Kristina Michaud

[Business of Supply, June 4th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I understand the motion's underlying intent. The rising cost of groceries is affecting everyone and causing a lot of headaches, but I wonder whether a price cap is feasible.

For example, how are we supposed to cap the price of bread when wheat prices are determined by the Chicago Board of Trade exchange? How can we cap the price of fresh vegetables when we know that soaring prices primarily reflect crop losses caused by floods and droughts resulting from climate change? I wonder how practical it is to force a produce farmer from California to sell his broccoli to Quebeckers and Canadians at a lower cost than he would charge Americans.

Can my colleague tell me how this would be done in practical terms?

[Climate Change, June 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, on one side of the border, we have Vermont, which is passing a law to force oil companies to pay for climate damage. On the other side of the border, we have the Liberals and the NPD, who again last week voted in favour of giving $30 billion in additional tax giveaways to those same oil companies.

While Vermont wants to force oil companies to pay for the damage they are causing, Canada is rewarding them. I thought that the Liberals and the so-called environmentalists in the NDP supported the polluter pays principle.

Why then, when it comes to oil companies, is it the “polluter paid” principle?

[Climate Change, June 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the cost of natural disasters is going up every year with climate change. The question becomes whether it is up to taxpayers to foot the entire bill or whether those who are largely responsible should be asked to pay a portion of it.

Vermont just adopted legislation to make the oil companies pay for climate change-related damages. Canada could take a page out of their book.

Since the oil companies are the primary greenhouse gas emitters and since they are making record profits from polluting, why not force them to pay for climate change adaptation measures?

[Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness Act, June 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak to this bill, which was introduced by a Liberal member.

It must be said that there has been a lot of water under the bridge since the bill was introduced in 2022, when it was clear that we needed to correct past mistakes and take the time to look at what had been done, what was done well and what was done poorly.

The Bloc Québécois's position was clear from the start. We called for a public, independent inquiry into the COVID‑19 pandemic in order to learn from our mistakes. Our position has not changed. That is why we have been opposed to this bill right from the start. I will reiterate why.

First, the bill seeks to create the pandemic prevention and preparedness act, which is essentially made up of three parts.

First, the bill establishes an advisory committee to review the response to the COVID‑19 pandemic, which is obviously very commendable. However, here again, we believe that an independent public inquiry would be a much better way of looking into this. What is more, an amendment was introduced that was negotiated among the parties. However, in the end, the government members and the members of the Conservative Party voted against the motion. That shows a lack of transparency on the part of the government and a certain amount of hypocrisy on the part of the Conservative Party, since the Conservatives had also been calling for an independent public inquiry.

The second part of this bill has to do with establishing a prevention plan. The third has to do with the appointment of a federal coordinator.

We have similar concerns regarding both of those parts. We are worried that the federal government will overstep its jurisdiction. As is the case with most private members' bills that are introduced here, we must ensure that the federal government focuses on its own prerogatives.

Obviously, the federal government had a very large role to play in the pandemic, but there were also roles that Quebec and the provinces had to play as well, because health comes under their jurisdiction.

There are also things that already exist, tools and guides available to the federal government, such as the document entitled “Canadian Pandemic Influenza Preparedness: Planning Guidance for the Health Sector”. This guide was published in 2004 and is supposed to be updated as various pandemics arise. It was approved by the federal, provincial and territorial deputy ministers. This seems to be an important existing tool. There are reams of reports, plans and recommendations by the various federal departments that can equip the government to respond to this type of situation.

In the circumstances, however, I would reiterate that the best thing as far as we are concerned—and as far as much of the population was concerned when they called for this near the end of the pandemic when we were starting to get back on our feet—would be to hold an independent public inquiry.

Why? It is very simple. As certain members have recalled here this morning, it was pretty devastating. It is perhaps the first major event in modern times that we can recall. The pandemic left over 6.5 million dead around the world, including more than 45,000 in Canada. There were numerous failures on the part of the federal government, particularly in terms of quarantines, border management, the national emergency strategic stockpile and the Global Public Health Information Network. Certain other measures could also be called into question, such as vaccine passports for the entire federally regulated transportation system, vaccine mandates for federal employees and the denial of access to EI.

These questions are a bit more delicate. One can be for or against, but I think they should be examined in a non-partisan manner, hence the value of an independent inquiry.

Lastly, throughout the pandemic, agreements were signed with pharmaceutical companies to enhance Canada's vaccine production capacity. This also should be reviewed. We should know how this was done and which contracts were awarded to which companies so that we will be better prepared in the future.

According to the Constitution Act, 1867, matters of quarantine are under federal jurisdiction. The federal government is responsible for quarantine issues. Everything else health-related is under provincial jurisdiction, except, for example, health care for indigenous Canadians, military hospitals and the approval of medications. In the case of COVID-19, the federal government was responsible for the quarantine system, and it failed dismally. I will get back to this later.

I mentioned the Global Public Health Intelligence Network. Most of us are familiar with it now. That may not have been the case prior to the pandemic. The network is an online early warning system that monitors media sources worldwide in nine languages in order to identify potential public health threats around the world. It identifies chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats to public health. In 2018, under the Liberals, the mandate of the global intelligence network was modified. In July 2020, thanks to an article in The Globe and Mail, we learned that the alerts had been stopped around 400 days before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was therefore this government that decided to stop the alerts that could have helped us prepare, but unfortunately did not.

The same applies to Canada's national emergency strategic stockpile, created in the 1950s during the Cold War. Its purpose is to store pharmaceutical products, supplies used by social services and during pandemics, medical equipment and supplies and so on. Since the Liberals came to power in 2015, they have neglected our emergency stockpile. Some personal protective equipment, such as N95 masks, was not only destroyed, but also not replaced. That had a considerable impact when the pandemic hit. They could have been more proactive. There is therefore a certain responsibility that lies with the federal government, a certain failure to take the necessary measures.

The same applies, as well, to border management and quarantine measures. As I said earlier, there was a point during the pandemic when the City of Montreal itself had to send staff members to the Montreal airport to ensure quarantine rules were being respected. During this time, the government was waiting and pondering the concept of borders, wondering whether that was acceptable in a postnational state, rather than protecting Canadians. The people and government of Quebec said that borders needed to be closed to non-essential travel, since that would have an impact on our constituents' health and safety. The federal government took its time.

The Auditor General produced a few reports with recommendations and harshly criticized the federal government for the way it handled quarantines. In her 2021 report, she said that the federal government was unable to tell whether 37% of people had complied with their quarantine orders or not. Fully 30% of test results were missing at the border. The federal government had no automated system to track whether people who had to quarantine in a hotel had done so or not. Priority follow-up was not provided for 59% of people who needed it, despite the referrals of such travellers to law enforcement. In addition, 14% of people who tested positive for COVID‑19 were not contacted by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The government really messed up in that respect.

There were clearly official-languages concerns. Virtually every time a notification was sent out, it was in English, not French. People found it difficult to access services in French. The same thing happened with ArriveCAN. We have talked about it ad nauseam. It is clearly worth studying the whole issue of the use and creation of ArriveCAN, much like the issue of temporary workers and vaccine production capacity. In short, all this needs to be reviewed in an independent public inquiry. That is what we have been calling for all along.

Of course, this is unlikely to be the last time we will be faced with a pandemic, unfortunately. I think it is fair to say that it is likely to happen again in the next few years. The world and its ecosystem are changing, and I think the federal government has a duty to protect the safety of Canadians and our health. That is where the need for an independent public inquiry comes in.

[Privilege, May 28th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I have a lot of respect for my colleague, but during the events surrounding the Speaker last December, the NDP House leader said that he had confidence in the Speaker, but that a line had been drawn and it must not be crossed. We can all see that that line has been crossed several times since then. Today, the NDP is telling us that it still has confidence in the Speaker.

As the Liberal Party's farm team, how many feet is the New Democratic Party prepared to move its own line?

[Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act, May 27th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I was saying that the Bloc Québécois studied this bill in good faith. The same can be said for a lot of Canadians and organizations that made serious, carefully considered and reasonable recommendations.

Unfortunately, the Liberals rejected all of the improvements proposed by environmental groups, energy experts and lawyers specializing in environmental governance. At the end of the day, the government decided against implementing any real environmental assessment process for future energy projects.

I know that New Democrats want to do more to fight climate change. They want the energy transition to move in the right direction. Does my colleague agree that new projects should not be subject to any environmental assessments?

[Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act, May 27th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, robust, effective and transparent environmental impact assessments should be conducted for every offshore renewable energy project. Unfortunately, what we are seeing is that the Minister of Natural Resources and the Minister of Environment are refusing to include these types of environmental assessments in this bill.

For us, it is quite simple. We cannot support such a bill.

[Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act, May 27th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for the opportunity to continue with my remarks.

We also recommended that the government provide funding for research and technology transfer projects to develop and test both mechanical measures, like underwater buoys, reduced breaking-strength ropes and other operations, and IT measures such as electronic buoys, triangulation, and the tracking of individual whales by ships or radio tags in order to prevent and reduce the impact of fishing on the movement of marine mammals.

This recommendation comes from the industry. It comes from the fishers themselves, who say they are ready to make the effort. They want to protect marine biodiversity too. When we talk about it, we can really see that they care more than anyone about conserving biodiversity and protecting the ocean floor. Owner-operators in the Gaspé, for example, always prioritize sustainable fisheries over big industries that simply scrape the ocean bed and endanger other species. Fishers say they are ready to do more, but they need a little help from the government.

Yes, it is a good idea to invest in research. I encourage the government to do that. Otherwise, the government can send departmental administrators and marine biology researchers to the maritime regions of Quebec and Canada to analyze and make recommendations on conserving marine biodiversity. That recommendation is evidently related to the fact that people in the Gaspé always say they feel very far removed from Ottawa and its towers full of public servants. We get the impression that they do not understand the environment in which we live. We invite them to come directly to our maritime regions to see how much energy coastal communities have. I think it could have a very positive impact.

Madam Speaker, I have other recommendations, but I do not want to take up too much of your time.

[Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act, May 27th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, it is quite simple, really. As I said at the beginning of my speech earlier, the Bloc Québécois worked in good faith when studying this bill. It brought forward a number of amendments. It proposed several changes to the bill. Unfortunately, the Liberal government rejected them all. Consequently, we feel that the bill, as it currently stands, is unacceptable from an energy transition perspective. We want to put an end to oil and gas development. It is quite simple. This is in line with our values of defending and doing more to fight climate change.

In our view, this bill does not go in that direction, unfortunately.

[Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act, May 27th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Beauport—Limoilou.

I am very pleased to be here this evening to once again debate Bill C‑49. I already spoke to this debate during another stage of the legislative process. We have come to the end of the process in the House. It should be said that the Bloc Québécois has acted in good faith from the start. It has contributed to the debate. In any case, it tried to contribute to improving the bill, but its efforts were not fruitful.

As a reminder, Bill C‑49 seeks to modernize the administrative regime and management of the marine energy industry in eastern Canada. This mainly concerns oil and gas development, which the Bloc Québécois regularly denounces, but also future activities related to the renewable energy sector, namely, offshore wind power off the east coast of Canada.

As I was saying, we were in favour of the principle of the bill, provided that marine biodiversity conservation requirements were met. We therefore supported the part concerning the development of renewable energy in eastern Canada. We were also in favour of tightening the rules around oil and gas development, although in my humble opinion, oil and gas development should no longer exist. From an energy transition perspective, the offshore, non-renewable energy sector needs to decrease, and decrease fast.

It is quite simple for the Bloc Québécois. We believe that no new offshore oil and gas exploration or development projects should be approved, regardless of any specific conditions that might accompany them. That is the approach that Quebec has chosen to take, and we believe that the other maritime provinces should follow suit. The Quebec nation has put a definitive end to oil and gas exploration and development in its jurisdiction, notably by passing an act that puts an end to both those activities and an end to public funding for them as well. This is not the first time I have said this in the House: Quebec was the first government in North America to ban oil and gas exploration and development in its jurisdiction. We obviously think that Canada should follow Quebec's example; however, it is still failing in its duty to protect marine ecosystems by authorizing dozens of new drilling projects in ecologically sensitive areas, particularly drilling inside marine refuges. We know that offshore drilling can and does threaten marine life.

Despite its commitments to marine conservation, the Liberal government continues to promote offshore oil development and authorize drilling that it knows could harm marine biodiversity. This government has a double standard when it comes to protecting marine biodiversity. There is one vision for oil and gas development and a completely different vision for the fishing industry, for example. Just last week, when a right whale was spotted off the north coast of New Brunswick, Fisheries and Oceans Canada immediately announced the closure of lobster fishing areas to Acadian lobster fishers. Understandably, this sparked complaints from lobster fishers. They threatened to demand the resignation of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard. They also decided to defy the department's decision by leaving their traps where they were in the water, against Fisheries and Oceans Canada's instructions. Once the government realized what was happening, the Minister of Fisheries called an emergency meeting with the lobster fishers. Afterwards, she gave a statement that I will read, considering its bearing on our context.

Following the sighting of a North Atlantic right whale in shallow waters off the northeast coast of New Brunswick last week, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) instituted a 15-day temporary fishing area closure in Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 23 C. This decision was based on DFO's sighting data at the time, and in consideration of our international commitments towards marine mammal protection, which are in place to ensure Canada's world-class seafood products continue to be recognized as sustainable and export markets remain available.

Since the initial sighting, DFO has reviewed various data sources to determine the whale was in slightly deeper waters than previously thought. With this new information, I am pleased to see DFO has adjusted the closure requirements and harvesters can now set their traps up to the 10 fathom shallow water protocol management line for the remainder of the 15-day period.

I have asked DFO to convene a meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee on North Atlantic Right Whales which includes representatives of the industry and whale experts to review the existing protocol.

That decision just created an interesting precedent, because this is not the first time that right whales have been seen in the gulf or that their presence has had an impact on fishers. Usually, the result is that fishing areas are closed. However, this time, the minister appears to have backed down. Perhaps she heard the rumours that lobster fishers in New Brunswick were going to call for her resignation. Perhaps DFO made a mistake in its study and did not see the whale at the depth it thought it did. That raises questions about the process that is in place when a whale passes through fishing areas.

Members of the Bloc Québécois are forward-looking. We thought about this issue well before last week. In 2022, we organized a round table on marine biodiversity and another one on fisheries and the right whale. We also made recommendations to the government. We consulted fishers, fishing industry representatives, scientists and experts like Lyne Morissette to get their recommendations. We decided to create a document setting out those recommendations and hand it to the government on a silver platter. The Liberals could do what they wanted with it, but these are worthwhile recommendations that actually come from the industry. When I see that the Minister of Fisheries is currently calling an advisory committee meeting to discuss this subject, I thought that it would be a good idea to bring up the recommendations that we made in 2022, because they are still relevant. I am going to read them.

With respect to the first proposal, my colleagues will recognize our hand in this. We asked:

That the Government of Canada abandon all offshore oil and gas exploration and development effective immediately, both in the North Atlantic and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and halt any such operations that are in progress or that have been announced.

This relates back to what I was saying earlier. The second recommendation is as follows:

That the government authorize a pilot project for the snow crab fishery to open on April 1 each year, on the understanding that, given the abundance of this resource and the certainty of meeting quotas, this measure will reduce the amount of time during which the fishery and whales in transit use the same space north of the Magdalen Islands on their way to the feeding grounds at the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula [and that icebreaking operations to open harbours in New Brunswick be studied];

I will mention it anyway, although I know that improvements have been made in this regard. The crab fishery on the Gaspé Peninsula, at Matane, opened at the end of March this year. I know that icebreaking operations took place in New Brunswick. At the same time, there was not a lot of ice in the gulf or on the St. Lawrence this year. We also have to adjust to the new climate reality.

The third recommendation is the following:

That the government reduce the closure period for marine sectors (quadrants) during the transit passage of right whales to the north of the Magdalene Islands, given that it has been established that the duration of the whale's presence there is roughly 24 hours and that the closure is two weeks, and that the mandatory removal of fishing gear within 48 hours be reassessed since it poses more of an increased risk of disruption than a reduction in the risk of entanglements;

That is entirely true. Often, when the DFO tells fishers to remove their fishing gear, the whale has already gone by, but for two weeks, the fishers cannot continue to fish even though the whale is already gone. There is this whole question of timing that needs to be respected in this case.

Unfortunately, I see that my time is up. We made other proposals in 2022 and they are still relevant. I will be sure to forward them to the Department of Fisheries for inspiration.