Julie Vignola

[December 6th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I think that we agree on how important it is to protect the full complement of health care workers, including orderlies and custodians, as my colleague was saying. These people are extremely important. It is unacceptable that these workers are being harassed when all they want is to do their job.

However, Bill C-3 has another part to it, namely 10 days of paid sick leave for federally regulated workers. My colleague has not said anything about this, and I would like to know what he thinks.

[Criminal Code, December 6th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the bill before us today is important because it will protect health care workers as well as patients. The scope of this bill extends well beyond vaccination. For example, it will also cover intimidation that takes place at family planning clinics.

Nevertheless, intimidation is still a crime regardless of a person's status or job.

Why the hurry to specify that this applies to health care services now, especially considering that it should apply to everyone, everywhere, period?

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, November 30th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, getting the economy moving again is not an easy task. It is urgently needed, but we need to proceed with caution so as not to increase inflation.

There are several ways to do that, which include promoting immigration and making it easier for people to become citizens and permanent residents. That could solve a lot of problems. However, some people in my riding have been waiting to get permanent resident status for two, three or four years, while others have been waiting 10 months for their citizenship ceremony.

We want to get the economy moving again. There are people who are already here and who are willing to work in a number of sectors, but the government is holding them back. When and how will it stop doing that?

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, November 30th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, the speech by my colleague in the government contains several elements I would like to inquire about.

That being said, I will focus on the issue of the French language. It is important to cultivate and preserve our language and promote it beyond our borders. One way of preserving, cultivating and promoting the French language is to accept francophone students who come to study here and end up investing in our community. However, we have learned that there is a software program that systematically rejects more than 80% of visa applications from francophone students.

How can we protect the French language when a software program systematically rejects applications from francophones? The government blames the software, but we need to remember that the software was programmed by a human being and that the final decision is made by a public servant.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, November 30th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, we are all here to listen to our colleagues' speeches and clarifications.

There is a certain amount of respect we should all be able to show as adults. Even my teenage students in high school know to be quiet and listen when someone is speaking. It is a matter of respect.

[An Act to Provide Further Support in Response to COVID-19, November 29th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, Bill C-2 does contain some good measures, particularly the support that is finally being provided to carriers that offer charter bus services. Carriers in my riding have been calling for that support from the beginning. A bus costs $700,000, and then they need maintenance, which is also expensive. When they cannot be used, it becomes even more expensive.

The government has finally thought of charter operators, but it is still overlooking self-employed workers in the cultural sector, the boom operators and sound engineers and so on, who are already living in precarious situations, which have only gotten worse with the pandemic.

Will my colleague and his party commit to including self-employed cultural sector workers in Bill C-2?

[An Act to Provide Further Support in Response to COVID-19, November 29th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, my colleague is talking about SMEs and the difficulties that they have had throughout the pandemic and they might continue having, particularly with regard to the labour shortage.

I am going to talk about something even more specific, and that is the cultural industry. Self-employed workers were completely overlooked this time around. These include boom microphone operators, for example. Boom microphone operators are needed to do recordings and to make movies as well as reality and other television shows.

Sooner or later, these people are going to move to other sectors, which means we will lose this incredible expertise, and yet they were completely overlooked in this bill.

When she talks about SMEs, is my colleague also thinking about these essential culture workers?

[Order Respecting the Business of the House and its Committees, November 25th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, in more than 150 years, we have had to deal with a pandemic only once. In the past 154 years, however, there have certainly been people who were sick with the flu or pneumonia who were contagious, and they stayed at home to take care of themselves without being forced to work remotely.

What is the difference now? Why do we have to adopt a hybrid model when the majority of us are vaccinated, are familiar with the health measures and know that it is important to take care of ourselves when we or one of our loved ones are sick?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, June 21st, 2021]

Madam Speaker, like my colleague, I took the time to read and analyze the budget. When taking notes, I use a red pen to indicate interference in Quebec's and the provinces' jurisdictions. There was a lot of red ink.

What does my colleague think of this aspect of the budget and jurisdictional meddling?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, June 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my hon. colleague the following question. There is still a desperate need for support, especially in the tourism sector. If the bill does not pass by the end of the parliamentary session, what will the consequences be for our artists, the hotel industry, restaurants and everything that goes along with tourism?