House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2011, with 27% of the vote.
Afghanistan December 4th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, Canadian soldiers believed that Afghan authorities were uncooperative because they were covering up acts of torture. By halting the transfers, they exposed the Conservative government's incompetence. Since then, the government has been trying to cover up its failure to ensure the safety of Afghan detainees.
Does the government agree that it is high time to launch an independent public inquiry?
Afghanistan December 4th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, in an attempt to prove that the new protocol was working well, the Minister of National Defence told us that Canada stopped transferring detainees a number of times because of indications they might be tortured. Now we have learned that Afghan intelligence service personnel were the ones who refused to put detainees transferred by Canada into prison, because of lack of evidence.
When will the Minister of National Defence stop telling us half-truths?
Climate Change November 20th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, there is a broad scientific consensus not only on the extent of climate change, but on the targets to reach in order to avoid the worst. More and more countries, even the most resistant at first, such as the United States and China, are realizing the urgent need for action.
While Quebec has already made considerable efforts and continues to favour binding measures for fighting climate change, the Canadian government, on behalf of the oil companies, is trying to sabotage negotiations to adopt an ambitious greenhouse gas reduction agreement in Copenhagen.
The Canadian government has done nothing to achieve the Kyoto protocol objectives; on the contrary, greenhouse gas emissions increased by more than 21% between 1990 and 2007.
It is the eleventh hour. We have to get this government to listen to reason. It is embarrassing Quebec on the world stage by scuttling concerted efforts to fight climate change.
We must take action. We must take action now. We must take action to—
Foreign Affairs November 18th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, according to George Mitchell, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, this project threatens the chances of negotiations with Palestinian authorities resuming.
Why is it that Israel's closest ally can denounce this situation while Canada dithers?
Foreign Affairs November 18th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, Israel has authorized the construction of 900 new homes in East Jerusalem, even though its annexation has never been recognized by Canada and the international community. The United States, Great Britain and the European Union have vigorously condemned the action.
Will Canada add its voice to that of the international community and condemn this illegal decision?
Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act November 17th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, thank you for allowing me these three minutes.
As it was put so eloquently by my colleague from the riding with the name too long to repeat for someone with only three minutes, the members of the Bloc will vote against this free trade bill. We have repeated it enough, although I think it cannot be ever said enough, that the real aim of this bill is not to expand Canadian and Quebec trade with Colombia or to get the innumerable jobs that one of our colleagues in the Liberal Party claimed earlier to expect from such a bill. The real aim is to give free rein to Canadian investors in Colombia to act to the detriment of human rights and people's aspirations for development. In addition, it testifies to the usual indifference of the current Conservative government to all of these humanitarian considerations and respect for human rights.
We in the Bloc do not oppose in principle the provisions to protect investors in such treaties. We understand that investors want to be protected up to a point, but there are civilized ways of doing so.
Let us take the example of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement—I am not referring to NAFTA, but to the agreement between Canada and the United States that preceded NAFTA. It contained a chapter on investor protection, chapter 16. It was the first agreement in the world that contained a mechanism to resolve potential disputes between both sides of the agreement. The agreement worked well in its day. No case of discriminatory measures against a foreign investor was reported. No case went to the arbitration tribunal. And still the value of Canadian investment in the United States increased considerably during this period.
The clause in the treaty with Colombia is totally abusive, as my colleague explained. As a result, the Bloc Québécois will definitely oppose this bill.
Prince Charles' Visit to Canada November 2nd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, we live in a parliamentary monarchy. Our head of state is not the Prime Minister, but rather the Queen of England.
Accordingly, a representative of the British monarchy, Prince Charles, will be visiting Canada from November 2 to 12, at the expense of Canadian taxpayers, of course.
We in the Bloc Québécois feel this is an archaic political system that forces us to swear allegiance to the Queen, instead of to the people, and that means that all the legislation we vote on here must be approved by the Queen's representative in Canada, the Governor General.
We think this form of political organization is undemocratic and politically outdated. Like 86% of Quebeckers, the Bloc Québécois refuses to support this regime, which is why we will not take part in the activities surrounding Prince Charles' visit to Canada.
Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act October 27th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I listened with a great deal of interest to the presentations and, in particular, to the very serious misgivings about this bill expressed by my NDP colleague.
I would like to bring to his attention the serious reservations expressed by the Ligue des droits et libertés and, if possible, have him comment on them. The Ligue is a Quebec organization that was established in 1963 to defend the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Quebec.
It has expressed very serious reservations about the bill especially the fact that it provides only limited, if any, protection against abusive seizures. For example, this organization says that the authorities will be able to obtain your subscriber information without a legal warrant, even though the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act recognizes that this information is private. It has also pointed out that, without a legal warrant and on the basis of a suspicion, an officer can ask a service provider to preserve the contents of all your communications. It is like asking the postal service to photocopy someone's letters just in case they may contain some information.
I would like to know what my NDP colleague thinks of these aspects of the bill.
Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act October 27th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I was very impressed with the speech by our colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue. I think that the concern he expressed about the need to protect privacy and civil rights in general in a bill like this is exactly right. There is another thing, though, that is very important and that is the need to ensure that the authorities have the effective means to control crime in the hyper-technological society in which we live.
Will this new bill give the police more effective means to control such crimes as money laundering or transfers to tax havens?
Do such provisions exist in this new bill? Could my colleague tell us a bit about that?
Boucherville Volunteer Centre October 20th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, on October 27, the Centre d'action bénévole de Boucherville will unveil a plaque commemorating 30 years of service to the community.
What a wonderful opportunity to pay tribute to hundreds of volunteers who have given of their time and talents to improve the quality of life of their fellow citizens.
Volunteering is more than just helping, it is a real economic engine. Almost 385 million volunteer hours were logged in 2007 in Quebec alone. That is the equivalent of about 200,000 full-time jobs or an annual contribution of several billions of dollars.
Therefore, I am proud to highlight today three decades of dedicated service by the volunteers of this organization. Their involvement clearly demonstrates the concern for others that prevails in Boucherville. I sincerely thank them for their contribution to the community of Boucherville...