Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet

[Infrastructure, May 26th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, Minister Fournier is not happy. After doing away with the community infrastructure plan in 2014, the Conservatives have now created the Canada 150 community infrastructure program to upgrade municipal infrastructure. However, in his rush to get his picture taken with big cardboard cheques right before the election, the federal minister forgot to do his homework and call the Government of Quebec to sign an agreement. That is not very impressive coming from a former Quebec mayor. Now, Quebec municipalities are excluded because of his forgetfulness.

Will the minister sit down with the Government of Quebec and sign an agreement?

[Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act, May 25th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, earlier, my colleague asked the Conservative member for Nipissing—Timiskaming a question about certain aspects of the bill relating to the north, and the member replied that the bill was not perfect.

The seven amendments proposed by the opposition parties were rejected. Only the Conservatives' single amendment was accepted. One of the NDP's recommendations was about the north and changes for people who do not live near a place where training is available. None of those recommendations were accepted.

What does my colleague think of that?

[Petitions, May 25th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to present to the House a petition signed by hundreds of women and men across the country who are calling on the Government of Canada to eliminate the federal tax on feminine hygiene products. This tax is completely unfair and must be eliminated immediately.

[Housing, May 25th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, thousands of Canadians already cannot pay the rent, and yet the Conservatives plan to stop funding another 116,000 social housing units between now and 2018. This includes 21,500 units in Quebec alone. Asking thousands of Canadians to choose between paying the rent and putting food on the table is just wrong.

What measures is the government committed to taking to protect the existing social housing stock and uphold everyone's right to adequate housing?

[Iran Accountability Week, May 5th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, we have heard many things tonight about Iran's actions and the violation of Iranians' human rights. There is overwhelming evidence, that is true.

I heard many facts and I heard about many things that are happening in that country. I would now like to hear what the Conservative government is doing to help advance human rights in Iran. To quote the member who just spoke, actions speak louder than words. I would like to hear him tell us about some Canadian initiatives, rather than just listen to his rhetoric.

[Iran Accountability Week, May 5th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, how does my wise colleague perceive the diplomatic role Canada should play in encouraging more reforms in Iran?

[Iran Accountability Week, May 5th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, my colleague spoke quite a bit about journalists being sent to prison.

My husband was a journalist for a long time and he could not always say what he wanted to say. There is even some repression here in Canada by newspaper owners, but neither he nor his family were ever in danger of being arrested. However, that is what is happening in Iran.

What does my colleague think about the role of freedom of the press in establishing or re-establishing a democracy or keeping democracy alive in a country?

[Iran Accountability Week, May 5th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, the Conservative government talks about human rights in Iran and says many things in that regard.

However, I would like to know whether the government is making actual efforts to ensure that progress is truly being made on human rights in Iran. Are there concrete measures to back their words?

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

Mr. Speaker, I just heard the words “vote with their constituents”. The timing is good because in only a few minutes, I received a dozen tweets from people in my riding asking me to vote against Bill C-51.

I will vote the way the people are asking me to, and they are asking me to vote against it. The more people hear about this bill, the more they oppose it.

I imagine that the hon. member also has constituents in his riding who wrote him to ask him to vote against Bill C-51.

Well, will he vote “for his constituents”?

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

Mr. Speaker, I was just at a meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance, where they are currently studying the obviously illegal financing of terrorist activities.

In preparation, I read the testimonies of people who had appeared, including a former RCMP officer who said that RCMP officers simply do not have the knowledge required to fight illegal financing, for instance. They are not specialists, but rather generalists. When they become specialists, they are promoted elsewhere.

He also said that there was no money. Bob Paulson, the RCMP commissioner, said the same thing, that the RCMP does not have the funds it needs. It has to transfer resources from the organized crime section to the fight against terrorism. It seems to me that there is a problem here.