Sylvie Boucher

[Business of Supply, March 22nd, 2018]

Madam Speaker, with all due respect, we are not calling public servants into question. The Prime Minister's trip to India was a disaster, and not just in Canada. It was an international disaster.

We have indeed heard multiple versions, unlike what my colleague on the other side claims. He claims that there is just one version and that the Prime Minister apologized. The committee wants to hear from everyone, including a government official, because it seems to us on this side of the House that we are not getting the full story.

When the Prime Minister plays Canadians for fools on the international stage, we need an explanation. This is important to me, because all Canadians were made to look like fools, not just the Prime Minister. With all due respect to the members of this House, no matter which side they are on, we need an explanation.

[Social Development, March 21st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, in February, the Prime Minister called out a woman for using the term “mankind” and said that he preferred the term “peoplekind” because it is more inclusive. He later conceded that the remark was a dumb joke, yet another one. Today, Service Canada employees who interact with the public are no longer allowed to use terms like “Mr.” and “Mrs.” and now have to use gender-neutral language.

Can the Prime Minister confirm whether this new practice has truly been imposed because—

[Business of Supply, February 15th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my NDP colleague. I really enjoyed her speech, particularly when she spoke about respect.

It is too bad that the members opposite do not understand that respect does not necessarily involve money. It comes from the heart. It does not do any good to say that the Conservatives did not do this or that. We are not the ones who said those things. It was the Prime Minister.

The member spoke earlier about how she served in the military from 2002 to 2006. Can she tell me how things were at that time and how the governments treated soldiers?

[Marijuana, February 15th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I see a Liberal scandal on the horizon.

While the Prime Minister tries to persuade us that legalizing pot is supposed to fight organized crime, the media are reporting that 40% of the money invested in Quebec in companies that will produce marijuana comes from tax havens. That means it is impossible to know who the investors are, although we know that many Liberal cronies have both hands in the cookie jar.

Can the Prime Minister table a list of investors in the House, or will we be forced to demand—

[Business of Supply, February 15th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak to the motion moved by our colleague.

What really gets me here is that the motion has nothing to do with the Liberals' self-congratulatory blather about what they did or did not do. The motion reads as follows:

That the House call on the Prime Minister to apologize to veterans for his insensitive comments at a recent town hall in Edmonton...

What members on this side want is for the Prime Minister to admit he made a mistake. Making mistakes is human. I think veterans would be happy with that. The Conservatives did not make this story up. It was all over the web. That is what the Prime Minister said at town halls. He is the one who made that promise to veterans, not us. What we want to hear today is one simple phrase: “I am sorry I disrespected you.”

The Liberals are always tooting their own horn. I get the impression that the word “respect” bothers them. All we are asking for is one simple sentence. Our veterans went out there and fought, and now they are back home and they have rights. They want an apology, and we will keep pressing for that until we hear the words “apologize” and “respect”.

[Taxation, February 13th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the government keeps saying that it is a strong advocate for the middle class, but it is in cahoots with the wealthy to help them get richer at the expense of the poor, who are being forced to cover the government's outlandish spending. We just learned that the government has given access to new tax havens in Granada and in Antigua and Barbuda.

When will this government be truly transparent with taxpayers, honestly work in their interests, and stop signing agreements with tax havens?

[Ethics, February 9th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is refusing to reimburse taxpayers for his vacation.

This week, all of his MPs clearly supported his decision. That is an insult to Canadians. His leader is refusing to answer questions and just keeps repeating that he accepts responsibility for the report and that his travel expenses were for security costs that all prime ministers are entitled to. That is not true. No prime minister should ever take advantage of the position and spend honest working people's money.

When will the Prime Minister reimburse taxpayers? That is what accepting responsibility really means.

[An Act to Change the Name of the Electoral District of Châteauguay-Lacolle, February 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the name of my riding should be the one that changes, for it is too long and hard to pronounce.

All joking aside, I would never introduce a bill in the House to change the name of my riding. I would go through the usual parliamentary channels. We were all consulted. All parties were consulted to see whether any members wanted to change the name of their riding. It was easy.

Today we are looking at a bill to change the name of a riding. Although we support it, and although my hon. colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent spoke in favour of it, personally I see this as a huge waste of time.

It is a waste of time because the member decided to introduce a bill to change the name of her riding, to have some sound bites to put on Facebook, when we could be debating any number of other topics that really matter to Canadians.

My constituents know that I represent them very well. Whether my riding is called Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans—Charlevoix or Félix-Leclerc or Saint-Laurent, they know that I represent them well as their member of Parliament. I do not need to draft a bill to change the name of my riding when there are other avenues for doing so in the House.

I think it is appalling that the party across the aisle has used this precious time to introduce such a bill. I am not saying it is not important for the member in question, but I think it is a waste of our time.

We have some very important matters to be addressed, such as our Prime Minister's illegal trip. We have been asking him for almost two weeks to pay back the money, and we have seen neither hide nor hair of the money to cover the cost of this illegal trip.

The Liberal Party tells us that it was because the Prime Minister travels. Everyone knows that the Prime Minister travels. Everyone knows that in Canada, when a Prime Minister travels, he needs security. However, security is required on official trips and not for trips with friends, family, nannies, grandpa, grandma, caviar, and wine. It is a non-issue. He was found guilty not once, but four times of ethical lapses. It would have been important to legislate about that. However, yesterday, the Liberal Party voted against our motion, which was well drafted and applied to all members of the House.

That said, I will come back to Bill C-377. It is unfortunate that 10 minutes of our time this evening is being spent on a bill to deal with a matter that could have easily been handled in another way. Personally, that bothers me. Personally, I will support it because anyone may want to change the name of their riding. However, I hope that no one introduces a bill just to have something to post on Facebook. I can post on Facebook more worthwhile things that are done for the people in my riding.

Of all the people in this place, there are some sitting behind me whose ridings have impossible names, but who actually work diligently on behalf of their riding without blowing their own horn, even though at times they would like to do so.

The price is right.

I am joking around a lot this evening because I find this bill hilarious, and yet, I also find it troubling. I hope that I will not talk about it for 10 minutes.

I think that the name of my riding should have been changed, but I never would have thought to introduce a bill to change the name. I would have gone about it through the proper channels, and that would have been entirely appropriate.

I will support Bill C-377, not because I think it is worthwhile, but because I hope that members of the House will never again dare to introduce this type of bill and that, instead, they will go through the legal channels available to them here in the House.

[Canadian Armed Forces, February 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister enjoys making grandiose statements that he knows will make him look good, such as when he apologized to certain groups. However, when it comes to protecting Canadians from abuse and harassment, he comes up with all kinds of excuses and does nothing.

Will he do the right thing once and for all and apologize to our military personnel for dishonouring them by refusing to protect them from all forms of workplace harassment?

[Business of Supply, February 8th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to wish my colleague opposite a happy birthday. That is the only nice thing I will be saying about him today.

He likes to cloak himself in the Liberal government's good intentions. However, he forgets that the Prime Minister was found guilty of four ethics violations. All we are asking is for the Prime Minister to pay back the $200,000. That would help a lot of families put food on the table.