Rémi Massé

[Samuel Bolduc, May 7th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, our region has some super-talented young people. I want to highlight the amazing achievement of a photography student at the Matane CEGEP.

Samuel Bolduc was awarded the title of student photographer of the year at the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards, one of the most prestigious international competitions in the world. The award was announced at a ceremony in London on April 19.

Samuel Bolduc is the first Canadian to win this award. He is the pride of Matane, of his CEGEP, and of his photography program. This exceptionally talented and amazingly creative young artist is eminently deserving of this international recognition.

I am extremely pleased to share Samuel's success with all my colleagues in the House of Commons. I have no doubt that this prestigious award will kick-start a very promising career for this talented young man. Congratulations, Samuel.

[Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner's Report, April 17th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it is rather surprising. The Conservatives moved a motion on a certain subject and now they no longer want to talk about it. We are here to talk about an important subject and we want to be able to debate it. We want to be able to discuss it. As we said, the Prime Minister has spoken about this many times. Now, the Conservatives no longer want to debate the issue in their motion. I find that rather unusual.

[Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner's Report, April 17th, 2018]

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

As I was saying earlier, rather than debating the types of subjects the Conservatives are bringing forward, we should be talking about subjects that are of interest to Canadians, such as the economy, jobs, investments in infrastructure, and support for families. That is what Canadians want to hear us talking about. That is what they talk to me about when I am in my riding and I have a chance to talk with my constituents. We have achieved real results. We have created 600,000 jobs in recent months and years and the unemployment rate in Canada is the lowest it has been since 1976. Those are real results and that is what Canadians want to hear about.

[Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner's Report, April 17th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying earlier, we, on this side of the House, want to debate the budget. We have been wanting to do so since 10 a.m. but unfortunately the members opposite moved a motion that we are debating again today. The motion is on a subject that has been raised multiple times and on issues that have already been submitted by the opposition parties and that the Prime Minister has already responded to. We want to debate the budget because that is important to Canadians. Unfortunately, we are unable to do so because the Conservatives decided to move a motion and we have to debate that instead.

[Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner's Report, April 17th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, this is interesting. We must focus on what is important to Canadians. The Conservatives are the ones who want to continue to debate the subject of today's motion. Once again, this is a topic that we have debated and discussed at length. The Prime Minister has answered all of the questions. We also want to be able to discuss the budget, and I talked about this earlier for 10 minutes or so. It is important and we want to talk about it. Unfortunately, the Conservatives are playing politics yet again to prevent us from discussing the budget.

[Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner's Report, April 17th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps my colleague did not hear because he was busy doing something else. For several minutes and from the outset of this debate, I spoke openly about the issue, which has been raised yet again. This is something we debated and about which there were many questions in the House. As I already said, the Prime Minister has always been quite open and transparent. He answered all the questions. The former commissioner, in her report and testimony before the committee, answered many questions about this. We stated that we are here again today to debate this issue even though the Prime Minister has already answered all the questions. As soon as the commissioner's report was tabled, the Prime Minister said that he respected the findings of the report and that he accepted all the recommendations.

Once again, the Conservatives want to divert the debate and talk about other things, which, in our view, are not important to Canadians. Canadians want us to talk about the economy, jobs, investments in infrastructure, and how to enhance the development of first nations so we can invest in their communities. That is why we are here. Those are the questions I am asked when I am in my riding. I did not hesitate to participate in this debate in the context of the discussions we had. I believe that I gave good answers and participated appropriately in today's debate.

[Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner's Report, April 17th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Madawaska—Restigouche.

I am very pleased to rise in the House today to take part in a debate on a topic that has been discussed at great length in the House over the past few months and that our Conservative colleagues would like to revive. It has been the subject of much debate and has generated dozens of questions from the opposition, questions that the Prime Minister has answered very openly, transparently, and honestly.

The Prime Minister never dodges the issue. He is at the media's disposal and answers all of their questions. He also answers questions from Canadians by holding town halls, as he has been doing over the past few months all over Canada. This is important because he gets to find out what is going on and hear people's concerns. I think our colleagues across the aisle should take inspiration from the kind of meetings the Prime Minister holds. That way, they would come to understand the concerns of Canadians.

The questions primarily touch on families and youth. Canadians want our government to focus on economic development, help our families cope in challenging times, and help our business owners grow their business. That is certainly what we are doing with the latest budget measures. Canadians are especially proud because the Canadian economy is doing well, thanks to our most recent budget and the other two budgets that have been tabled in the past few years. This budget helped created 600,000 jobs across Canada, because business owners and Canadians have confidence in the economy and are investing in their businesses. Workers are taking the jobs they are being offered, which is sending the unemployment rate plummeting. The latest figures show that unemployment in Canada is around 5.9%, the lowest level since 1976. We are very proud of this amazing achievement.

Unfortunately, the Conservatives want to divert the debate and focus on other questions that the Prime Minister has already answered honestly. We respect government institutions and the commissioners who are appointed to do their job. Again, the Prime Minister co-operated with the Ethics Commissioner and answered her questions. Immediately after the report was tabled, since that is what is at issue in the House today, the Prime Minister stated clearly in the House and in front of the media that he would take responsibility. He accepted the findings of the report and committed to submitting his future plans for personal or family vacations to the commissioner.

For months, the opposition asked dozens of questions in the House and we are here again today debating this issue. Now that the report has been tabled, the opposition is refusing to accept the findings. We, on the other hand, want to thank the commissioner for her excellent work and, again, we accept her findings and, like the Prime Minister, we are following all her recommendations.

As I was saying earlier, our colleagues across the way want to divert the debate in order to talk about things that are of interest to them, but not necessarily to Canadians.

We spent the past two weeks in our respective ridings answering our constituents' questions. I can assure the House that in my magnificent riding of Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, the economy and jobs are still top of mind. We are living in a time when the economy is doing so well that there is a labour shortage. That is what I am hearing from the entrepreneurs that I talk to. How can we support them even more? Of course, implementing the measures in the budget will benefit them especially.

Here are some examples. Our government has invested some $90 million in the riding in the past 28 months, that is since I was and we were elected in 2015. That level of investment had not been seen for many years. I am very proud of the investments made in various areas. Consider, for example, the Maurice Lamontagne Institute, an ocean research centre in my riding. It is a wonderful institute that falls under the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Its dedicated staff of public servants is hard at work studying what is going on in the St. Lawrence River and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We have invested $27 million to ensure that the institute has the infrastructure needed to carry out its research. Those investments will also help the institute hire several researchers.

Those are some of the important investments being made in my region. People were particularly proud when we announced them because research centres, including that one, did not receive any support from the previous government for 10 years. We have chosen to invest in research in order to have sound evidence.

We also invested several million dollars to upgrade the wharves in my riding. In fact, I recently announced funding for the Carleton-sur-Mer wharf, a wonderful piece of infrastructure that had unfortunately been deprived of investments for the 10 previous years.

[Supplementary Estimates (C), 2017-18, March 23rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, a member from the opposition party called on me earlier to delete a tweet. I have tried to delete it, but unfortunately I have not succeeded, since the tweet is still online. I understand what I was asked to do, and I tried to do it, but it looks like something is not working, so I would be grateful if someone could help me out.

[Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, March 20th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity today in the House to thank three outstanding women from my riding who have demonstrated incredible leadership.

First, I would like to thank Marie-Josée Lapointe, head of the Fondation de l'hôpital de Matane since 2011. This dynamic and dedicated woman is also the founder of Bon goût frais de la Gaspésie and has been involved in the Association du cancer de l'Est du Québec for over a decade.

I would also like to thank Doris Ross, who is a very generous woman. She is the owner of Jardins de Doris, which attracts tourists from all over the country every year. Through her company, Ms. Ross has helped rehabilitate over 825 young people from La Matanie. Her dedication to helping our young people is extraordinary. I tip my hat to her.

Finally, I would like to thank Denise Gentil, a woman dedicated to the welfare of her community. She served as Matane's first woman mayor from 1993 to 1997 and established the Fondation Paul-Pineault and the Maison J. Arthur Desjardins, which help people with Alzheimer's.

I thank these three women. I am very proud of the work they do.

[Employment Insurance, February 14th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, my colleagues and I work hard to represent our constituents in Ottawa. For some time now, people in our ridings have been expressing concerns about the EI gap, an issue our government is particularly sensitive to.

As the Prime Minister said earlier, we have already reversed the Conservatives' EI reforms. We know that supporting seasonal workers is essential.

Could the Prime Minister tell us more about this situation to address the concerns of seasonal workers?