Monique Guay

[Budget Surpluses, November 1st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, not only does the government deny the existence of a fiscal imbalance, but it is also cutting the provinces' financing for health and resorting to one accounting trick after another to hide surpluses, all of which go toward paying down the debt.

How can the Minister of Finance have the gall to tell us that he has no choice, when the Auditor General has said the opposite?

[Committees of the House, October 31st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague, with whom I had the pleasure, incidentally, of sitting on the environment committee for some time. She is right when she says that this committee worked very democratically.

I would simply like her opinion. Does she not believe that when a chair is elected by secret ballot by the members, this chair has more respect, more power and more credibility with members of the committee?

[Quebec Adult Learners Week, October 30th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, October 27 to November 1 has been designated Quebec Adult Learners Week, with the theme “A Thousand and One Ways to Learn”.

A thousand and one ways to learn for fun, to discover new cultures, to share with others by reading, surfing the Web, getting together in a multitude of shared places that are a part of our everyday life, in every region of Quebec.

This event will bring together numerous stakeholders involved in adult education and thousands of people interested in training. There are close to one and a half million adults taking part in training activities in Quebec.

Over the years, adult education has become an indispensable tool giving those who want it a second chance in life, particularly young people who have dropped out of the system, because it does not always meet their needs.

Celebrating adult learners in all of their diversity is typical of the originality of the Quebec model.

[Ingrid Betancourt, October 25th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, Ingrid Betancourt, a former candidate in the Colombian presidential elections and sister of a resident of Quebec, is still a prisoner of the Colombian guerillas. She has been ever since her abduction on February 23. Reports of her precarious health indicate that it is urgent she be released.

Has the Minister of Foreign Affairs intervened with Colombian authorities to ask them to resume discussions with the guerillas in order to reach a humanitarian agreement to free Igrid Betancourt? If so, what was the outcome?

[Supply, October 24th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my hon. colleague on his remarks; he is doing an outstanding job on environmental issues. I also congratulate him on his participation in our youth forum, where he explained the whole Kyoto issue to the young people.

This is a very important agreement, and the lack of government involvement is deplorable. I find it sad because such involvement is essential. Commitment should have been made long ago. In Quebec, we take our job seriously.

I would like the hon. member to touch on this briefly. He knows full well that research on electric vehicles is underway and that we do things differently back home. Perhaps he could expand on that.

[Percival Broomfield, October 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, late Friday night, a nationalist, a great and fervent sovereignist and a good friend, Percival Broomfield died in his sleep.

A co-founder of the Théâtre Le Patriote, which was first established in Montreal before settling into its permanent home in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Percival devoted himself to getting artists to speak and sing about Quebec.

This theatre witnessed the secrets of his wildest dreams and entire pages of Quebec culture. It played host to the first tentative steps of some of our greatest artists, including Claude Dubois, Clémence Desrochers, Jean-Pierre Ferland, Robert Charlebois and Yvon Deschamps, to name but a few.

Just this Thursday, you spoke to me of your love for Quebec, your projects, your theatre and the need for our own country.

Your indefatigable convictions and your loyalty to Quebec will remain etched in our memories. We will miss you Percival; I will miss you.

[Resumption of debate on Address in Reply, October 11th, 2002]

Madam Speaker, first, I want to tell the hon. member that I fully support his comments. The situation in Mirabel is a total fiasco and the federal government is entirely responsible for it, because it did not live up to its responsibilities.

Having said this, I would like to have the hon. member's opinion on another problem that is of great concern in Quebec. I am referring to the whole issue of workers, because there is absolutely nothing for them in the throne speech. There is nothing on orphan clauses and on young people who get their first job and whose working conditions are not the same as those of olders workers. There is also the issue of pregnant and nursing women.

There is so little in the throne speech that the same program was announced three times. A pilot program was announced three times in two weeks in the House. Let us be clear. A pilot program is not a permanent program; it is spread over a three year period. The government had to make this announcement three times, because it has nothing else to announce to pregnant women who, under federal jurisdiction, have absolutely no protection. It simply does not exist at the federal level.

There is also the antiscab legislation. What do we do with people who currently have no bargaining power? The throne speech is also silent on this. Workers who pay taxes are always the ones forgotten by the Prime Minister and his government. These people are often the ones who pay the most taxes; they also pay the employment insurance premiums, but they cannot even get benefits.

I wonder if the hon. member could elaborate on this and give us his views.

[Speech from the Throne, October 11th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, in the throne speech we might have expected to find something for the workers. But once again, there is nothing.

The Prime Minister's legacy is once again to confirm that his government is going to continue to discriminate against young people, right from the first time they get a job. By refusing to exclude orphan clauses from federal legislation, he is saying no to our young people.

Another part of his legacy: telling women that healthy pregnancies and healthy babies are not a priority for his government. The fight has been going on for ten years now to allow all women the possibility of preventive withdrawal from the workplace, with a program equivalent to the one in place in Quebec. He continues to say no to women.

Another part of his legacy: he is telling workers that his government will continue to encourage the use of scabs during labour disputes.

A sad legacy, this. Youth, women, and workers can, however, count on the Bloc Quebecois to listen to them and to ensure these injustices are corrected. The voting public will keep that in mind.

[Lucien and Gérard Bouchard, October 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, with the presentation yesterday in Matignon of the Order of the Legion of Honour to Lucien Bouchard and Gérard Bouchard, France honoured two men who have, throughout their careers, incarnated the reciprocal attachment between the people of Quebec and the people of France.

With great emotion and simple and heartfelt words, exactly as we who had the pleasure to serve with him here remember him, Lucien Bouchard responded to the honour bestowed upon him by saying that “an honour that comes from France goes straight to the heart, and makes it swell with pride”.

A man of sincerity, whose determination and courage are out of the ordinary, this founder of the Bloc Quebecois, this former Premier of Quebec, this citizen of Quebec and of the world, Lucien Bouchard, continues to do a splendid job of making Quebec's voice heard, while ably listening to what our interlocutors around the world have to say.

The other honouree, Gérard Bouchard, was recognized by the Government of France for his scientific accomplishments. Through his research, he has become one of the most influential and most appreciated of Quebec's supporters.

Congratulations to both Bouchards.

[Canada Labour Code, October 9th, 2002]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-224, an act to amend the Canada Labour Code.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce a bill amending the Canada Labour Code and banning the use of scabs.

It is high time that workers were given the opportunity to negotiate in a fair and equitable manner. It is also high time that conflicts such as the one at Cargill for the last 30 months and at Vidéotron for the last five months were ended so that both parties can get their fair share.

I hope that all members of this House will vote in favour in this bill.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)