Simon Marcil

[Request for Emergency Debate, October 17th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the American administration's desire to abolish supply management constitutes an unprecedented threat to Quebec agriculture.

By calling for the abolition of our agricultural model, American negotiators are out to get our dairy farmers and poultry producers. This is happening right now. Canada's negotiators need to walk away from the negotiating table any time supply management is mentioned.

The urgent nature of this debate is quite clear. We need to take action in the House today. We will not allow the Americans to destroy our agriculture. This is a fundamental issue for Quebec, and quite frankly, for the rest of Canada too. We voted unanimously on a motion to fully maintain supply management, which is currently being threatened. We will not allow that. We have had enough of the ridiculous demands of the American administration. Once the Americans are ready to get serious and negotiate a free trade agreement that works for everyone, they will come back to the table, but for now, we need to send a clear message. We will not allow anyone to destroy our agricultural sector.

[Montreal-Mirabel International Airport, October 4th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, on this very day, October 4, in 1975, we celebrated the grand opening of Mirabel airport, a manifestation of the arrogant federalism at the heart of everything Pierre Elliott Trudeau ever did. Trudeau rounded up a bunch of fancy people in suits to applaud the big white elephant he plunked down right in the middle of a 100,000-acre field that the federal government had expropriated from 2,700 families who called the place home. Ten thousand people were exiled from fertile land. The federal government took our ancestors' land and paved the heck out of it.

Trudeau's airport sure was a thing of beauty, right up until the day the government spent millions tearing it down because there was nothing else they could do with it.

Now there is not much left save the descendants of the people who were dispossessed, and they are still fighting Ottawa for right of first refusal when their families' land is put up for sale. I think the government owes them that much at least, as well as an apology.

[Canadian Heritage, September 29th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I seek the unanimous consent of the House to table the email from the office of the Prime Minister.

[Aerospace Industry, September 29th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, everyone keeps passing the buck on this issue.

It took four months to change the law and make sure that former Aveos workers would not get their jobs back. It would seem, however, that letting up on them will take a bit more doing.

I have here an email from the office of the Prime Minister, the same Prime Minister who was protesting alongside Aveos workers with a megaphone five years ago.

What does the Prime Minister tell former Aveos workers? He tells them it is the minister's job and the minister is supposed to take care of it.

The minister is the one who should lose his job. When will he forgive this debt?

[Aerospace Industry, September 29th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, that is nonsense.

The file has been on the minister's desk for four months. This week, from the comfort of his limousine, he sent collection agents to harass Aveos workers.

The thing is that he is not short on cash because the employment insurance fund had a $1.4 billion surplus last year, and as hon. members will recall, the government does not put a single penny into that fund.

Out of a $1.4 billion surplus the government cannot find $4 million to right a wrong that it committed.

When will the government settle this and do right by the former Aveos workers? It is time for action.

[Aerospace Industry, September 29th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, the government will not let up on former Aveos workers. The government caused them to lose their jobs in 2012 by refusing to enforce the Air Canada Act. It even changed the legislation last year to ensure that these people would not get their jobs back.

Now the government is going after them for EI benefits they received five years ago as a result of the government's own mistake.

Will the government stop harassing the 400 former Aveos workers and forgive them their EI debt?

[NAFTA Renegotiations, September 26th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I believe you will find unanimous consent for me to move the following motion:

That the House reiterate its desire to fully preserve supply management during the NAFTA renegotiations.

[International Trade, September 26th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, our farmers are used to being taken for a ride by the Liberal government. Dairy and cheese producers were taken for a ride with the Canada-EU agreement, our producers were taken for a ride with the compensation program that lasted all of 20 minutes. This is a joke. With NAFTA being renegotiated, they are once again at risk of being hung out to dry. Quebec producers have had enough.

Will the government finally protect supply management in Quebec?

[Aveos Workers, June 13th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to draw attention to the presence in our gallery of former Aveos workers.

In 2012, workers at Aveos lost their jobs because the government decided to break its own law. Instead of supporting the workers, Ottawa did the opposite and made it legal for Air Canada to close its maintenance centres, which cost hundreds of jobs.

Worse still, after they lost their jobs, the workers had the Canada Employment Insurance Commission on their backs. Some widows were asked to pay back as much as $20,000.

Today we are appealing to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour to do the workers justice by cancelling the redress process by the Canada Employment Insurance Commission, as she is authorized to do under the act.

I can assure the House that the Bloc Québécois stands behind Aveos workers. We have always done so in the past, and we will continue to do so both today and in the future.

[Infrastructure, June 2nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the members across the aisle told us simply not to worry. This is hard to say with a straight face. They said that just because they gave wealthy foreign investors the right to expropriate does not mean they will use it. In Mirabel, we have seen what happens when the federal government uses its power of expropriation. Indeed, 97,000 hectares were seized by a previous Liberal government.

Through Bill C-44, they want to give their bank the right to disregard agricultural zoning and do whatever they want with our lands. Does anyone over there understand that no one is interested in their privatization bank?