Denis Trudel

[Proceedings of the House and Committees, May 26th, 2020]

That is another thing I do not have enough time to talk about. I have eight pages of things that are not working in Canada during the pandemic, including tax avoidance.

Billions of dollars are legally held elsewhere. I am not even talking about tax evasion. This is allowed under tax laws. God knows that people who have that much money can afford the services of people who spend days finding loopholes in the law and figuring out ways to take advantage of them.

Earlier there was talk of what happens after the crisis and everything we might do, including with regard to the environment. We might also deal with tax avoidance. Is this not the right time to do that? We need billions of dollars, and billions of dollars happen to be lying around.

That is not what the government across the way is doing. It is even worse. It is giving money to those companies. We immediately asked them multiple times not to give money to people who avoid taxes. They told us no.

[Proceedings of the House and Committees, May 26th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure I understood what my colleague said, since I switched over to the interpretation a bit late.

I will say it again. There are needs, especially with respect to housing. I did not mention figures earlier, but 150,000 households in Quebec did not pay rent in April as a result of the crisis. That is a whole lot of people. That figure comes from Minister Laforest, in Quebec City. On May 6, we already knew that people had not paid their April rent, even if they had received the CERB cheque. The same is true for May: 10% of Quebeckers did not pay their rent. The figure for Montreal is worse, at 15%. That is not nothing.

I have some interesting figures from another study. In the past two months, 300,000 Quebeckers went to a food bank for the first time in their lives. Three hundred thousand people were already using food banks, so that brings the total to 600,000.

I have one more thing I want to say about that. In a survey, people said they already knew that within a month of these measures ending, they would not be able to feed their families. These are real issues. I want to know how we are going to solve these very real problems, which are going to smack us in the face in the coming months. I want us to be able to talk in person.

[Proceedings of the House and Committees, May 26th, 2020]

I think I talked enough about nurses. That is one problem, but there is a slew of problems that could be resolved. We need to sit down here to do that.

Let's talk about housing in Quebec. There was a crisis, there is a crisis and there will be a crisis. Right now, we do not know what we are going to do, but all parliamentarians can take action in this regard. Three or four years ago, the Government of Canada implemented the national housing strategy. It promised that it would find housing for people, that it would take care of that. It allocated $55 billion, which was spent all across Canada, except in Quebec. Over the past two months, it has signed $300 billion worth of cheques. We need $1.4 billion to house people who are going to end up on the street in two months. When will the government give out that money? People are going to be out on the street tomorrow morning. We know that. Just ask all of the organizations involved in housing, homelessness or low-income housing. In three months, these people will be out on the street. Just ask all of the food banks. The crisis is happening now, but it will start all over again in six months.

A woman from one of the food banks in my riding told me that if she does not bring in $80,000 over the coming year, she will have to shutter the place. That woman feeds 100 people every week. Where will she find the money? On the housing front, Quebec needs $1.4 billion to house its people. Just because of a flag, the government across the way is refusing to hand over $1.4 billion even though it has pumped $300 billion into the system over the past two months. That is unacceptable. Parliament must sit. We will not do this online. We need to be here, face to face, talking about what folks need and cutting people cheques.

[Proceedings of the House and Committees, May 26th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, the tone just changed. While I was listening to my colleague, I was thinking. As some of my colleagues know, I was an actor in a previous life. When I rise in the House, I always wonder if I am putting on a show for the camera or playing to the house.

Things are pretty strange right now. Because of the pandemic and social distancing, there are just 38 members here instead of 338, and right now it feels like I am playing to an empty house. This feels like the eighth performance of a pretty bad show that got panned by critics. The place is deserted, but nobody is going to listen to me anyway. Half the time, people are busy doing their own thing. Still, I hope people are following the debate.

I would be remiss if I did not begin my presentation by acknowledging Quebec's front-line workers, especially those working in our long-term care centres and hospitals, including all the orderlies, nurses and doctors. They are on the front line. We, meanwhile, are on the third or fourth line. It is hard to say. We are definitely an essential service, because we take care of the people.

That is the main thesis of my presentation. I think we must come back to this place. Parliament must resume its work. We must find ourselves face to face with one another, with people from the other parties, including the ministers and the Prime Minister. This is not about having little Zoom conferences for two hours a day only to turn around and negotiate behind the scenes. Parliament needs to do its work, because there are serious problems to address.

Let's back up a bit. I was commending the nurses. They are running the show. It is no small injustice in this crisis that the soldiers on the front lines, those who come out of the trenches and go to the front, are earning minimum wage. CHSLD workers earn $13 an hour. That is an outrage. This is not Zimbabwe or Eritrea, it is Canada, the best country in the world, and yet the soldiers we send to the front lines are earning minimum wage.

Where is the answer to this crisis? It is here, in the House. We have been talking about health transfers for 30 years. Health care is underfunded. People are underpaid. We are looking for the problem in the CHSLDs. We all have a responsibility here to ensure that the federal government covers 50% of the provinces' health care costs to pay for doctors, hospitals, nurses, surgeons and orderlies. We must give them a decent wage. We have to take care of the people who take care of our people. Right now, the federal government is paying 23% of provincial health care costs. That is billions of dollars. What would we do with that money during this period? We would pay people well.

We all have the power here to change that. Are we going to use it, or are we going to continue to do little Zoom meetings from time to time, sitting comfortably in our living rooms, where we can see what books the ministers are reading and the hockey trophies they won when they were young?

We want to make meaningful decisions. We want to sit so we can take care of people's problems. That is what I am thinking.

I was speaking about nurses. I wanted to pay tribute to them because they are working on the front lines. We are debating whether or not we will continue with Parliament. In two months, the government signed cheques totalling $300 billion. It threw together some laws. For years, we came here to debate and try to do things. Three or four public servants and two or three ministers got together and in two months cheques totalling $300 billion were hastily signed.

That is unbelievable. They signed $300 billion in cheques to solve some problems. We want to continue doing that because there will be more problems after the crisis. There are problems now and there will be some after.

Our nurses are dying. That upsets me. That is another thing. I do not think that anyone is at risk by coming here. It is always possible, but it would be an accident. We could get hit by a car on Wellington, but that is not very likely to happen. Young men and young women, who often come from another country, which is another issue, get up every morning and may contract a deadly virus. They can wear protective equipment, but it could happen anyway. No one here can say the same thing. Our job is make sure that they do not get sick. We have that power. The best way to pay tribute to all these people is come sit here to do our work, vote on legislation and distribute money. We were able to inject $300 billion into the system. I think there is still some missing. Even today, long-term care homes in Quebec are having a hard time finding people. We have to find people, and for that we have to pay them. This money needs to go to serving these people, not into the pockets of the Liberal Party or the Conservative Party. People who are working need to get paid. That is what we want to do.

That is the kind of work I want to do. I want to come here and vote to give money to the people who really need it. It would be the best way to thank them. It is one of the needs that could be met.

I have three minutes left. I wanted to talk about housing.

[Proceedings of the House and Committees, May 26th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her speech.

It was fascinating to hear her talk about ideals, about what we should be doing, and about how the government should respond to the crisis.

Let's go down the list of the people who need help from the government during the crisis, who need programs like the CERB and the emergency wage subsidy. That list includes workers, seniors, students, community groups, very important food banks, sick people, fishers on Canada's east coast, the tourism sector, which is huge, single moms, people with disabilities, indigenous individuals, people working in grocery stores and hospitals, and artists. The cultural sector was the first to shut down and will be the last to open up again. Our society needs theatre and the performing arts.

The thing is, I do not see either the Liberal Party or the Conservative Party on the list of people who need government help, yet both of them availed themselves of the Canada emergency wage subsidy. We recently learned that the two leadership hopefuls and other members were against that.

I would like to ask my hon. colleague if she thinks the Conservative Party, which raised almost $4 million in the first quarter, really needs the help that should be going to all those other people.

[Proceedings of the House and Committees, May 25th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague very much for naming all the measures that the government has put in place over the past two months. I believe that these are targeted measures. There is more work to be done. Seniors, children with disabilities and workers have been taken care of.

Over the past two months, the government has announced measures totalling between $250 billion and $300 billion. That is fine. As I mentioned earlier, 150,000 Quebec households were unable to pay their rent in April despite the CERB. In May, 10% of renters were unable to pay their rent. In Montreal, 15% were unable to pay their rent.

In a few days, the government managed to put together and enact a law that will send $73 billion to workers. That is fine. However, in the past three years, it has not managed to pay the $1.4 billion that would help Quebec with its housing crisis. In Quebec, 10 major cities have been asking for the government's help for years and telling it that they need the $1.4 billion now.

In Quebec, not-for-profit housing organizations, co-operatives, tenant associations, engineers and urban planners have been united during the pandemic in asking for the $1.4 billion needed to house the most vulnerable during this crisis.

[Proceedings of the House and Committees, May 25th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his wonderful speech. It is interesting to hear him quote the Bible and talk about the most vulnerable in the House.

Since we are talking about the most vulnerable in this crisis, I have a few interesting figures on the situation in Quebec. We recently learned that, in the past two months, 300,000 people in Quebec used a food bank for the first time in their lives. In April, 150,000 households in Quebec could not pay their rent, and that is after getting the CERB. In May, 10% of Quebeckers could not pay their rent, including 15% in Montreal. Those are the most vulnerable people in our society. Those are the ones left behind in this pandemic.

Unfortunately, I do not see either the Liberals or the Conservatives on the list of the most vulnerable in this pandemic, and yet we learned that the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party have availed themselves of the wage subsidy.

Does my hon. colleague really think that the Conservative Party needs that money, which should go to those most in need?

[Business of Supply, March 12th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I might be accused of always asking the same question, but that is because we never get an answer in the House. I will ask it anyway. I very much appreciated my hon. colleague's speech, and I have a great deal of empathy for anyone dealing with the tragedy of a rare disease. On that, I agree with everyone who spoke here today.

On the other hand, I do not how this will unfold. Last June, the National Assembly voted unanimously on a motion stating that Quebec would refuse to adhere to a pan-Canadian pharmacare plan. Whether the CAQ, the PQ or Québec solidaire is in power, everyone in Quebec wants nothing to do with this. We have our own system. It is not perfect, but it works pretty well.

What we want is for Ottawa to give us the money. We have no problem with Canada creating a national pharmacare program. What we want are health transfers. We have been asking for that for years now. Quebec's health care system is underfunded. We want a 5.2% health transfer. If Ottawa wants to create a national program, that is fine, but we want money.

What are my colleague's thoughts on that?

[Business of Supply, March 12th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member from Quebec for his valuable contribution to the debate, but he is not answering the fundamental question.

Earlier, my Liberal colleague talked about Quebec and Canada collaborating. I asked him the same question. There is no collaboration. Quebec's National Assembly is unanimous about that. Coalition Avenir Québec, Québec solidaire, the Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois all agree that the federal government should mind its own business.

Ever since the Constitution, health has been under provincial jurisdiction. If my colleagues want to change the Constitution, that would be fine by us. The Bloc Québécois has a number of demands relating to the Constitution. If MPs want to reopen the Constitution, we would be happy to. We could have a lot of conversations about that.

The National Assembly said no to collaboration. What we want is the money. We know what to do. We already know how to manage hospitals and doctors. As my colleague said, Quebec has had pharmacare for 20 years. It is not perfect, but it works pretty well. We want health transfers.

What does my colleague have to say to that?

[Business of Supply, March 12th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her speech.

My colleague is a member from Quebec. We could discuss people's well-being and pharmacare. The problem is that this is not the right forum. Health is a provincial jurisdiction.

I would like to remind my colleague, who is from Quebec, that, on June 14, the National Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution indicating that Quebec is calling for full and unconditional financial compensation if a Canadian pharmacare plan is officially implemented. The National Assembly clearly stated that Quebec refuses to join a Canadian pharmacare plan.

They want to negotiate with the provinces, but how will they negotiate with Quebec, which has already said that it is not on board?