Sylvie Boucher

[Taxation, November 21st, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, after all that overspending, the government has run out of taxpayer money. To replenish its coffers, the Liberals are picking the pockets of Canadians once again. This time, it is persons with disabilities who are paying the price. A person in my riding was denied the disability tax credit for the first time in 20 years. The reason provided was that his illness does not affect him 90% of the time.

Why is this government counting the seconds when persons with disabilities are affected, but not the billions of dollars that the Prime Minister's friends are hiding in tax havens?

[Report Stage, November 21st, 2017]

The provinces need more time.

[Automated External Defibrillators, November 9th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Richmond—Arthabaska for his motion. I think it is very timely. I find it very interesting that, despite our differences, there should be such a wonderful display of unanimity this evening on the importance of having defibrillators. They save lives.

My father died a long time ago of a heart attack. At the time, there were no such devices that could have maybe saved his life.

When we give speeches, I think it is important to provide real examples, as my colleague did, of people who have experienced these events first-hand.

We heard from a number of members on both sides of the House about this super-important topic. How interesting that we all agree this motion deserves to be studied. We need to adopt it here, in Parliament. It would be one of the first times people see parliamentarians stand together, united in their desire to save lives.

It makes quite a difference to see that there is unanimity here, in Ottawa, on a subject that is so far-reaching and so human. What I like about this motion is that it shows the human side of saving lives. It has been quite a while since this issue has come up in the House with any regularity. We often have our differences, but when we make our discussions about the human experience, it results in motions like my colleague's motion.

I hope that the motion will be studied in committee in a non-partisan fashion and that everyone will contribute to the discussion so that it does not become a government or an opposition motion, but everyone's motion.

[Ethics, November 9th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are fed up. Everywhere they look more Liberals are displaying their lack of ethics. What bothers them most is that the Minister of Finance, the person responsible for our country's budget, is hiding his assets in numbered companies. He hid his Morneau Shepell shares for two years. He never disclosed that he owns a company in France. He was found guilty by the commissioner, and more importantly by all Canadians, and he had to pay a fine. How many more conflicts might we find in the rest of his numbered companies?

[Ethics, November 7th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, to be or not to be, that is the question. In this tragic comedy entitled, “The latest Liberal scandal”, we wonder who has the lead role. Is it the Minister of Finance or the Prime Minister? We have not gotten any answers to simple questions for weeks. What exactly are they hiding? Why will they not answer? Are they rewriting a new chapter to the story, “Gomery 2”, or will they finally answer this simple question. What is the Minister of Finance hiding with his companies?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 2, November 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.

Of course, it is important that Canadians and Quebeckers have the impression that everyone is paying the same kinds of taxes. We often hear that that is not currently their impression. As for tax havens, of course I think we need to address this problem.

Today the Minister of National Revenue often repeated the same answer. However, looking at all the names listed, we saw that they were friends of the Liberals. My advice to the minister would be that she speak to her boss and get a list of his friends. She would also get their phone numbers.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 2, November 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, to answer my colleague, yes, I like to travel around a lot, too. I am a grassroots politician. It did some good, but at what price? One has to think about that.

When you say that, yes, we are the ones who thought of that, I would point out that, two years ago, you were the ones elected. It was already in our platform and that is what we would have done, but we were not elected. You were.

Before saying something and taking someone else's ideas, you should have thought about it first. You did not think about it.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 2, November 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I am always pleased to rise in the House, especially to speak to the fall economic statement.

I want to begin by thanking my leader for the excellent speech he gave today for the 150th anniversary of what we have become. He demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a statesman. I am very proud to stand side by side with him. He is a great man.

Let us talk about the fall economic statement. This fall, we were treated to even more scandals. Unfortunately, I think that the Minister of Finance has lost the confidence of the House. He should have done the right thing. He is responsible for the country's finances, but he hides his assets from Canadians. Every member is required to declare all their assets to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner within 90 days, but it took him two years to do so. It is unbelievable and very troubling. We have been asking questions for over a month, but as everyone likes to say, it is question period not answer period. We have yet to get an answer from across the way.

Yesterday, we learned of the existence of the Paradise Papers. Who is named in these papers? The Liberals' friends. If anyone was wondering if the Liberals learned anything during their 10 years in purgatory, the answer is probably not.

At the time of the Gomery commission, I was working at the National Assembly and had friends who worked for the Liberal Party. Today, those friends say that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It saddens me, because they used to be staunch Liberals, and they lost their jobs because of the Gomery commission. I believe that the more we dig, the closer we get to a second Gomery commission. That would be sad.

I liked what my NDP colleague said about the fall economic statement, that the most striking thing about it is what it does not say. It has nothing to say about farmers. They are not mentioned at all. They got $250 million, far less than we Conservatives had promised them. Let us talk about that $250 million. Within a week, there was not a cent left. Farmers are still coming to see us at our constituency offices because they do not understand why this program only lasted five days. I do not understand it either.

The 9% tax cut the member opposite was talking about is all well and good, but it was not even the Liberals' idea. It was Stephen Harper's government that wanted to do that 9% tax cut. They took that idea from the Conservatives and put it out there as their own. That is what bothers me. It is one thing for them to come up with their own ideas, but I would like them to be honest and say that this was not their idea. They have set themselves up as saviours, but they stole that idea from the Conservatives because they could not come up with an idea of their own. That is pathetic.

The Liberals have to look at other parties' platforms to come up with their own. Maybe they should give that some thought, because what we are seeing nowadays is pretty pathetic.

What saddens me is that the more things change over there, the more they stay the same. I am not saying there is nothing good in Bill C-63. Some things in it are good, but many more are bad. The Liberals should have split the bill in two so we could vote on the parts that make sense. As it whole, it does not make sense.

I will not vote in favour of a bill that does not give Canadians the truth. We are getting used to this now because the Liberals are often all about the smoke and mirrors, but dig a little deeper, and things start to not make sense. It is sad because this is no longer the Liberal Party of Canada; it is a one-man party, the Prime Minister's party. His selfies are all over the place. I am sure Canadians are picking up a hefty tab for all those photos. I think that is a real shame.

The Liberals are claiming these are the facts, but that cannot be entirely true; either that or there are still things we do not know, because the parliamentary budget officer, or PBO, is saying exactly the opposite. He is saying that over 80% of middle-class Canadians are paying more tax than before. This statistic comes from the PBO, not us, and the Liberals over there are trying to tell us that that is not actually true.

We are used to seeing the Liberal Party give with one hand and take away with the other, but one day they are going to have to be consistent. If they cannot come up with sensible tax breaks of their own, they are going to have to stop pretending that they have. They are taking things from another party's election platform because they are unable to keep up with the times.

What saddens me most is that the Liberals are not listening to Canadians. They travelled around a lot. They did a bunch of consultations, but they did not listen to anyone they consulted. The same thing happened with small businesses. The official opposition parties had to rise in the House and organize round tables for the Liberals to realize they were headed in the wrong direction. People had to badger and hurl questions at them for three straight weeks before the Liberals finally came to the realization that what they were doing made no sense.

For three weeks now, practically a whole month, we have been asking questions about the finance minister's ethics. The finance minister is the one who manages Canadians' money, and yet he cannot even answer our questions, even now that the Paradise Papers scandal has erupted. There will come a point where the more newly elected Liberals, who were not around for Gomery and who certainly do not want to end up in a similar situation, will have to start asking questions. Perhaps they will get more answers than we have been getting.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, November 3rd, 2017]

With regard to individuals seeking asylum after crossing the border illegally or irregularly: how many such individuals have sought asylum since October 1, 2016, broken down by month and by province?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, November 3rd, 2017]

With regard to documents concerning third party activities during elections, including documents concerning the influence of foreign organizations or other entities on third parties or their activities, held by either the Privy Council Office or Elections Canada since November 4, 2015: (a) what are the details of all memorandums on the subject, including for each (i) sender, (ii) recipient, (iii) date, (iv) title, (v) subject matter and summary, (vi) file number; and (b) what are the details of all studies received, reviewed, analyzed, or otherwise consulted regarding the subject, including for each the (i) date, (ii) author, (iii) title, (iv) findings, (v) file number, (vi) website location where findings are available online, if applicable?