Yvon Godin

[Committees of the House, February 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present the NDP's supplementary opinion. We are concerned about the fact that most of the committee's recommendations do not reflect all of the testimony given and the fact that the committee did not include a number of key recommendations in its report.

We would like therefore like to supplement the committee's report with the following information. We urge the Department of Canadian Heritage to increase the funding allocated to future memoranda of understanding for minority language education and second-language education.

The NDP is therefore calling on the Government of Canada, in partnership with the provinces and territories and through CMEC, during the negotiation of future memoranda of understanding, to develop a strategy to create a continuum of French second-language learning, from elementary school to post-secondary institutions through to the labour market; to take the necessary steps to promote access to French as second language programs at the post-secondary level; and to improve, based on the resources available, its support for French as a second language programs in Quebec so that anglophone minority schools in that province can offer high-quality French as a second language programs, thereby contributing to the vitality of the anglophone minority in Quebec.

The NDP hopes that the Minister of Canadian Heritage will implement these recommendations in order to ensure that immersion programs in Canada grow and flourish.

[Petitions, February 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have here a petition signed by several hundred people who are urging the Government of Canada to take any measures necessary to restore VIA Rail's daily round-trip service between Montreal, Quebec, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, via Campbellton, Bathurst and Miramichi, New Brunswick.

[Angèle Arsenault, February 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness that I learned of the death of Angèle Arsenault, the great francophone and Acadian singer from Prince Edward Island.

Her singing career began in 1963, in Moncton. She quickly became an ambassador for Prince Edward Island's Acadian community. Inspired by Acadia, her album Libre sold over 300,000 copies in 1978. Ms. Arsenault touched the Acadian community not only of Prince Edward Island, but of Acadia as a whole. Her song Grand Pré became a legacy for all Acadians, as it tells the story of the struggles my people have faced.

I will remember Ms. Arsenault with her round glasses and her big smile, sitting at her piano and singing her catchy tunes, such as De temps en temps moi j'ai les bleus, Moi j'mange and Y'a une étoile pour vous. Like a star herself, Angèle Arsenault shone on Acadia and throughout the French-speaking world. Despite her passing, she continues to shine thanks to the great musical legacy she leaves behind.

Acadia will miss you, Angèle.

[Employment Insurance, February 25th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I do not understand. The only thing that bothered the minister about the reform was that he thought people were off vacationing in Cuba. Now the Conservatives are prepared to make changes to EI in Prince Edward Island, where the fisheries minister is from.

Is the minister prepared to make changes in all the regions in Canada where workers are having problems, or will he continue to insult the workers by suggesting that the problem is that they are going off on vacation to Cuba?

[Northwest Territories Devolution Act, February 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, in the budget document, on the first page, page i, under “Ensuring Training Reflects Labour Market Needs”, it reads:

“Ready, Willing and Able” is an initiative to help Canadians...”. It is only in English, and I feel it is against the rules of the House to have a document only—

[Rail Transportation, February 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, a Miramichi paper reported that my Conservative colleague is secretly working with the Minister of Transport to try to save rail service.

She needs to start making some noise and stop watching the train leave the station. For the past three weeks, we have been on our own in the fight to save service in the Maritimes.

Now that she has realized that her own party wants to tear up the tracks, will she and her Conservative colleagues work with us to keep VIA Rail service in the Maritimes, or will they just let the train go from Quebec City to Vancouver, and never mind the Atlantic provinces?

[Rail Transportation, February 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, our rail service is collapsing, and the Conservatives are still refusing to act. The railway in New Brunswick is crucial. It is the only direct line for thousands of people in eastern Quebec. It is the only route that links Canada from coast to coast.

Will the minister come to our community and explain to the people why they are losing this service, a service that Canadians are proud of? Shame on the Conservatives.

[Rail Transportation, February 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives refuse to invest in order to save trains in eastern Quebec and New Brunswick. Voting for the right party does not even help. We have not heard a peep from the members for Moncton, Miramichi and Madawaska—Restigouche.

We need to work together to ensure the future of VIA Rail. It is essential to economic development in the east and the rest of Canada.

Are the Conservatives going to stay asleep at the switch or are they going to do something to save the trains?

[VIA Rail, February 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, on January 24, 2014, the Province of New Brunswick and CN announced a total investment of $55 million to upgrade the tracks between Campbellton and Moncton. The federal Conservative government was notably absent.

At the same press conference, it was also announced that the line between Miramichi and Bathurst would be eliminated, which is nothing to celebrate. To save passenger rail service in eastern New Brunswick and Quebec, VIA Rail and the government need to invest $10 million.

VIA Rail says it does not have the money and is considering using CN tracks in the western part of the province. According to CBC, this option would cost $50 million for the purchase of new land and to build new stations, and 50% of passengers would be lost.

The government says its hands are tied, since VIA Rail is a crown corporation, even though it has invested in VIA in the past. What is $10 million to maintain train service from coast to coast?

I encourage everyone to sign the petition I have launched to maintain the rail line between Miramichi and Bathurst.

[Fair Elections Act, February 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear the member for Guelph on the situation in 2006, when the Conservative Party was involved in the in-and-out scheme. Do members remember the in-and-out? The Conservative Party sent money to our ridings. It wrote cheques, and the cheques were returned to the Conservative Party, the national party, where it used $1.5 million more of its funds that it could use during the election. It took Elections Canada to court, because it felt that Elections Canada was not fair to it. It fought with Elections Canada.

The Conservative Party has been fighting with Elections Canada since 2006 because of everything Elections Canada has done to try to have fair and honest elections. The Conservative Party is always putting sticks in its wheels.

This is really a bill to crucify Elections Canada. That is what the Conservative government is doing. It is putting a lock on the discussion we are having today, because it does not want the public to hear.