René Villemure

[Serge Godon, December 10th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Serge Godon, an outstanding citizen of Trois-Rivières.

Mr. Godon is what I would call a super-volunteer. He has been involved in numerous community activities in the Mauricie region since the early 1980s, including the Asterix soccer club in Trois-Rivières, the Notre-Dame-du-Cap sanctuary, the St-Louis-de-France and Ste-Bernadette scout associations, the Roland-Leclerc centre, and Artisans de la paix. However, the commitment that impresses me the most is his dedication to Noël du cœur, formerly known as Noël du pauvre, a cause he has been involved with for 44 years.

He is still working to create positive change in the community today with his children and grandchildren by his side. All of them were introduced to volunteering at a young age.

We need people like Mr. Godon all over Quebec, people who make a difference in the everyday lives of others.

I want to thank him for his exceptional volunteer work.

[Committees of the House, December 10th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C‑27 proposes industry self-regulation. That is like asking a fox to guard the henhouse. Bill C‑27 also calls for as much alignment with European legislation as possible, which is not happening even though it is the gold standard.

To me, this bill looks like a rough draft cobbled together by novices. It does not seem up to the task of protecting the basic right to privacy, which is what matters most right now.

What are my colleague's thoughts on that?

[Committees of the House, December 10th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his speech. As always, it was remarkable. I would like to ask him a question.

If the Conservatives want to defund CSIS, does my colleague see a connection between that and the Leader of the Opposition's refusal to get his security clearance?

[Media Fundraising Drive, December 5th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, Christmas is coming as we can see today, not just because we are buried under a nice layer of snow, but because of the annual media fundraising drive.

To launch the 24th annual drive, today volunteers are collecting funds at more than 400 sites in Quebec, including Trois‑Rivières. Under the theme “La faim est si vite arrivée”, or hunger strikes quickly, this year the goal of the drive is to shed light on how anyone can be one misfortune away from food insecurity. Job loss, separation, accident or illness, no one is immune.

Since no one is immune, let us all come together this holiday season. All month long, until December 31, Quebeckers will be able to continue making contributions and food donations. On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I encourage all of us to contribute generously to the great media fundraising drive because generosity warms the heart, even under a layer of snow.

[Canada Revenue Agency, November 21st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, we need whistle-blowers because this government never fixes anything unless its problems make headlines.

Whistle-blowers are the reason that we are talking about the fraud that the CRA covers up whenever it happens. Whistle-blowers are the reason that we know about the extent of foreign interference. Whistle-blowers are the ones who brought about a crackdown on sexual misconduct in the military after the minister swept it under the carpet. The problem is not whistle-blowers. The problem is Liberals who conceal information. Should we be surprised? It is in their DNA.

Will the minister stop attacking whistle-blowers and start attacking the fraudsters instead?

[Canada Revenue Agency, November 21st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, to return to the matter of fraud at the Canada Revenue Agency, yesterday, in committee, the minister went on the attack, not against fraudsters, but against whistle-blowers. It makes no sense. She joined in the CRA's witch hunt against its employees.

Without them, we would never have known that taxpayers were robbed of more than $100 million this year. Without them, we would never have known that the CRA had concealed 30,000 privacy breaches from the Privacy Commissioner. Without them, we would never have known anything, because the CRA is covering it up.

Why is the Minister of National Revenue joining the attack on whistle-blowers?

[Centre communautaire de loisirs Jean‑Noël Trudel, November 20th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Centre communautaire de loisirs Jean-Noël Trudel, a community recreation centre in Bas‑du‑Cap, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

The centre welcomes more than 2,500 people a week, offering a multitude of services to the community, including sponsorship programs, activities for disadvantaged youth, day camps, sports and cultural activities, and the list goes on.

The centre owes its popularity and success to its passionate and dedicated staff. The centre's heart and soul is its executive director, Gaétan Laperrière. Since first being hired in 1989, he has worked as a group leader, an usher and a volleyball manager, and later served as program manager and general manager in 2008.

It is largely thanks to the dedication of Gaétan and his team that the Centre Jean-Noël Trudel can provide so many quality services to the people in the area.

Congratulations to Gaétan and his team. I wish everyone at the Centre Jean-Noël Trudel a happy 40th anniversary and continued success.

[Canada Revenue Agency, November 18th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, scammers made off with millions of dollars in bogus refunds because the Canada Revenue Agency did not bother to check before paying out the money. The CRA then communicated with its employees not to ask them to tighten up their auditing processes, but to ask them to stay quiet.

CRA leadership thinks that their main problem is not fraud, but the media. What we need is accountability, and accountability begins with protecting whistle-blowers, not scammers.

Will the minister address the total lack of ethics at the Canada Revenue Agency?

[Canada Revenue Agency, November 18th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the media recently reported that scammers are taking full advantage of the Canada Revenue Agency's complacency to get their hands on bogus tax refunds. Radio-Canada, however, reports that the CRA has no idea how badly it needs to clean up its act.

Instead of tackling fraud and bad practices, the CRA is going on a witch hunt to find out who is talking to reporters. Managers are going so far as to spy on the contents of their employees' computers. Instead of addressing the problem, they are shooting the messengers.

Will the minister ask the CRA to go hunt down the scammers, not the whistle-blowers?

[Privilege, November 5th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the current situation is so serious that listening to the cacophony of the debate makes it almost impossible to do anything but laugh. Ha, ha! Done. It is absurd, ludicrous, Kafkaesque even. Public interest in this debate is being completely snuffed out. There are documents that must be produced. There is sufficient evidence to support the seriousness of the matter. The documents must be handed over, but the party opposite has set a condition that it knows cannot be met, namely, that the documents be turned over to the RCMP. In fact, the RCMP freely admits that, to avoid compromising its investigation, it does not want the documents. This leaves us with a paradox, namely a debate based on the weakness of the human spirit.

Will my colleague finally see reason? Will he quit repeating empty slogans and phrases and let the debate move on?