Ruth Ellen Brosseau

[Business of Supply, April 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, this is a historic moment we are seeing once again in the House of Commons. The tone of the debate we have heard thus far has been very moving and important.

From the speeches that I heard earlier, I think we are all hopeful that the motion will pass and we will have the support of every member in the House.

I am wondering if the member could comment about the process of reconciliation, how we are on the path toward healing, and what other initiatives the government is going to put forward to help.

[Oceans Act, April 25th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. There have been discussions among the parties to allow the member for South Okanagan—West Kootenay to table a timely petition in the House. I wonder if we have unanimous consent to allow the member to table this important petition.

[Agriculture and Agrifood, April 25th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, last spring, a number of farmers in my region of Berthier—Maskinongé experienced exceptional flooding that caused significant damage to their farmland.

Despite repeated calls from the Union des producteurs agricoles, the federal government has not done anything. As a result, many farmers have lost more than $100,000 and half of their crops. I urge the government to take immediate action.

Will the Prime Minister confirm today in the House that he will provide assistance to farmers in my region?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 1, April 23rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to express the profound disappointment I have, and I think a lot of the members on this side of the House have, with the government. It promised during the election that it would be different, that it would respect Parliament, and that it would ensure we all would have a voice and input. What it is doing today is muzzling our voice, not letting us represent our constituents, being that strong voice for our constituents in the House of Commons.

It is disappointing because this budget implementation act is 556 pages. It is huge, omnibus, obese legislation. It is really important we study it and have a healthy debate in the House of Commons.

If the government is so proud of the budget, why is it muzzling debate in the House of Commons?

[International Trade, April 19th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, our supply management system is being threatened from all sides. If it is not a Conservative member saying he wants to eliminate our supply management system, it is the Liberals chipping away at it in our trade agreements. This week, however, the threat is coming from four American senators who are calling on Canada to open our dairy market. The NDP has always been clear: we can no longer make any concessions on the backs of Canadian farmers. The Liberals are less clear on that.

Will the Minister of Foreign Affairs send a clear message to Washington that our supply management system will not be further undermined?

[Privilege, April 17th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, that is correct.

I would like to thank the hon. member for Niagara Falls for his point of order today on the breach of privilege. This is of grave concern to our party and obviously to the official opposition, but all members in this House should be very concerned. This is not the first time that this has happened. This seems to be a trend coming from the Liberal government, a complete disregard and disrespect for this House.

As much as I have respect for the CBC, I do have concerns with the fact that eight minutes after the bill was tabled in this House, it had an article published, so there seems to be a problem here. This is an omnibus budget bill, over 300 and some odd pages, so everybody in this House should be very concerned about this trend.

I look forward to coming back to you, Mr. Speaker, with more information.

I look forward to your ruling on the question of privilege raised by my colleague from Niagara Falls.

[Labour, March 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, Air Canada flight attendants have filed complaints against the airline for sexual harassment and discrimination. Although the airline claims it has zero tolerance for harassment, it has outright denied these claims. Air Canada now asks female attendants to wear dress uniforms in order to show more cleavage and it told one gay flight attendant to stop prancing. Air Canada even dictates the colour and type of underwear flight attendants can wear. This is disgusting. This is unacceptable.

What is the government going to do to ensure that anti-harassment policies are both adopted and followed by Canadian industries?

[Ethics, March 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister held a fundraiser yesterday in Montreal. Stephen Bronfman was there, but that comes as no surprise. Let us not forget that he was named in the paradise papers.

Who else was there? There was Mitch Garber, whom the Minister of International Trade recently named chairman of a new federal agency.

The Prime Minister thanked those in attendance for all the time they have devoted to their movement, but especially for all the money they pay to attend these galas.

Does the Prime Minister also thank his friends by giving them patronage appointments?

[An Act in Relation to Firearms, March 27th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I quote:

Clear ministerial accountability to Parliament is fundamental to responsible government, and requires that Ministers provide Parliament with the information it needs to fulfill its roles of legislating, approving the appropriation of funds and holding the government to account. The Prime Minister expects Ministers to demonstrate respect and support for the parliamentary process.

That was from the letter in “Open and Accountable Government” from the PM to his ministers.

What we have now is a bill that was tabled last week. We have had less than one hour of debate. Even the Conservatives when they were in a majority government never did time allocation with less than one day of debate.

We have not even had the chance to participate in the debate on an important piece of legislation. The government is showing complete disrespect for the House. I wonder how the minister can justify calling time allocation on such an important bill, with what the Prime Minister said in the mandate letters to his ministers. This is the 31st time they have done that in the House.

[Fisheries Act, March 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I would just like to say how frustrating it is having time allocation brought forward on an important piece of legislation we have been waiting years to have come before the House and to have debate on it completely muzzled. It is not healthy for our democracy. We were all sent here to represent our constituents, and they expect us to be a strong voice for them here in Parliament.

I remember during the election the Liberals saying that they would be different. They were going to be better and would work with other parties. They are doing the exact same thing the Conservatives did. Even the minister acknowledged that notes were left on his desk from the former Conservative House leader. It is very frustrating, because he says again and again that they are going to work with opposition members and consult with us, but here he is forcing time allocation on an important bill. How can he justify that?