François Choquette

[Elections Modernization Act, May 23rd, 2018]

Madam Speaker, like my hon. colleague from Montcalm, I would like to say that it is shameful to see the Liberals using the same old tactics as Stephen Harper and his Conservatives by imposing gag orders and limiting the time for debate on such an important bill as this one on electoral reform.

I am not completely satisfied with what is and what is not included in this bill. As my colleague mentioned, a committee consulted people from across Canada to get recommendations, but the government dismissed them all out of hand, including the recommendation to implement a proportional voting system.

Another important thing is that, when Canadians voted in the past, their vote was worth something because the party they voted for was given $2 so that every vote counted.

If the per-vote subsidy were reinstated, it would encourage Canadians to get out and vote for the party they really believe in.

[Rail Transportation, May 22nd, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I am disappointed that my hon. colleague did not answer my question. It was so simple. Will there be Canadian content or not? Will there be a Canadian content clause in the international request for proposals for replacing the railcars and the locomotives? It is extremely important to know that. This is about Canadians' money. At the very least we have to be able to ensure that jobs are created here in Canada. I did not get an answer to that.

My colleague mentioned that we will move forward quickly, in a few months. The government has allocated $8 million for the next three years to conduct studies. I would not call that moving quickly. They are still in the process of conducting feasibility studies, but we certainly know where this is going. Via Rail told us where to go. It is their project and they have already analyzed every possibility. Let us move forward with a high-frequency train, something that everyone agrees on.

[Rail Transportation, May 22nd, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I am always happy to come to the House of Commons for discussion, even for a late show, especially when we are talking about an extremely important and stimulating project that will lead to significant socio-economic progress in Drummond and throughout the Quebec-Montreal corridor or even the Quebec-Windsor corridor.

In this regard, on February 2, I rose in the House of Commons to speak about the high-frequency train project. Several players in the field and several members, such as my colleagues from Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot and Trois-Rivières, are working very hard in this regard. There really is a consensus about having a high-frequency train. It would have two segments. There would be the north shore segment, which would include Quebec City, Trois-Rivières and Montreal, and the south shore segment, which would include Lévis, Drummondville, Saint-Hyacinthe and eventually Montreal.

This project is extremely important for the greater Drummond area. It would allow socio-economic development, as I mentioned. All local and regional actors are working very hard to make this project a reality. Unfortunately, we are still waiting, and we are a little tired of feasibility studies. It is time we started doing some work on the ground.

We were expecting more in the federal budget, which allocated just $8 million over three years to study the feasibility of a high-frequency train. This is preventing the project from moving forward, which is unfortunate. It is not as if all the appropriate studies have not already been done. We are disappointed. The government must provide stable, predictable, annual funding to fulfill its mandate. We urgently need a good project like the high-frequency rail project.

The only good news we have now is that the outdated fleets of cars and locomotives will be replaced. This is a $1.5 billion project, but we have some concerns. The member for Trois-Rivières is doing an excellent job as transport critic. He sent a letter urging the federal minister to include a local content clause in the international request for proposals and to ensure that Canadian taxpayers' money be used to create jobs in this country. We hope to hear back from the government soon. I do not understand why we have not yet received a response.

As I said, everyone in Drummond agrees that this great project would help the region retain young people and could also help grow the workforce. There is a labour shortage in Drummond. The project would improve labour mobility.

I want to congratulate stakeholders like the mayor of Drummondville; the outgoing president of the Drummond chamber of commerce and industry, Nicolas Martel; the new president, Linda Desrochers; the outgoing CEO, Nathalie Benoît; and the new CEO, Yves Chabot, who, with my assistance, are working on advancing this wonderful project. It is very important. As I said, we need this project to keep young people in the region and to deal with the labour shortage.

My question is this. When will we know whether the request for proposals will have a Canadian content clause?

[Net Neutrality, May 22nd, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak to Motion No. 168 on net neutrality and to support its sponsor, the hon. member for Oakville.

What is this motion about? It refers to the net neutrality that applies in Canada. Actually, we have a long history of supporting net neutrality. In fact, the NDP member for Timmins—James Bay introduced a first bill in Parliament in May 2008, Bill C-552. In May 2009, there was Bill C-398, the purpose of which was to protect Canadians by demanding net neutrality. This, therefore, is not new. We have been talking about this for a long time.

The hon. member for Windsor West has done an excellent job on the net neutrality file. He took part in developing the regulations related to the Telecommunications Act that has been protecting Canadians since 2009.

On November 22, 2017, this MP said the following about net neutrality:

The NDP reaffirms our support for net neutrality for the economic and social benefits for the entire online community. We call on the Government of Canada to advance this policy domestically and begin the discussion on how to protect Canadians against repercussions from global decisions that erode this right.

What is he referring to? To what has happened in the United States. As we know, Donald Trump has unfortunately threatened net neutrality. There is concern that this first breach could spread to other countries and that Canada could be contaminated by this problem.

What does the NDP want? We want the government to reaffirm its commitment to Canadian consumers through rigorous regulations that protect our right to net neutrality.

As mentioned, all we have right now is a hodgepodge of rules in the Telecommunications Act. There is nothing that is very clear, very specific, very robust, outside of the CRTC decisions. it is time to amend the act as promised in budget 2017, and to add a section on net neutrality. We would like these amendments to give the CRTC more teeth. Instead of waiting for consumers to complain and before launching an inquiry, we would like it to immediately apply the regulations to ensure that net neutrality is respected.

What is net neutrality? It is what we call the open Internet, which means that its content, no matter the form or source, is treated equally by the service provider. It is extremely important because the goal of net neutrality is to guarantee freedom of expression, stimulate innovation, and promote competition.

Imagine if there were websites that people had to pay a separate fee to access, sites that were not automatically available through our Internet service providers. That would have major implications for free and open access to information. This is an extremely important issue.

There are rules that prevent discrimination and content blocking, but, as I said, the CRTC does not enforce those rules unless a consumer, a citizen, complains. That is what we find so unfortunate and problematic.

We also need to consider Internet access in rural areas. I represent the riding of Drummond, where people in some areas still do not have high-speed Internet or have a hard time getting Internet at all.

There are some major plans in the works to expand Internet access. The Drummond regional government has a plan to bring Internet access to the whole RCM, and I hope the federal government will get on board. Let us remember that Internet access should not be restricted to the wealthy. It should be available to everyone because it has become so important to people and is practically an essential service. People need this service, and they need affordable access to reliable broadband service, to high-speed Internet. There are 18 mainly rural municipalities in Drummond, where I am from. Providing adequate service to those municipalities is extremely important. They must have access thanks to net neutrality.

Speaking of Drummond, I would just like to mention that, on Saturday, I was at the second joint annual review of Drummondville's cadet units. The parade included over 100 cadets. The event highlighted over a century of sea cadets history.

Two sea cadets had some experiences worth mentioning. The first is Valeria Aristizabal, who was chosen along with three other sea cadets from Quebec to work for five days as a sailor on the HMCS Calgary, a Canadian Armed Forces frigate based in Esquimalt, British Columbia. Congratulations to Valeria on being selected for this great opportunity.

I also want to talk about Mike Gagnon from the Drummondville sea cadets who qualified to represent the Quebec delegation at the national cadet marksmanship championship, which was held in British Columbia from May 6 to 11. Congratulations to Mike Gagnon on that achievement. I also want to commend all those involved, including Peter Catwright, Raymond Ouellet, Jean-Marc Chartier, and many others. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about these individuals.

Why is access to net neutrality important? As I mentioned, such access is extremely important for our regions, for example, to ensure that everyone has access to all the information they need at a reasonable price. We want the government to reaffirm its commitment to Canadian consumers that it will maintain strong rules that protect their right to net neutrality. Unfortunately, right now, all we have is the CRTC, which only takes action if someone files a complaint. The CRTC is not proactive. It has to wait until a complaint is filed, which is currently affecting net neutrality. As part of the amendments, we would like the CRTC to be able to enforce the rules right away. That would be a tremendous asset.

I want to reiterate that many Canadians are concerned because, in the fall of 2017, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, under the direction of President Donald Trump, changed the rules to do away with net neutrality in the United States. Canadians are very concerned because they are wondering what will happen next. Will Canada also adopt that approach? Could Internet service providers start exerting pressure that would result in a breach of net neutrality? That is not something we want to happen. We are completely against such breaches, because net neutrality allows all Canadians to have access to regional content, which is important for our regions, as well as any other content that they want to access.

[Petitions, May 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, today I have the honour to table a petition signed by dozens of people across Quebec and even from outside the province. The petitioners point out that in early August 2017, roughly five tonnes of genetically modified salmon was sold in Canada.

The petitioners say that this salmon likely ended up on our plate without us even knowing it. They also say that Canadians are concerned about the lack of information about where GMO salmon is sold.

Therefore, the petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to ban the sale and breeding of genetically modified salmon in Canada until labelling standards to warn consumers are put in place and independent safety and environmental studies have shown GMO salmon to be safe.

[Business of Supply, May 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind our hon. Conservative colleagues that the national round table on the environment and the economy, the only organization that brought the environment and the economy together to track progress, was axed in 2011 by the incoming majority Conservative government.

This organization demonstrated that the cost of inaction was much greater than the cost of action. If we put a price on carbon, there are some minor consequences, but they are much more positive than negative.

If we fail to take action on climate change, it is projected that the extreme weather caused by climate change will be costing the economy $21 billion to $43 billion a year by 2050.

What does my colleague have to say about that?

[Petitions, May 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to present more petitions about tax havens. Given that the use of tax havens results in massive revenue losses for the public treasury, the petitioners want the government to take action against tax havens. The petitioners are asking the Government of Canada to take the necessary legislative measures to combat tax havens in order to reduce social inequality in this country.

[Petitions, May 4th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, today I have the honour to table an electronic petition signed by a total of 1,447 people. The petitioners state that books are essential to the vitality of a free and democratic society. As a result, these citizens and residents of Canada are calling upon the Government of Canada to exempt books from the goods and services tax; to reestablish the postal preferential rate applicable to books; and to establish a personal tax credit applicable to books bought from accredited booksellers.

[Official Languages, May 4th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, egregious language errors continue to appear on the French versions of the government's websites, a problem that appears to be getting worse. This time it is the Parks Canada and Revenue Canada websites that are riddled with poor translations. Here is an example. Imagine wanting to go to a park this summer where the hours of operation are from “1^er juillet au 4 septième”, or “July 1 to Seven 4”.

It is unbelievable. The French language is not a language for Google Translate; it is an official language in its own right and must be respected. The Minister of Public Services and Procurement promised to fix this problem.

When will she take action?

[Justice, April 23rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot believe what the parliamentary secretary has just said.

The action plan for official languages clearly states that the Contraventions Act fund is meant to improve access to justice in both official languages. The same goes for the infamous policy. If the action plan for official languages is being set aside, then where are we headed? Why even make plans in the first place? If it is part of the plan, I should hope it would be followed.

Furthermore, the Minister of Canadian Heritage's new action plan for official languages promises an additional $10 million over five years for the access to justice in both official languages support fund. However, the fund has been depleted of $40 million over 10 years. Something does not add up. There is a gap that will have to be made up.