Pierre Nantel

[Privilege, March 4th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend my colleague for her eloquent speech. She rightly pointed out our obligation, as elected members, to be accountable to our own constituents. It is important that people can have confidence in the House and the mandate they gave us, namely to represent them in an honourable manner. Allowing recent events to go unchallenged is unacceptable. We must get to the bottom of this issue.

As I have heard from both sides of the House, we can sing the praises of this member and his great bond with the people in his riding, but can we ask ourselves what could possibly have motivated a member to come up with such a story?

Indeed, this is the process that we will be engaging in if we manage to bring these people before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.

Is there not undue pressure to pass a bill that is not based on anything real?

[Ethics, February 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are giving us a pretty good idea of what things were like during the final years of the Liberals' reign.

Conservative Party cronies such as Duffy, Brazeau, Housakos, Wallin and Gerstein filled their pockets with taxpayers' money, while fundraising for the party that appointed them.

Some will say that Liberal Party cronies are still fundraising for the party that appointed them, despite their leader's promises, but that is another story.

Let us get back to the issue at hand, our senators.

Two words: Colin Kenny. Is that not reason enough to abolish the Senate?

Seriously, why should Canadians have to put up with the Conservatives wasting public funds after everything they went through with the sponsorship scandal?

Just think of the PMO staffers who eat pizza on the taxpayers' dime instead of making a sandwich, or the former president of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation who wastes millions of dollars in taxpayers' money to promote an employment program that does not exist. Enough is enough.

Canadians deserve better than a Conservative government that disregards the provinces' wishes and uses taxpayers' money as if it were its own.

[Fair Elections Act, February 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague from Vancouver Quadra on her speech.

I doubt that there is anyone in a better position than we in the House to get more information on what people think about spending limits for leadership races.

[Petitions, February 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I represent the people of Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher. They also dream of seeing Canada create an integrated policy on public transit. I would therefore like to present a petition signed by 35 people.

[Combating Counterfeit Products Act, January 31st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend my colleague on his speech. Knowing his good intentions and his hope for a better country, I cannot help but notice that he raised the good work done by the committee and validity of the bill.

I have a question for him. Does he believe that the righteous attitude by all the parties will carry over into the implementation, more specifically with regard to financial support for the Canada Border Services Agency?

[Combating Counterfeit Products Act, January 31st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech. He is quite right because protecting patents and intellectual property, as well as ensuring the safety of Canadians, is something to be enthusiastic about.

However, I would like to know his thoughts on whether what is being required of border services is realistic. Can he say whether any projections have been made in that regard?

[Library and Archives Canada, January 31st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I want to stick with the topic of libraries, knowledge and vitality.

The Conservatives continue to treat Library and Archives Canada as a second-class organization. LAC has been without a head librarian and archivist for eight months now. The legislation is clear: the position cannot remain vacant for a period of more than six months. If that deadline passes, the Conservatives are abusing the spirit of the act. Meanwhile, the files are piling up.

When will they start to treat our archival heritage with respect and appoint someone competent to run LAC?

[Winter Olympics, January 31st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, with the opening of the Sochi Winter Olympics right around the corner, now is a good time to remember that 30 years ago, a member of the greater Longueuil community, Gaétan Boucher, won three medals, one bronze and two gold, in his sport at the Sarajevo Olympics, thereby making an indelible mark in the history of those games.

The citizens of Longueuil can look back with pride, knowing why a boulevard, school and athletic centre in Longueuil are all named after him.

Thank you, Gaétan Boucher. May your success bring good luck to our new speed skating hopeful, Charles Cournoyer, a young rising star from Boucherville at 22 years of age.

On behalf of everyone in Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, good luck Charles. We are all behind you.

[Combating Counterfeit Products Act, January 31st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech, which was very well researched. The member's riding is home to a large cluster of the border crossings in the Montérégie area, between Dundee and Hemmingford, I believe.

In my past life, before I was elected in 2011, I had the opportunity to be around many border officers. They told me how much their everyday tasks had changed. When my colleague was studying this bill, did she get the impression that the realities faced by border officers had been heard or understood?

[Business of Supply, January 30th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I wish to congratulate my hon. colleague on his well-researched and very realistic speech regarding the situation facing former military personnel, veterans.

I visit the people of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 266 in Boucherville. How many times have they talked about the need for easily identifiable support when they think of their young colleagues returning from combat? The government makes a decision and then rolls it out, simply because they say that is the way it is going to go. We see the abuses. For instance, yesterday the media was reporting an appalling situation. If I put myself in the shoes of a young man returning from combat who sees how the government is treating those who have done so much for our country, I cannot help but think it is impossible to go on like this. On top of that, the Conservatives had the nerve to defer today's vote.

I would like to ask my colleague if he thinks the Conservatives are playing games with an extremely important subject.