Denis Trudel

[Housing, April 8th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, this is not just a question of jurisdiction; it is more serious than that.

When the feds get involved, the delays pile up. What the Prime Minister is saying is true: Quebeckers who are struggling to find housing want governments to work together. That said, the federal government is not working with anyone. Even before we heard the details of their measures, the Liberals announced that they are willing to pick a fight over this until January 2025 in order to impose their conditions.

Who exactly is that helping right now? How does it help anyone to know that there will not be any housing starts before 2025 because the federal government refuses to work as part of a team?

[Housing, April 8th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, if Ottawa wanted to speed up housing construction in Quebec, it would give Quebec the money for housing.

We are ready. We have our own permanent programs. We are actually the only ones in Canada who do. The Liberals could easily announce an unconditional transfer, but no, they are threatening to withhold that money from Quebec if it refuses to accept their conditions and fights with the federal government until 2025. We are in the midst of a housing crisis. People want housing; they do not want a fight with the federal government.

Why not just give Quebec its share, with no strings attached, so we can get to work now, not in 2025?

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I want to share how uncomfortable I am with the debate we are having today, and that we also had on Tuesday, about the carbon tax. As a Quebecker who, like most Quebeckers, believes in the fight against climate change, I find this all rather embarrassing.

The Grits have been in power for eight years and are not doing anything to fight climate change. Canada ranks near the bottom when it comes to nearly every quantitative measure of climate change performance. Its allies on the Canadian left get all worked up about climate change but still always vote with the government in power. On Tuesday and Thursday, the Tories moved motions saying that the Grits and the Dippers are no good and that Canada is broken, but they themselves want to do even less for the climate.

I want to ask my colleague a simple question. Is he really proud of his government's climate record?

[Business of Supply, March 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, over the past year, I toured Quebec on the housing issue. I travelled all over Quebec. I met with over 70 organizations representing 15,000 members. These are people who work with the most vulnerable, namely, women who are victims of domestic violence and people with intellectual disabilities. We talked about housing and homelessness. No one—not a single person—talked to me about the carbon tax to deal with people who do not have shelter or housing. I was told that we need investments, that we need to invest in social housing and the most vulnerable. No one talked to me about the carbon tax.

When I hear my Conservative colleagues say that they are close to the disadvantaged and the people who care for people, I cannot believe that they would say that.

[Business of Supply, March 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I do not know if my colleagues from English Canada are aware that what we have been hearing in the House this morning is a ringing endorsement for Quebec sovereignty. In Quebec, we are concerned about fighting climate change. Our province has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions, by the way, because we have taken action, because we rely on hydroelectricity and batteries.

This morning, we have been hearing two things. On the one hand, we hear that the government has been spending a lot of money for years and has the world's worst record. Canada has the worst record when it comes to fighting climate change, despite quite needlessly throwing billions of dollars out there, with help from the NDP, which supports the government most of the time. On the other hand, we have the Conservatives saying that they are going to do even less.

All Canadians are saying that no matter how much they spend or do not spend, they are getting nowhere. This is really a ringing endorsement for Quebec sovereignty. I hope that all Quebeckers are watching this debate today and taking note.

[Business of Supply, March 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, my question is really about questioning the government's choices. There are a lot of things I do not understand about this country, but let us just focus on the Liberal government's budgetary choices.

There is a homelessness crisis going on right now. It has been going on in Quebec for five years. In fact, since the federal government launched the national housing strategy, homelessness in Quebec has doubled. There is also homelessness in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. This is really serious. There is only one federal program that deals with homelessness, and that is the Reaching Home program. Now we have learned that the program will be cut by 3% for the next two years. This 3% cut seems crazy to us. It seems like the Liberals want to show the Conservatives that they are capable of fiscal restraint, so they are making cuts all over the place, including to services for the homeless.

Recent budgets announced $83 billion in tax credits for oil companies by 2035, and yet services for the homeless are being cut by 3%. I would like my colleague to explain that to me.

[Business of Supply, March 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I always kind of question the government's budgetary choices—

[Business of Supply, March 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I enjoyed the speech by my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite‑Patrie, who always delivers passionate speeches on the fight against climate change. I agree with him.

The only thing is that the NDP is hard to follow. In the last two budgets, the government, whose record he just panned, brought in six tax credits worth a total of $83 billion by 2035. The NDP is getting all worked up over climate change and the fact that the Liberals are not doing enough about it, but it voted in favour of those budgets.

How does my colleague reconcile these two things?

[Business of Supply, March 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, for us, today really feels like Groundhog Day.

It seems like every time there is a Conservative opposition day, it is always about the carbon tax. There are plenty of momentous issues we could be talking about this morning, but we are still talking about the carbon tax. It is so ridiculous.

My Conservative friends and colleagues often talk about the government's inflationary spending. According to the International Monetary Fund, in 2022, the government gave the oil industry $50 billion in direct and indirect spending. Keep in mind that in 2022, the five biggest oil companies made a combined $200 billion in profits. This is in addition to the fact that the Liberal budget plans to spend $80 billion on tax credits for oil companies by 2035. That is not counting the $34 billion that Trans Mountain is going to cost.

Does my colleague think that all this spending is inflationary spending, yes or no?

[Business of Supply, March 18th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois cannot take a position on the government's amendment because we do not have a French version of the amendment.

We simply cannot take a position at the moment.