House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2015, with 27% of the vote.
Democratic Representation Act December 2nd, 2011
Mr. Speaker, as I already explained, the process is so complex that even the Conservative Party's calculation may be subject to interpretation.
A bill must ensure that each province is well represented, that Quebec's weight is maintained and, more importantly, that the demographic growth of certain provinces, such as Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, is recognized.
Democratic Representation Act December 2nd, 2011
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question.
In my speech, I mentioned the various formulas used throughout Canada's history. The differences between large and small provinces must be acknowledged. The provinces must keep their weight and place in the Canadian Parliament. If we do our calculations only on a percentage and a per capita basis, we are going to have distortions. Some provinces will always be overrepresented.
Finally, we must recognize that Quebec is one of the founding people that built this country, and that it is entitled to the representation that it was allocated on previous electoral representation readjustments.
Democratic Representation Act December 2nd, 2011
moved that Bill C-312, An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867 (democratic representation), be read the second time and referred to a committee.
Mr. Speaker, the assembly of publicly elected representatives is at the very heart of a representative democracy. In our country, this group of people is responsible for looking out for the entire population and protecting individual rights and freedoms.
This group passes laws that govern all of our daily activities and sets priorities when allocating collective resources. In order to ensure that this process is fair and just for everyone, we must ensure that there is proper representation of all of the different interests making up our Confederation.
The introduction in the House of Commons of a bill to readjust the number of seats is extremely important if we consider the changes that have taken place over the past several years. Indeed, readjusting the number of seats in the House of Commons is a delicate exercise. It is normally done based on an existing formula and on formulas that were used previously, on the completion of every decennial census.
In addition, in accordance with the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, the following must be taken into account: the community of interests or community of identity; the historical evolution of previous boundaries; the electoral quotient for the province and the concern that the size be manageable. Adding representatives to the House requires the review of certain characteristics and an assessment of the merit and necessity of considering specific evaluation criteria.
The Supreme Court also provided guidelines for our electoral system in 1991 in the Carter decision. The Supreme Court indicated that the vote of every citizen must be as effective as possible. To be effective, our electoral system must find the right balance between ensuring that the weight of each vote is similar and providing adequate representation of the various communities of interests and geographic characteristics.
Since Confederation, members elected to the Parliament of Canada have reflected our Canadian realities, which are shaped by geography, demographics, identity, history and culture. That is why it is important to categorically admit that this is a tedious, difficult, perhaps even divisive exercise, but that its ultimate and final objective must be to ensure that it is a unifying element.
The first question is: why change the current formula? The answer is that this formula enhances the inequalities between the provinces when it comes to their representation in the House of Commons. Over the past few years, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia have experienced unprecedented demographic growth as a result of immigration and economic development. While some less populous ridings in Canada have 40,000 voters, some ridings in these three provinces have more than 100,000 voters. These regions of Canada deserve an adjustment of their representation in the House of Commons in order to better reflect the changes in their population.
When we consider changing representation within a democratic system like ours, we must do so with caution in order to reflect the understanding and demographic reality of the country. The historic weight of the Quebec nation is of capital importance in calculating these changes to electoral representation.
The purpose of my bill is to correct the flaws in previous attempts to give Quebec the weight it deserves in Canada's Parliament. Quebec wants nothing more and nothing less than before.
There is a historic value to the recognition of Quebec's place in Ottawa. Let us never forget that Quebec is one of the founding nations of this country. Also, millions of Quebeckers are unique in North America because they speak French. This must also be taken into account when the time comes to identify the characteristics of this population.
With this bill, the NDP is taking concrete action in response to a Conservative initiative brought forward during the 39th Parliament. A motion, drafted by the Prime Minister himself, was passed with a large majority in the House of Commons on November 27, 2006. The fifth anniversary of that event was just last Sunday.
Has everyone already forgotten that? I would like to read the motion to the House:
That this House recognize that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada.
I would like to point out that the NDP recognized this fact when it adopted the Sherbrooke declaration at its national convention in Quebec City in September 2006. Also, for the past 30 years, all governments in Quebec have recognized the importance of taking a different approach with the people of Quebec because of that nation's distinct nature and status within the complexity of the Canadian community. Technically speaking, I would remind the House that the subject of a motion in the House of Commons calls for dialogue. Once adopted, it becomes, depending on the case, a resolution or order of the House. The November 27, 2006, motion brought forward by the Prime Minister was passed in the form of a resolution. One could therefore deduce that by adopting the motion to recognize the Québécois as a nation within a united Canada, the House of Commons made a formal commitment.
This support does not necessarily involve obligations, but that motion may imply support for initiatives designed to bring it to realization. That is the case with my Bill C-312, and if the House does not respect this motion, the impact might very well be political.
Meanwhile, the government treats democracy poorly, divides Canadians even more on issues of national importance, and tries to split voters who are already concerned about the country's economy. Canadians just cannot understand the Conservatives' attack on young people, whose 15 to 25 group has an unemployment rate of close to 15%. It offers no alternative to their angst regarding the environment, and wants to criminalize minor offences and send them to jail, instead of working to rehabilitate them, a process which begins with the creation of stable jobs.
The government then targets seniors and veterans, leaving them all to fend for themselves. These people cannot believe the government's lack of involvement in the issues of financial security and health care. My bill seeks to unite Canadians from coast to coast around a process that is unavoidably piecemeal, but which respects the diversity and changes that have occurred in Canadian demographics. Indeed, over time, and with a growing country, the population spread itself out unevenly between the provinces, thus creating significant gaps that have led to compromises and concessions to make up for the shortfalls in terms of voters' equality. I am talking about representation by population.
Under section 51 of the Constitutional Act of 1867, the number of seats allocated to each province in the House of Commons is calculated by dividing the total population of each province by a fixed number called the electoral quotient. The number of seats in the House of Commons was to be revised by using that method following each decennial census, beginning with the 1871 census. The Constitutional Act of 1867 also provided that a province could not lose a seat following an electoral redistribution, unless the percentage of its population to the country's total population had diminished by at least 5%, or one-twentieth, between the last two censuses. That is why this requirement was known as the “one-twentieth rule”.
However, during the years following Confederation, people started to fear that the trends in population transfers would lead to a significant loss of representation for certain provinces. To prevent this, in 1915, Parliament introduced the first-ever amendment to the original representation formula by adding section 51A, the senatorial clause, to the Constitution Act, 1867. This provision, which is still in effect, stipulates that a province cannot have fewer seats in the House of Commons than in the Senate.
The Representation Act, also called the “amalgam formula”, was passed in 1974 in order to guarantee, among other things, that no province could lose any seats. This new formula increased Quebec’s seat allocation from 65 to 75 and ensured that four additional seats would be automatically allocated to the province at each subsequent readjustment so as to take into account Quebec’s population growth. The formula also created three categories of provinces: heavily populated provinces, provinces with medium-sized populations, and provinces with small populations. The heavily populated provinces were to be allocated seats in strict proportion to Quebec, whereas different and more generous rules were established to calculate the number of seats allocated to the provinces with small or medium-sized populations.
The amalgam formula was applied once in 1976 to increase the number of seats in the House of Commons to 282, but the formula has not been reapplied since because projections showed that any further readjustments would increase the number of seats more than is desired.
The formula currently used to calculate the distribution of seats in the House is set out in the Constitution Act, 1985 (Representation). This was the last time the calculation rules were changed. The method currently used to calculate the number of seats allocated to each province is as follows: the Constitution Act, 1985 (Representation) provides that 279 members shall represent the provinces in the House of Commons. Moreover, it allocates one seat to the Northwest Territories, another to the Yukon, and yet another to Nunavut.
The 279 seats allocated to the provinces are the basis upon which the electoral quotient is calculated. The electoral quotient is obtained by dividing the total population of the 10 provinces by 279.
The number of seats allocated to each province is calculated by dividing the population of each province by the electoral quotient.
The Representation Act, 1985, also includes a further guarantee against a province losing seats as a result of a readjustment by supplementing the senatorial clause with a grandfather clause. The latter stipulates that a province is guaranteed no fewer seats in the House of Commons than it had in 1976, during the 33rd Parliament. The current number of 308 members in the House is the result of the readjustment that followed the 2001 decennial census.
In conclusion, Bill C-312 is very simple, but it sends a clear message to elected members of the Canadian Parliament. The citizens of every region of the country want to participate in this democratic exercise called the electoral representation in the House of Commons. We can reach a milestone in Canadian history by finally acknowledging not only Canada's demographic reality, but also its multicultural identity, which elected politicians, both in the federal Parliament and in provincial legislatures, are so fond of.
I thank hon. members for their attention.
Long live my country, Canada, where I can freely express myself, so that democracy remains intact, and also Quebec, in this great country which, ultimately, may be a mix of many small nations simply seeking the place that they deserve in a country that is very large, but also slow to move into the 21st century.
Praxède Lévesque-Lapointe, Woman Farmer of the Year November 23rd, 2011
Mr. Speaker, last month, Praxède Lévesque-Lapointe was named woman farmer of the year by the Fédération des agricultrices du Québec for her hard work with female shea butter producers in Burkina Faso. In the small town of Bury, she and her husband were pioneers in running an organic sugar bush; producing organic raw milk cheese; raising endangered animal breeds; and lastly, importing, processing and marketing shea butter derivatives—all on the family farm.
The impact this partnership has had on the quality of life of female producers in Burkina Faso is very important to the survival of the villages and is also essential to the emancipation of these African women. This award recognizes this farmer's perseverance, courage and innovation over the years with her late husband, Daniel Lapointe. Praxède Lévesque-Lapointe is deserving of our admiration because she is an example of entrepreneurship and humanity at its best.
Business of Supply November 17th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the hon. member opposite for this marvellous display of actions, measures and programs to help aboriginals and first nations. However, the 2011 Auditor General's report states that there are still many gaps and that they are related to communication and the transfer of power, authority and freedom that would allow first nations to take action in their own communities. In the end, despite all the steps that have been taken in the past, we have not seen any progress in term of children's health and the safety of waste water management infrastructure.
How can we believe that the government will really take action to make drinking water accessible to families, women and children so that first nations can operate freely in terms of federal programs?
International Trade November 16th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, once again, the government is saying one thing and doing the opposite. The government cannot be trusted.
Last week, the Minister of International Trade said that it was not in Canada's interest to participate in negotiations to create a trans-Pacific free trade zone. However, the next day, the Prime Minister himself voiced his support for these negotiations. Either the government is improvising or it is giving in to pressure. And, it is the dairy and poultry producers who may have to pay the price.
Can the government finally set the record straight? Is it going to stand up for Canadian producers, yes or no?
International Trade November 16th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government wants to engage in free trade talks with countries that are clearly opposed to supply management. Producers in Quebec and Ontario want to keep this system, which allows family farms to survive.
Will this government admit that it is threatening producers' livelihoods by going ahead with these talks? Will the government recognize that it wants to use supply management as a bargaining tool?
International Trade November 15th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, Quebec's dairy farmers and poultry farmers know full well that a number of participants in the trans-Pacific partnership forum, including the United States, want to see our supply management system disappear. Just last week, the minister responsible said that it was not in Canada's interest to take part in these negotiations and now, all of a sudden, he is changing his tune.
How can we trust a government that prefers to listen to the demands of lobbyists—instead of defending the interests of Canadian farmers—and turns a deaf ear to the demands of Quebec?
Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act November 15th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague for her wonderful display of humanity and sense of community.
I would like my colleague to explain to the House why we need to invest in public services for youth to ensure that they are strong and healthy and prepared to help our country grow, and, therefore, why we need to create an environment that promotes economic growth. I am talking, in particular, about youth dropout rates and health. The government could introduce measures that would create a lot of jobs for this next generation. Why does my colleague think we should invest in the community?
Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act November 15th, 2011
Madam Speaker, speaking of small measures, I would like to ask my colleague how it can be that they want to encourage small business and rural economies, yet there are no measures to encourage environmental projects. There is no investment in the environment, which is everyone's future. There are no measures to stimulate projects in research and development or in practical projects on the ground. There are no development measures. Those types of projects could create a lot of jobs and many ideas come from people in the regions. But there are no measures to stimulate growth in the environmental sector.