Jacques Gourde

[The Economy, November 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have found yet another way to favour their close personal friends. They are going to be able to celebrate in style at a restaurant or at home by paying no GST on wine, beer and alcohol of all kinds, while the average family is struggling to pay their heating, gas and grocery bills.

When will this Prime Minister show some judgment and give Canadians permanent relief by calling an election?

[The Economy, November 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, yes, my little Octave's diapers will cost less this holiday season, but he will be paying for the rest of his life. This inflationary spending comes on top of the $500 billion in Liberal budget appropriations, supported by the Bloc Québécois. It seems that the Liberals' next step is to buy everyone refrigerators.

When are the Liberals going to give Canadians back their purchasing power, stop the electioneering and permanently axe the carbon tax?

[Privilege, November 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it would really not be difficult to vote against giving $250 to a person who earns $150,000 a year. If two people with that income live in the same household, they will get $500, when their household income is $300,000 a year. Meanwhile, a single mother who earns $45,000 will get only $250. This is a really poorly targeted measure.

[Privilege, November 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government adjusted the amount allocated for family allowances. That is not the same as sending $250 to 16 million Canadians right before an election. If sending 16 million Canadians $250 is not electioneering, there is only one thing left for the Liberals to do, and that is to give every family a fridge.

[Privilege, November 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I was part of a panel on Radio-Canada this morning along with members of the other parties. I clearly said that these measures are very misguided. Let me explain.

The parents of my little Octave, who is eight months old, will enjoy paying less GST on diapers. However, little Octave is going to be facing a shitload of debt for the rest of his life, because that $6 billion is not going to be paid off in five, 10, 20 or 100 years. Every 20 years, that $6 billion is going to turn into $12 billion, then $24 billion, then $48 billion. Octave is going to be paying for the rest of his life for a government initiative from 2024.

Imagine little Octave, my 8-month-old grandson, being forced to bear the burden of this debt.

[Privilege, November 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it really sets a precedent in the House for the government to refuse to provide documents, or rather for it to hide documents, since we can hardly even call it a refusal at this point, because it is afraid of what is going to come out as a result of the investigation into these documents. We are in the final days, perhaps the final months, of this Liberal government.

Canadians are eager for an election to be called as soon as possible.

[Privilege, November 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I will be pleased to talk about Canada's economic action plan, which was created by the previous Conservative government following the 2008 economic crisis.

We decided to invest in the work of Canadians and in projects that made a big difference for communities. Rather than giving money directly to Canadians, to avoid high unemployment, we gave money to initiatives intended to get Canadians working, which enabled our country to fare better than all the other G20 countries. Canada was number one. Just a few months after Canada's economic action plan was implemented, the Canadian dollar was at $1.10 relative to the U.S. dollar. We were doing better than our neighbours to the south. Now, we are lagging behind. We are last in both the G7 and the G20. The Canadian dollar is barely worth 70¢. That is the difference between investing to get Canadians working and giving people money to mitigate inflation.

[Privilege, November 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the House asked the government to hand over unredacted documents. If the police had the unredacted documents, maybe they would have turned them over. The police have the documents redacted by the government. The House's order is to hand over the unredacted documents to the police to get to the bottom of the problem.

[Privilege, November 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to continue this debate.

The reason I went into politics was, of course, the desire to make the world a better place but, above all, I wanted to bring to an end to the previous Liberal government, which deceived Canadians with the sponsorship scandal. Everyone back home was outraged.

After that, Canada picked itself up, tightened its belt and balanced the budget. However, today, in the devastating aftermath of a Liberal government, the situation is once again critical.

By trying to play nice, the Bloc Québécois made us miss the chance to have an election this fall, when the NDP finally had the courage of its convictions and tore up the agreement that had served it well and kept this illegitimate government in office to the detriment of Canadians.

Just when we thought we had seen it all, here we are, holding the Prime Minister's nose to the grindstone to get to the bottom of what happened with the green slush fund. This government will do anything to get around the rules of ethics. It even found a way to use the environment to fool Canadians. That is proof that nothing will ever stop this government.

As usual, when caught with their hands in the cookie jar, this government and its Prime Minister give us as little information as possible. What bothers me the most is that they never suffer any consequences. Canadians are the ones paying the price, with their hard-earned money and at the expense of their safety and security.

Despite everything, I am convinced that with hope and action, we can recover from the disaster the Liberals have left behind after nine years in power. Young people are our greatest hope. I am confident that young people have learned something from all the Liberal dirty dealings and that they will vote to bring home common sense.

Speaking of young people, I was pleased to learn this week that my riding, Lévis—Lotbinière, has the lowest child poverty rate in the country. We ranked first in Canada, according to the Campaign 2000 report, with a child poverty rate of 5.1%. That is something to be proud of.

Our young people have good values and the courage of their convictions, and our next Conservative government is going to make sure that their trust is never broken. Under our leader, Canadians can rest assured that the days of cronyism and back-scratching in return for cheques, special treatment or undeserved positions are over.

The pendulum is swinging back for the benefit of the people of Lévis—Lotbinière, Canadians, and the future of my seven grandchildren. That makes me very happy. We always believed it would happen, and here we are, on the threshold of a future government with integrity, a government that values transparency and is not about to hide things from Canadians. As an eternal optimist, I believe that the green fund scandal will give undecided voters the push they need to make the only obvious choice. At long last, we are going to elect a Conservative government that has the interests of Canadians at heart. Canadians can rest assured that no one in our government is going to pull a fast one on them. A Conservative government is not going to talk of division. Instead, it is going to work to bring Canadians closer together again, one day at a time, because the challenge will be difficult. We will have to clean up the disastrous Liberal mess, build housing, make our streets safer, and get the machinery of government working the way it should again.

Again, I invite my colleagues across the way to hand over the unredacted documents to the police. It is very simple. It is not complicated. It is an order of the House. This is not about referring the matter to committee, but about submitting the documents to the House; nothing could be simpler. It is called transparency.

I sincerely hope that I will never have to address this topic in the House again and that the Liberals will see the light and obey the Speaker's order, as they should have done a long time ago. It is absolutely mind-boggling to see how indifferent the Liberals are about the shenanigans at Sustainable Development Technology Canada. Despite the long hours of debate, the government keeps ignoring the legitimate concerns of the House and is just brushing off the substance of the scandal. The police should have everything they need to get to the bottom of things. For the police to have both hands on the wheel, they need to have the unredacted documents.

Canadians' trust is at stake because this scandal involves the mismanagement of the taxes Canadians have paid. When their taxes are squandered and handed out to cronies, as was the case with the green fund, they feel less inclined to pay them. Only a Conservative government will manage public funds responsibly and be accountable for its spending.

Some people today are afraid of a recession. Others argue that we are already there but that demographic growth is masking this reality. Unemployment is rising at a rate not seen since the 1970s, indicating that the economic situation is not as rosy as other numbers might suggest. While GDP is rising, GDP per capita has fallen over the past year.

This phenomenon demonstrates the failures of the Liberal government's economic policies, as it struggles to provide services and a solid economy, despite all its uncontrolled spending at the expense of future generations. This is economic vandalism. To make a comparison, it is distressing to see that Canada's GDP growth rate has not kept pace with that of our neighbours to the south for the past nine years.

Along with the economic slump comes thinly veiled corruption. The indifference to their situation is causing young people across the country to turn their backs on the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois. These ideology-focused parties, with their lack of vision, are preventing young adults from envisaging a normal future ahead. The Liberals have turned this country into a testing lab for all kinds of experiments without giving a second thought to their potentially devastating effects. I am referring to the legalization of drugs, the carbon tax, the tax distortion resulting from the tax on capital gains, and out-of-control immigration. The list is long.

“Hard to the left”, say the Liberals, swept along by the NDP. However, by constantly turning in the same direction, they end up turning in circles. The carbon tax puts Canadian businesses at a disadvantage by penalizing hard-working entrepreneurs at every step of the production chain. Then it penalizes Canadian consumers, especially the ones struggling to make ends meet.

As if that were not enough, while the entire industry is at a disadvantage compared to our neighbours to the south. The Americans have been reaping the benefits of all the growth we have been losing since 2015. The Prime Minister of Canada is the best job creation minister that an American president could hope for.

Canadian businesses are grappling with arbitrary discrimination, as evidenced by the green fund scandal. In other words, under the Liberals, everyone has been penalized except Liberal cronies, who are entitled to receive grants even if their companies do not meet the proper criteria. Liberal patronage is throwing money out the window. It is also a waste of money to fund programs like the housing accelerator fund, which has cost Canadians $4 billion without a single housing unit to show for it in a year and a half.

In Halifax, housing starts dropped by 75%, compared to October 2023, whereas in Kelowna they dropped by 87%. The same thing is happening in Ottawa, Quebec City and Toronto, where housing starts dropped by 42%, 37% and 33% respectively. This is a far cry from the Conservatives' common-sense proposals to eliminate the GST on the construction of housing, which would stimulate the construction of 30,000 additional housing units per year in Canada.

By combining this with other measures, we will encourage the creation of housing, not bureaucracy, like the Liberal programs do.

Today 70% of Canadians recognize that it has become impossible to be a homeowner. An entire generation is losing hope to achieve something that used to be the norm. Statistics show that 59% of Canadians and 75% of renters have to sacrifice essential needs such as food, clothing and education to be able to pay their rent or their mortgage.

More and more, Canadians are being forced to stretch their basic necessities budget so they can afford a roof over their heads when they go to sleep. While everything costs more and there is an unprecedented housing shortage, the Liberals manage to run record deficits. This is where we see that they are not short on money but on competence. The lack of seriousness of this government is so blatant we could not make it up. That is why Canadians are begging us to trigger an election as soon as possible.

However, the Liberals are still obstructing the work of the House by refusing to hand over the documents to the police. While the Liberal game of hide-and-seek continues, crime is skyrocketing across the country, particularly in the big cities, but also in the regions. I myself had the misfortune of learning that street gangs are preying on high school students in Lévis, in my riding. This situation has become all too common in Liberal Canada, where judicial laxness reigns and impunity is growing, compromising the health of our children.

The good news is that things were not always like this in Canada, and things will no longer be like this when the Conservatives are back on the other side of the House axing the tax, building the homes, fixing the budget and stopping the crime.

[Privilege, November 21st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by congratulating you on having succeeded in restoring some peace in the House. The government members opposite are calmer than they were during question period.

It is a privilege for me to rise once again to discuss the Liberal green fund scandal. It is another opportunity to shed light on the devastation felt by thousands of Canadians from coast to coast to coast for having been sold the Liberal idea of a responsible, democratic and free country.

I have been the member of Parliament for Lévis—Lotbinière since 2006, so for nearly 19 years. During the 19 years of trust placed in me by my constituents, I have been fortunate to witness the birth and growth of an entire generation. That is significant. I am moved and very honoured by that. Many are related to me, some were my children's playmates, still others have heard about me from their parents, at school or even on television. I have taken part in many activities that have given me the opportunity to get to know these fine young people, from skating and hockey to the choir and the theatre, from school graduations to our traditional Canada Day celebration at the Saint-Agapit agricultural fair.

We are proud of these young people and all the people in my riding, and we are proud to share the values we hold in common and a vision for our society where everyone knows they can trust their parents and their community without worrying about whether the people governing our country are trustworthy, honest and just. Unfortunately, that is not the way things are today. The Liberals' latest green fund scam is once again upsetting the balance we had before the Liberal government was elected in 2015.

They say we do not miss what we do not know, but losing something good can sometimes be devastating, and our whole society is now paying a heavy price. Debt is at an all-time high, and crime is rampant everywhere. Young people are born at a disadvantage to parents who do not have the resources to raise them, or to families grappling with addictions that set them on the path to poverty or even violence. Why has it come to this? I will explain in the rest of my speech.

It is because of the Liberal promises about legalizing marijuana and decriminalizing hard drugs. It was a fantasy to think that allowing this to happen would lead to better control. The outcome is that we have reached the end of the road and nothing better lies ahead if we continue down this path. Throughout this Liberal reign, I have held on to my Conservative values, and I have not stayed silent in the House, even at the risk of appearing old-fashioned or over the top. I have stayed true to my values and beliefs.

I keep speaking out at every opportunity, with each new scandal, like the green fund scandal before us today. I have never lost hope that each small seed would eventually bear fruit and lead us back to a better understanding of what our government should be. Despite the many opportunities we have given to the Liberals, who are backed by the NDP and the Bloc Québécois, we have never given up on the goal of bringing back common sense to this government and to this Parliament.

On November 12, TVA Nouvelles reported on a recent Leger poll showing that more and more young people are turning to us Conservatives. It is clear to me that young people are coming back to us because they are tired of living in a world with no rules or guidelines, where they see their childhood friends and loved ones sinking into the hell of drugs and addiction. They are tired of seeing people who were once full of life and full of hope now struggling to hold down a job and keep a roof over their heads.

When we look at where we now rank in the G7, it would be an understatement to say that the Liberals' policies have left us in a very sad situation.

Returning to the poll, it clearly shows that family values, a strong work ethic, wealth building and pride in being able to put food on the table and create community solidarity are making a comeback. People want to go back to acting in accordance with their core morals, their true nature, without deceiving anyone, especially the most vulnerable.

I believe that young people clearly understand that their future is at risk and that making the right decisions as quickly as possible is essential. Separating from Canada is not what young people in Quebec dream about or need. That is why the Bloc Québécois is lagging so far behind in young people's voting intentions in Quebec. Young people are not looking for another empty dream. They want to feel united with other people and pull together in the same direction, to keep what gains they have and create a prosperous future, like we once had, before 2015.

We have strong young people in Canada with visions and values that show their hearts are in the right place. They see their parents worrying about the fact that they work day in and day out but never get ahead. Parents are stunned when they hear about all the crooked stuff that the Liberals have been involved in and have yet to be punished for. In fact, many constituents of all ages come up to me in my riding to say that they are completely baffled that the Bloc Québécois and the NDP are supporting measures that make no earthly sense. People can see that they are using blackmail to buy time just so they can keep warming their seats until October 2025. Because of the support of the Bloc Québécois and the NDP, it is costing us a lot of money to keep this three-legged government going. It has been limping along for far too long.

I am very happy that young people have learned from the Prime Minister and this shady Liberal government. They have learned what not to do. We are learning the hard way, even more drastically, that thugs are not nice, whether they wear ties and ride around in limousines or supply drugs and roam our alleys with illegal weapons. How did we get here?

Unfortunately, I think that many people fell for the Prime Minister's charm. The Liberals' political tactics are as old as the hills and well known to all. They offer free membership, but then make members pay dearly to attend cocktail parties and fancy dinners that provide access to certain well-placed individuals in order to obtain favours. Then the best members are appointed to key positions and bingo, that is how we end up with all those fine people defending each other, protecting each other, giving each other contracts, and getting their vacations paid for, all by reaching into Canadians' pockets without the slightest scruple or remorse.

I am already looking forward to answering my colleagues' questions at the end of my speech. Some will be blue with anger, others will be red with embarrassment, and maybe some will even be pale green over this whole green fund business.

I would love to keep going, but since I have only a few seconds left, I will gladly continue my speech tomorrow morning, in the first hour, as soon as the House opens.