Denis Trudel

[Privilege, October 29th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, my colleague talked at length about languages and the fact that French is under threat. He sits on the Standing Committee on Official Languages.

French is indeed under threat. This weekend, I learned something that I never knew before, which is that French is the 17th most spoken language in Toronto and about the eighth most spoken language in Calgary and Edmonton. It is not doing too well. It is not doing too well in Quebec either. All the indicators are red. The Official Languages Act promises to send $700 million over the next five years to Quebec's anglophone community. How much is being sent to Quebec's endangered francophone community? Just $50 million. Anglophones represent 8% of the population and are under no threat whatsoever in North America, but they get $700 million, while only $50 million can be spared to protect French.

If the Conservatives take power in a year's time, will my colleague commit to reviewing this absurd funding arrangement?

[Privilege, October 28th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I think you might find this rather funny.

When I was an actor, I was fortunate to work with a Quebec director and actress whom some of you may not know, but my colleagues from Quebec might be familiar with her. Her name is Denise Filiatrault. She is very passionate as an actress and has a very unique style.

When we rehearsed scenes for her, if she thought they did not have enough rhythm and cohesion or were not moving fast enough, she would quickly become impatient. She would start yelling from the back of the rehearsal room. I can still picture her, with a cigarette in her mouth, screaming and asking when we would get to the punchline. She was trying to tell us to pick up the pace, find our rhythm and get on with it.

We are really stuck on this issue. I want to know when we are going to get to the punchline. We have been talking about the same thing, the same motion, just this one thing, for three weeks now.

Earlier a colleague mentioned the problem of homelessness in Canada. We want to talk about that. The number of deaths on the streets of Quebec has doubled in recent years. It is shameful that we are not talking about that.

Here, then, is my question for my colleagues: When are we going to get to the punchline? When are we going to vote?

[Privilege, October 25th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, since my Conservative friends have been stuck on the same channel for the past three weeks and keep repeating the same speech, I am going to take the liberty of asking the same questions, since we are not getting any answers. I will even try to put my question another way.

My constituents in Longueuil sent me here to solve certain issues. Right now, we are dealing with a homelessness crisis, a housing crisis, a climate crisis and a language crisis. We need money for transportation infrastructure and for sewer system upgrades in Longueuil. My constituents sent me to Ottawa to fix these problems. For the past three weeks, I have not been fixing these problems. I am being robbed of my right as a parliamentarian, of my duty, in fact, and my privilege to work on behalf of my constituents. For the past three weeks, this duty or right has been hijacked by a motion that we agree on. We have said so. The NDP agrees on it as well. We are ready to vote on it.

What does my colleague have to say to constituents of mine who might feel cheated, knowing that I am not doing what they sent me here to do four years ago?

[Privilege, October 25th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, what us happening right now is really disturbing and makes me uneasy. As a parliamentarian, I have been feeling rather low for the past three weeks because Parliament has been paralyzed.

There are all kinds of problems outside this Parliament that, interestingly enough, my colleagues address in their speeches. They talk about crime, the housing crisis, the underfunding of health care and homelessness. There are all kinds of problems. My colleagues say that we should be talking about those issues. They tell us that Canadians want to talk about them, that Canadians are worried. Of course they are worried. However, for the past three weeks, the Conservatives have been preventing us from talking about these issues and doing our job.

As a parliamentarian, I feel I am being held hostage by the official opposition party, even though we are on the same page. The other opposition parties are ready to vote. Personally, I feel that my fundamental right to question the government and make Parliament work is being denied. I am not at all comfortable with that.

I would like to know what my colleague thinks about that.

[Privilege, October 24th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, in the last part of his speech, my colleague talked about the importance of restoring public trust. I cannot believe he said that. I want to know if he really thinks that what we have been doing these past three weeks here in the House is going to restore public trust. We are stuck on this one issue when there are a number of crises going on right now.

We learned today, for example, that global greenhouse gas emissions have risen to a level that is dangerous for humanity. No one is talking about that. We are in the midst of a housing crisis. No one is talking about that. There is a language crisis, and French is disappearing in Canada. No one is talking about that.

I really wonder if the member truly thinks, deep down in his soul, that what we have been doing here these past three weeks is going to restore public trust.

[Privilege, October 24th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, for once, I agree with a Conservative MP. At the end of his speech, my colleague said that it is high time for this debate to end. I could not agree more.

Moreover, having listened to him make his speech, I am now convinced that they have been told to read their speeches slowly so that we all fall sleep in the House. I am absolutely convinced of that.

Since they will not let us do our job as an opposition party—which would be to ask questions of the government—we have been racking our brains for the past three weeks trying to come up with questions.

I have an excellent question for him, which has nothing to do with the debate. Does he think that Quebec's desire for independence is legitimate, yes or no?

[Privilege, October 22nd, 2024]

Madam Speaker, it would be funny if it were not so sad. I would like to talk about something that my colleague said in her speech.

She said that the government has failed to keep one of its many promises on the environment, and that is to plant two billion trees. That was a key election promise, but the Liberals have planted maybe 2% or 3% of that amount. She also said that, in the meantime, the government has neglected the oil industry or subjected it to uncertainty.

How can she say such a thing in the House?

According to a study by the International Monetary Fund, in 2022, Canada directly and indirectly invested $50 billion in the oil industry. If the Liberal government has failed on environmental issues over the past nine years, then I can say that people in my riding, particularly those who are concerned about the fight against climate change, are absolutely terrified, and I am choosing my words carefully here, at the idea of the Conservatives taking power.

[Privilege, October 22nd, 2024]

Madam Speaker, this is all a bit rich. For the past little while, the Conservatives have been talking about everything and the kitchen sink during their 20-minute speeches. When we ask them about it, they do not want to answer and say that it is not related to the topic.

They are completely off topic. They are bashing the government. They are bashing the other opposition parties. They talked about us earlier, and we were unable to answer them. I really find it all a bit rich. I wonder if the Conservatives have been instructed to slow down their speeches, because they are so boring. It has been endlessly mind-numbing to have to listen to this all day.

There are major crises happening outside the House at this very moment. We have a language crisis, a climate crisis and a housing crisis.

By debating this and wasting time on it, when the entire House agrees and we could vote on it, does my colleague seriously think that we are serving Canadian democracy?

[Privilege, October 22nd, 2024]

Madam Speaker, in the weeks leading up to the last budget, the federal government launched a $250-million program to address the homelessness crisis in Canada. A promise was made to end this crisis within the next few years. Today, however, there is still no agreement, in particular with Quebec. Last week we learned that the number of people who died in Quebec's streets has tripled in the past five years. They died from exposure to cold or overdoses.

For the last few weeks, we have been hashing over something that everyone in the House agrees on, except, of course, the government. We agree on the need for more transparency and accountability. Does my colleague not think that it is time to move on, to vote on this issue, so that we can start discussing other topics like the country's housing and homelessness crises?

[Privilege, October 21st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, we have been discussing this issue for about two weeks now.

It seems pretty clear that everyone in the House agrees on this issue. The NDP, the Bloc Québécois and the Conservatives agree. What we want to know is what we are accomplishing here.

Last week, a study in La Presse reported that the number of homeless people who have died on the streets of Quebec has tripled over the past five years. In Quebec, over the past five years, 200 people died on the streets in the cold. If we extrapolate, that means that in Canada as a whole, 700 to 800 people died on the streets. That is a direct result of the housing crisis, which we are currently not talking about in the House because we are wasting time discussing a motion that everyone agrees on. We agree on accountability. We agree on the need for more transparency. We are ready to vote on this motion.

What are the Conservatives waiting for to bring this motion to a vote?