Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe

[Ethics, May 8th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, still no answers to our questions.

Even Jill Anne Joseph, the Senate director of internal audit at the time, found that there were far too many changes to and deletions from the reports to the Senate. As she said to police:

The report, to my mind, was becoming very scant. There was very little in there to justify the acceptance of a repayment which had already been made.

I will ask the question again. Was the Prime Minister aware that his office was tampering with the Deloitte report?

[Citizenship and Immigration, May 5th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, several concerns have been raised about the Conservatives' express entry program.

This time, the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada is sounding the alarm and suggesting that the program cannot identify registered francophone immigrants. There are more than 22,000 people in the recruitment pool, but apparently only 200 are francophone. This represents barely 2%, while the target for francophone immigrants is 4%.

How will the minister ensure that his own targets for francophone immigration will be reached with this program?

[Anti-terrorism Act, 2015, May 5th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comments. I agree with him.

If the government had been more open not only to what the experts said in committee, but also to the opposition's amendments, then we might have been able to come up with a bill that everyone could agree on and that responded to people's concerns.

I agree with my colleague that the threat is real and that concrete and effective measures need to be taken to protect all Canadians. It is Parliament's duty to do so, and it is an important one. We agree on that. The thing we disagree on is the approach. Bill C-51 is a threat. Canadians should not have to choose between their safety and their right to privacy. We can and must have both. This bill imposes severe restrictions.

For example, Mr. Mercier told me that very vague terms are used to define some key words in Bill C-51, which leaves room for abuse by people in high places. Mr. Mercier asked that I oppose this bill.

That was one of the dangers pointed out by our experts. The wording of this bill opens the door to abuses. Instead of reviewing the wording used in Bill C-51 and making significant changes to respond to the concerns, the Conservatives moved forward, which is regrettable.

[Anti-terrorism Act, 2015, May 5th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. He obviously paid attention to certain parts of my speech, and I am sorry if the words I used offended him or anyone else. I was quoting a number of people in my riding who wrote to me. I am not saying that there is a secret police force or a conspiracy of some kind.

However, what we need to take away from the emails from the constituents who wrote to me is that they are concerned that these new powers are being given without the oversight system required to ensure that these new powers for our law enforcement agencies, which play a very important role in our communities, are used in a fair way and do not violate any rights or freedoms.

Bill C-51 does not provide this guarantee, and that is why people are concerned.

[Anti-terrorism Act, 2015, May 5th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about Bill C-51. It will be an honour for me to represent the people of Pierrefonds—Dollard over the next 10 minutes. I have received many emails and inquiries about this bill.

I recently visited the Gérald-Godin CEGEP. I was surprised at how interested the students there were in certain political issues, including federal ones. Sometimes we get the feeling that this stuff is not very relevant to their everyday lives. I was especially surprised to see that they know this bill by name and were able to provide a brief summary of Bill C-51 when I mentioned it. This means that the bill is quite important to them and that people in the community are talking about it.

Before I continue, I would just like to say that I will be sharing my time and that I will give a 10-minute speech on Bill C-51.

Today, as I have done for the past four years, I am speaking on behalf of the people I represent. I would like to share their concerns with the House and the Conservative government.

I was in this place, with my baby, during the shooting last fall. The next day, I even returned to this place with my baby, because I knew that it was important not to give in to fear and intimidation. I was also confident in Parliament's ability to protect the parliamentarians, tourists and Canadians who were here. If there was one hope that sustained us following those tragic events, it was the hope that parliamentarians would work together to find a solution that was really in line with the seriousness of the situation, while avoiding a knee-jerk response to this threat, this intimidation, this fear.

Unfortunately, I get the impression—and I am not the only one—that Bill C-51 is the kind of response that many of us were hoping to avoid following those tragic events. It is a reaction that makes use of arguments based not only on fearmongering and partisan politics, but also—and this is the most important part—arguments that have not swayed the official opposition and that ignore all of the criticisms, comments and suggestions made by experts and community groups across Canada.

In such an important and sensitive debate, a responsible government has a duty to unite people around a fight and intelligent measures, instead of creating divisions and spreading information that can seem partisan and inflammatory.

Earlier I mentioned my constituents, those who have written to me.

I have received approximately 50 emails, letters and phone calls in the last few weeks from people I represent in the House of Commons who are concerned about Bill C-51. I want to thank them for participating in their democracy, but also for sharing their concerns with me.

Madam Fine wrote:

I'm writing to call on you to take a firm stand against the government's reckless, dangerous and ineffective Bill C-51. I'm asking you to side with Canadians and vote against this legislation.

I will do just that. I will vote against Bill C-51. She said also:

If this bill passes, the government could spy on anyone, at any time, and we wouldn't even know when we've been a victim. Surely we don't want to create a shadowy and unaccountable secret police force that will trample on our freedoms.

I thank Madam Fine for writing to me. She is not the only who wrote to me with those kinds of concerns. Those concerns are based not only on what the opposition is saying, because the government tried to blame the opposition for scaring people about Bill C-51, but experts and groups have also raised concerns and informed the Canadian population about Bill C-51.

There was a study done at committee recently. It is a shame that the government did not consider or pay more attention to the advice that was given by our Canadian experts on that matter.

I have another email from someone who does not live in my riding, which is interesting. He lives in Baie d'Urfé, which is a municipality represented by a Liberal member of Parliament. Of course, he did not have an open discussion with his member of Parliament because the Liberals said vaguely that although they were not in favour of Bill C-51, they would indeed vote in favour of the bill. We do not necessarily understand why, but we know that his member of Parliament would not support him.

Mr. Lahey writes:

Many people--I include myself--are deeply concerned about Bill C-51 passing.

I have reviewed the bill itself and have concerns over the loss of privacy that will be hard to reverse, the implications for active covert operations...and even the allowance of torture seems covered.

Further on he writes:

The bill is clearly taking advantage of that event—

He is talking about the tragedy that happened last fall in Parliament.

—to drive this massive redesign of the intelligence system, at the expense of every citizen's personal sovereignty and privacy.

Further on he wrote:

Please--make a bit of noise over this issue during this final reading and debate period.

The nation does not need and does not WANT this bill to pass. Of this I am pretty sure.

I thank Mr. Lahey for taking the time to look at the consequences. I fully agree with him that this bill has to be stopped.

Mr. Mojtahedi wrote, “I wanted to thank you and the NDP for standing against Bill C-51”.

He continued:

We should not remain silent when the government spends massive amounts of public resources and most importantly limits our civil liberties instead of fighting more serious threats to public security.

Another constituent wrote:

I note now that certain polls are indicating that support for the bill is falling, and that continued criticism is increasing. Mr. Allan Gregg, former Conservative pollster, has just come out strongly against it. Could you reassure me that you are continuing the good fight in Parliament and would you please inform me of any further actions on a local level that might help you?

I can assure Mr. Roloff that I will continue to fight against Bill C-51 with my NDP colleagues. The fight is not over.

We went door to door with a lot of volunteers to inform people about Bill C-51. We asked them what they thought about it, and we showed them a petition. One man specifically told me that he was totally against Bill C-51 but he did not want to sign the petition. He was scared to give his personal contact info, because he was scared that the government would spy on him with the passage of Bill C-51. That shows that people are scared of those new powers and the impact of Bill C-51.

Many other people wrote to me to share their concerns. They want Parliament to oppose Bill C-51. They at least want parliamentarians to think carefully and listen to the concerns of Canadians and experts. That is why the NDP is here, and that is why we want the Conservatives to pay closer attention to the concerns raised all across the country.

[Taxation, May 1st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, when the Conservatives refuse to even acknowledge that there is a problem, how can Canadians hope to see any real solutions?

It is not only the manufacturing sector that is struggling; many other sectors in Quebec are too. The Quebec finance minister has said that the TFSA increase is going to cost Quebeckers $65 million a year. That is millions of dollars that Quebec could be using to relieve the pressure on hospitals, for instance, rebuild roads or create jobs.

When will the Conservatives stop giving gifts to the rich and leaving the middle class to foot the bill?

[Manufacturing Industry, May 1st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, Ontario has every reason to be unhappy with the Conservatives' budget, but the budget is no better for Quebec.

Quebec has lost 115,000 manufacturing jobs under the Conservatives. For the second month in a row, manufacturing production in Canada has declined. We also learned that 300 Bell Helicopter employees in Mirabel will be losing their jobs.

Can the Minister of Finance explain why his budget gives gifts to the wealthy instead of investing to create well-paid jobs in Quebec's manufacturing sector?

[Petitions, April 29th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I present a petition from St. Thomas à Becket church.

The petitioners ask that the Government of Canada and the House of Commons adopt international aid policies that support small family farmers, especially women, and recognize their vital role in the fight against hunger and poverty.

They also ask to ensure these policies and programs are developed in consultation with small family farmers and that they they protect the rights of small family farmers in the global south to preserve, use and freely exchange seeds.

[Youth and Politics, April 27th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, on April 16, I visited the Gérald-Godin CEGEP. I was surprised to meet so many students who were interested in political issues, such as Bill C-51 or even the plans for the east-west pipeline.

On April 24, I met the students of John Abbott College. The Leader of the Official Opposition was visiting the college as he accepted the invitation from the student union.

We thank SUJAC for organizing this political discussion and for facilitating this meeting between students and politicians. This visit reminded me that contrary to what we often hear, youth are not only interested in politics and social issues, but they are also engaged and want to take concrete action to incite change.

When Conservative ministers claim to know what is good for young people as they cut future pension programs, or turn a blind eye to problems and say it is up to future generations to handle them, then I turn to the students at the Gérald-Godin and John Abbott CEGEPs and I have hope that things will change in this Parliament.

This also suggests to me that the NDP is right to get young people elected and give them important files and important responsibilities.

[Ethics, April 2nd, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the senators are complaining about having to answer the Auditor General's questions. According to Senator Ruth, investigators do not understand senators' obligations. She thinks that taxpayers should have to pay for her in-flight meals because she cannot be expected to eat the airline meal of cold Camembert with broken crackers. Poor her. What a shame. She thinks that people do not understand, but Canadians do in fact understand that senators are unelected and unaccountable. People understand quite well that senators are the privileged friends of the Liberals and Conservatives.

Mr. Speaker, when will the Senate be abolished?