in Mandarin on the WeChat platform controlled by the Chinese state to people in Brossard's Chinese community. Their candidate was elected. The mayor of Brossard has launched an investigation, and it has been documented in the newspaper. This is something that happened in Canada.

The Special Committee on the Canada–People's Republic of China Relationship heard from representatives of Hong Kong Watch. They have been documenting this kind of Chinese state interference in municipal and provincial elections for 30 years. It has yet to be proven, but they suspect it is happening in federal elections as well. This is a very serious matter.

What we have seen over the last few weeks and months could be just the tip of the iceberg. I am a bit disappointed that our Liberal friends are completely absent from tonight's debate.

[Privilege, May 9th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, the debate on foreign interference is a strange one. It feels as though we are floating. It is as if we are all wearing rose-coloured glasses when it comes to Chinese interference, especially the government. This has been going on for months. An elected official in the House and his family were harassed by the Chinese state, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Over the past few months, Chinese balloons have been seen flying over North America. It was never clear what became of that. TikTok, which was installed on the phones of every member of the House, was banned. There was a case of spying in Quebec, at Hydro-Québec, which is a major corporation. We learned that a Chinese spy was working there. We also learned that there were Chinese police stations. How can we tolerate community centres where the Chinese state can put pressure on Canadians who have family there?

The situation is really very serious, but it seems that the government on the other side of the House does not realize it. Does my colleague agree that we are all wearing rose-coloured glasses with respect to the possibility of a state as powerful as China intervening here in Canada?

[Housing, May 9th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, we are in the midst of a housing crisis.

It is virtually impossible for people in Quebec to find affordable housing. Three weeks ago, the National Housing Council stated that, although the federal government has built 115,000 units, Canada has lost a jaw-dropping 550,000 affordable housing units over the past 10 years. We are moving backward, not forward. For every new affordable housing unit, we lose five.

Before any talk about tripling the population, is there a single MP on the government side who has thought about where all those people are going to live?

[Food Day in Canada Act, May 8th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to be the first to rise on this sunny Monday morning. Spring is here and we are happy. There is sunshine and warm weather, and we are happy.

Since this bill talks about establishing a food day, I would like to begin by paying tribute to the many people who run the food banks in my riding. The work they do is truly important, even crucial. Today, I want to name and recognize them.

Alternative Centregens is an outstanding food bank in my riding. The Centre d’action bénévole de Saint-Hubert is also very important. There is La Croisée de Longueuil, L'Entraide Chez Nous, the La Mosaïque community outreach centre, Partage Saint-François-de-Sales and Le Repas du Passant. There is also Chrismene Joseph, who does a wonderful job with CESUMAS. There is Aide aux familles in Saint-Hubert, where Yvonne Ornau works. I am often in touch with her and we support her. These people do an important job every day and they help communities. We know that things were really difficult with the pandemic.

Les Cuisiniers Différents is another very special food bank. It is staffed by young adults living with intellectual disabilities. They make meals for struggling schools, and the organization is a crucial resource. Chantal Pagé, who I speak with almost every week, is one of the main go-to people in my riding on community issues. I want to send her a warm hello.

I think that everyone who has heard me speak on housing knows how much importance I place on the well-being of others. It is so important to me that I would be willing to declare every Monday national food day. I think that food is a central part of our lives, along with housing, another matter I have often addressed in my speeches.

Food is central to all things. Food is an essential need. When people are hungry, everything gets harder. Yesterday, some of us might have eaten steak and fries, a piece of salmon or a chicken breast grilled on the barbecue. Unfortunately, for many people across this country, these food items are out of reach. Sometimes, the things we take for granted are considered a luxury by others. Sadly, in Canada, having enough food to eat is still a luxury. This can never be said too often. We have to work on this problem.

I think it is important to keep in mind a few extremely important points about food. First, I think that everyone should have access to a sufficient quantity of healthy food.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, a specialized UN agency, the right to food means that “the state [and that is us] has an obligation to ensure, at the very least, that people do not starve.” That seems obvious, but it is not that easy to achieve. In Canada, we are not there yet. “As such, this right is intrinsically linked to the right to life. However, states are also under an obligation to take appropriate measures to ensure the realization of the right to adequate food for everyone within their jurisdiction. In other words, all people, at all times, should have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food.”

This seems to be a self-evident truth, but, as I said earlier, we are not there right now.

All of this is to help people lead “an active and healthy life.” Food is deemed to be adequate when it is also “culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods.” The issues here are still quite significant. Finally, the “accessibility of such food [should] not interfere with the enjoyment of other human rights”.

I spoke about this earlier, when I said that food insecurity is also a problem in Canada and Quebec. It is a problem now, today.

According to Statistics Canada, “[d]uring the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic [in Canada] in fall 2020, about 1 in 10 Canadians aged 12 and older reported experience of food insecurity in their household in the previous 12 months.” For a country like Canada, I find that absolutely unacceptable.

“HungerCount 2022” reports that, in Quebec alone, 2.2 million requests for food hampers are processed each month. That is a 20% increase since 2021. In addition, 34% of people receiving food assistance are children. In Canada, 485,000 children do not have enough to eat.

Establishing a day like this could help highlight that, even here, in our country, people are going hungry and do not have the kind of access that would enable them to meet their basic needs, such as food and decent housing, and that we must absolutely find a solution to these problems that are hurting a whole segment of society. We are talking about half a million children.

About two-thirds of some 1,200 organizations that provide food hampers report that they have been short on food supplies from their usual sources over the last year. Faced with the current supply chain problems, the food banks' usual donors, such as food producers and processors, have begun to manage their supplies more efficiently, which, in itself, is good news for the environment but ultimately leaves them with less surplus to give away and leaves us with empty food banks.

As we know, the agricultural and agri-food sector is a priority for the Bloc Québécois. We are constantly talking about food sovereignty, in particular by promoting the supply management system, which is a good example. Over time, the Bloc has raised a number of issues to promote food sovereignty in Quebec and Canada, particularly the need to secure our food chains, foster the next generation of farmers, promote local agriculture and processing, help farmers and processors to innovate, especially when it comes to building resilience to climate change, protect critical resources and agriculture and processing facilities from foreign investment, promote human-scale farms by encouraging buying organic and, especially, champion buying local.

All these measures will help people eat healthy and enable food banks to continue doing their work, although they must be given the means to do so. This is why I find the preamble of the bill quite interesting. First, it makes the link between a state’s sovereignty and its agricultural system. Clearly, for me, as a Bloc member, as soon as we talk about sovereignty, I am interested. The bill is also interesting because it addresses the fact that this system is more than just a commercial industry. We are talking about people's health and well-being, and that should not be a commodity.

Let us get back to the concept of food sovereignty, which is defined by a people’s right to responsibly choose its positions, the policies to define them and, above all, the means to implement them. This can be addressed from several angles. From a social perspective, fostering social cohesion in our communities, land use, and respect and recognition for the work of farmers and processors—those who feed us—may cut food waste and promote the sharing of knowledge and know-how we need to develop our own food sovereignty.

In terms of the environment, we need to work on developing innovation programs so that producers and processors can conserve more resources. Finally, from an economic perspective, food sovereignty is a more protectionist vision of agriculture, which enables poorer countries, for one, to develop their agriculture, implement fair trade rules and improve food quality standards. Clearly, this has many positive aspects.

Of course, for trade to be mutually beneficial, it must first be fair. A trade system that results in exploiting poor countries and dumping in rich countries is not sustainable. We cannot allow free trade that results in a race to the bottom. That is not what this is about.

In closing, this food day is a great idea. The Bloc Québécois will be supporting this bill. This day should be accompanied by a range of meaningful measures. Simply having a day is not enough. As I pointed out, we still need to implement an action plan to feed people, to adequately support farmers and, above all, so that I can stop feeling guilty about having steak tartare for dinner while 485,000 children in this country do not have enough to eat.

[Business of Supply, May 4th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, we learned a few months ago in the Journal de Montréal that there were two Chinese police stations in Brossard. However, when I asked an RCMP officer about that at a meeting of the Special Committee on the Canada–People's Republic of China Relationship at the beginning of February, he told me that there were none in Quebec. A few weeks later, we learned that there actually were.

We also learned that the woman who heads up those two Chinese police stations was a candidate in the Brossard municipal election. She was elected and we now know that the Chinese platform WeChat was sending messages in Mandarin to members of the Chinese community in Brossard. That is likely one of the reasons why she got elected.

How can we ensure that this type of interference does not occur in the federal process if we do not hold a truly independent public inquiry?

[Business of Supply, May 4th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, the elephant in the room that no one is talking about right now is that Canada is a bit of a fantasyland where people wear rose-coloured glasses. People do not realize that Canada is a bit of a small fry among the major nations and when it comes to big international issues. It is as though we just discovered that the major world powers are watching what is happening in other countries.

Over the past few months, we have been talking about interference in the electoral process and Chinese police stations. How can the government allow a foreign power to open outposts to keep tabs on residents of our country? Nevertheless, that is being done openly. No one said anything for months and then it happened.

Chinese balloons flew over Canada. We never really found out how that could have happened or why we do not have a system to protect us from that kind of thing. Huge balloons flew over the country, but we do not really know how the government reacted.

A spy was also arrested. He worked for Hydro‑Québec and was taking photographs. We know that Hydro‑Québec is conducting research on electric motors. One of its employees was working for the Chinese government, secretly taking photographs and telling the Chinese government all about the research being done in Canada.

Does my colleague not think that Canada is a total fantasyland?