Pascale St-Onge

[Finance, October 3rd, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, obviously, every dollar invested must be spent conscientiously and responsibly. We will make the appropriate checks.

[Canadian Heritage, September 29th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, our government is proud to support our creators all over the country. They are among the best in the world. They are sharing our Canadian stories, and it is really important that we keep on supporting them.

This is why we brought forward Bill C-11. Through this new bill, we are going to bring in new revenue so that we could better support our creators in Canada.

[Indigenous Affairs, September 29th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, listening to and amplifying indigenous voices is one way to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to attend the premier of Bones of Crows. This series, which was created by Marie Clements and features indigenous actors, tells the terrible history of residential schools in Canada. It also highlights the valuable contributions that the Cree and members of various first nations made to our common history.

Thanks to this partnership between the APTN and CBC/Radio-Canada, the voices of first nations will be heard so that, together, we can honour the truth and create healing spaces.

[Natural Resources, September 28th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, like our colleague, our government is obviously concerned about the future of the planet. That is why we have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by more than 62 megatonnes since 2019. That is like taking 11 million cars off the road.

Obviously, we know we need to keep doing more to fight climate change. That is what we are going to do.

[Carbon Pricing, September 28th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, what Quebeckers know is that, in 2023, it makes no sense for a party that hopes to govern this country to have absolutely no plan for combatting climate change.

The only solution the Conservatives have to offer, day in and day out, is to cut programs that help families make ends meet and to make polluting free, when we have just had the worst forest fire season ever.

It is irresponsible and it is a choice we would never make. It is risky to put the future of the country in the Conservatives' hands.

[Carbon Pricing, September 21st, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, [technical difficulty] on climate has put us behind in the fight against climate change. In any case, the Bloc Québécois was unable to stop them from gutting the environmental regulations.

What Quebeckers know is that the cost of climate change and its consequences, with the storms and forest fires that we have had, is much higher than the price on pollution. Making the right to pollute free again would be a serious mistake for future generations.

[Climate Change, September 21st, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, the truth is that the Government of Canada has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 62 megatonnes since 2019. That is one-quarter of the target we set for 2030.

Yes, we still have a long way to go. We still have work to do. We will do that work in partnership with Quebec, with the provinces, and with the territories. We will achieve our objectives because we are determined to secure a better future for our children.

[Canadian Heritage, September 20th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, we are actively in touch with the organization about its ongoing financial struggles. Recovering from the pandemic remains a challenge for performing arts organizations, which is why we took extraordinary measures to support them during the pandemic. We continue to support arts organizations through a range of programs, and we will work with the organization to see how our programs could support it.

[Carbon Pricing, September 20th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, what Quebeckers understand is the cost of the environmental crisis. After all the forest fires and floods we saw all summer, and now with the hurricane season, what Quebeckers understand is that pollution can no longer be free in this country. They want the government to keep taking action for future generations. We will keep going. It is a shame that the Conservative Party has no plan to fight climate change.

[Hon. Monique Bégin, September 18th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, today we pay tribute to the tremendous contributions of a woman who helped blaze a trail for all the other women who followed her into the House of Commons, none other than the Hon. Monique Bégin. Her deeply Liberal values of feminism, social justice and equity guided her career and her vast political achievements, which have shaped modern-day Canada.

We begin with a look back at her early days in politics.

In 1968, only one woman was elected to the House of Commons. In 1972, Monique Bégin courageously became one the first three women members of Parliament from Quebec.

My friend and colleague, the hon. member for Parliament for Toronto—St. Paul's, said it best in the piece she wrote in the Star, “she had titanium in her spine.”

When she entered the House of Commons for the first time back then, a guard stopped her at the entrance along with another woman MP. It never crossed his mind that women could be members of Parliament. Thanks to her, my fellow women MPs and I pass through the door today without any problem.

A huge piece of her Canadian identity and pride came from her work as health minister. The principles of our universal health care system were made real in the Canada Health Act, which she brought forward.

Before that, many Canadians could not get the care they needed simply because they could not afford it.

Now our health care system is built on the promise that, no matter where they live or how much money they earn, everyone is entitled to receive the health care they need. What made her the proudest of all was the adoption of the child tax credit, which paved the way for the current Canada child benefit. That policy is still helping families make ends meet.

She was a formidable minister of national health and welfare, as well as national revenue in the Liberal government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Her politics were led by her fierce feminism.

Before being elected as executive secretary to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, Monique Bégin helped bring 167 courageous recommendations on reducing gender inequality. The policies that she introduced later in Parliament were inevitably based on her commitment to improving women's lives in Canada. A true feminist pioneer and trailblazer.

Monique Bégin embodied the best that the Canadian government has to offer: a country where legislation and programs seek to create greater fairness and more opportunities for everyone, regardless of gender, background, beliefs or economic status; a place where the Canadian government is doing positive things, building a better future for the generations to come and strengthening the democratic institutions put in place by those who came before us; a country that fundamentally believes that women and men are equal.

At a time in our history when some are questioning the role of the state, Monique Bégin's legacy reminds us that the government is forged first and foremost by the hopes carried by everyone in this place and that, if we can dream of justice, equity, sharing and empathy, we have the capacity to make them a reality.

To her loved ones, we offer our deepest condolences and our thanks for sharing her with Canada and with Parliament.