Poverty Reduction Act  Mr. Speaker, one day, I will be pleased to be part of the government and to hear my colleague tell me what I am not doing to reduce poverty. My colleague talked about EI reform, but the government needs to invest in the EI fund. The government has not put a cent into the EI fund

Poverty Reduction Act  Mr. Speaker, I share the same concerns as my colleague. I have a short anecdote that speaks volumes. This summer, I attended a golf tournament dinner for a foundation that helps raise money for a palliative care home in Saint-Hyacinthe. One of the two co-chairs of the fundraiser

Poverty Reduction Act  Mr. Speaker, a national housing strategy is essential. However, communities like Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot feel that, yet again, this strategy is not really meant to help them. In Saint-Hyacinthe, there are still 200 households on the waiting list for affordable housing. Seniors li

Poverty Reduction Act  Mr. Speaker, the organizations fighting against poverty have been clear. Doing nothing to eliminate poverty costs more than taking action. When I introduced Bill C-245, I held consultations in the riding of Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot. It was the business community there that told me

Poverty Reduction Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak to a topic I am very familiar with. For the second time in this Parliament, a bill to reduce poverty has been introduced in the House. I congratulate and thank my colleague, the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, for

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, petitioners are asking the government to commit to acknowledging eye health and vision care as a growing public health issue. They are also asking the government to respond to this problem, particularly for Canada's most vulnerable, that is, children, seniors suffer

International Trade  Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have just caved in to President Trump again. NAFTA 2.0 includes a clause that gives the United States oversight of our supply management system. Give me a break. By sacrificing dairy producers, the Liberals are sacrificing our food sovereignty. Do they

Poverty Reduction Act  Mr. Speaker, one in six Canadians lives in poverty. That is 5.8 million Canadians. When I consulted people in my riding prior to introducing my poverty reduction bill, business people told me that this statistic is not helping our economic development. Groups made it clear that i

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, let me tell you about one of my constituents. She is going through the same thing that thousands of our constituents across the country, in our 338 ridings, are going through. I commend her on her courage and determination to change this unfair legislation. Mélanie

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, once again the government is not keeping its promises regarding EI sickness benefits, which are are currently limited to 15 weeks. The Prime Minister himself told Houda El Kherchi in the presence of Patrice Roy on Téléjournal that he was working on this file. That w

Telecommunications  Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have no strategy to bridge the digital divide, none. Those are not my words; they are the Auditor General's. He says that the Liberals' failure to plan for rural and remote regions is depriving people in those regions of the high-speed Internet access th

Pharmacare  Mr. Speaker, last week's economic update clearly demonstrates this government's priorities. It offers tax credits to large corporations while, every year, nearly 1 million Canadians struggle to pay for their prescription drugs, which are costing more and more. This is unacceptabl

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by a number of petitioners calling on the Government of Canada to maintain supply management in its entirety. Dairy production is an essential economic driver in the riding of Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot and in all of Quebec. The industry generates

Child Care  Mr. Speaker, today is Universal Children's Day, but it is impossible to celebrate when 1.4 million of our children, 200,000 more than before, are living in poverty in Canada. It is not enough to write a cheque and claim that the problem has been fixed. We need affordable day care

Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities  Madam Speaker, people driving along Casavant Boulevard in Saint-Hyacinthe will see school buses parked near the Viandes Lacroix plant. This might seem odd, but it is not. On the contrary, it is a symbol of Quebec's labour shortage. The Saint-Hyacinthe family business was forced t