Pierre-Luc Dusseault

[Drug-Free Prisons Act, April 21st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, following the comment my colleague just made and her speech, does she think it was a missed opportunity for the Conservatives to find real solutions, and not just the appearance of a solution?

As she quite rightly said, it is just a title, but in reality as in the bill itself, there is no solution that will really eradicate drugs from our prisons.

Does she believe the Conservatives have missed a good opportunity to really deal with the problem and find practical ways of solving it? Could today’s budget also provide a practical and genuine opportunity to attack the problem? Does she think the Conservatives have let a good opportunity go by?

[Drug-Free Prisons Act, April 21st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Surrey North for his excellent speech and for sharing his experience in his riding and the experience he had when he visited a penitentiary.

He touched on this, but I would like him to elaborate on the subject: does he think this is a real missed opportunity on the part of the Conservatives, to have a bill with this title but with only four clauses that ultimately only reiterate a practice that already exists at the Parole Board? Is this an opportunity that the Conservatives have missed to put new measures in place, real, concrete measures, to prevent the spread of drugs in our prisons? They could have done so much more.

With a title like this, it truly is a missed opportunity. As other colleagues have said, the bill will not have the planned effects, as stated in its title. Is this a missed opportunity? And with this being budget day, would there be other opportunities that the government might offer in order to genuinely address this very real and well documented problem?

[Drug-Free Prisons Act, April 21st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Gatineaufor her speech. She too has not hesitated to tell it like it is.

Can she confirm what I think I understood from her speech: when the bill has received royal assent, it will change nothing in the existing prison system or in how the Parole Board of Canada does things? If that is the case, what actual point is there to this bill?

[Drug-Free Prisons Act, April 21st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech and for telling it like it is. He had no qualms about saying that the Conservatives are politicizing issues at the expense of certain segments of the population, inmates in this case.

When offenders with addiction problems enter prison, no emphasis is put on treating their addiction and no program is offered to help them overcome their addiction while they are there. They are given no resources. They are told they have to figure out how to overcome their addiction themselves if they want to get early parole. Those who do not manage to do so will eventually leave prison with the same addiction problems.

What does my colleague think will happen if we stay on this same path, if we do not change this policy and if inmates keep getting released with the same addiction problems?

[Drug-Free Prisons Act, April 21st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech on Bill C-12. As is the case with many bills, this bill's title is surprising because it is an impressive title about fixing a serious problem. I have a hard time believing that the clauses in this bill will truly do what the title implies they will, which is to make our prisons drug-free.

Could the member tell us what she thinks about the titles this government loves to give its bills? The titles are misleading, because at the end of the day the bills do not achieve what the titles imply they will. Could she give us her opinion on how the Conservative government gives its bills nice titles that do not pan out?

[Petitions, April 2nd, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition signed by hundreds of people from Sherbrooke.

The petitioners are calling for the release of Raif Badawi and, most importantly, they are calling on the federal government to use all the diplomatic means at their disposal to pressure the Saudi Arabian government to ultimately release Raif Badawi. Mr. Badawi is in prison simply because he expressed his views in a blog.

I am presenting this petition on behalf of these people from Sherbrooke. I hope to get a response, but more to the point, I hope to see the government take action on this matter. That is what the petitioners are calling for.

[Leader of the Official Opposition, March 31st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about a very special day. On March 23, we had the immense privilege and honour of welcoming the Leader of the Official Opposition to Sherbrooke.

He did not come to Sherbrooke for photo ops, or to make an appearance and leave without proposing anything concrete to the people of Sherbrooke. No, on the contrary, he arrived in Sherbrooke with concrete proposals and clear commitments.

First he visited one of Sherbrooke's flourishing and innovative companies, Surplec HV Solutions, where he presented his plan to support small and medium-sized enterprises. Then he met with Ensaf Haidar, the wife of Raif Badawi. The opposition leader promised to ask the Prime Minister some questions about Mr. Badawi's situation and followed through on that promise two days later.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the commitment my leader made about the Sherbrooke airport: an NDP government will resolve this issue once and for all. This is something the Conservatives have failed to do since coming to power.

I want to thank the leader of the NDP for his clear commitments to Sherbrooke. On October 20, the day after the election, we will finally have a prime minister who truly knows and cares about our region.

[Safe and Accountable Rail Act, March 31st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to ask my colleague a question about railway safety. My riding is actually very close to Lac-Mégantic, or just over an hour from the area that was severely affected by a rail disaster, as all my colleagues know.

I am pleased to see that some measures might reassure residents and allay their fears. What I hear most from the people living in the Eastern Townships and Lac-Mégantic is that they want the companies responsible for the spills or railway accidents to also be responsible for the costs resulting from a disaster. These accidents are unfortunate and there will probably be more of them because the number of cars transporting oil is increasing and the quality of the infrastructure seems to be decreasing. Therefore, these disasters could well happen again, as we have seen in northern Ontario.

Could the government member reassure the people of Lac-Mégantic and the Eastern Townships about corporate responsibility in the event of a spill that causes irreparable damage?

[Military Contribution Against ISIL, March 26th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I certainly share the concerns of the people of Guelph.

Going into Syria poses a number of problems with respect to international law. To say that a group that poses a threat to Canada is a good reason to bomb another country, even though that group is not even a recognized state, creates a dangerous precedent, so the people of Guelph have every reason to be concerned.

[Military Contribution Against ISIL, March 26th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.

I agree that we need to confront this problem. Where we disagree, however, is on the role Canada should play. We should determine that role by looking at what resolutions international organizations like the UN have adopted. The United Nations Security Council has adopted three resolutions on Iraq, and none of them authorizes military action.

The United Nations Security Council is calling for action to prevent the influx of foreign fighters and the funding of terrorist organizations, including ISIL. Putting pressure on governments in the region to prevent cash transfers to ISIL is a real diplomatic effort that Canada can and should prioritize. That would be effective. These UN resolutions give Canada a mandate and a role to play.

We need to combat the rise of extremism and terrorism, both inside and outside our borders, by taking action against radicalization. However, I am not hearing anything about that from the other side of the House.