Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. It may be that seven out of 10 countries are run by constitutional monarchies, but that number is of no importance, in my opinion. It does not matter to me if the other seven out of 10 countries are right or wrong, nor does

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, the great journalist and pamphleteer Arthur Buies made the following forceful statement in 1869: “A republic is the government for men; a monarchy is the government for children”. A government for children indeed, or a system of governance that fully acknowledges

Business of Supply   recognized the value of the monarchy. Does the member see any irony there? It seems to me that when Bloc members feel it is to their advantage, the monarchy or the Governor General is a good thing. However, now when they seem to feel it is not, they are against the monarchy. What would

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, the topic of the monarchy relates to our identity as Quebeckers, but it does not reflect who we are and we want nothing to do with it. The member alluded to the fact that the monarchy represents stability. Can she tell me what catastrophe will befall us the day

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I think this is simply not the right time to have a debate about the monarchy. There are people in Quebec who are absolutely committed to it, as we can see from what is happening in the National Assembly. However, this is neither the right time nor the right way

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Hochelaga for her speech. As a proud democrat and a proud socialist, I do not mind talking about the monarchy, because I can settle the matter rather quickly and move on to another subject. In talking about other topics, she focused

Business of Supply   the value of maintaining the monarchy. I would be interested in that because, even when we are not particularly interested in a certain subject, which is fine, we should at the very least debate it. What I feel is that people just do not have the guts or the arguments to advocate

Business of Supply   of the monarchy. What people want is more housing, better health care, more food on their table, and a full fridge. We could be debating something other than the monarchy right now.

Business of Supply  , too difficult to face. Other people before us have met these challenges, and they met them successfully. We have seen examples around the globe of colonies cutting ties with monarchies. However, we are not there yet. The Bloc Québécois is using this opportunity today to propose

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, the NDP are now using the politicization of this issue to politicize its own issue of electoral reform. There is an irony in that. Just for the record, I am not saying that there are no good arguments. I am pretty much indifferent to the position of the monarchy

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, it is my turn to speak to the motion that was introduced by the Bloc Québécois today. I thought it was a bit funny last week, because when I found out that it was indeed an opposition day for the Bloc Québécois, I was sure that we would be talking about monarchy

Business of Supply   preferred that the Bloc Québécois members use their opposition day to discuss any current programs that they believe are not working. It is true that many people in Quebec are questioning the monarchy. Symbols can indeed be costly, but they also provide stability, and in today's world

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, the member for Kingston and the Islands just demonstrated that he is incapable of debating an issue that he seems to be passionate about. He seems to be a staunch defender of the monarchy. I would have liked to hear his arguments in favour of the monarchy instead

Business of Supply   is all a big deal, but by the way, how do we happen to feel about the monarchy? Is that something we are still good with?” No, I am sorry. I have not brought that question to their attention.

Business of Supply   communities, who have been clear that reconciliation involves decolonization and we should be looking at severing ties with the monarchy. I would encourage the member to actually talk with some folks, perhaps outside of his riding, who have some direct, very horrific experiences