Sylvie Boucher

[Bloc Québécois, November 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I must say that I am dismayed. Dismayed by the actions of the members from the Bloc Québécois. Dismayed also by their choice of motto: “Debout!”, or “Stand up!”

When Quebeckers find themselves jobless and seek support from their members of Parliament to find solutions, the Bloc members remain seated.

It is our Conservative government that takes action, suggests solutions and stands up for the real interests of Quebeckers and Canadians.

We have added five weeks of employment insurance benefits. The Bloc voted against that. We have increased the number of weeks under the work sharing program. The Bloc voted against that too.

This week, the Bloc members remained seated, so to speak, by voting against extending EI benefits by 5 to 20 weeks for the self-employed.

Our Conservative government is taking action to help workers and does not remain—

[November 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I will look my friend straight in the eye and tell him that I will be one of the first to go and be vaccinated and will also take my mother because she is old and suffers from bronchitis. No, I am not afraid to save my life, or the lives of Canadians, and I do not play politics with the health of Canadians and Quebeckers.

[November 2nd, 2009]

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

The members should remember one thing. We do not play politics with the health of Canadians, in contrast to the Liberals. We work closely together with the territories and provinces. The guide on how to prepare for the H1N1 virus can be downloaded. We have also printed 300,000 copies. That will not be enough and we will print more, because it is a very good guide.

Everything is there. It says what the H1N1 virus is, how to prevent infection, how to recognize the symptoms, how to care for a sick person, what the vaccines and antivirals are, how to plan a campaign against the virus, Canada’s plan, and all the resources. It is a very good tool to use. I encourage my Liberal friends to use it too. It is very good for our communities.

[November 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.

This is the first time in Canadian history that we have had such a huge vaccination campaign. One of our primary responsibilities is to ensure that Canadians have reliable, up-to-date and complete information on the H1N1 influenza and on how to protect themselves during the epidemic.

I would like to focus on the methods we have used to inform Canadians during the pandemic and on how we foresee pursuing the information campaign.

The number of activities we have undertaken over the past six months is quite simply phenomenal. Communications have been shared at a breakneck pace from day one. Take for example the number of people who have consulted the Public Health Agency's Web site: more than 3.1 million hits since April.

I should also mention the great interest in the Government of Canada's H1N1 Preparedness Guide. Nearly 300,000 guides have been ordered or downloaded. We will have to reprint the guide again after distributing more than 650,000 copies to 6,500 Canadian post offices in two weeks alone. We will not have enough guides and we released them just two weeks ago.

We have also launched massive media campaigns. The Public Health Agency of Canada is broadcasting a message to all Canadians. This week, that message was heard on 238 radio stations. Health Canada is broadcasting messages to first nations and Inuit people through 80 radio stations in addition to public service announcements on northern community stations. The department has also published messages targeted to these people in 43 community newspapers and placed advertising banners on first nations and Inuit websites. Between October 19 and October 30, we mailed a brochure to more than 10 million Canadian households, to tell families how to identify the H1N1 virus and where to find additional information.

There is a great deal of interest in the H1N1 flu. The Government of Canada is responding to that demand by providing timely, factual and relevant information on the virus. The degree of awareness about H1N1 in Canada is now extremely high, particularly considering that six months ago no one had heard of the H1N1 virus or the pandemic.

We are finding out that people are making decisions regarding their health and are assessing the choices available to them.

The information campaigns, the public announcements, the numerous interviews given by the Minister of Health and by Dr. Butler-Jones, and the press conferences we are holding several times a week are all initiatives which show clearly that we are providing Canadians with a great deal of quality information.

Here is another example. On Tuesday, after vaccination centres opened across the country, we noticed a threefold increase in the number of people visiting the Public Health Agency of Canada's FightFlu.ca website. Until then, the all-time record was 60,000 hits. On that Tuesday, 196,000 people visited the site, or 22,000 people per hour. Canadians know about the FightFlu.ca website, and they visit it in large numbers.

They look at an average of three pages each time, which is very good. They spend more time on these pages, which means that they are actually reading the content and that they go further to get information.

It is also easy to see that they are showing up at vaccination centres. They want to get vaccinated. Three weeks ago, few people wanted to get the vaccine. We are working with all our partners to ensure that Canadians will indeed get vaccinated.

Our efforts are paying off, and because everyone has worked together so closely, we are ready for whatever winter brings.

When the epidemic began, we distributed more than four million health alert notices to travellers in Canadian airports, in cooperation with Transport Canada.

In late April, we started running infection prevention messages in 24 international airports in Canada, in cooperation with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority.

In May, we distributed posters to 49 airports showing how to prevent infection by using proper hand washing technique and coughing into one's sleeve, for example.

We have also signed an agreement with the Weather Network, which is using information from the Public Health Agency's FluWatch site on its website and its television stations in French and English. The Weather Network is also broadcasting general infection prevention messages on behalf of PHAC.

The volume of targeted, factual, complete information we are providing to Canadians and the variety of methods we are using to do so are quite simply unprecedented in Canadian history.

I could also remind this House that the national communication strategy is a multi-tiered strategy. The federal government is not alone in providing Canadians with information. We are working in partnership with the provinces and territories and local authorities.

All the information Canadians are receiving is coherent and comes from reliable sources in the public health community.

We are ready, and we are helping Canadians get ready and get informed.

[Employment Insurance, November 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, our government's economic action plan proves to what extent we continue to take initiative and listen to the public's concerns. Quebeckers and Canadians are calling for action and we are taking action, nothing less.

During these difficult times, the introduction of Bill C-50 on employment insurance is a response to the concerns of workers who fear for their jobs. Our government has developed this temporary measure as well as other assistance measures to improve the daily lives of our workers and their families.

In opposing this bill, the Bloc Québécois and Liberal members do not realize how many workers who have had the same job or worked in the same industry their entire lives could end up having to go back to square one.

Our government is presenting concrete solutions and defending the interests of Canadian workers and their families.

[Justice, October 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is a well known fact that when it comes to justice issues the Liberal and Bloc Québécois members defend the rights of criminals.

Fortunately, Canadians know that they can count on our Conservative government to defend victims' rights. Since taking office, we have introduced stiffer penalties for criminals who commit crimes with firearms. We want to ensure that white collar criminals serve their sentences in prison and not at home. We have put in place strict measures to counter identity theft and car theft. We want criminals who abuse children to be put in prison and not be out on the streets, as the Bloc Québécois would like.

Canadians can count on us to ensure that our communities are safer.

I am asking the Liberal and Bloc members to put aside their political partisanship and to side with law-abiding Canadians.

[Justice, October 28th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, our government is reaching out to victims and giving them what they have been calling for for years, that is, appropriate sentencing for criminals.

When we came to power, one of our priorities was to establish the Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims Of Crime. In 2000, a special committee had examined the Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations and recommended the creation of a victims' ombudsman, but the Liberals did nothing about it.

This Conservative government has earmarked several million dollars to support programs, services and funding for victims. We are making sure that victims are heard and that they are given a larger role in our judicial system. This is what victims and their families want, and Canadians deserve no less.

Canadians can count on this government to defend the rights of victims and—

[Justice, October 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, our government has introduced a number of bills to maintain law and order. We must also ensure that criminals serve their time.

Many criminals are released early, which undermines Canadians' faith in our judicial system. That is why our government is committed to solving the problems associated with parole.

Despite what the Leader of the Opposition says in front of the cameras, the Liberals' attitude towards this is appalling.

Meanwhile, the Bloc leader claims to have a monopoly on the truth about crime, but when it comes time to make decisions, he stands firmly with the criminals. How can the Bloc leader sleep at night, while children are being exploited by human traffickers?

Quebeckers cannot trust either the Liberals or the Bloc Québécois when it comes to getting tough on crime. This is all about protecting our families and making our communities safer.

[October 21st, 2009]

Madam Speaker, our government unequivocally supports the renewed mandate of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women.

As I was saying earlier, our government has invested over $24 million in three years. The NDP has always voted against the measures to help women in Canada escape the violence they are suffering. The NDP has always voted against the measures put in place by Canada and by our government. I have no lessons to learn from that hon. member.

[October 21st, 2009]

Madam Speaker, violence against women is unacceptable in all communities across Canada, yet it remains a serious problem.

Our government committed to eliminate it, and to provide assistance and solutions to people affected by this violence. In order to achieve those goals, our government is maintaining its support of the family violence initiative or FVI, a horizontal collaboration involving 15 departments and partner organizations.

The long-term goal of the FVI is to reduce the occurrence of family violence in Canada and to promote partnerships with the provinces, territories and non-governmental organizations. The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics produces an annual report entitled Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile, which provides the most current data on the nature and extent of family violence in Canada.

Our government is taking action to address the problem of violence against women and children. For example, the shelter enhancement program provides assistance to shelters and transition homes for victims of family violence, including those in first nations communities. In 2007, our government announced $52 million in funding over four years to fund programs and services, to provide support to victims of crime, and to intervene regarding a number of new problems that affect these victims.

Our government also supports a broad range of programs through Status of Women Canada's women's program. This program provides funding to community groups fighting to end violence against women across Canada.

In 2007-08 alone, the women's program approved funding for 91 projects to fight violence, representing an investment of $19,212,012 over three years. The following year, 39 projects were approved and another $5,334,017 invested over three years. Here are some examples of the projects that received funding.

In Victoria, a project is helping women and girls who are victims of sexual exploitation escape situations that expose them to violence and poverty.

Support services to combat family violence are being provided to aboriginal and immigrant women in Edmonton.

A national on-line counselling service will be set up.

An intervention program in the Montreal region will focus on girls who are victims of sexual abuse.

A project in New Brunswick is helping women recover from the effects of dating violence.

Our government is also concerned about the disproportionately high incidence of violence affecting aboriginal women and girls. That is why we gave the Sisters in Spirit initiative $5 million in funding for the 2005-2010 period and signed a partnership with the Native Women's Association of Canada. The Sisters in Spirit initiative is attacking the roots of racial and sexual violence against aboriginal women.

In March 2008, to help fight violence against aboriginal women and children, our government announced five new shelters in five provinces.

Our government cares about women—