Poverty  Mr. Speaker, in the last budget, the Liberals noted that the NDP, the Assembly of First Nations, the Breakfast Club of Canada and many other organizations have been calling for a national school food program. Given that one child in five is living in poverty, that is crucial. U

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, this is National Public Service Week, but many public servants do not feel like celebrating. Céline, a public servant who lives in my riding, told me that, because of the Liberals' and the Conservatives' Phoenix pay system fiasco, she has been owed over $18,000 for

Seniors  Mr. Speaker, yet my seniors' committee has told me how many of them struggle to pay for their medications and their rent. We should be working on making life more affordable for them. Instead, the Liberals are giving millions of dollars to big businesses because of loopholes. Lis

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, in 2015, the Prime Minister asked us to show some compassion and generosity and welcome Syrian families. We would like him to show the same compassion for Nour Mohammad, a 22-year-old Syrian woman who is stranded alone in Libya, far away from her eight brothers and s

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, I have asked our self-proclaimed feminist Prime Minister many times to reform his sexist EI program. This program is failing far too many workers, and especially women workers. Fifty percent of men are eligible for benefits, but just 35.2% of women, many of them moth

Poverty  Madam Speaker, I am pleased that the parliamentary secretary took the time this evening to point out that there are still 1.4 million children living in poverty in Canada. Tonight, I am more specifically concerned about poverty among seniors because they write to me every week.

Poverty  Madam Speaker, too many Canadians are suffering because of our government's lack of initiative to eradicate poverty. The measures in the Liberals' proposed bill are insufficient and do not go far enough. A thousand organizations and citizens from across the country are saying thi

Budget Implementation Act, 2019, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, despite what my colleague said about access to housing, I will still be voting against this bill. I hosted a luncheon in Saint-Hyacinthe on the topic and I learned that there are now over 200 families on the waiting list for low-income housing there. Seniors in the

Labour  Mr. Speaker, the government still has no plan to deal with the labour shortage in rural areas like mine, despite the disastrous consequences for many businesses. Everyone agrees that immigration is one solution, but it is a long process. I asked the Minister of Immigration, Refug

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, the IPCC report was clear: we must act now to deal with the climate emergency. The NDP has an ambitious plan to deal with this emergency. The plan is focused on the jobs that support our workers and their families by providing training, helping them go back to scho

Poverty  Mr. Speaker, I am happy to hear my colleague say that even one poor person is one too many. We need to continue to fight poverty. I talked about some organizations in my riding. It is on their behalf that I will continue the fight and never give up. It would be nice to hear gov

Poverty  Mr. Speaker, I recently asked the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development why, in a country as rich as ours, 1.4 million children are still living in poverty, and more than a third of them rely on food banks. These statistics are alarming and unacceptable. In its 2

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker—

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I am trying to speak, but the member is yelling over me.

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech, which was mainly a testimonial. After I was elected as a city councillor, it likely came as no surprise to anyone when I was appointed as the person responsible for accessibility in the municipality, given my experience working w