Business of the House  Mr. Speaker, I grew up in Fermont, and I got viral meningitis when I was six years old. Since there is no hospital in Fermont, I had to wait for an air ambulance to be available to be urgently transferred, so I know what it means to have to wait when your life is in danger becaus

Business of the House  Yes, Mr. Speaker, it is important to talk about protecting health care services and all the other issues my colleague raised, because they are important in relation to health too. Being underhoused or undernourished, belonging to a financially vulnerable household, these things

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, frankly I do not even know where to begin. I was listening to my colleagues and I could see a lot of motivation on their part. Nevertheless, this is not the first war we are getting involved in. We know the consequences of getting involved in a war and the consequ

Cartier‑Brébeuf Park  Mr. Speaker, Cartier‑Brébeuf Park is in my riding. This park is where Jacques Cartier docked his caravel for his first winter and where he had contact with Donnacona and his community. Therefore, it is a national historic site symbolizing the dialogue between francophones and fir

Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  Madam Speaker, the United States and Australia have much harsher mandatory minimum sentences for drug trafficking than Canada does. However, we have not seen any major differences in drug use on the ground. What we have seen is—

Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  Madam Speaker, minimum sentences for drug trafficking are much harsher in the United States and Australia than they are here in Canada. Despite that, there is no on-the-ground evidence of reduced consumption. What we are seeing is more small-scale dealers in prisons. These are n

Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  Madam Speaker, doing away with mandatory minimum penalties is a good first step, particularly when it comes to the possession of drugs. As to firearms, we still need to discuss what should be done. It is a good first step, but it is not enough, because it will not fully put an e

Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  Madam Speaker, actual research has shown that mandatory minimum penalties are not always useful. We all agree on that. We will talk about firearms later. That being said, I want to return to the matter of prevention. There are reasons why young people turn to crime. We need to b

Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  Madam Speaker, allowing judges and police officers to make decisions is important, because they are the ones who are very familiar with the subjects and the people. Earlier I heard a colleague say that they were going to abolish all sentences. That is not at all true. As I under

Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  Madam Speaker, a very long time ago, a man named Thomas More wrote a book called Utopia. In the book, he basically says that a society's customs and habits can end up supporting crime. Here is my question today. In some cases, is our society not supporting crime by failing to in

Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  Madam Speaker, I agree with my colleague's comments about providing funding for support and rehabilitation. This could be accomplished in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada through a health transfer for support and social programs. The government could do both. It could eliminate ma

125th Anniversary of Le Soleil  Mr. Speaker, the newspaper L'Électeur was founded in 1880. Wilfrid Laurier was a frequent contributor. One of his articles even resulted in the newspaper being banned by five bishops for promoting the study of living languages and the scientific method. It was this ban that led

Personal Protective Equipment  Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties, and if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That the administration of the House and the federal government take steps to ensure that, as of January 31, 2022, the masks distri

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, when we want to move forward as a society, it is important to take stock of what we have and where we want to go. The Speech from the Throne goes some way toward that, which is a good thing. However, there are major gaps. Take seniors, for example. They are curren

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I want to pick up on something my colleague talked about at the beginning of his speech, namely social housing. There is a desperate shortage of housing that is not only affordable, but also economically viable for most families. We talk about affordability meaning