Bernard Généreux
Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, Quebec · Conservative · Canada
“Mr. Speaker, last week, along with my colleagues, I had the privilege of meeting with some of the largest companies in my riding. They all told me the same thing: they are feeling the impact of the U.S. tariffs, economic uncertainty, the current recession and labour shortages.”
“Mr. Speaker, Canada is the only G7 country in a recession. Yesterday, my colleague on the other side responded by trying to convince us that their approach is working.”
“Mr. Speaker, Canada is the only G7 country in a recession. The Liberal recession is not just a graph. It is parents standing silently in front of an empty fridge when the children ask what is for dinner. It is watching children go to school on an empty stomach when our food banks can no longer provide.”
“The Quebec public is sovereign when it comes to its cultural choices. Furthermore, by imposing a 15% tax, Canada is totally shooting itself in the foot. Our country is becoming one of the most expensive and least competitive countries in the world for investment. What message are we sending to investors?”
“Web giants will not absorb the cost; our own consumers will have to shell out. Once again, the middle class will get hit. I am talking about families in Saint-Pacôme, La Pocatière and the 73 other municipalities in my riding whose bills will go up yet again. Who else will get hit?”
“If Canada becomes hostile and unpredictable, these companies will simply go film their series and produce their projects somewhere else. Quebec cultural workers will lose good-paying jobs. The way to protect the francophone minority is not by putting our own people out of work.”
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“He said that the Liberals would lower food prices by working with the big chains. The result is that prices have risen by 6.4% since then. I can say that the reality of the Liberals' record and their misleading promises is only getting worse, as unnecessary spending is piling up. Billions of dollars have been spent on private consultants and the bureaucracy is growing. Again, the Liberals are promising to cut spending in Ottawa by 15%. That is what the Minister of Finance has asked all his ministers to do. Yesterday, I attended a meeting of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage with officials from Canadian Heritage. The department's budget is $2 billion and I told them that 15% of $2 billion is $300 million. They agreed. Okay, but where are they going to make cuts to save 15%? We are keen to see whether that will come to fruition.”
“Obviously, they have been around for a long time, but they should not have to exist, because people should not need to rely on them. According to Statistics Canada, Canadians who earn less than $75,000 a year are now spending 57% of their income solely on basic necessities such as food, housing and transportation. In addition, 43% of Canadians have to spend more than 30% of their income on housing alone. When we also consider the tax hikes, the 4.2% increase in mortgage interest rates and the 4.5% increase in rent, it is easy to see why so many families are knocking on food bank doors. In 2023, the Liberals promised to obtain meaningful commitments from five major food retailers to stabilize prices. The member for Saint-Maurice—Champlain , who is now the Minister of Finance, was bragging about it in the House.”
“That is the reality in our regions. I could go on. This is the direct consequence of Liberal inflation. The Liberals have been in power for nearly 11 years. We had consecutive deficits for 11 years in Canada. This created inflation, which has not stopped rising, and, this morning, the Parliamentary Budget Officer told us that the deficit will be at least $65 billion. That is double the amount forecast by the former finance minister, who ultimately did not want to table her budget because it ran too high of a deficit. Things are going from bad to worse. I would like to highlight the work of Maison la Frontière in Montmagny and Bouffe Pop in Rivière-du-Loup. These organizations provide food assistance in the area that I represent. There are also some in Témiscouata. In reality, these organizations should not even exist.”
“The organization also said that food aid in Kamouraska is distributed once a month, and that they have had to come up with alternative solutions, such as community fridges, vegetable boxes and food baskets at a low fixed cost, so that people can cover their basic needs between distributions. (1345) The creativity of community organizations is a testament to their dedication, and we must sincerely thank them for all the work they do. However, let us be clear, it is not normal for working families to have to wait four weeks to get a grocery hamper or to have to use a community fridge to survive. Again this fall, when school started, Moisson Kamouraska saw an increase in demand both by students and families. Parents who were unable to cover back-to-school costs were forced to use food aid so that their children could have enough to eat.”
“Of those people, 27.8% are children. More than 18,600 meals and snacks were served. I want to highlight a disturbing fact that the director pointed out to me: 34.2% of the people helped by Moisson Kamouraska have jobs. These are people who sometimes work full time but can no longer afford to pay for their groceries. By comparison, only 30% are on social assistance. This means that the middle class has become the main clientele of food banks. The government has been boasting for years that it is helping the middle class, yet today, there are more middle-class people than people on social assistance using food banks. According to what the director of Moisson Kamouraska told me, right now, the vast majority of clients are not people on social assistance; rather, they are middle-class workers and families who can no longer make ends meet.”
“At the national level, Food Bank Canada gave the Liberal government a terrible grade on its report card on poverty and food insecurity. I would like to talk about how this debate relates to my constituency, Côte-du-Sud-Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata. Moisson Kamouraska is on the front lines of the fight against food insecurity in our region. It serves thousands of people in the surrounding regional county municipalities, namely Montmagny, L'Islet, Kamouraska, Rivière-du-Loup, Témiscouata and Les Basques. The only RCM from that list that is not in my constituency is Les Basques. My riding has five RCMs and 75 municipalities. That represents a large number of people and municipalities, and the figures are alarming. In 2024 alone, Moisson Kamouraska responded to 8,977 requests for food assistance, impacting more than 9,000 people.”
“That may seem innocuous, but it is 70% higher than the Bank of Canada's inflation target and nearly 80% higher than overall inflation. When we get into the details, it is even more shocking. Beef is up 12.7%. The overall price of meat is up 7.2%. It is a good thing I do not drink coffee, because the price of coffee is up 27.8%. Infant formula, which I do not drink either, is up 6.6%. Even the price of soup, a commodity, is up 5.3%. These are not luxuries; these are foods that families eat every day and every week. As a result, nearly one quarter of Canadians and 5.5% of households are now food insecure. That is the highest number ever recorded. In Toronto, for example, the Daily Bread Food Bank now welcomes over four million people a year, twice as many as it did just two years ago. Imagine. The number of users has doubled in two years.”
“Mr. Speaker, this is my first time rising in the House this fall. Unfortunately, in the spring, I did not have the opportunity to thank my constituents, who re-elected me on April 28 with a very clear majority. I am extremely proud to represent them and to be here in the House of Commons for them. I thank them for their trust. Food inflation has become one of the most painful realities for families in Canada and Quebec. Canadians themselves say that they do not see the Liberals' failure in economic stats; they see it when they go to the grocery store. The Liberal Prime Minister himself said that Canadians should judge his government by prices at the grocery store. Well, Canadians have judged, and they are still judging, and they have clearly given the Liberals a failing grade. In August, food inflation rose 3.4% compared to last year.”
“Mr. Speaker, the Liberals promised to protect Canadians, but instead they are weakening our laws, paving the way for repeat offenders and blocking meaningful solutions proposed by the opposition. Our motion today is very clear: Three serious offences and game over. No bail, no house arrest, no probation. They get 10 years behind bars to protect Canadian families. When will this government finally protect and prioritize Canadians and support the Conservative's “three strikes” law?”
“Mr. Speaker, for 10 years, the Liberals have been pursing soft-on-crime policies with lenient sentences and a catch-and-release approach that puts dangerous repeat offenders back on our streets, often within hours of being arrested. As a result, violent crime has increased by 55%, while dangerous repeat offenders roam our streets freely instead of serving their sentences behind bars. Why does this Liberal Prime Minister continue to protect violent criminals instead of protecting Canadians?”
“Popote roulante des Aulnaies has been serving the community for 30 years, as has Tandem-Jeunesse and Symposium de peinture du Kamouraska. These are real cultural and social pillars. Finally, Projektion 16‑35 is celebrating 40 years of supporting young adults. I want to thank all of these organizations, volunteers and partners for their dedication and congratulate them on these anniversaries, which are a testament to the lasting impact they are making on our communities.”
“Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to proudly recognize several organizations in my riding that are celebrating important anniversaries and that, each in their own way, contribute to the vitality of our communities. Cercle de fermières de Kamouraska is celebrating its 70th anniversary of sharing knowledge and solidarity. Club des 50 ans et plus de Squatec is celebrating its 50th anniversary, as is Magny-Gym, a shining example of half a century of passion for sport. In Saint‑Pascal, the Club des 50 ans et plus is celebrating 55 years of helping seniors. C.A.R.E Montmagny-L'Islet is celebrating 25 years of support for individuals and employers, while CDC ICI Montmagny‑L'Islet is celebrating 15 years of community outreach.”
“Mr. Speaker, my colleague talks of past mistakes made by the Conservatives. I have to tell him, in all honesty, that what the Liberals have done over the past 10 years is make one mistake after nother. They welcomed so many people to Canada that now they are forced to send some back, like the temporary foreign workers. We are hearing heart-wrenching horror stories about families being separated, about people who have been here for years, working and contributing to Canadian society. We are being accused of things we did 15 years ago. In reality, we did not do what we are being accused of, yet my colleague has been making mistakes for the past 10 years and is still making mistakes today as we debate this issue.”
“Mr. Speaker, it has been six months and the Prime Minister has still not presented a budget. As a result, the projected deficit is more than double what the Liberals themselves predicted. The Bank of Canada just announced that core inflation is 50% higher than what it had targeted. These deficits are driving inflation, and Canadian families are paying the price at the grocery store every week. The Liberals are breaking their promises, and meanwhile, Canadian families are going into debt to put food on the table. When will the Liberal Prime Minister stop running deficits and finally give Canadian families a break?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Prime Minister is full of broken promises: taxes, spending, consultants, U.S. relations. The list goes on. Meanwhile, Canadians are paying more and more at the grocery store. The price of beef is up 34%, oranges are up 26%, apples are up 18%, and infant formula is up almost 9%. Enough with the rhetoric and the broken promises. Will the Prime Minister finally table a real budget, lower taxes and reverse his inflationary policies?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Liberals promised Canadians $825 a year in tax cuts. As the Parliamentary Budget Officer has confirmed, this was another broken promise. The average Canadian will save $90 this year. That amounts to about $7 a month. For low-income seniors, the situation is even worse. They get $50 a year, or about $4 to $5 a month. It is crazy. That is not enough to buy a cup of coffee. Did the Prime Minister mislead Canadians during the election? Is he misleading them today as well? Is it both?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Minister of Housing and Infrastructure is saying that housing prices do not need to come down. That comes as no surprise from a person sitting on a $10-million real estate fortune. He owns a $3‑million estate in Tofino, a $5.6‑million home in Squamish and a luxury penthouse in Vancouver. Meanwhile, in Quebec, young people are stuck living in their parents' basements, unable to buy or sell. Why is the minister looking down at young Quebeckers from his Vancouver penthouse and telling them that housing prices do not need to come down?”
“Mr. Speaker, this morning we tabled a potential amendment to the Bloc Québécois motion. When I asked the member for Rimouski—La Matapédia a question, he responded by talking about respect for provincial jurisdiction. We obviously respect provincial jurisdiction. I would nevertheless like to hear the opinion of my colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue on the motion we moved this morning.”
“Mr. Speaker, I will ask my colleague, who is also my riding neighbour, whether he has had the chance to hear the amendment we proposed this morning and whether he agrees with it. I would like him to give us an answer.”
“Mr. Chair, she is referring the question to another minister. Last December, 460,000 people were awaiting removal. That figure is equivalent to the population of the city of Laval, Quebec. However, the government has lost track of 30,000 of them. How many are actually going to leave the country this year?”
“Mr. Chair, the minister is not answering my question. Some economists are predicting a recession by the fall with the potential loss of 100,000 jobs, many of them in Ontario and Quebec. However, the government is bringing in immigrants. Why?”
“Mr. Chair, unemployment is rising across Canada. According to some experts, there will be approximately 100,000 job losses by the fall. However, you keep increasing immigration. Why do you insist on pushing newcomers into unemployment?”
“Mr. Chair, it is funny how the minister is unable to answer our questions. She refers them to other ministers. In any case, there is also a housing shortage in Canada. Quebeckers are sleeping in their cars right now because they cannot afford to pay their rent. However, the government continues to increase its immigration levels. Why?”
“Mr. Chair, does the minister think that we should reduce immigration to Canada? If so, does she think that should happen soon? If so, by how much should we cut immigration? I would like the minister to give me a number.”
“Mr. Speaker, the German ambassador said again yesterday that he still wants to import our natural gas. With Bill C‑69 and Bill C‑48 , the production cap and the industrial carbon tax, this Liberal government is stifling our economic growth with its anti-energy measures. When will the Liberal Prime Minister finally allow Canadians to build pipelines, help our allies and benefit from Canada's resources by scrapping his anti-development agenda once and for all?”