COVID-19 Protests  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I agree with his point that people have the right to protest, but that the methods are somewhat questionable. What I hear from him this evening is a heartfelt message asking protesters to go home. I do not think the protesters will all of a sudden agree to go home.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I appreciated his tone, and I thought he did a nice job evaluating the situation that many of his constituents are going through. However, I do not get the impression that we are finding a solution to the current crisis. This evening, I am hearing politicians throwing the ball back and forth in the House because we all have different visions.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, earlier my colleague mentioned statements by the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan. Those statements rubbed me the wrong way too. The member challenged us to go talk to the protesters and learn about their experience. Does he think we spent the last two years as MPs not talking to our constituents, not talking to people at local businesses that were struggling or had to close their doors?

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague who spoke extremely well this evening and did a good job describing both sides of the situation. This is unfortunate, but at the same time, we are happy. There are many people watching CPAC this evening. Since I started my speech, my Twitter account has blown up with hateful messages.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question. Yes, unfortunately a lot of people and organizations will exploit all this to achieve political gains and connect with a base they lost touch with early on, because everyone has had it up to here. We are all fed up, but one segment of the population likes to be more vocal about it than others.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I would like to correct him. The initial demand that sparked this protest had to do with the federal government's rule that truckers had to be vaccinated to cross the Canada-U.S. border. Since the beginning of the protest, I have not seen the federal government try to initiate a dialogue or even send a message to the protesters.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. That is basically what the Bloc Québécois has been proposing from the start: to create a crisis task force for stakeholders directly involved on the ground. Of course, we are open to the government discussing this with the opposition parties because we have some ideas.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to be here this evening. Let me start by saying that I will be sharing my time with the member for Saint-Jean. I thank the NDP for proposing this emergency debate. As I said earlier, it is high time we talked about the elephant in the room: the occupation of Ottawa.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, I thank the Prime Minister for being here this evening. We appreciate it. To be honest, we were looking forward to seeing him. We were wondering where he was. I realize he was affected by COVID‑19, so I am happy to see that he is well, but still, when there is a crisis, people expect a leader to be there, to send a strong, clear message.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for being here this evening. I appreciate it. When I ask questions in the House, he often tells me that my question falls under the jurisdiction of the City of Ottawa and that Ottawa police are in charge of the situation. He has sent in new RCMP officers, which we were pleased to hear.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his speech and for the motion he moved so we could discuss the matter this evening. It is about time we addressed this elephant in the room. When I ask my Liberal colleagues what their responsibility is in all this, I am told that it is not really a national concern and it does not really have anything to do with the federal government.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. No, unfortunately, I do not think the government did everything it could to help people get through the pandemic. That was kind of the point of my speech. There are blatantly obvious problems with the health care systems in Quebec and the provinces.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Mr. Speaker, indeed, the government is being rather half-hearted. We see the willingness and good intentions to invest in housing. My concern is that investment will focus on the large cities, where there seems to be a dire need for affordable housing and social housing, and the regions will be forgotten.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her comment. We are indeed pleased that the minister is acting in good faith and wants to move things forward. Unfortunately, all the investments of the past months have not meant much on the ground. In our riding offices right now, we are handling a lot of EI cases for constituents who, unfortunately, are not getting their money.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to take part in a debate in the House. I have been asked to give my opinion on the economic and fiscal update. I do not claim to be able to do it as well as my colleague from Joliette did last week, but there are still several elements I would like to address.