Pierre Paquette

[Foreign Affairs, May 29th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, according to the government, it only learned about the disappearance of the documents lost by the former foreign affairs minister when they reappeared on Sunday, at the same time that Julie Couillard was recording her interview. Once again according to the government, the minister did not know they were missing for five weeks. Given the strict rules about such documents, that does not seem plausible.

Will the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons admit that the government's version is nothing but a big cover up for party purposes?

[Bill C-505, May 27th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I introduced Bill C-505 to exempt Quebec from the Canadian Multiculturalism Act and to specify that Quebeckers form a nation.

The report of the Bouchard-Taylor commission says, “The Canadian multiculturalism model does not appear to be well suited to conditions in Québec.”

The federal government has adopted multiculturalism, which fragments Canadian society and denies the national character of Quebec. Quebec, on the other hand, has adopted a model that promotes interaction to enrich its culture and enhance the use of French, its only official language. The Bouchard-Taylor commission also recommends that French be the language of work in all sectors of activity in Quebec.

The Bloc Québécois introduced Bill C-505, which does not require the Constitution to be reopened and is in accordance with one of the recommendations of the Bouchard-Taylor commission. That is why I am calling on this Conservative government to put its words into action in recognizing the nation of Quebec and to support Bill C-505.

[Services in French, May 26th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, we are not talking about airline pilots; we are talking about services for consumers in Montreal. This shows that the Conservatives do not take such unspeakable situations very seriously. Such situations are an insult to Quebeckers.

Since the Quebec nation has been recognized, it only makes sense that the common language—French—should be respected. Only Bill 101 can make this happen.

Will the Prime Minister finally realize this and accept this principle?

[Services in French, May 26th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, here is another example of the fact that Quebeckers are considered second-class citizens by the federal government. According to La Presse, more than a quarter of the air carriers that operate out of Montreal offer no telephone services in French. These companies are not subject to the Charter of the French Language because they fall under the federal government's jurisdiction.

Will the Prime Minister finally understand that the only way to ensure that French, the language of the Quebec nation, is respected is to make all companies on Quebec territory subject to Bill 101, with no exceptions?

[National Defence, May 16th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, no plan has ever been tabled setting out the Conservatives' military strategy, so they can quit trying to sell us that one.

Manipulation of public opinion has gone so far that the Conservatives are even paying think tanks that are in favour of a military mission in Afghanistan and requiring them to publish op-ed articles and analyses in the media. Alain Pellerin, president of the Conference of Defence Associations, who is paid through Conservative funding, federal funding, acknowledges that the publication quotas that are part of the contract conditions do not make sense.

While this money is openly being used to sell the Conservatives' military vision of the mission in Afghanistan, does the government recognize that it is trying to manipulate the opinion—

[National Defence, May 16th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, security is the Conservatives' excuse for everything. Security is a catch-all concept to justify their blatant lack of transparency. The strategy is simple: give as little information as possible and control any information released to the public. We had a very fine example of that this week when the government announced first $30 billion, then $50 billion and finally $96 billion for military spending. This is one of the more recent examples of the Conservatives' manipulation.

Do the Conservatives not realize that in a democracy the government has to be transparent and accountable for its actions?

[Federal Spending Power, May 14th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I see that the Minister of Labour can no more rise and defend his statements than he can defend Quebec's interests. However, the Prime Minister referred to this bill as a historic measure that was welcomed by the Government of Quebec.

Is that not further proof that, within Canada, the interests of the Quebec nation have very little weight and that the Prime Minister's promise to limit federal spending power in Quebec's areas of jurisdiction was just an election ploy?

[Federal Spending Power, May 14th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Labour stated this morning, with regard to a promised bill to limit the federal government's spending power in the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces, that no one is obliged to do the impossible.

Is the minister telling us that the bill, which was promised several times to the Quebec nation, including in the latest throne speech, will be another broken Conservative promise?

[René Laurin, May 13th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to inform the House that a former member, the current mayor of Joliette, René Laurin, was awarded the Quebec National Assembly medal.

Mr. Laurin received this recognition for his achievements as mayor of Joliette. Those achievements include the opening of the Rina-Lasnier library, and the redevelopment of the downtown area and Manseau Boulevard, the city's main artery. He also does an outstanding job in his role at the regional level, and his leadership and dynamic nature are positively infectious. He was chosen as the 2007 personality of the year by the Lanaudière newspaper L'Action.

He is known for his love of arts and culture, and under his initiative, the city of Joliette has forged partnerships with the major institutions of our region, including the Joliette art museum and the International Festival of Lanaudière.

René Laurin served as the member for Joliette in the House of Commons from 1993 to 2000 in the Bloc Québécois caucus. He is a patriot in every sense of the word and, in my own name and on behalf of my colleagues, I would like to congratulate him on this well-deserved honour.

Bravo, René.

[Minister of Foreign Affairs, May 9th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, matters of public interest do have a place in Parliament.

According to Professor Wark, who is a member of the Prime Minister's security advisory committee, people who have or have had connections to biker gangs are considered high-risk by those responsible for government security. I would also remind members of the government that he said that the Hell's Angels are not to be taken lightly. Yesterday, Michel Juneau-Katsuya reminded us all that infiltration is one of the many tactics used by biker gangs.

Why did the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who knew of his girlfriend's shady past, not have the basic good sense—