Julie Vignola

[Public Services and Procurement, October 26th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, the minister said a month ago already, as she is saying again today, that she had reached out to Canada Life several times to express her concerns. This goes well beyond mere concerns when a union is talking about public servants looking for a second job to pay for the care they need. The contract with Canada Life stipulates that the federal government will only begin monitoring service level performance in January 2024. There are people who cannot get the care they need and cannot wait until 2024. This needs to be fixed now.

What is the minister waiting for?

[Public Services and Procurement, October 26th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, when something is not broken, it is better to leave it alone. However, the federal government did the exact opposite by transferring public servants' insurance to Canada Life. It has been four months and people are not being reimbursed for their prescription drugs, their claims for covered care are being denied and they are being treated like numbers by customer service. The result is that the union is talking about people who have been hospitalized because they simply cannot afford to pay for their medications and treatment. It is another Phoenix-type fiasco.

What is the minister doing to force Canada Life to take action?

[Patro Roc‑Amadour, October 26th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of Patro Roc‑Amadour.

In Limoilou, the Patro is more than an institution. It is truly a pillar of our community. The Patro serves a wide range of needs through its recreation and sports programs, its community support service, its aquatics programs and its adaptive services. All of these services contribute to the Patro's mission, which is to serve users of every age. It is reassuring to know that Patro Roc‑Amadour is there to meet the growing needs of our community. Last year alone, more than 450 caring volunteers gave the Patro over 35,000 hours of their time.

I congratulate the organization's tireless executive director, Clément Lemieux, for his outstanding work.

I congratulate the Patro on its 75 years of service, and we wish it another 75 at least.

[Criminal Code, October 25th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, unfortunately, some victims only found out that their assailant was about to be released through media reports. Can my colleague assure me that this kind of situation will never happen again and that victims will finally receive the concrete information they need to protect themselves?

[Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, 2023, October 24th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, contrary to what has been said over and over again in the House since this morning, we are not debating the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement or its content. We are debating Bill C‑57, which simply implements that agreement.

Basically, it is a 1,000-page, 30-chapter agreement, which parliamentarians have not voted, and will not be voting, on. We will be voting on whether to implement it.

This opens the door to another problem. Is there any chance that future agreements could also be reviewed by a parliamentary committee? What does my colleague think about that?

[Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, 2023, October 24th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, sometimes, especially when treaties are involved, partisan politics needs to be left at the door. A treaty is usually the outcome of lengthy negotiations. A government of a certain stripe negotiates the treaty, but a government of another stripe signs it. Sometimes this happens for the best, sometimes, for the worse. One example of the worse is Phoenix, which was negotiated by one government and implemented by another.

That said, Canada has a wide range of exportable resources aside from oil and gas. I would like my colleague to name a few of the resources that we can export that would be of major assistance to Ukraine. When I say resources, I am also referring to knowledge, not only material resources.

[Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, 2023, October 24th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, my colleague said that we need the political will and the infrastructure to export oil and gas. Even if the political will had been there, it would have taken 10 years to put the necessary infrastructure in place. In Quebec, building the necessary infrastructure would have meant running pipelines on, beside or under 800 waterways, including the St. Lawrence River, which supplies drinking water to the majority of Quebeckers.

Pipelines are relatively safe, but accidents happen. What would we do if an accident deprived a population of its water supply?

[Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, 2023, October 24th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, when we enter into free trade agreements, the ultimate goal should be not only to come out ahead as a country but also to help another country come out ahead. We cannot come out ahead if we do not protect our own economy and if we allow another country, any other country, to get the upper hand. A free trade agreement has to be equitable and egalitarian. It has to protect the jobs and economic resources of both countries. Elements of the trade relationship have to be complementary.

[Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, 2023, October 24th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, that is an interesting question. In an independent Quebec, Quebec would negotiate for itself.

Some might say that Quebec is far too small to negotiate for itself, that it is not big enough or important enough. Quebec is never “enough”. It is always too small for someone.

Geographically speaking, Quebec is bigger than Ukraine. Demographically, it has roughly the same population. If Ukraine is capable of negotiating on its own, like a big country does, an independent Quebec would be very capable of doing so too.

[Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, 2023, October 24th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I have faith in the negotiating skills of our professionals, in that they speak for Canada. That being said, sometimes there are some blind spots. I would point to what happened with aluminum during CUSMA. We had to fight for it in the House. We were told that it was protected just as much as steel was, only to realize later that it was not. A letter had to be added in a schedule. I would also mention supply management, which is essentially our farmers' income pool, and that gets dipped into a bit more time after time.

The negotiators are indeed skilled, but there are blind spots. That is what I am talking about. Those blind spots include the jurisdictions of Quebec and the Canadian provinces because “federal” seems to be the default mindset, and the details are not necessarily considered.