Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet

[Health, March 28th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, there is a red light flashing in the Minister of Health's office, but she does not seem to see it.

The Public Health Agency of Canada just released data showing that over 4,000 deaths occurred from opioids in 2017. That is an increase of 40%. Meanwhile, the Dopalliés project in in Hochelaga is in jeopardy because that same agency still refuses to renew its funding.

How many more people must die before the minister intervenes?

[Firearms Act, March 27th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague raised several extremely important points. People around the world these days know that gun control cannot be taken lightly. I am concerned that as a result of the petty politics in this place, the partisanship and time allocation motions, we will not have enough time to debate this bill properly and, consequently, it will have serious flaws because of the sloppy work.

Does my colleague believe that the lack of debate has consequences? If yes, what are they? What key aspects must not be forgotten in this bill?

[Foreign Affairs, March 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, given that the government has begun a new round of consultations on a human rights-based approach to housing, I rise today on a point of order to seek the unanimous consent of the House to table, in both official languages, the brief I submitted for the consultations on a national housing strategy that reflects the will of these groups, calling for just such a human rights-based approach, formally recognizing the right of every person to housing, incorporating that principle into our human rights legislation, and taking the necessary measures to eliminate the obstacles preventing the full implementation of that right.

[Housing, March 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, contrary to what they tried to make us believe, the Liberals never intended to recognize the right to housing. To no one's surprise, the government has embarked on another series of directed consultations, in which we are told that their so-called rights-based housing strategy is based on many things, except the implementation of the right to housing. If the government truly believes that housing is a right, will it at least have the courage to incorporate it into our human rights legislation?

[The Budget, March 20th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, my colleague said that the Canada summer jobs program has offered many more jobs for young people. Yes, many more groups received funding, but just this morning, I noticed that we were giving six weeks of work to groups that had applied for jobs for the entire summer, 15 or 16 weeks.

A six-week summer job is a month and a half for a student. This is not a quality job. Yes, perhaps more students will get jobs, but a six-week job will not allow them to pay for university tuition. Actually, it will not help them pay for much.

So when people are told that the jobs offered through the Canada summer jobs program have been improved by increasing the number of people receiving a job, it is not true, because the quality of the jobs has greatly diminished.

[Prime Minister's Trip to India, March 2nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the bad news keeps flooding in regarding the trip to India.

La Presse is reporting this morning that the government may have extrapolated the job creation figures following the announcement it made while the Prime Minister was in India. Apparently, 2,738 jobs were created, not the 5,800 announced. To think that this was the only good news that came out of that trip.

Can the government remind us all once again what exactly that trip was supposed to achieve?

[International Trade, March 2nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned that Donald Trump wants to go after our industries yet again. First it was softwood lumber, now it is the aluminum industry that could suffer as a result of the American President's unjustified decisions. Yesterday, he announced that he will impose a 10% tariff on Canadian aluminum products. The aluminum industry is a huge employer in Quebec, and many jobs are in jeopardy as a result of these protectionist actions.

Can our industries count on our government to stand up to Trump's protectionist policies?

[Business of Supply, March 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I agree that organizations that receive government funding should not infringe on the rights guaranteed by the charter.

My colleague said that students should not suffer, and I completely agree.

I remember how last summer, the Liberals were bragging about how there were more jobs in the Canada summer jobs program. However, in Hochelaga, we noticed that each job lasted for fewer weeks. There may have been more jobs, but this is because each job lasted for fewer weeks.

Does the member not think that this is causing students to suffer and that they are being offered lower-quality jobs?

[Petitions, March 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition signed by several hundred people that was initiated by a resident of my riding of Hochelaga. Her name is Natalia Lepleyskaya. I would like to thank her for her very hard work.

Between November 4, 2015, and December 6, 2016, over one million temporary resident visa applications were denied by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. According to a World Economic Forum report, Canada ranks 120th out of 136 countries with respect to visa-granting policies.

This petition is calling on the federal government to improve and simplify the temporary resident visa application process by making it transparent, simple, fast, and differentiated.

[Housing, February 28th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, the government keeps trying to wage a battle of principles and imaginary numbers, like when it announced last November, as it did just now, that $40 billion would be invested in housing over the next 10 years, but failed to mention that three-quarters of the money would come from the private sector and the provinces, with whom no agreement has been concluded.

Last year, the government announced an $11-billion budget over 11 years, but as stated in the budget, 90% of the money will not be available until 2019, which, by the way, will be the Liberal government's electoral budget. The thing is, the money is needed right now. Stakeholders and municipalities, as I just said, are calling on the government to invest last year's building renovation funding more quickly.

I will repeat my question: why is the government not immediately investing the necessary funding to preserve and expand social housing?