Proceedings of the House and Committees  Mr. Speaker, one thing is for sure: I do not support the fact that the Conservatives are also going to dip into the Canada emergency wage subsidy in order to try and wipe away their supposed financial problems, when they are as rich as Croesus. I might even say that Croesus was poor compared to the Conservatives.

Proceedings of the House and Committees  Mr. Speaker, Quebec is a distinct society. Even staunch federalist Robert Bourassa said so and championed the cause with other Canadians. Among other things, “distinct society” means that most of us speak French. It is the only official language of Quebec. Our culture is different.

Government Response to Petitions  Mr. Speaker, they had plenty of time to stand up. I do not know what happened. Maybe they were on sick leave? In any case, it hardly matters. They did not stand, so I think the decision should be easy to make.

Government Programs  Mr. Speaker, the Liberals raised almost $3 million in the first few months of 2020, while the Conservatives raised $4 million. They are rolling in cash. They can pay their staff, but they are asking families to chip in and pay them. Why? It is partisanship. They are asking Quebeckers who lost their jobs to pay party staff because they do not want to dip into their election funds.

Proceedings of the House and Committees  Madam Speaker, we agreed ahead of time that the $73-billion wage subsidy program would be for SMEs, to help their employees keep their jobs. That is the mandate we collectively gave ourselves, so that these SMEs, which are enduring unbelievable hardship, could survive the crisis without going bankrupt.

Proceedings of the House and Committees  Madam Speaker, the $73-billion wage subsidy was negotiated about a month ago. I was surprised that the Conservatives were on board with that. Typically, when it comes to public finances, they are very careful and quite sanctimonious. However, they agreed to the $73-billion wage subsidy for workers.

Proceedings of the House and Committees  Madam Speaker, on April 20, we discussed the $73-billion wage subsidy. The program is so big that even the two richest parties in Canada used it. Imagine that. In a motion that we negotiated with the government, we said that we wanted a program to help people and businesses through the crisis by subsidizing fixed costs.

Proceedings of the House and Committees  Madam Speaker, the government's motion was a proposal and, like every proposal, it is subject to negotiation. We have often negotiated with the government, as we did on April 29 when we created the Canada emergency student benefit, the CESB. During the negotiations, the Bloc Québécois was of the opinion that a student who works more hours must automatically earn more money, no matter the circumstances.

Canadian Dairy Commission Act  Mr. Speaker, the money was never spent. When he says that, he is mistaken. The $4 billion was never spent. My father always used to tell me to study history to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Looking at that party's history, I can say that, most of the time, they did not walk the talk.

Canadian Dairy Commission Act  Mr. Speaker, when I was teaching at CEGEP and at the university, I would explain to my students that market globalization meant that some sectors were protect by governments because they were important sectors for a society like ours. I always gave the example of agriculture, since it is important to ensure that a country can feed its people itself so as not to be held hostage, as we saw recently with health equipment.

Canadian Dairy Commission Act  Mr. Speaker, French is the official language of Quebec. I will always speak French. If the member does not like that, it is not my problem. The member is upset because I am not speaking English, but in Quebec, the official language is French. That is why I will always address the House in French.

Canadian Dairy Commission Act  Mr. Speaker, the member can ask any farmer if they would rather get a cheque from the government or conduct operations on the ground and grow their business, and his questions will be answered. I am not done, and I have more to say. The $4 billion the previous government promised was not enough.

Canadian Dairy Commission Act  Mr. Speaker, in the history of Canada, the enactment of the British North America Act of 1867, which became the Constitution, has led to many problems. My colleague speaks of agricultural problems and the fact that the Constitution does not properly address Quebec's realities. It is not surprising.

Canadian Dairy Commission Act  What they did in 2015 is a bit embarrassing. Those whom we might describe as destroyers of the Quebec health care system are here and, from what I understand, they did not see fit to do better than what the others proposed. I understand why the member for Louis-Saint-Laurent rose.

Canadian Dairy Commission Act  Mr. Speaker, I have a question. In the second round of 20 minutes or 10 minutes that we will have later, will we also be required to talk about agriculture?