Pierre Nantel

[Business of Supply, November 19th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Vaughan—Woodbridge for his speech. He mentioned having children.

I wonder how we can really have such a debate where, once again, the parties blame one another for accumulating the most debt. I was chuckling and wondering who was telling the truth, the Liberals or the Conservatives? However, that is not really the issue. The real issue, as the Conservatives have so clearly articulated, is when we will return to a balanced budget.

I would like to know how my colleague can justify his point of view to his constituents and to his child. They asked you a simple question, so why are you not answering? It is so simple.

I have never heard an informed response on managing public finances or international borrowing rates that justifies the fact that the Liberals cannot give us a specific date. We are not even given an articulate reply.

Would you mind telling me what you would say to a constituent who asks you how many millions of dollars a week you spend to say nothing?

[Business of Supply, November 19th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Louis-Hébert. I often say that I believe him to be a politician with great intentions. However, the question the Conservatives are asking today is quite legitimate. I expect to get a frank and honest answer to the many questions that will be asked.

I have a simple question for my colleague. It is easy to draw parallels between the country's budget and that of the average family in Canada. Unfortunately, statistics can lead us astray. It seems that roughly half of all families in Canada are living paycheque to paycheque. The level of debt is quite high and clearly the government is leading the way on that.

Does my colleague not find it shameful on the government's part to not know when the budget will be balanced again? It is a problem. Maybe they do not want to say because there is an election coming up in a year. Is that not pathetic?

[Public Services and Procurement, November 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to know whether my colleague from Canadian Heritage is concerned about the fact that La Presse cut 37 jobs, that Le Droit will likely close up shop if nothing changes, that Postmedia is on the verge of bankruptcy and that Capital Media is in one hell of a mess—

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 6th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague from St. Catharines for coming back to this topic when he had any number of topics to choose from in these 800 pages. I appreciate that. I think this is an important topic. I find it worrisome that our Conservative colleagues seem determined to deny the facts and reject the solutions. This is rather sad.

I have a question. With all due respect to our veterans, I think he was right to reference a war effort. Our enemy now is even greater than our greatest adversaries in the world wars. This absolutely calls for a war effort.

My question is the same as the one I asked the minister during the debate on global warming. In light of the Conservatives' denial, are you prepared to have the House appoint a super minister to combat global warming?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 6th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague said, “to make a contribution at some point”. Is “some point” in six years?

What a meaningless answer. The Liberals are just putting things off. Honestly, I completely understand my colleague from Quebec. I am not sure if that is the name of his riding, but everyone knows who I am talking about. He was getting very worked up listening to the government's petty answers. The government is clearly under the impression that the blue bloods, the members of royalty, know what to do. It is appalling.

There is something that really sticks in my craw. I have been a member of the House and vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for seven years. This year, we did not agree with the Conservatives, but at least they were doing things properly. When we began the copyright review, we knew it was a big deal. There was an ad hoc committee for all the parties participating. There were special clerks, analysts and advisors.

In order to get its own way, the government decided to revamp the Copyright Board of Canada without knowing what changes would be made to the legislation. It is like trying to build a Japanese car with American tools. The government knew it was not a good idea, but it did it anyway.

The government asked the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage and the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology to examine certain provisions of the act here and there. Members did not have the slightest idea of the scope of the task they were being asked to do.

Did the government do that to be able to get its own way? Do the Liberals think it is right that universities and colleges pay for electricity and insurance but do not pay royalties to authors?

[Canadian Heritage, November 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, UQAM researchers have discovered that just five movies and five TV shows in Netflix's catalogue of 5,500 titles were produced in Quebec. That is 0.1% of Netflix's content. Quebec is not in the picture.

As Quebec film and TV producers noted recently, the Netflix agreement has done nothing for our culture. What we need is content produced here. If the next generation of Quebeckers does not have access to made-in-Quebec programming, it will turn to English-language American content.

Will the Minister of Canadian Heritage apply our laws to online platforms, or does he want us to become totally assimilated?

[Criminal Code, October 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we cannot oppose a good thing. It is quite clear that this bill makes good sense. However, I find it rather sad because it is like changing the wipers on a lemon with a flat tire.

Animal welfare is the subject of many conversations. There is a legal grey area. There are animals that are mistreated and even tortured. We have seen so many farms where conditions were just deplorable. I can hardly believe people treat animals that way. An animal should have rights and not be treated like property or merchandise. That is a simple idea.

It is a little surprising to see a government reject a private member's bill from one of its own and then present an abbreviated version that does not reflect the reality of people with animals, both those who love them and those who torture them.

[Canadian Heritage, October 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, after last night's ADISQ gala, I would ask the Minister of Canadian Heritage to change the record, because my question has nothing to do with CBC, the Canada Council for the Arts or the budget from three years ago.

Our culture and our media are under attack by foreign competition online. Our government's response is a report in 2020 and legislation planned for 2025. That will be too late for our culture, too late for thousands of media jobs and too late for Postmedia, which is already on the brink of bankruptcy.

Is the minister ready for Postmedia to go bankrupt?

Does he realize that a bankruptcy would shut down every daily newspaper in Ottawa except Le Droit?

Wake up.

[The Environment, October 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I rarely do this, but today I am rising in the House as a citizen. I am rising to speak on my own behalf and in solidarity with all those who share my feeling of urgency regarding the environment to say that we need to move beyond partisanship. The time for parroting party lines has passed. Global warming is threatening human existence.

That is such a serious and overwhelming thing to say that our brains cannot really process the magnitude or scope of the response that this situation requires. It is not because we have not talked about it, read reports or seen the protests. It is not because we have not noticed the growing number of climate disasters or the areas affected by flooding.

I am rising today, on behalf of hundreds of thousands of people across Quebec and throughout the world, to officially declare war on climate change. Today, I am calling on all of the party leaders and asking them to set aside their differences, as in days gone by when war cabinets and governments of national unity were set up, so that we can appoint in the House, in a completely non-partisan manner, a minister of war on climate change. If we fail to work together, humankind will lose this war.

As long as I am a member of Parliament, I will not allow party lines or indifference to ride roughshod over the future of our planet.

[Canadian Heritage, October 25th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, there will be no free rides in five years.

Fourteen past presidents of the ADISQ sent a very clear message this week. Our music industry is in crisis. Our Quebec artists continue to create, but the problem is that the platforms are not covered by our laws.

We have been asking for the same thing for three years now. Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Netflix, Google and whatever other services are out there need to respect our culture and contribute to it in order to keep it strong. As the ADISQ has said, that takes political courage. The Liberals have been trying to muster up their courage for three years now.

Will the minister give us something other than the tired speaking points we heard from his predecessor, please? Come on.