Sylvie Boucher

[Jocelyne Harvey, May 16th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, there are people we meet in life who change the meaning of the word “family”. Today, I would like to pay tribute to one of them, a very special person by the name of Jocelyne Harvey.

The Harvey family is well known in La Malbaie business and equestrian circles, especially the Rodéo de Charlevoix, and is a very tight-knit family. Ms. Harvey is the pillar of that family.

Ms. Harvey is a strong and caring woman who passed on her belief in unity to her family members. Today, Ms. Harvey is very ill and fighting for her life. She is presently reaping the rewards of the unity she instilled in her family. She is surrounded by her loved ones, who are supporting her in this battle.

Ms. Harvey, I feel privileged to have met you. You will always have a special place in my heart. I wish you all the best and send my kindest regards.

[Government Appointments, May 15th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the government's partisan choice for Commissioner of Official Languages is par for the course.

When someone gives no less than $5,000 to the Liberal Party and works at Queen's Park in the same place as the architect of the Liberal agenda, getting a senior civil service position is payback, plain and simple.

Does this mean that anyone who is not a Liberal Party crony and does not contribute to the Liberals' coffers has no chance of being appointed to a senior position by this government?

[Government Appointments, May 12th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the government has chosen a new commissioner of official languages. Apparently, all it takes to get this position is a $5,000 donation to the Liberal Party of Canada, a $500 donation to the Prime Minister's leadership bid, and being a former Liberal minister.

This Liberal government's first appointment could not be more partisan, and that is a shame.

Are being a long-time Liberal and donating to the party the criteria of the Prime Minister's new appointment process?

[Government Appointments, May 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, “transparency”, “openness”, and “integrity” are words the Liberals opposite keep bandying about, but they never walk the talk.

The first officer of Parliament appointment is a partisan one. Donating to Liberal Party coffers or helping our famous Prime Minister during his election campaign is a path to becoming the commissioner of official languages.

Will the Prime Minister put partisanship aside and protect official languages ahead of his personal interests?

[Softwood Lumber, May 5th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, we all know that the party opposite could not care less about the regions and jobs there. The Liberal government had an opportunity to sign a softwood lumber agreement with the former American administration, but it chose to play games with the Trump team instead. Well, the Liberals got the short end of the stick, and now the forestry industry is paying the price for their incompetence with a 24% hike in Canadian softwood lumber import prices.

The Liberals had an agreement. Why did they let it slip through their fingers, and when will they finally take softwood lumber and our regions seriously?

[People with Reduced Mobility, May 4th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to pay tribute to an exceptional woman who is here with us today. Johanne Landry is courageous and tenacious in her work as an advocate for people with reduced mobility.

Ms. Landry has had multiple sclerosis for more than 20 years, was confined to a wheelchair for 17, and was no longer expecting much from life. However, things changed for her as a result of her son's invention. She was given a new lease on life with the Keeogo exoskeleton and its benefits.

Today, with the help of Keeogo, Ms. Landry is here. She can walk, is happy, gives hope to others, enjoys life, and spends her time with her family and grandchildren.

She is asking the government to make the exoskeleton available as a rehabilitation device to help others like her and to ensure that they have the same tax credits as people in wheelchairs—

[Message from the Senate, May 3rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, when we ask questions about the honour of our men in uniform, it is not a matter of money. I am asking the Prime Minister to answer our questions honourably. Even if he has no respect for the House, he should at least have some for our men in uniform.

[National Defence, May 3rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, one cannot put a price on respect. All Canadians and all military personnel know that when the honour of the Canadian Armed Forces is sullied by a members' actions, that member has committed a serious mistake that deserves to be punished.

The Minister of National Defence voluntarily committed perjury at least twice and would still have us believe that he just made a mistake that can be forgiven with an insincere apology.

If this minister really wants to show the minimum amount of respect that he owes to his former brothers in arms, then what is he waiting for? When will he step down?

[Ethics, May 1st, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, just because the member opposite speaks loudly does not mean he is more ethical than everyone else.

I asked questions about the Prime Minister's ethics. I am sorry but this is in the Liberal Party's DNA. This is not the first time that we have had this type of discussion. The Liberals have been in office for 18 months, and we are starting to get used to their way of doing things. They use talking points. They were the first to protest when our government did things the way they do them. Now, they are protesting again, and they are the ones in power.

The Liberals behaved unethically and did things that were against the law. They got caught and they lied about it. They apologize publicly, but then they do the same sort of thing again and again. Guess—

[Ethics, May 1st, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, for almost a year now I have been asking questions about the Liberals' ethics. I was elected for the first time in 2006 and I took on my parliamentary duties to serve Canadian democracy and all Canadians with honour and respect.

Like all my colleagues, I have seen the way this Prime Minister behaves and I have heard his apologies. To me, his apologies will be nothing more than words until he changes his behaviour. I am dismayed by the show this Prime Minister puts on when he apologizes in the House. Nothing he has said to justify his many ethical breaches has me convinced that he is innocent in any of this.

Since coming to power, and in response to the outcry, the Liberal government has been responding to questions about the ethics of its members, including the Prime Minister, with talking points. This is the first time that a prime minister has been investigated by the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. Either the Prime Minister does not understand that he should be above suspicion, or he does not give a damn about it.

The Prime Minister takes trips south of the border, sells access to himself for $1,500 to his millionaire friends, and discusses government business with his wealthy Chinese friends. Ordinary Canadians do not necessarily have $1,500 to spend on getting answers from this government.

The Prime Minister seems to have learned a few things from his father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who used his legal and business connections to get out of delicate situations. We do not have to look very hard to discover that our Right Honourable Prime Minister stated that his father was able to avoid a difficult situation by using his connections. This is what he said in his Vice Canada interview:

My father reached out to his friends in the legal community, got the best possible lawyer....We were confident that my littlest brother wasn't going to be saddled with a criminal record for life...

As the saying goes, “like father, like son” or in this case “like Prime Minister, like minister”. The Minister of National Defence is following in the footsteps of his leader by giving Canadians and our soldiers a number of fictitious accounts of his time in the Canadian Armed Forces. The minister has said many times that he was the architect of Operation Medusa, even though he was not in command of that operation. He was trying to improve his image at the expense of other members of the armed forces.

When it comes to ethics, prime ministers, MPs, and ministers should not be above the law. We are the face of Canada, the face of Quebec.