Monique Guay

[Parental Leave, February 3rd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the very man who has a penchant for using tax havens rather than contributing to the collective tax effort of the country he heads missed a great opportunity in the throne speech to show some openness toward Quebec, by sidestepping the issue of parental leave.

Why such a stubborn refusal to treat those who have brought a new life into the world the same as those who have lost their jobs? There is no gesture as selfless as producing a new life, and Quebec has chosen to acknowledge this by creating a family policy that is the envy of all.

Having saved one billion dollars at the expense of the $5-a-day daycare centres, the Prime Minister is at it again. He is now hindering Quebec's implementation of a parental leave program tailored to the needs of its young families.

The Prime Minister ought to be acknowledging this progressive move by Quebec, and announcing loud and clear that he will not be appealing the Quebec appeal court decision, and that he will comply with his own Constitution and transfer all that is owing to Quebec in connection with parental leave.

[Radio Nord Communications, November 5th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, October 25 was a sad anniversary for the employees of Radio Nord Communications, who have been on strike for one year and have been watching strikebreakers steal their jobs.

As if that were not enough, the Liberal government refused to correct this injustice, voting against my anti-scab bill based on the progressive legislation Quebec has in this respect.

Members from Quebec, regardless of political affiliation, voted massively in favour of my bill, recognizing that such legislation is needed, especially as the former finance minister, who brought in strikebreakers at Voyageur and whose ships were the first to cross the picket lines at Cargill, is about to become the prime minister.

The result of this vote is one more illustration of the fact that it is impossible for Quebec to flourish within the current federal framework.

We understand the difficulties the workers at Radio Nord Communications are facing on a daily basis. That is why we are keeping up the fight for anti-scab legislation, both for them and with them.

[René Lévesque, October 31st, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow Quebeckers are honouring the memory of an illustrious citizen who left us on November 1, 1987.

We will remember René Lévesque, the reporter, who saw the horrors of World War II first hand and was one of the first to witness the dreadful sights at the death camps. We will remember the simple and generous man, who tied his own destiny to that of his people.

A staunch defender of power to the people, he left as his legacy a number of progressive laws that are the envy of the world: the political party financing act, the revised elections act, the referendum act, and the access to public documents act are just some of them. A man who always knew how to listen, he was a source of inspiration to us all, and imbued us with an unshakeable confidence in ourselves.

A man of his century, René Lévesque humbly set himself the noble task of building the country of Quebec. That he was a born democrat goes without saying. His life, his commitment and his political action are eloquent testimonials to this. Je me souviens; I will remember him.

[Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, October 30th, 2003]

I will try to ask my question as quickly as I can so that my colleague will have time to answer.

First, it is insulting to be told that we cannot read a bill. Several of us have been parliamentarians for 10 years, so I think we are quite capable of reading a bill. They are angry, precisely because we read the bill and discovered that its main purpose is to accommodate the future prime minister. Let us not kid ourselves; that is the fact of the matter.

I held a press conference in my riding on Monday and journalists from my region asked me, “What is going on in Ottawa? Everything has come to a halt, there is total inertia over there. What are you doing now? What will happen? You cannot work, everything has stopped, there are two prime ministers. What is going on?”

I would like to ask my colleague if she hears the same comments from journalists and constituents in her riding, to the effect that Parliament is paralyzed. Could she comment on that?

[Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, October 30th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is absolutely right. There is also the fact that we, as parliamentarians, have work to do. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance has work to do. He is not doing it these days. The Minister of Finance is not doing his job either. This creates a situation where we become suspicious.

We suspect that there will be some radical changes after the next election. It is normal that we would think that way. They do not want to negotiate now because they want to look good during the electoral campaign. However, I can guarantee that members of the Bloc Quebecois will expose them during the campaign. I can guarantee that they will not get away with this.

We will vote against the bill and we will make sure that Quebeckers and Canadians are made aware of what they are trying to do in this House.

[Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, October 30th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, as people used to say when I was young, the truth hurts. It is the job of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance to sit down and negotiate. What is he waiting for? He must act now.

Why does he not act? We all know the answer here. It is because the future prime minister does not want this to be negotiated now. He wants to wait until after the election. He probably has some surprises in store for us, with cuts once again. This is probably what is awaiting us. This is why today the government is presenting us with a bill at the last minute to draw things out and to look good during the election campaign.

Do not tell us that we cannot read bills. This is not true. In the Bloc Quebecois, we are doing our job conscientiously. I can tell you one thing, this is a Trojan horse, as we say. It is very dangerous to present us now with a bill such as this, and then, when the future prime minister wins the election, he will make major cuts in equalization payments once again.

We do not want this bill. We want a calculation that is equitable, fair and that responds to people's needs. This is our goal and we will fight to the end to ensure that this happens.

[Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, October 30th, 2003]

It would be nice if he listened, since I listen to the minister when he speaks.

We are currently creating two classes in society: the very poor and the very rich. It cannot work that way. In my riding, the GM plant closed and that affects me personally. There was also the big fiasco with the Mirabel airport. How do you think that affected the area? How many people were working, who are now unemployed or have had to relocate to find work? It is an unbearable situation in society and it is a difficult experience to go through. The Nike company laid off 150 people when it moved production to a less expensive country, such as Mexico, where the cost of labour is very low.

These are things we are all aware of. We know how this works in each of our ridings. We can bring something and help them in their equalization formula.

I think that this bill goes against parliamentary democracy in this House and I think that today we have the means to sit down with the provinces and rework the numbers to find a formula that is fair for everyone, in order to reach an agreement that will last another five years. This agreement has to be made immediately and we have to stop trying to satisfy the future prime minister, the member for LaSalle—Émard, and do our work as parliamentarians right now.

[Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, October 30th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on his speech, as well as my other colleagues who, over the course of the day, took part in this most important debate for Quebec and for the other provinces who need it.

We know that the equalization formula is renegotiated every five year. Now we are practically being told that if we do not vote in favour of this bill, we will no longer receive equalization payments. This makes absolutely no sense. First, it is antidemocratic. Second, when the government tries to extend a period simply by introducing a bill, saying that we will continue with the same system just to protect the future prime minister, it is unparliamentary.

We must be able to sit down and negotiate these things here in this House. This is part of the job of the Prime Minister and of all the ministers, but it is not being done. Everything is frozen here. Parliament is paralyzed because a new prime minister is coming. It may be paralyzed for the next six months to satisfy the future prime minister. This cannot work.

Right now, the problem is that we have two prime ministers. It is just awful. When the Liberal caucus meets on Wednesday morning, there is another caucus meeting in the afternoon with the future prime minister. This cannot work. It paralyzes everything. One undoes everything that the other one does.

At this time, instead of adjourning the House as they want to do to satisfy the future prime minister, they should heed our request and renegotiate the equalization formula to take into account several factors that may have never been taken into account before.

As my colleague clearly said earlier, some plant closures, like the GM one, have put the employees through hell. Some of those employees even had to transfer to Ontario. They have had two years to get settled and work in Ontario and now they are been laid off once again. They now have more debt because they had to buy furniture and to settle into their new apartments in order to be able to benefit from their pension in the long run. This happened to a lot of them. I am not only talking about two people, but about a good number of them who had to relocate to Ontario. All of them, without exception, are now losing their job. They will have to come back to Quebec without a pension and without anything. That does not make any sense.

We can appreciate that we have problems, and those problems should be taken into account. There is also the whole issue of employment Insurance. Billions of dollars are being accumulated at the expense of the unemployed, but that is not being taken into account. These people are poor and we are the ones supporting them and trying to help them. What do you think they do when they are not eligible for EI benefits? They go on welfare and we are the ones in Quebec who have to take care of them. We are the ones who pay for the training programs to send them back to work.

We do not mind that, but it has to be taken into account in the equalization payment calculations. We have to be able to provide those services. It is very often because of equalization that we can create programs to help those people.

We cannot forget either that Quebec has established very wide ranging social policies. We are providing day care for $5 a day. We are providing our people with services that the other provinces are not necessarily providing. That has to be taken into account.

The system needs to be renegotiated, because a number of changes are required. What the government is doing right now is saying, “We are just going to pass this little piece of legislation to extend the agreement until 2005”. This will give the future prime minister, the member for LaSalle—Émard, time to decide on a negotiating position, form his new cabinet and enjoy the good life. In the meantime, this place is at a standstill.

I have been in Ottawa 10 years now. I celebrated my 10th anniversary just a few days ago. When a bill is introduced, we work long and hard on amendments and committee reports. It can be 10 years before a piece of legislation is amended. I was the critic for the environment before my hon. colleague from Jonquière and, as she knows, it took us 10 years to review the Environmental Protection Act. It was finally done. Can you imagine? This is a long and difficult process.

Here we have a piece of legislation extending for an additional year an agreement due to be renegotiated now. The situation of the various provinces, changes taking place and cuts made by the government must also be factored in somehow.

The fact is that when the government makes cuts here and there, the provinces bear the brunt of these cuts and have to dip into their own budgets to make up the difference.

That is not factored in when calculating equalization payments. As a result, the population is getting poorer, and seniors are getting poorer. Today, people live longer, as we know. This must be factored in, and these people should be able to live well, because they worked all their lives. When they retire, they practically live in poverty because their income is insufficient. Imagine the situation of someone living to be 90 years old. We are living better longer thanks to our health systems, but it is not much fun to live one's last years in poverty. This must be factored in.

With respect to employment insurance, the government must stop saying it is not helping itself to money and stealing from the unemployed. Only four out of ten qualify for employment insurance. The rules have changed such much and they are so strict now that access to benefits has become nearly impossible. Young people joining the labour market must work 920 hours before then can even qualify for employment insurance for the first time.

In Quebec, we also have many seasonal workers, and that has to be factored in. We have to take the time to sit down and renegotiate and we have to do it immediately. Do we have a government right now, or not? If there is a real government in power right now, then its representatives should sit down with their provincial counterparts, who will be more than willing to oblige, because it is high time that equalization was renegotiated.

No one is in a better position than the provincial governments to tell the federal government what is happening in the provinces. This has to be factored into the equalization formula and the government has to stop stealing billions of dollars from the EI fund to service the national debt. The money has to be reinvested and purchasing power given back to the public. There needs to be an end to creating two classes in society.

[Criminal Code, October 30th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I also want to congratulate my colleague from Jonquière. I too care about our young people, because I have teenagers myself.

I can tell you that, in Quebec, we do a lot of prevention. This is a situation that we live with at home, in Quebec, and it is quite unique. We do prevention with our youth while they are at a very early age. As is the case in my colleague's region, we also have round tables in the riding of Laurentides and in my colleagues' ridings, to ensure that our youth understand the dangers of drugs, alcohol and everything that is illegal. In this way, we try to help them reach adulthood by being aware of these dangers.

With regard to traps, we have heard horror stories in Quebec when the marijuana harvest season arrives. We know very well that there were not only traps, but also other devices that prevented even farmers from going into their fields. Firearms were installed and would automatically fire if people walked in the fields. People could have their legs cut by wire. When someone is cut or fired at in a leg or an arm, it can even be lethal. It is important to legislate accordingly and to protect the public.

I want to hear what my colleague has to say again. I know that people have experienced problems in her riding as well. We, as members of Parliament, often travel by plane, and I myself have several times experienced situations where people who have had a little too much to drink or who were panicking—this happens—got rowdy and even threatened the stewards on the plane. It is important to have the tools to protect ourselves. I would like to hear what my colleague has to say about the situation in her riding again. If she has experienced such situations, I would like her to tell us about them.

[Ethics, October 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the way things are going, a federal subsidy will be required to build confessionals to accommodate the Liberal ministers who need to relieve their guilty consciences about their little trips down the Restigouche River.

The count has begun: there are five. The fact that five ministers in the current government have been seduced by the wealthy Irving family's gratitude is enough to shake the temple walls. Worse yet: the future prime minister received a generous $100,000 contribution from the Irvings for a leadership race that never was. Well, it is a bit clearer now why the former finance minister reduced the tax burden of the big oil and gas companies while maintaining a gasoline tax that was supposed to be only temporary.

The future prime minister, who prefers to work behind the scenes rather than act as a responsible member of the government is sending a clear message: he will not hesitate to use his authority to serve his own interests and those of his supporters instead of defending the interests of all Quebeckers and Canadians.