Pierre Paquette

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

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has access to extremely sensitive information, so he should be subject to a more in-depth security screening. Given his ex-girlfriend's shady past and given that organized crime does not hesitate—and that is putting it mildly—to exercise undue pressure, he should have done the right thing and disclosed this situation.

My question is for the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons. How can the Minister of Foreign Affairs have been so irresponsible as to hide his ex-girlfriend's shady past during his own security screening?

[400th Anniversary of Quebec City, May 8th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec City may not have been founded by sovereignists, but it certainly was not founded by federalists either.

The Prime Minister and the Governor General would have us believe that the 400th anniversary of Quebec City celebrates the birth of Canada—we just heard that again from the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. In other words, the conquest, the Durham report, the patriots rebellion in 1837, never happened.

Instead of celebrating the encounter between British people and the French-speaking world, as the federal Web site claims, should the Prime Minister not be sticking to the truth? In 2008, we are celebrating the founding of Quebec City, the cradle of the Quebec nation. Period.

[400th Anniversary of Quebec City, May 8th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said, “The Governor General is today's successor to Samuel de Champlain, the first Governor of Canada.” Everyone knows full well that Champlain was never the Governor of Canada; he was the Governor of New France. To interchange New France and Canada the way the Governor General and the Prime Minister do is to rewrite history.

Is this not further proof that the federal government wants to use the festivities of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City for Canadian nation building?

[Employment Insurance Act, May 8th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I seek the unanimous consent of the House to adopt the following motion: That the House acknowledge the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel and highlight that this is an opportunity to celebrate Israel's entry into the community of nations, its many cultural, economic and scientific achievements as a free, democratic society, and the special relationship between the governments of Canada and Israel; and that the House agree to reaffirm Canadians' unwavering support for Israel's right to live peacefully and safely within secure, recognized borders, for the peace efforts undertaken by the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and for the creation of a future democratic Palestinian state living peacefully and safely next to its Israeli neighbour within secure, recognized borders.

[Petitions, May 7th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the House Leader of the Official Opposition.

This petition comes from citizens in all municipalities in the riding of Joliette, who are calling on the federal government to take strong action against the use of dishwasher and laundry detergents containing phosphates. Detergents containing phosphates contribute to the proliferation of blue-green algae, cyanobacteria, which, as you know, are a major cause of lake pollution.

I am very proud to present this petition.

[Privilege, May 7th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the response by the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons is totally unacceptable. The members from the Bloc Québécois were democratically elected by our constituents and that is a choice these people made based on their vision for the development of Quebec. If the hon. member thinks voting for the Bloc Québécois means being in eternal opposition, then he is wrong. When Quebec becomes a sovereign nation, that is when we will have real power and that is what we are working toward every day.

[400th Anniversary of Quebec City, May 7th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, it is rather curious that the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities is rising to defend the Queen and the monarchy but that he is unable to rise to defend his own election expenses.

The visit of the “almost-queen” to France, just like the content of the government's Internet site, clearly shows the federal government's desire to usurp the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of Quebec City.

Why is the Conservative government, which recognized the Quebec nation, hijacking the 400th anniversary celebrations to do some Canadian nation building? That is a disgrace.

[400th Anniversary of Quebec City, May 7th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, on the federal government's Internet site for the 400th anniversary of Quebec City, the Prime Minister states, after the absurdities we have just heard, “—for the founding of Quebec City also marks the founding of the Canadian State.” Nothing is further from the truth. In 2008, we will not be celebrating the birth of Canada but the founding of Quebec City, the cradle of the Quebec nation.

Does the Prime Minister realize that the federal government's maladroit attempt to use this occasion for his own political purposes is an insult to the Quebec nation?

[Omar Khadr, May 6th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, some students from my riding, Joliette, and a number of human rights advocates met on Parliament Hill today to call on the government to bring Omar Khadr back to Canada. These young people from my riding came to see me and gave me some one thousand post cards, all calling for this child solder, who has been wrongfully accused of war crimes, to be brought back to Canada.

These young people feel that Omar Khadr's rights have never been recognized, that he has been subjected to numerous interrogations without the benefit of legal counsel and that there has been no investigation into the allegations of the torture and mistreatment he has endured.

Despite the many requests made by Amnesty International, those of many advocates for Omar Khadr's repatriation and those of the Bloc Québécois, this government refuses to listen. That is why students from the Polyvalente Thérèse-Martin in Joliette are reaching out and calling for Omar Khadr to be brought back to Canada.

I would like to personally commend the initiative of the students and their teacher, Marcel Lacroix, as they demonstrate a social conscience that this government clearly lacks.

[Olympic Games, May 5th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, with the apparel industry in Quebec in crisis, the best those in charge of the Olympic uniforms for the Canadian delegation in Beijing could come up with was to have those garments made in China. What a way to encourage a suffering industry. What a show of indifference from the Conservatives in the face of the manufacturing industry crisis.

Does the government intend to correct the situation and ensure that Canada's Olympic athletes will be wearing clothing made here?