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Results: 1 - 15 of 126
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2008-02-25 14:13 [p.3209]
Mr. Speaker, if we could put a face on humanism in Quebec, it would be that of Denis Lazure, who is no longer with us.
Dr. Denis Lazure passed away on Saturday at the age of 82. He was one of the architects of a real revolution in psychiatry in Quebec. But most Quebeckers would know him for the very important role he played in René Lévesque's first government, in which he focused on defending the rights of the disabled. He had a long career that spanned over 50 years, during which he tenaciously fought against all kinds of social inequalities, injustices and prejudices.
Quebeckers will also remember his strong support for the sovereignty of Quebec, and the integrity, dedication and intelligence he brought to this noble struggle. Passion, compassion, action and persuasion typified this great social democrat.
My Bloc Québécois colleagues and I would like to offer our sincerest condolences to his wife, Anne-Marie, his children, and to all of his friends and family.
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2007-10-29 14:35 [p.499]
Mr. Speaker, in a press conference held today, 18 artist and cultural business groups asked that the Minister of Canadian Heritage use her power to issue policy directions to the CRTC to ensure that, in CRTC decisions, priority is given to the social and cultural reality, as required under the Broadcasting Act.
Will the minister accede to this request from artist and cultural business groups and support a firm and efficient regulatory framework for broadcasting?
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2007-10-29 14:37 [p.499]
The name is Dupont-Hébert, Mr. Speaker.
The regulatory debacle at the CRTC is nothing new; it has even intensified since the Conservatives took office. They are encouraging it instead of containing it.
Does the Minister of Canadian Heritage realize that, by promoting deregulation in the broadcasting and telecommunications industry, her government is sending this simple message: culture is secondary and not worth protecting?
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2007-10-29 16:58 [p.520]
Mr. Speaker, I would note, before beginning, that I am sharing the time available to me with the member for Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel.
I would like to congratulate the member for Papineau on the motion she has introduced for public debate today. I would also congratulate my colleagues in the Bloc. Listening to them since this morning, we might well conclude that the case is almost closed and the masks keep falling away. I will therefore avoid lapsing into condescension and redundancy.
However, I would like to recognize the decision by the Conservative government and the two other opposition parties to participate in this debate in spite of the difficulties it apparently causes them in terms of Quebec. I say difficulties, because they must be aware of the unanimous opinion of the National Assembly of Quebec on the subject we are discussing here today.
By their positions, in fact by their past and present posturing, as confirmed by their votes right here in this House, they crystallize a tried and true tradition in federal politics. They could not care less about the unanimous opinions of the National Assembly of Quebec. The most unfortunate thing is that they have among them sons and daughters of Quebec who claim to speak for Quebec.
While they may be the elected representatives of the Quebec people, they do not dare to explain to their party, in government or in opposition, that it is unwise, to say the least, to scorn the National Assembly of Quebec. Yesterday, today, and time after time, the Quebec nation is cheated by its federalist members, who are intoxicated by the simple fact that they help to provide alibis for the government team.
They sacrifice the interests of the Quebec nation to those of the Canadian nation. What words can we use for that kind of behaviour? We must recognize that Quebeckers place enormous trust in representatives who are totally loyal to them, who demand respect for their rights in a parliament where a majority represents another nation. They are worthy, and they speak the truth. We are those people. That is why I am proud to be one of those representatives.
For more than a half-century, the National Assembly of Quebec has been disputing the existence of the federal spending power. Regardless of political allegiance, all Quebec governments, without exception, have stated their intention of defending the integrity of Quebec’s legislative jurisdiction and its ability to decide its own policies, policies that suit its own needs, that are made to fit it, policies that reflect its uniqueness and its difference, policies that reflect its own unique talent, its own unique identity.
The federal government has repeatedly interfered in matters under Quebec’s jurisdiction, and every time it had not even been invited. In the recent throne speech, the government said that it was open to fair compensation, provided that the programs of both levels of government are compatible. The Conservative government has to understand that Quebec’s historic demand calls for full and unconditional compensation. Any interference, any conditions placed on Quebec, will always be rejected by the worthy representatives of the Quebec nation.
Given the present conflicted relationship between Quebec and Canada, and particularly in relation to the issue before us today, given the repeated deadlocks in which we have often found ourselves, sovereignty is the only viable insurance policy. Day after day, this is what the people of Quebec are preparing for.
When our home is threatened, it is our duty and our responsibility to defend it. All the same, let us not be narrow-minded about it, as some might say. The adoption of the Bloc Québécois motion in this House would be the most sincere signal that the Conservative government could send to Quebeckers, assuming that the famous speech by the Prime Minister on December 19, 2005 to the Quebec City chamber of commerce was not just sounds coming from his mouth for the sole purpose of seduction, of getting Quebeckers to swallow the noxious mixture of his party’s values.
Voting in favour of this motion would also restore to politics its letters patent of nobility, which have been much damaged in the Canadian Parliament with its many breaches of promises made, its misrepresentations and its shams of all kinds. It would be an act respectful of the truth and of democracy.
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2007-10-29 17:06 [p.521]
Mr. Speaker, I think that the sentiments just expressed by my colleague are shared. It is also obvious that, on the plane of ideas, we are at diametrically opposite poles.
My colleague said that my ideas were an anachronism, that they were obsolete. It was only last year, as he himself mentioned, that the House of Commons finally recognized the existence of the Quebec nation. Recognizing the existence of a nation is more than a symbolic act. Nations, like individuals, have fundamental rights. The most fundamental of them is the right of a nation to itself control the social, economic and cultural development of its own society, that is, the right of self-determination.
One cannot, on the one hand, recognize that the Quebec nation exists and has the right to make choices different from those of Canada, and on the other, deny to it that right by maintaining the federal spending power of which we have been speaking since this morning. The spending power in areas of Quebec jurisdiction is a denial of our integrity, a denial of the Quebec nation.
I repeat: my colleague considered my comments to be an anachronism and obsolete. I do not think there us anything obsolete about the recognition of Quebec as a nation. It is something that took place just a few months ago.
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2007-10-29 17:09 [p.521]
Mr. Speaker, it is ironic that an hon. member from a party that denied the existence of the fiscal imbalance for years, from the height of his arrogance, condescension even, should ask me such a question.
I am no expert at accounting, but I would bring my colleague back to the debate before us today: it is a question of principle. Quebec was recognized as a nation. And as such, Quebec, through this motion presented by the Bloc Québécois—which is the embodiment of the aspirations, the needs and the grievances of all of Quebec society and of the National Assembly of Quebec—is entitled to demand the elimination of the federal spending power. That is the subject.
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2007-10-24 14:38 [p.321]
Mr. Speaker, a number of people, including Quebec minister Gagnon-Tremblay, are falsely presenting the Quebec-Ottawa agreement on UNESCO as a “historic agreement”. However, some archives from Quebec's department of international relations show that, already back in 1968, Pierre Elliott Trudeau made the same proposal to Daniel Johnson, who rejected it, because it did not provide a real presence for Quebec on the international scene.
Did the Minister of Canadian Heritage know that?
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2007-10-24 14:39 [p.321]
Mr. Speaker, just because I am an African does not mean I should get a reply that relates to Africa. I was referring to UNESCO.
Two days ago, when I put a question to the Minister of Canadian Heritage regarding her refusal to fund CIFEJ, the minister said:
...under the previous Liberal government, CIFEJ was funded under special ministerial authority. However, it was never subject to any formal application process, any specific Treasury Board authority or the slightest financial accountability.
Can the minister explain why her own government used that same procedure on October 5, 2006?
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2007-10-22 14:35 [p.204]
Mr. Speaker, a letter from Quebec's minister of international relations to the leader of the Bloc Québécois indicates that, in the event of disagreement between the two governments, Quebec cannot make its opinion known to the public. The letter says, and I quote:
The Government of Canada will provide the Government of Quebec with an explanatory note regarding its decision.
Will the minister admit that Quebec's only gain since being granted a seat at UNESCO is that, from now on, Quebec will be given a little note explaining the federal government's unilateral decisions? Is this Quebec's so-called historical gain?
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2007-10-22 14:36 [p.204]
Mr. Speaker, what a banal response.
On August 30, 2007, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages informed the International Centre of Films for Children and Young People that it would no longer be receiving federal government subsidies. Yet that centre, also known as CIFEJ, is a UNESCO associated organization.
How can the minister justify pushing a UNESCO organization out of Quebec, by cutting its funding, while her government pretends to facilitate Quebec's access to UNESCO?
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2007-10-22 15:44 [p.215]
Mr. Speaker, I have a very simple question for the minister.
Is the minister aware that, in Quebec, the vast majority of people, men and women alike, view the recognition of the Quebec nation and the so-called openness towards Quebec as bogus, as a smoke screen designed to lull them?
In that regard, he has stated that his government corrected the fiscal imbalance. The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of people in Quebec are convinced that that is absolutely untrue; that is not the reality. Correcting the fiscal imbalance also means eliminating the federal spending power in Quebec's fields of jurisdiction.
Does the minister realize that the vast majority of Quebeckers are sharp, clear-headed people who are very critical of such speeches?
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2007-06-18 14:07 [p.10742]
Mr. Speaker, Georges Thurston, known as Boule Noire, died last night at age 55, after a rich artistic career spanning 30 years.
He did not have an easy life. Abandoned at birth, he was raised in an orphanage, then went from one foster home to another, only to become a drifter for years. In his autobiography, published only a few days ago, he admits that music is what saved him.
He worked as a musician or music arranger for artists such as Charlebois, Roman, Dubois, Lautrec, Pagliaro and Workman, in addition to producing his own songs, many of which were recorded by the group Toulouse.
I would like to commend Georges Thurston's courage and determination in his battle with cancer, which he fought very publicly, in order to inspire others who are also battling incurable diseases.
He will be sadly missed.
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2007-06-13 14:10 [p.10524]
Mr. Speaker, on July 1, 2007, the municipality of Saint-Lambert will celebrate its 150th anniversary.
Everyone, including the 22,000 residents of the municipality, is invited to participate in various events organized by the Saint-Lambert 150th anniversary committee, a group of volunteers who have spent the last several months organizing the festivities.
Among the upcoming events of note, I would like to highlight the publication of Saint-Lambert au fil des ans / Saint- Lambert Through the Years, edited by the Mouillepied Historical Society, which recounts the great events in the lives of residents of Saint-Lambert since 1857.
The Bloc Québécois and I would like to congratulate the Saint-Lambert municipal authorities and all of the artisans who will be taking part in the 150th anniversary celebration for their contribution to this vibrant display of our collective memory.
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2007-06-06 14:12 [p.10200]
Mr. Speaker, hundreds of children and their parents recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of Plein Soleil school, a public alternative school located in the heart of my riding in Longueuil.
The school was founded by a group of engaged parents and enlightened educators in the Marie-Victorin school board. Plein Soleil primary school is an open concept school focused on the overall development of the child and espousing basic values such as autonomy, interdependence, freedom, accountability, participation and democracy. This school also accords an important place to culture and is completely open, with the support of parents, to community life.
The Bloc Québécois and I would like to congratulate the principal, Nathalie Ouellet, the teaching staff, and parents as well as students, present and past, for this important milestone in the life of Plein Soleil school, and by extension, that of an entire community.
View Maka Kotto Profile
BQ (QC)
View Maka Kotto Profile
2007-06-05 14:26 [p.10159]
Mr. Speaker, instead of ignoring Quebec, which is asking for a transfer of its share of the new funding for festivals, the minister must understand that the sponsorship program, which is making her a little paranoid, lined the pockets of middlemen, friends of the government, but did not make the festivals rich.
How can she refuse to provide the funding that is necessary for Quebec festivals to survive and grow?
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