Karine Trudel

[Softwood Lumber, March 22nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, budget day brings with it high expectations about the future of thousands of jobs in the softwood lumber sector in the Saguenay and across Quebec.

We are still waiting for the government to share information about its plan for the forestry industry. The government has a unique opportunity to show that it is taking the possibility of a trade war with the United States seriously by proposing a plan B that involves loan guarantees.

Will the government step up once and for all and show that it is ready to act on behalf of workers in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean and Quebec?

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk about the fact that the government wants to privatize airports. Instead of doing that, the government could get more than $7 billion by tackling tax havens. That is a fact and something we talk about regularly. It is money that could easily be recouped and used to improve our health care system. Earlier, I was talking about post-secondary education and the huge tuition fees. Young people are going into debt in our regions.

It would be easy to get that $7 billion. Instead, the government seems to be at an impasse and would rather privatize our airports and our ports. That really worries me.

In mid-May or June, Canada Post will be tabling its report. Will the government come up with yet another surprise and privatize Canada Post out of the blue in order to scrape up a bit of money? We have to look at the long term and preserve our public services, which are so important. They create good jobs.

I wanted to share my concerns with my colleagues in the House.

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech.

There has been a lot of talk about the middle class here; the government cannot stop bringing it up.

As I said earlier, the middle class is made up primarily of people earning about $22 per hour, which adds up to $45,000 per year. In its last budget, the government did nothing for those people, yet as I see it, they are the middle class because they make up about two-thirds of Canada's population. They are very hard-working people. The government, however, chose to give a tax cut to those who make more than $90,000 per year.

The government goes on and on about the checks families are getting and all the benefits available to them. Once children turn 18, what happens to single moms and dads? How can they keep helping their kids and paying for post-secondary education?

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I listened attentively to my colleague’s speech, whom I thank.

I wanted to talk about my community and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, or more specifically the riding of Jonquière, which I am very proud to represent. The Conservative motion mentions unemployment and students, and earlier I heard my colleague refer to post-secondary education in his speech. If I am not mistaken, the topic was student debt. Full employment is a very important concern. We are seeing young people leaving. Every day, some of our young people leave because there is no full employment. We have nothing for them. We do not exactly have concrete plans. We just talked about plans, but initiatives and ways to keep our young people in the region are major concerns.

As was already mentioned, during the election campaign, the Liberals raised the stakes to invest in our infrastructure. Now, we do not even have anything concrete. We have not seen one red cent. We are not seeing any results.

I would like to hear what my colleague has to say about full employment and youth unemployment.

[National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act, March 20th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech, which I listened to with interest.

I would like to go back to 2014, when the Prime Minister, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and nine other ministers voted in favour of Bill C-622, which sought to create an oversight committee with complete access and subpoena powers.

Why is the government trying to take these tools away from the committee proposed by Bill C-22? Why are the Liberals flip-flopping today, when they are now in government?

[National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act, March 20th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, let me cut to the chase.

Why are there no ways to settle certain disputes confidentially? For example, a Federal Court judge could be called upon to conduct regular assessments of the warrants for secret information. A minister can actually decide whether to retain the information or not.

[National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act, March 20th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I listened closely to my colleague's speech. He spoke several times about the importance of the committee. Canadians want a watchdog with sharp teeth. It is important to have a properly formed committee.

The new committee must also have full access to classified information, have adequate resources, enjoy some autonomy, and be able, within reason, to share with Canadians its actions in an instructive and transparent manner.

I would like to know my colleague's thoughts on this and especially on the importance of restoring Canadians' trust in our security and intelligence community. I want to know what my colleague thinks, but personally I believe that there needs to be true parliamentary oversight.

[Petitions, March 20th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present hundreds of signatures from people calling for banking services at postal outlets.

We know that there are more than 8,000 postal outlets across Canada. Many municipalities are in great need of this service, 600 of them requesting banking services directly in their community. I have the honour to table this petition in the House on behalf of the petitioners.

[Infrastructure, March 8th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, this evening, in honour of International Women's Day, the Prime Minister will be in Toronto attending a private dinner with members of the board of directors of BlackRock.

BlackRock currently has $5 trillion in assets under management around the world and is interested in the Liberals' plan to privatize our public infrastructure.

Can the Prime Minister stand up and explain to us why, of all the possible activities on this International Women's Day, he chose to spend the evening with members of the board of directors of an investment fund? Can he tell us what is on the agenda for this meeting?

[Ethics, February 23rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the government keeps telling us that it is following the rules, but we all know the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner and the Commissioner of Lobbying are constantly investigating its actions. This government promised to be the most ethical government ever, but it turns out to be not all that far removed from the party that gave us the sponsorship scandal.

How can the Prime Minister make claims about real change when he is once again being investigated for an ethical issue?